Manipulating a program in the system tray

[da_silvy]

i'm pretty sure that you can get the handle of an application as soon as you shell it.

Do you have to use the ShellExecute method, or can you use shell?

[Master Victor]

To Open it I'm currently using-

UCalcID = ShellExecute(frmMain.hwnd, "open", Application.Path & "UCalc.exe", "-fast", Application.Path, SW_SHOWNORMAL)

To Close it I attempted-

PostMessage UCalcID, WM_CLOSE, CLng(0), CLng(0)

but it didn't work...

I also attempted SendMessage to close and FindWindow to find whether it was running but both didn't work...

[da_silvy]

That's because it ShellExecute returns a ErrorSuccess value, not a handle.

try this:

Option Explicit
 
      Private Type PROCESS_INFORMATION
         hProcess As Long
         hThread As Long
         dwProcessId As Long
         dwThreadId As Long
      End Type
 
      Private Type STARTUPINFO
         cb As Long
         lpReserved As String
         lpDesktop As String
         lpTitle As String
         dwX As Long
         dwY As Long
         dwXSize As Long
         dwYSize As Long
         dwXCountChars As Long
         dwYCountChars As Long
         dwFillAttribute As Long
         dwFlags As Long
         wShowWindow As Integer
         cbReserved2 As Integer
         lpReserved2 As Long
         hStdInput As Long
         hStdOutput As Long
         hStdError As Long
      End Type
 
      Private Declare Function CreateProcess Lib "kernel32" _
         Alias "CreateProcessA" _
         (ByVal lpApplicationName As String, _
         ByVal lpCommandLine As String, _
         lpProcessAttributes As Any, _
         lpThreadAttributes As Any, _
         ByVal bInheritHandles As Long, _
         ByVal dwCreationFlags As Long, _
         lpEnvironment As Any, _
         ByVal lpCurrentDriectory As String, _
         lpStartupInfo As STARTUPINFO, _
         lpProcessInformation As PROCESS_INFORMATION) As Long
 
      Private Declare Function OpenProcess Lib "kernel32.dll" _
         (ByVal dwAccess As Long, _
         ByVal fInherit As Integer, _
         ByVal hObject As Long) As Long
 
      Private Declare Function TerminateProcess Lib "kernel32" _
         (ByVal hProcess As Long, _
         ByVal uExitCode As Long) As Long
 
      Private Declare Function CloseHandle Lib "kernel32" _
         (ByVal hObject As Long) As Long
 
      Const SYNCHRONIZE = 1048576
      Const NORMAL_PRIORITY_CLASS = &H20&
 
      Private Sub Form_Click()
         Dim pInfo As PROCESS_INFORMATION
         Dim sInfo As STARTUPINFO
         Dim sNull As String
         Dim lSuccess As Long
         Dim lRetValue As Long
 
         sInfo.cb = Len(sInfo)
         lSuccess = CreateProcess(sNull, _
                                 "Calc.exe", _
                                 ByVal 0&, _
                                 ByVal 0&, _
                                 1&, _
                                 NORMAL_PRIORITY_CLASS, _
                                 ByVal 0&, _
                                 sNull, _
                                 sInfo, _
                                 pInfo)
 
         MsgBox "Calculator has been launched!"
 
         lRetValue = TerminateProcess(pInfo.hProcess, 0&)
         lRetValue = CloseHandle(pInfo.hThread)
         lRetValue = CloseHandle(pInfo.hProcess)
 
         MsgBox "Calculator has terminated!"
      End Sub

Try that ?

[Master Victor]

This is what I was working from on ShellExecute. (From www.vbapi.com) Is this incorrect then?
--------------------
If successful, the function returns a handle to the instance of the application which the function started. If an error occured, the function returns either 0 (indicating a lack of memory) or one of the following flags:

etc. etc.
--------------------

Also, how would I be able to tell if the program is running ?

I don't have that spy.exe program that is mentioned on these forums a few times and couldn't find it with a search... Anywhere to get it?

Or is there some other way to determine if the sys tray program is running?


EDIT: Oh yeah, the code you listed above works perfectly... Thanks alot! You made my day...

[da_silvy]

No probs man

I thought you still needed help until i read that edit

[ejudy]

can u figure out this?

Private Sub Timer1_Timer()
Static isFirstFrame As Boolean
If isFristFrame Then
TrayIcon.Icon = LoadPicture("pic1.ico")
Else
TrayIcon.Icon = LoadPicture("pic2.ico")
End If
modifyIcon 'method that call API to change icon in the tray
isFirstFrame = Not isFirstFrame
End Sub

Private Sub Form_Load()
Set trayIcon = New TrayIcon
Set trayIcon.OwnerForm = Me
trayIcon.Visible = True
Timer1.Enabled = true
Timer1.Interval = 250
End Sub

Private Sub Command1_Click()
MsgBox "test....."

End Sub

[ejudy]

sorry, err click....

My question: I use timer to get animated icon in my app(suppose 2 frames). It works well. But when I click button Command1 to do some operation, say a msgbox pop up, then the animation stop until that operation is finished. I hope the icon is always animated no matter what happen.

do u have any suggstion? thanks.