Manifest Resources

 

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The latest version of this topic can be found at Manifest Resources.

Manifest resources are XML files that describe the dependencies that an application uses. For example, in Visual Studio, the MFC wizard-generated manifest file defines which of the Windows common control DLLs the application should use, version 5.0 or 6.0:

<description>Your app description here</description>   
<dependency>   
    <dependentAssembly>   
        <assemblyIdentity   
            type="win32"   
            name="Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls"   
            version="6.0.0.0"   
            processorArchitecture="X86"   
            publicKeyToken="6595b64144ccf1df"   
            language="*"   
        />   
    </dependentAssembly>   
</dependency>   

For a Windows XP or Windows Vista application, the manifest resource not only specifies that the application use the most current version of the Windows common controls (v6.0, as seen above) but it also supports the Syslink control.

To view the version and type information contained in a manifest resource, you can open the file in an XML viewer or in the Visual Studio Text Editor. For more information, see Opening a manifest resource in the Visual Studio Text Editor.

For information on adding resources to managed projects, please see Resources in Applications in the .NET Framework Developer's Guide. For information on manually adding resource files to managed projects, accessing resources, displaying static resources, and assigning resources strings to properties, see Walkthrough: Using Resources for Localization with ASP.NET.

You can only have one manifest resource per module.

Win32

Controls
Working with Resource Files

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