How to use the Windows Forms NotifyIcon component in Visual Basic .NET to display an icon for an application in the notification area (903898)

INTRODUCTION

This article describes how to use the Windows Forms NotifyIcon component in Microsoft Visual Basic .NET. The NotifyIcon component displays an icon for an application in the notification area. This article contains a code sample that demonstrates how to do the following:

• Use the NotifyIcon component to display an icon for an application in the notification area in Microsoft Windows XP.
• Create a shortcut menu.
• Use the Click event to minimize the application in the notification area.

Important Windows XP lets you display status or notification information in the notification area. Because the notification area is a shared resource, you should only display information that is global or that must be monitored by the user when the user works with other applications. Do not automatically display an icon in the notification area just to provide convenient access to the application's features or properties. These icons add clutter to a potentially already cluttered area of the screen. You can include an option for users to display an icon in the notification area. However, always configure this option to be off by default.

Code sample

The following code sample demonstrates how to minimize an application that was developed in Visual Basic .NET and display an icon for the application in the notification area in Windows XP. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Start Visual Basic .NET, and then create a new Windows application. By default, Form1.vb is created.
2. Paste the following code into Form1.vb.

   Public Class Form1
       Inherits System.Windows.Forms.Form
   
   #Region " Windows Form Designer generated code "
   
       Public Sub New()
           MyBase.New()
   
           'This call is required by the Windows Form Designer.
           InitializeComponent()
   
           'Add any initialization after the InitializeComponent() call.
           NotifyIcon1.Icon = New Icon("appicon.ico")
   
       End Sub
   
       'Form overrides dispose to clean up the component list.
       Protected Overloads Overrides Sub Dispose(ByVal disposing As Boolean)
           If disposing Then
               If Not (components Is Nothing) Then
                   components.Dispose()
               End If
           End If
           MyBase.Dispose(disposing)
       End Sub
   
       'The following is required by the Windows Form Designer.
       Private components As System.ComponentModel.IContainer
   
       'Note: The following procedure is required by the Windows Form Designer.
       'It can be modified by using the Windows Form Designer.  
       'Do not modify it by using the code editor.
       Friend WithEvents MainMenu1 As System.Windows.Forms.MainMenu
       Friend WithEvents NotifyIcon1 As System.Windows.Forms.NotifyIcon
       Friend WithEvents mnuMenu As System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem
       Friend WithEvents mnuCreateIcon As System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem
       Friend WithEvents mnuExit As System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem
       Friend WithEvents MenuItem1 As System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem
       Friend WithEvents MenuItem2 As System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem
       Friend WithEvents MenuItem3 As System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem
       Friend WithEvents mnuRemIcon As System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem
       Friend WithEvents mnuAbout As System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem
       Friend WithEvents btnClickHere As System.Windows.Forms.Button
       Friend WithEvents mnuHideForm As System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem
       Friend WithEvents ContextMenu1 As System.Windows.Forms.ContextMenu
       Friend WithEvents cmnuExit As System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem
       <System.Diagnostics.DebuggerStepThrough()> Private Sub InitializeComponent()
           Me.components = New System.ComponentModel.Container
           Dim resources As System.Resources.ResourceManager = New System.Resources.ResourceManager(GetType(Form1))
           Me.MainMenu1 = New System.Windows.Forms.MainMenu
           Me.mnuMenu = New System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem
           Me.mnuAbout = New System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem
           Me.mnuCreateIcon = New System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem
           Me.mnuHideForm = New System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem
           Me.mnuRemIcon = New System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem
           Me.mnuExit = New System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem
           Me.NotifyIcon1 = New System.Windows.Forms.NotifyIcon(Me.components)
           Me.ContextMenu1 = New System.Windows.Forms.ContextMenu
           Me.cmnuExit = New System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem
           Me.MenuItem1 = New System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem
           Me.MenuItem3 = New System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem
           Me.btnClickHere = New System.Windows.Forms.Button
           Me.SuspendLayout()
           '
           'MainMenu1
           '
           Me.MainMenu1.MenuItems.AddRange(New System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem() {Me.mnuMenu})
           '
           'mnuMenu
           '
           Me.mnuMenu.Index = 0
           Me.mnuMenu.MenuItems.AddRange(New System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem() {Me.mnuAbout, Me.mnuCreateIcon, Me.mnuHideForm, Me.mnuRemIcon, Me.mnuExit})
           Me.mnuMenu.Text = "&Menu"
           '
           'mnuAbout
           '
           Me.mnuAbout.Index = 0
           Me.mnuAbout.Text = "&About the Notification Area"
           '
           'mnuCreateIcon
           '
           Me.mnuCreateIcon.Index = 1
           Me.mnuCreateIcon.Text = "&Create NotifyIcon"
           '
           'mnuHideForm
           '
           Me.mnuHideForm.Index = 2
           Me.mnuHideForm.Text = "&Hide Form"
           '
           'mnuRemIcon
           '
           Me.mnuRemIcon.Index = 3
           Me.mnuRemIcon.Text = "&Remove Icon"
           '
           'mnuExit
           '
           Me.mnuExit.Index = 4
           Me.mnuExit.Text = "&Exit"
           '
           'NotifyIcon1
           '
           Me.NotifyIcon1.ContextMenu = Me.ContextMenu1
           Me.NotifyIcon1.Text = ""
           '
           'ContextMenu1
           '
           Me.ContextMenu1.MenuItems.AddRange(New System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem() {Me.cmnuExit})
           '
           'cmnuExit
           '
           Me.cmnuExit.Index = 0
           Me.cmnuExit.Text = "Exit"
           '
           'MenuItem1
           '
           Me.MenuItem1.Index = -1
           Me.MenuItem1.Text = "Shrink"
           '
           'MenuItem3
           '
           Me.MenuItem3.Index = -1
           Me.MenuItem3.Text = "Exit"
           '
           'btnClickHere
           '
           Me.btnClickHere.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(96, 24)
           Me.btnClickHere.Name = "btnClickHere"
           Me.btnClickHere.TabIndex = 0
           Me.btnClickHere.Text = "Click Here"
           '
           'Form1
           '
           Me.AutoScaleBaseSize = New System.Drawing.Size(5, 13)
           Me.ClientSize = New System.Drawing.Size(292, 266)
           Me.Controls.Add(Me.btnClickHere)
           Me.Menu = Me.MainMenu1
           Me.Name = "Form1"
           Me.Text = "Form1"
           Me.ResumeLayout(False)
   
       End Sub
   
   #End Region
   
   
   
   
   
       Private Sub MenuItem5_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles mnuAbout.Click
           Dim Caption As String = "Warning"
           MessageBox.Show("The notification area should only be used as a way to provide information to a user." _
           & " As a best practice, you should not use an icon in the notification area as a shortcut to start an " _
           & "application or remove the application from the taskbar.", Caption, MessageBoxButtons.OK)
           mnuCreateIcon.Enabled = True
           mnuRemIcon.Enabled = True
           mnuExit.Enabled = True
   
   
       End Sub
   
       Private Sub mnuCreateIcon_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles mnuCreateIcon.Click
   
           Me.NotifyIcon1.Visible = True
           btnClickHere.Visible = True
           Me.NotifyIcon1.Text = "Form1 is running"
   
       End Sub
   
       Private Sub mnuExit_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles mnuExit.Click
           Me.Close()
   
       End Sub
   
       Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
           mnuCreateIcon.Enabled = False
           mnuRemIcon.Enabled = False
           mnuExit.Enabled = False
           btnClickHere.Visible = False
           mnuHideForm.Enabled = False
   
       End Sub
   
   
       Private Sub cmnuRestore_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)
           Me.Show()
   
       End Sub
   
   
       Private Sub mnuRemIcon_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles mnuRemIcon.Click
           Me.NotifyIcon1.Visible = False
   
       End Sub
   
   
       Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnClickHere.Click
           Dim Caption As String = "Notice"
           MessageBox.Show("Check the NotifyIcon in the notification area", Caption, MessageBoxButtons.OK)
           Me.NotifyIcon1.Text = "You clicked the button"
           btnClickHere.Visible = False
           mnuHideForm.Enabled = True
   
       End Sub
   
   
       Private Sub mnuHideForm_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles mnuHideForm.Click
           Dim Caption As String = "Notice"
           MessageBox.Show("You can quit by right-clicking NotifyIcon and then by clicking Exit", Caption, MessageBoxButtons.OK)
           Me.Hide()
           Me.NotifyIcon1.Text = "Form1 is running in the background"
       End Sub
   
   
   
   
       Private Sub cmnuExit_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles cmnuExit.Click
           Me.Close()
       End Sub
   End Class
   

3. To run the application, press the F5 key.

Troubleshooting

You must have an .ico file that is named Appicon.ico in the application folder.