# Resource compiler`— rcomp.exe`

## Contents

- Purpose
- Command line syntax

### Purpose

The resource compiler, `rcomp`, compiles source `.rss` resource files into a `.rsc` resource data file which can be used by applications, and a `.rsg` resource header file. The operation of the resource compiler is usually wrapped in a batch file. The batch file, `eikrs.bat`, provides a simple interface to the most commonly used `rcomp` functionality, but does not provide some of the debugging options available directly through `rcomp`.

### Command line syntax

  `rcomp` [`—`v] | [`—`l] | [`—`m] | [`—`p] | [`—`u] `—o` DataOutputFile `—h` HeaderOutputFile `—s` SourceFileName [`—i` BaseInputFileName]

For information about how to interpret the syntax, see BNF grammars.

##### Arguments

—v | verbose output.
—l | log memory
—m | output memory calls
—p | parser debugging
—u | generate Unicode resource binary
—o | Specify full path and name for data output file (DataOutputFile).
—h | Specify header output file (HeaderOutputFile; name only, does not include path).
—s | Specify resource compiler source file SourceFileName (output of pre-processor BaseInputFileName.rpp)
—i | The file given to the pre-processor (this is the source file BaseInputFileName.rss)

##### Output files

DataOutputFile | The resource data referred to by the application at run-time. Note that the generated file can have any name. However, before the resource file can be used it must be renamed to have an extension `.rsc`.
HeaderOutputFile | The generated header file, which contains `#define` statements for each resource defined in the source file.