Component Icons
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RAD Studio, uses icons to visually represent components throughout the IDE, like user interfaces, menus, and toolbars. These icons help developers quickly and consistently recognize and access components.
RAD Studio allows you to create components and Component Templates using the Component Wizard.
You can also assign icons to represent your new component in the Palette and the Form Designer.
Use the Project > Resources and Images… dialog box to specify an icon for your component.
In the Resource identifier box, the name of your icon resource must match the component's name so the IDE can find the icon for a given component. For example, if the name of the class of the new component you are building is TMdFontCombo, the name of your icon resource should be TMDFONTCOMBO.
Choose the type of your resource in the Resource type box.
You can create components and templates using the Component Wizard, and specify icons for them in the same way.
Bitmap icons load faster and are recommended for common sizes. PNGs offer better transparency and are preferred for 128x128 icons or when targeting multiple IDE versions.
The new icons are all alpha-transparent and antialiased. They can be a PNG image or a 32bpp bitmap (non-premultiplied-alpha.)
Paint.NET allows you to export images with 32-bit color depth, which includes an alpha channel for transparency. When the bitmap is 32-bit, the IDE assumes it is a new-style icon and has a valid alpha channel.
Supported Formats and Sizes
RAD Studio supports several icon sizes and file formats, which must be prepared separately rather than scaled from a single source. Each size is rendered with pixel precision to ensure clarity at different resolutions.
| Size | Format | Use |
|---|---|---|
| 16x16 |
32-bit BMP, PNG |
Standard icon, used in component palettes |
| 24x24 | 32-bit BMP, PNG | Used in toolbars and lists |
| 32x32 | 32-bit BMP, PNG | Form Designer and object inspector icons |
| 128x128 | PNG only | Reserved for high-DPI support (not used yet)
Note: To add 128px icons yourself, add a “128” suffix for the names of the icon resources: eg, “TEdit128” (bitmap) or “TEdit128_PNG” (PNG).
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When targeting multiple IDE versions, consider maintaining separate resource sets. Alternatively, include both old-style BMP and new PNG icons in the same package. Newer IDEs will load PNGs if available; older versions will fall back to the BMPs.