[RESOLVED] Notify Icon with right click menu.

[Safrax]

I need to make a program that does not have any forms in it whatsoever, but does put a notify icon with a right click menu in the system tray. I've tried doing something like this:

Dim trayicon As New System.Windows.Forms.NotifyIcon
            Dim icon As New Icon("C:\myicon.ico")
            trayicon.Icon = icon
            trayicon.Visible = True

But that doesn't work.

Even if I could create a notify icon I don't know how to add menu items to it that do anything.

If someone could post a sample of some code on how to do either of these things or point me to some place with an example, I'd appreciate it very much.

[Pirate]

Example - I'm not sure if it has a menu - but you can add a 'Context Menu' then just attach it to the notifyIcon component in the properties window .
http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.p...hreadid=254796

[Kasracer]

Originally posted by Pirate
Example - I'm not sure if it has a menu - but you can add a 'Context Menu' then just attach it to the notifyIcon component in the properties window .
http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.p...hreadid=254796

But then he would require a form

[Safrax]

Originally posted by Pirate
Example - I'm not sure if it has a menu - but you can add a 'Context Menu' then just attach it to the notifyIcon component in the properties window .
http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.p...hreadid=254796

How do I create a notify icon, WITHOUT a creating a form though?

[Edneeis]

Originally posted by Safrax
How do I create a notify icon, WITHOUT a creating a form though?

Dim trayicon As New System.Windows.Forms.NotifyIcon
            Dim icon As New Icon("C:\myicon.ico")
            trayicon.Icon = icon
            trayicon.Visible = True

That is the code you originally posted and it doesn't mention a form anywhere. It will work without a form.

[Kasracer]

Originally posted by Edneeis
That is the code you originally posted and it doesn't mention a form anywhere. It will work without a form.

No, you didn't listen to what he wanted. He wants it to stay open the entire time (that code won't) and he wants a context menu with it, without creating a form.

I tried making it with code real quick and, apparently, when I create a context menu and add a menuitem to it, the contextmenu remains empty....***

My code also uses 17MB of ram and 100% of the CPU, lol. I'll figure something out later when I can fire VS up (I wasn't using the IDE) if no one else does.

[Safrax]

It's not working here. Are there any references I need? Right now I've got System and System.Windows.Forms.

[Safrax]

Ok I've got the tray icon working by adding System.Drawing to the references. But whenever I try to add menuitems to it I get this nasty error:

An unhandled exception of type 'System.NullReferenceException' occurred in Foolirc.exe 
  
 Additional information: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

This is what I am doing to add menuitems:

Dim quit As New System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem
trayicon.ContextMenu.MenuItems.Add(quit)

[Lunatic3]

This works for me:

Dim trayicon As New System.Windows.Forms.NotifyIcon
Dim icon As New Icon("C:\myicon.ico")
trayicon.Icon = icon
trayicon.Visible = True
Dim mn As New ContextMenu
trayicon.ContextMenu = mn
mn.MenuItems.Add("Close")

[Lunatic3]

And also this:

Dim trayicon As New System.Windows.Forms.NotifyIcon
Dim icon As New Icon("C:\myicon.ico")
trayicon.Icon = icon
trayicon.Visible = True
Dim mn As New ContextMenu
Dim mnitem As New MenuItem("Exit")
mn.MenuItems.Add(mnitem)
trayicon.ContextMenu = mn

[Safrax]

Here's my sub for creating a new tray icon with a context menu! Many thanks to you guys for helping out.

Sub CreateTrayIcon()
        'creates a new tray icon
        Dim TrayIcon As New System.Windows.Forms.NotifyIcon
 
        'creates a new icon
        Dim Icon As New System.Drawing.Icon("C:\icon.ico")
 
        'assigns the icon to the tray icon
        TrayIcon.Icon = Icon
 
        'makes the trayicon visible
        TrayIcon.Visible = True
 
        'Sets the text on the menu item
        mnuQuit.Text = "Quit"
 
        'Creates a new context menu
        Dim TrayIconContextMenu As New System.Windows.Forms.ContextMenu
 
        'Adds items to the new context menu
        TrayIconContextMenu.MenuItems.Add(mnuQuit)
 
        'Assigns the created contextmenu to the trayicon
        TrayIcon.ContextMenu = TrayIconContextMenu
    End Sub

Now I'm left with one last problem. My context menu is totally unresponsive to being clicked when the program is running. I've tried putting it in a thread, but that was just pointless as the icon disappears when the thread stops running.

[Lunatic3]

add this to previous code I sent:

AddHandler mnitem.Click, AddressOf HandleClick

and

Private Sub HandleClick(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)
    ' Do something here for example
    MessageBox.Show("clicked")
End Sub

[Safrax]

What I meant to say was my context menu is NOT appearing at all when I click on the icon. Rightclicking or left clicking on the icon has no effect. The icon just sits there like a knot on a log. But thanks for answering what would have been my next question Lunatic3.

[Kasracer]

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...ncomponent.asp

I went there, I created code just like that for C# and VB.NET. Both did not work for some reason, the context menu was unresponcive. After some wondering, I changed the locations of the definitions and now they work!!

I guess you CANNOT define NotifyIcon and ContextMenu within the Sub using them.

Both seem to work, VB..NET version has events added onto one menu already.

VB.NET:

Module Sub_Main
    WithEvents mnuExit As New System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem
    Public cntxtMenu As New System.Windows.Forms.ContextMenu
    Public TrayIcon As New System.Windows.Forms.NotifyIcon
    Sub Main() 
        TrayIcon.Icon = New System.Drawing.Icon("test.ico")
        mnuExit.Text = "Exit"
        cntxtMenu.MenuItems.Add(mnuExit)
        TrayIcon.ContextMenu = cntxtMenu
        TrayIcon.Visible = True
        MessageBox.Show("Testing...")
    End Sub
    Sub mnuExit_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles mnuExit.Click
 
    End Sub
End Module

C#:

using System;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace NotifyIcon
{
	public class main
	{
		public System.Windows.Forms.ContextMenu cnuMenu = new System.Windows.Forms.ContextMenu();
		public System.Windows.Forms.NotifyIcon nIcon = new System.Windows.Forms.NotifyIcon();
		static void Main()
		{
			main MaIn = new main();
			MaIn.CreateMenuStructure();
			System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show("Testing.....");
		}
		private void CreateMenuStructure()
		{
			System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem mnuExit = new System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem("Exit");
			nIcon.Icon = new System.Drawing.Icon("test.ico");
			cnuMenu.MenuItems.Add(mnuExit);
			nIcon.ContextMenu = cnuMenu;
			nIcon.Visible = true;
			mnuExit.Visible = true;
		}
	}
}

[Kasracer]

I just took a look at Safrax's project and I tried a few different things as well. It seems like the icon will ONLY work if some sort of Form is being used. A messageBox,, a hidden form, as long as there is SOME sort of form it seems to work. Otherwise it remains unresponcive.

[Pirate]

Alternatively , you can build windows service since it doen't require a form to run the code inside .

[Edneeis]

The problem is not where the NotifyIcon object is declared or whether or not to show a form but the fact that the NotifyIcon alone doesn't hold a thread open for input. The sub main goes through and executes all of the code and then ends. It doesn't respond to clicks because the only time you see it is while other code is being executed which blocks its responsiveness. Showing a form or MessageBox will hold the thread while awaiting input. You may want to see this thread: http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.p...hreadid=268696 or ask LITHIA what he did to solve this problem.

[Safrax]

Edneeis, that thread did the trick. Thank you for point it out.

Here's the finished module in case anyone ever needs something like this again:

*Note: A TrayThread.Start() is needed somewhere else in the program to get this to work.

Option Strict On
Imports System.Windows.Forms
 
 
Module Tray_Icon
 
    WithEvents mnuExit As New System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem
    Public cntxtMenu As New System.Windows.Forms.ContextMenu
    Public TrayIcon As New System.Windows.Forms.NotifyIcon
    Public TrayThread As New System.Threading.Thread(AddressOf CreateTrayIcon)
 
 
    Public Sub CreateTrayIcon()
        TrayIcon.Icon = New System.Drawing.Icon("icon.ico")
        mnuExit.Text = "Exit"
        cntxtMenu.MenuItems.Add(mnuExit)
        TrayIcon.ContextMenu = cntxtMenu
        TrayIcon.Visible = True
 
        Do Until False
            'to exit the application you will need to set Module1.looping to False
 
            'This thread sleeps for 50 ms, wakes up, does events, then goes back to sleep
            Threading.Thread.CurrentThread.Sleep(50)
            Application.DoEvents()
        Loop
    End Sub
 
    Sub mnuExit_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles mnuExit.Click
        Shutdown()
    End Sub
End Module

This thread is now resolved. Much thanks to everyone that has helped.

[Kasracer]

Originally posted by Edneeis
The problem is not where the NotifyIcon object is declared or whether or not to show a form but the fact that the NotifyIcon along doesn't hold a thread open for input. The sub main goes through and executes all of the code and then ends. It doesn't respond to clicks because the only time you see it is while other code is being executed which blocks its responsiveness. Showing a form or MessageBox will hold the thread while awaiting input. You may want to see this thread: http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.p...hreadid=268696 or ask LITHIA what he did to solve this problem.

Bah, figures I was wrong.

EDIT: I still think Safrax should do away with his Do While, and Do Until fetishes

[Codehammer]

in Vb a Text box even change will give you access to the Event that you can Actually do this:

if e.keycode =keys.enter then ....

But, for a notify Icon, the event only has e.cancel.

How Would you get the Context menu to show, Only If the Shift key is pressed while you click the notify icon. I tried putting a Sub with that samillar handler as the textbox & it did nothing