TIP: Adding a typelibrary as a resource to a project

There may be occasions when you inherit a project that does not have the typelibrary compiled as a resource into the module that implements your COM object (be it a COM server, ActiveX etc.). In such a situation, a lot of people are left wondering how to make the typelibrary part of the module's resource instead of distributing the .TLB file separately.

The solution is really simple:

Step A) Open the project's .rc file as text (i.e. select 'Text' in the 'Open As' combo-box on the 'Open' dialog.)

Step B) In the portion of the file where all the TEXTINCLUDE's are defined, add the following lines

3 TEXTINCLUDE DISCARDABLE 
BEGIN"1 TYPELIB 
""ProjectName.tlb""\r\n"
"\0"END

Note: Make sure that the number on the TEXTINCLUDE DISCARDABLE line is one greater than the highest number for the TEXTINCLUDE lines in that file.

Step C) At the bottom of the project's .rc file, add the following lines

#ifndef APSTUDIO_INVOKED
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 
//
// Generated from the 
TEXTINCLUDE 3 resource.
// 
1 TYPELIB "ProjectName.tlb" 

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// 
#endif // not APSTUDIO_INVOKED

Note: Ensure that the number on the TYPELIB "ProjectName.tlb" line is adjusted to be one greater than any other TYPELIB resource in the file (This seems unlikely given the fact that one would include only the .TLB for the project in question.)

That's all. Compile and link the project and open up the module in the OLE/COM Viewer to ensure that the TLB is actually part of the project. Removing the TLB as a resource from a project.

It should be obvious from the earlier discussion that one just needs to delete the lines mentioned in Steps B and C from the project's .rc file in order to remove the typelibrary as a resource from the project.