Use Resource Hacker instead of rcedit

[quasado]

To replace the windows icon, rcedit simply doesn't work as it generates the wrong icon resource headers resulting in ugly window icons. Using Resource Hacker with command line

ResHacker.exe -modify "Project.exe", "Project.exe", "ProgramIcon.ico", ICONGROUP, MAINICON, 0

Works perfectly generating the correct icon header and results in high quality icons.

[gabepaez]

I like this solution but only if we were able to bundle the executable. I would hate to create an external dependency for this.

Have you ever used this https://github.com/geo8bit/nodebob/tree/master/buildTools/ar?

[RobinMalfait]

What if you are on a Mac and you want to make a windows version, how are you going to run that .exe application?

[gabepaez]

@RobinMalfait currently Wine is required to use the existing rcedit solution. That surprisingly works while running from Windows directly does not.

This is still not ideal as there is the hanging external dependency. Any ideas for making this work cross platform without creating a dependency requirement would be very appreciated... :)

[RobinMalfait]

@gabepaez it would be nice to have 1 tool cross platform instead of Wine & rcedit, if I find something i'll let you know ;)

[quasado]

Well, the wine solution isn't bad at all I have to say. However as said, rcedit generates the wrong icon headers so your icons will ALWAYS look ugly on Windows

[bastimeyer]

It's not only rcedit which generates shitty icons, but also resourcehacker. If you're compiling your app for windows and you want to replace the icon with an ico file which embeds multiple icon sizes, both seem to fail. Just adding a 128x128 or a 256x256 icon will result in a very poorly downsampled 16x16 icon. That's the reason why I've skipped changing the icon for my app.
As far as I know, there are no real nodejs projects (yet) which can replace the icon properly for exe files. 😟

[quasado]

hu? At least for me it works perfectly with Resource Hacker and multiple icon sizes in one icon file. Doing that afterwards in Windows via Resource-hacker -> replace icon makes it perfect and generates the correct headers (the first icon header is simply wrong as it contains a single image definition only when using rcedit)

[felicienfrancois]

@bastimeyer
You need to provide amultiple size icon file. It ships all the size correctly sampled so there is no downsampling issues. You can do it with an online tool or using gimp
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4354617/how-to-make-get-a-multi-size-ico-file

@quasado
I personnaly use resourcehacker with the following command line:

-addoverwrite nw.exe, myApp.exe, myApp.ico, ICONGROUP, IDR_MAINFRAME,

with a multiple sizes icon file. The result is perfect.

For my own use I wrote a node wrapper for resourcehacker that works under linux & OS X with wine installed.
2 points I need to solve before distributing:

• Even using the command line, resourcehacker need a X (a display), so when runing it on a linux server, you'll have to have a X installed (I use xvfb which is a "fake" X)
• License. The resource hacker license disallow distribution via any website domain or any other media without the prior written approval of the copyright owner, so I need to ask for its approval before distributing it.

[felicienfrancois]

@gabepaez
This tool https://github.com/geo8bit/nodebob/tree/master/buildTools/ar seems interesting.
I succeded in using it using the following command line:

Resourcer.exe -op:upd -src:nw.exe -type:14 -name:IDR_MAINFRAME -file:myApp.ico

The pros:

• Flexible license
• Easy to use

The cons:

• Not documented (or I failed in finding documentation)
• Require .NET (I.E. Mono for wine, which is complicated to install on stable wine release)
• Require an X (a display), so to run it on a linux server you'll have to have a X installed (I use xvfb which is a "fake" X)

[bastimeyer]

@felicienfrancois Yeah I know... I've created the multisampled icon with ImageMagick (convert icon-16.png icon-32.png icon-48.png icon-256.png icon.ico) and it seems that this method fails. http://convertico.org/Multi_Image_to_one_icon/ does the job perfectly though...

[gabepaez]

@felicienfrancois is Resourcer.exe able to add the multiple icon sizes contained in the ico correctly without downsampling as @bastimeyer describes?

[felicienfrancois]

@gabepaez yes Resourcer worked with a multiple icon size file correctly without downsampling.

[felicienfrancois]

The main issue of rcedit is that it does not take any "path of ressource".

The node-webkit binary have by default a single size icon (48*48) on the path ICONGROUP > IDR_MAINFRAME

Setting an icon with rcedit do the following:

• Add an entry with the passed icon on the path ICONGROUP > 1, keeping the multiple sizes.
• Change the entry ICONGROUP > IDR_MAINFRAME keeping only the 48*48 version of the icon

I don't know why and how it does that, maybe an index issue but it does not do the job correctly as windows ignore the ICONGROUP > 1 entry and use only the ICONGROUP > IDR_MAINFRAME entry

Both resourceHacker and Resourcer.exe take a "resource path" argument and succeed in keeping all the icon sizes. Unlike the command line given by quasado in the first post, the "resource path" to edit must be ICONGROUP > IDR_MAINFRAME to work. (ICONGROUP === type:14 for Resourcer.exe)

[quasado]

Yes, that's exactly the issue. RCEdit should actually replace the IDR_MAINFRAME with the multiple icon sizes to work correctly. So, for now, this renders the winIcon property of node webkit builder pretty useless :( I'd still vote for using Resource Hacker to make it working correctly?

[gabepaez]

Alright, I am all for replacing RCEdit with (Anolis Resourcer)[http://anolis.codeplex.com/] for now. This should be relatively easy and gives us a stop gap that will at least work properly on all platforms (with Wine). Does anyone have some time to implement?