Introduction

This document assumes that the reader has some knowledge of resources, what they are and how they work.

This document is intended for use with the GoRC resource compiler. There are some slight differences in the permitted syntax between the Microsoft Resource compiler and GoRC. In general GoRC will accept all RC source files that the Microsoft Resource compiler will accept but is slightly more flexible in its syntax.

RC source files (those with an ".rc" extension) should be text without formatting codes, other than carriage return, linefeed or tabs, such as produced by most simple text editors. More sophisticated word processors can also produce such files if they are instructed to produce TXT files, ASCII or ANSI files.

The resource script and include files can be in Unicode format. If so, GoRC expects a Byte Order Mark (BOM). GoRC can read the UTF-8 Unicode format with BOM, or the UTF-16LE Unicode format with BOM.

GoRC can make two types of binary resource files from a resource script. It can make an OBJ file in COFF format, which is suitable for linking with other OBJ files to produce the final EXE or DLL. It can also produce a RES file, which is an intermediate file in binary format. GoRC can also convert a RES file to an OBJ file.
The OBJ file made by GoRC can either be in Win32 format (the default) or Win64 format if you specify the /machine AMD64 or /machine X64 switch in the command line.

Here are the syntax rules which are used in this reference:-

Normal text shows words as they actually appear in your source code.
Italic text describes only the type of entry in your source code- look for the description to see what can be put there.
[Text in square brackets means that the material is optional].