.NET (Core and Framework)

using System;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Text;

namespace PeterRitchie
{
	/// <summary>
	/// Helper class for various things
	/// </summary>
	[ComVisible(false)]
	sealed class Helper
	{
		[DllImport("kernel32.dll", CharSet=CharSet.Auto)] 
		private static extern IntPtr LoadLibrary(string lpFileName); 
		[DllImport("user32", EntryPoint="LoadString")] 
		private static extern int LoadStringW(int hInstance, int wID, [Out] StringBuilder lpBuffer, int nBufferMax)  ;  

		/// <summary>
		/// Load a Win32 Resource string.
		/// </summary>
		/// <param name="ModuleFilePathString">Module to load from</param>
		/// <param name="ID">ID or index of the string</param>
		/// <param name="LoadedString">Destination reference</param>
		public static void LoadString(String ModuleFilePathString, int ID, ref String LoadedString)
		{
			IntPtr InstanceHandle = LoadLibrary(ModuleFilePathString);  
  
			StringBuilder BufferString = new StringBuilder(1024);

			LoadStringW(InstanceHandle.ToInt32(), ID, BufferString, BufferString.Capacity);
			LoadedString = BufferString.ToString();
		}
	}
};

using PeterRitchie;
string LoadedString = "";
Helper.LoadString(@"C:\windows\system32\ssbezier.scr", 1, ref LoadedString);
Debug.WriteLine(LoadedString);

public void DoSomething()<br />
{<br />
    string myFoo = new FooType();<br />
}

dim MS as new memorystream(buffer)
dim BM as bitmap = bitmap.fromstream(ms)
ms.close
return bm
}