Using the Icon Editor, you can create monochrome or color bit maps that have a static appearance. This means that the bit maps can be created in advance and then used without change while the application is running.
When you use the Icon Editor to create a bit map, the bit map is saved in a resource file that can be loaded whenever it is needed. To load a bit-map file, call GpiLoadBitmap, with the identifier of the resource file that contains the bit map, as the second parameter. If you allow this value to default, the application's .EXE file is assumed to contain the bit map.
GpiLoadBitmap lets you specify the x- and y-dimensions (in pels) of the bit map. The loaded bit map is stretched or compressed accordingly. If you supply a 0 value for one of these dimensions, the bit map is sized in the other dimension only, which is likely to cause distortion of the image. If the bit map is to be produced in its original size, specify 0 for both its width and its height.
Output from the call to this function is the bit-map handle. To display the loaded bit map on the screen, follow the sequence of steps described in the preceding section, omitting steps 3 (defining the bit map) and 5 (issuing drawing instructions to the presentation space).
A bit map created by the Icon Editor is saved in a device-independent format. This format generates an array of bit maps with formats (bits per pel) matching each of the supported display devices.