Resource Container

Resource Container file format is a most often used file format within LabVIEW ecosystem. It is a proprietary binary format defined by National Instruments and used in both LabVIEW and LabWindows. The format is strongly inspired by Mac OS Resource Fork format, as LabVIEW was originally created for that platform, and ported to other OSes later, at version 2.5.

The format is a container, storing a group of Resources. Resources have 4-character identifier assigned, and the 4-character identifier for the whole container is RSRC. Most files used by LabVIEW have that RSRC format, only the specific Resources stored inside are different. The files with that header include *.vi, *.ctl, *.mnu, *.llb, *.dlog, *.ctt, *.vit, *.uir, and many created with, or internally used by, LabVIEW.

The resources stored within have their identifiers often identical to those in Resource fork format, but many new ones are also introduced. Some resources have multiple variations, as their structure changed between versions of LabVIEW.

Known Resources

Below a few resources are listed. Note that the text names given for them are mostly informed guesses.

Resource ID	Long Name	Description
MUID	Map Unique Identifier
FPSE	Front Panel Size Estimate	Optional resource which can be used to optimize memory allocation when loading the VI file. Contains one integer value, which seem be amount of tags within Front Panel Heap divided by 10. See also: BDSE.
FPTD	Front Panel Type for DataLog
BDSE	Block Diagram Size Estimate	Optional resource which can be used to optimize memory allocation when loading the VI file. Contains one integer value, which seem be amount of tags within Block Diagram Heap divided by 10. See also: FPSE.
FLAG	Integer flags
CONP	Connector Port Type Map
CPTM	Connector Port Type Map
CPC2	Connector Port Content Type v2
CPCT	Connector Port Content Type
CPD2	Connector Port DI v2
CPDI	Connector Port DI
DLGH	Dialog HTML
ERRH	Error HTML
HLPT	Help Tag
MItm	M. Item
NODH	NOD HTML
NOEG	NOEG String
STRG	String description
TITL	Title of the file
STR	Short String / Input definition?
CPST	C. P. Strings
DNm#	D. Name Strings List
HDb#	Help Database item
LST#	Short Strings List
STR#	Short Strings List
FDFL	FDFL Strings
LIfp	LinkObj Refs for Front Panel
LIbd	LinkObj Refs for Block diagram
LIds	LinkObj Refs for Data Space
LIvi	LinkObj Refs for VI
DFDS	Default Fill of Data Space
GCDI
BFAL
CGRS	Conglomerate Resource
CPMp	Connection Points Map
DLDR	DL Data Record
DLLP	DL Local Path
FTAB	Font Table
HIST	Changes History
HLPP	Help Path
LPTH	L. Path
HLPW	Help Website URL
SCSR	Syntax Checker Digest
DTHP	Data Types for Heap
DSTM	Data Space Type Map	Stores table of Type descriptors which make up Data Space of the VI file. Used in LV 7.1 and older.
TM80	Data Space Type Map LV8.0+	Stores table of references to Type descriptors which make up Data Space of the VI file. The actual definitions of TDs are stored in VCTP block. Used in LV 8.0 and newer.
LVIN	LabView Instrument	General information about a saved VI file; definitely used in LV 4.0 and older, was replaced by LVSR at some point.
LVSR	LabView Save Record	General information about a saved VI file; replaced LVIN resource somewhere before LV 6.0. The size of this resource increases with LV version, but old data is always kept at the same offset (new fields are only added at end).
vers	Version block	Stores version of LV used to create the RSRC file.
PNGI	PNG Image	Stores a bitmap picture in PNG format.
MNGI	MNG Image	While PNGs become quite popular, their animated counterpart, MNG format, never really caught on.
ICON	Icon 32x32 1bpp
ICN#	Icon Large Double 32x64 1bpp	Usually used to store one icon in two versions (ie. disabled and active).
ics#	Icon Small 16x16 1bpp
CURS	Cursor 16x34 1bpp	Usually used to store one cursor in two versions (ie. disabled and active).
ics4	Icon Small 16x16 4bpp
icl4	Icon Large 32x32 4bpp
ics8	Icon Small 16x16 8bpp
icl8	Icon Large 32x32 8bpp
BDPW	Block Diagram Password
LIBN	Library Names
LVzp	LabView Zipped Program tree	A whole application compressed to ZIP file.
PRT	Print settings
BNID	B. N. Identifier
CNST	Constant Node UID set
LPIN	Loop Invariant Node UID set
NUID	N. U. Identifier
SUID	S. U. Identifier
VPDP	VI Primitive Dependency Flags
BDHP	Block Diagram Heap
FPHP	Front Panel Heap
BDHb	Block Diagram Heap ver b
FPHb	Front Panel Heap ver b
BDHc	Block Diagram Heap ver c
FPHc	Front Panel Heap ver c
RTSG	Runtime Signature Guid
GCPR	Generated Code Profiler settings
UCRF	Uncompressed Resource File	Used when files are added to RSRC, ie. within *.llb files.
CPRF	'Comp' Compressed Resource File	Used when files are added to RSRC; very basic mask based compression.
ZCRF	ZLib Compressed Resource File	Used when files are added to RSRC; uses compression algorithm from popular Z-Lib library.
DLG3	Dialog Resource File
VCTP	VI Consolidated Data Types	Introduced in LV 8.0, stores all Type descriptors used within the file.
VICD	Virtual Instrument Compiled Data / VI Code	Contains the machine code generated by LLVM compiler.
VITS	Virtual Instrument Tag Strings