Load an embedded animated Cursor from the Resource

Question

I have an animated Cursor file (*.ani) in the resources and want to show it as a cursor in my application. How can I load it from the resources?

I looked up in the Internet, but there are only ways to show it when u have a real file and if it is not embedded in the resources.

Answer 1

// from resources modification here is : byte[] variable resource in the call

// modified class by Yvan Genesse

public class AdvancedCursorsFromEmbededResources

{

// modified by Yvan Genesse November 29 2010 

// C# example tested in MS Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate version
// University Student in E-Business @ Laurentian University

// in your form code
/*
try
{
// from file
//this.Cursor = AdvancedCursors.Create(Path.Combine(Application.StartupPath, "flower_anim.ani"));
// from resouces   modification here is :   byte[] resource in the call
byte[] Embeded_Cursor_Resource = Properties.Resources.flower_anim;  // the animate cursor desired
this.Cursor = AdvancedCursorsFromEmbededResources.Create(Embeded_Cursor_Resource);

// or this way also works
this.Cursor = AdvancedCursorsFromEmbededResources.Create(Properties.Resources.flower_anim);
}
catch (Exception err)
{
MessageBox.Show(err.Message);
}

*/



[DllImport("user32.dll")]
static extern IntPtr CreateIconFromResource(byte[] presbits, uint dwResSize, bool fIcon, uint dwVer);

// modification here is :   byte[] resource in the call       
public static Cursor Create( byte[] resource)
{
    IntPtr myNew_Animated_hCursor;

    //byte[] resource = Properties.Resources.flower_anim;

        myNew_Animated_hCursor = CreateIconFromResource(resource, (uint)resource.Length, false, 0x00030000);

    if (!IntPtr.Zero.Equals(hCursor))
        {
            // all is good
                return new Cursor(myNew_Animated_hCursor);
       }
        else
       {  // resource wrong type or memory error occurred
    // normally this resource exists since you had to put  Properties.Resources. and a resource would appear and you selected it
    // the animate cursor desired  is the error generator since this call is not required for simple cursors



          throw new ApplicationException("Could not create cursor from Embedded resource ");
        }         
}    


}

Answer 2

Embed the ani file as a resource and use windows functions CreateIconFromResource to create it and DestroyIcon when done.

IntPtr hCursor;
try
{
   hCursor = CreateIconFromResource(resource, (uint)resource.Length, false, 0x00030000);
   this.Cursor = new Cursor(hCursor);
   ...
}
finally
{
   this.Cursor = Cursors.Normal;
   DestroyIcon(hCursor);
}