How to load a custom binary resource in a VC++ static library as part of a dll?

In Add Resource dialog click Import, select “All Files (.)” so that it allows you to import file of any type, and then just select the file you want there. When Custom Resource Type dialog pops up, type RCDATA into “Resource type” field.

If you open .rc file, you will see something like this:

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
//
// RCDATA
//

IDR_RCDATA1          RCDATA               "myfile.whatever"

and it will generate resource.h with following line:

#define IDR_RCDATA1                  101

In code you access it like this:

#include "resource.h"
#include <windows.h>

int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
    HRSRC myResource = ::FindResource(NULL, MAKEINTRESOURCE(IDR_RCDATA1), RT_RCDATA);
    HGLOBAL myResourceData = ::LoadResource(NULL, myResource);
    void* pMyBinaryData = ::LockResource(myResourceData);
    return 0;
}

where pMyBinaryData is pointer to first byte of this executable. For more information visit
Resource Functions

Here’s an example how you would save binary resource like this on disk:

#include "resource.h"
#include <windows.h>
#include <fstream>

int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
    HRSRC myResource = ::FindResource(NULL, MAKEINTRESOURCE(IDR_RCDATA1), RT_RCDATA);
    unsigned int myResourceSize = ::SizeofResource(NULL, myResource);
    HGLOBAL myResourceData = ::LoadResource(NULL, myResource);
    void* pMyBinaryData = ::LockResource(myResourceData);

    std::ofstream f("C:\\x.bin", std::ios::out | std::ios::binary);
    f.write((char*)pMyBinaryData, myResourceSize);
    f.close();

    return 0;
}

When you build project with resource like that, this resource will become part of your program (dll).