SHOW IN SYSTEM TRAY

How do i put my program in the system tray?

OK follow this:
You need to make:
1) picturebox (picture1)
2) Place a image into it (size of image should be approximately size of an icon)
3) Place this code into module
Declare Function Shell_NotifyIconA Lib "SHELL32" (byval dwMessage as Long, lpData as NOTIFYICONDATA) as Long

Type NOTIFYICONDATA
cbze as Long
hwnd as Long
exid as Long
flags as Long
backmessage as Long
icon as Long
tip as string * 64
End Type

Global Const IcD_ADD = &H0&
Global Const IcD_MODIFY = &H1
Global Const IcD_DELETE = &H2
Global Const IcD_BACKMESSAGE = &H1
Global Const IcD_ICON = &H2
Global Const IcD_TIP = &H4
Global Const WM_MOUSEMOVE = &H200
Global IcD as NOTIFYICONDATA




4) Place this code into form

private Sub Form_Load()
IcD.cbze = len(IcD)
IcD.hwnd = Picture1.hwnd
IcD.exid = 0
IcD.exid = IcD.exid + 1
IcD.flags = IcD_BACKMESSAGE Or IcD_ICON Or IcD_TIP
IcD.icon = Picture1.Picture
IcD.tip = "tooltip for picture1 (tray icon)" + Chr$(0)
IcD.backmessage = WM_MOUSEMOVE

lResult = Shell_NotifyIconA(IcDM_ADD, IcD)
End Sub


private Sub Form_Unload(Cancel as Integer)
Shell_NotifyIconA IcD_DELETE, IcD 'removes the icon from the tray

End Sub

private Sub Picture1_MouseMove(Button as Integer, Shift as Integer, X as Single, Y as Single)
Dim tray as Long
tray = (X And &HFF) * &H100

Select Case tray
Case 0 'mouse moves

Case &HF00 'left mouse button down
MsgBox "left mouse button down"
Case &H1E00 'left mouse button up

Case &H2D00 'left mouse button double click

Case &H3C00 'right mouse button down
MsgBox "right mouse button down"
Case &H4B00 'right mouse button up

Case &H5A00 'right mouse button double click

End Select
End Sub



Ok on Form_Load image in picture1 goes into systemtray, on Form_Unload it gets removed, on Picture1_MouseMove you specify what to do on mouse clicks, like popup menu or unload form, etc.

I have always wondered about doing that, but never got around to asking. This is excellent!

Two little things though...
The lResult variable isn't defined, and in the line
"lResult = Shell_NotifyIconA(IcDM_ADD, IcD)"
the "IcDM_ADD" is wrong, it should be "IcD_ADD" as it is declared in the global section above.

These aren't major, and some people may never notice them, but i always have Option Explicit on and so i happened to catch it.

Thank you thank you thank you!!

John

John Pirkey
MCSD
www.ShallowWaterSystems.com

This is a great technique. One thing though : How do you add the "pop" up menu when you right-click on the icon for example?

This was my first questions as well. It turns out that, it is as easy as doing it regularly. In the series of case statements to test for the action of the mouse above, for the test of the right mouse click paste this code:

PopupMenu mnuPopupMenu

where mnuPopupMenu is the name of root menu item you want to show up on when the user right clicks the icon in the system tray. mnuPopupMenu would then be created on the form with the picturebox. if you would rather use a menu list from another form, just prefix the menu name with the name of the form (eg. mdiMain.mnuPopupMenu).

Hope this helps,

John

John Pirkey
MCSD
www.ShallowWaterSystems.com