Difference between revisions of "System Tray"

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{{VB6}}
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== To make System Tray Icon and Popup Menu ==
 
== To make System Tray Icon and Popup Menu ==
  
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The hWnd property links the icon to a specific form - where this procedure in a module the code would need to be changed to reference an actual form (Me keyword only works in forms as a reference to the form that the code in contained in).
 
The hWnd property links the icon to a specific form - where this procedure in a module the code would need to be changed to reference an actual form (Me keyword only works in forms as a reference to the form that the code in contained in).
  
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The uCallBackMessage property lets the system know when the mouse moves over the icon start checking for interaction - I never really played with this to see what else could be done, but there are possibly other ways of checkingfor interaction.
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The uCallBackMessage property lets the system know when the mouse moves over the icon start checking for interaction - I never really played with this to see what else could be done, but there are possibly other ways of checking for interaction.
  
 
The hIcon property provides a means to change the icon on the system tray at runtime, but the previous icon must be removed to show the new one.
 
The hIcon property provides a means to change the icon on the system tray at runtime, but the previous icon must be removed to show the new one.
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End Sub</pre>
 
End Sub</pre>
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=== Step three: Add code to add icon and remove icon from the system tray ===
 
=== Step three: Add code to add icon and remove icon from the system tray ===
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End Sub</pre>
 
End Sub</pre>
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=== Step four: Interact with system tray icon ===
 
=== Step four: Interact with system tray icon ===
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End Sub</pre>
 
End Sub</pre>
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=== Step five: Add a popup-menu ===
 
=== Step five: Add a popup-menu ===
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<pre>Case WM_RBUTTONUP
 
<pre>Case WM_RBUTTONUP
 
     Call PopupMenu(mnuFile, vbPopupMenuRightAlign)</pre>
 
     Call PopupMenu(mnuFile, vbPopupMenuRightAlign)</pre>
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=== Step six: Interact with popup-menu ===
 
=== Step six: Interact with popup-menu ===
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End Sub</pre>
 
End Sub</pre>
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== To Fix Popup Menu not closing problem ==
 
== To Fix Popup Menu not closing problem ==
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     End Sub
 
     End Sub
  
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'''Note:''' VB does not get the correct size for NOTIFYICONDATAW when using the Len() function as you normally would to pass the size of a structure to an API.  It return 940 instead of 936, causing the call to fail.  This is the reason why the literal value is used there for nidW.cbSize.
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'''Note:''' VB gets the ''"wrong"'' size for NOTIFYICONDATAW when using the Len() function as you normally would to pass the size of a structure to an API.  It return 940 instead of 936, causing the call to fail.  This is the reason why the literal value is used there for nidW.cbSize.

Latest revision as of 21:34, 10 June 2006

float
 This article is based on Visual Basic 6. Find other Visual Basic 6 articles.

To make System Tray Icon and Popup Menu

Step one: Declare necessary items

This step is really easy - copy and paste. There isn't anything to do here, but is required to be exact (to my knowledge) so as to run.

Code: 

Option Explicit

'User-defined variable to pass to the Shell_NotiyIcon function
Private Type NOTIFYICONDATA
    cbSize As Long
    hWnd As Long
    uId As Long
    uFlags As Long
    uCallBackMessage As Long
    hIcon As Long
    szTip As String * 64
End Type

'Constants for the Shell_NotifyIcon function
Private Const NIM_ADD = &H0
Private Const NIM_MODIFY = &H1
Private Const NIM_DELETE = &H2

Private Const WM_MOUSEMOVE = &H200

Private Const NIF_MESSAGE = &H1
Private Const NIF_ICON = &H2
Private Const NIF_TIP = &H4

Private Const WM_LBUTTONDBLCLK = &H203
Private Const WM_LBUTTONDOWN = &H201
Private Const WM_LBUTTONUP = &H202
Private Const WM_RBUTTONDBLCLK = &H206
Private Const WM_RBUTTONDOWN = &H204
Private Const WM_RBUTTONUP = &H205

'Declare the API function call
Private Declare Function Shell_NotifyIcon Lib "shell32" Alias "Shell_NotifyIconA" _
    (ByVal dwMessage As Long, pnid As NOTIFYICONDATA) As Boolean
    
Dim nid As NOTIFYICONDATA

Step two: Create add icon procedure

In this step, we're creating the add icon procedure as a separate procedure so that we can:

  • Specify a tooltip on-the-fly
  • Call the add icon procedure from where ever we choose

Important points to note are the hWnd property, the uCallBackMessage property and the hIcon property.

The hWnd property links the icon to a specific form - where this procedure in a module the code would need to be changed to reference an actual form (Me keyword only works in forms as a reference to the form that the code in contained in).

The uCallBackMessage property lets the system know when the mouse moves over the icon start checking for interaction - I never really played with this to see what else could be done, but there are possibly other ways of checking for interaction.

The hIcon property provides a means to change the icon on the system tray at runtime, but the previous icon must be removed to show the new one.

Code: 

Public Sub AddIcon(ByVal ToolTip As String)

    On Error GoTo ErrorHandler
    
    'Add icon to system tray
    With nid
        .cbSize = Len(nid)
        .hWnd = Me.hWnd
        .uId = vbNull
        .uFlags = NIF_ICON Or NIF_TIP Or NIF_MESSAGE
        .uCallBackMessage = WM_MOUSEMOVE
        .hIcon = Me.Icon
        .szTip = ToolTip & vbNullChar
    End With
    Call Shell_NotifyIcon(NIM_ADD, nid)
    
Exit Sub
ErrorHandler: 'Display error message
    Screen.MousePointer = vbDefault
    MsgBox Err.Description, vbInformation, App.ProductName & " - " & Me.Caption

End Sub

Step three: Add code to add icon and remove icon from the system tray

Very straight-forward. Because we've created an add icon procedure, it's one line to add the icon (and modify the tooltip) and one line to remove it.

Code: 

Private Sub Form_Load()

    Call AddIcon("This would be a tooltip...")
    
End Sub

Private Sub Form_QueryUnload(Cancel As Integer, UnloadMode As Integer)

    'Remove icon from system tray
    Call Shell_NotifyIcon(NIM_DELETE, nid)

End Sub

Step four: Interact with system tray icon

The real magic begins! Below I've a select case to check what the user does on the icon - here we see that if the user releases the left mouse button over the icon, the form is either minimised and hidden or restored and shown depending on the current windowstate.

Why hide or show the form?

Hiding the form removes the icon on the taskbar (between start button on left and Clock on right) so that only the system tray icon is visible.

Code: 

Private Sub Form_MouseMove(Button As Integer, Shift As Integer, X As Single, Y As Single)

Dim msg As Long

    On Error GoTo ErrorHandler
    
    'Respond to user interaction
    msg = X / Screen.TwipsPerPixelX
    Select Case msg
            
        Case WM_LBUTTONDBLCLK
            'nothing
    
        Case WM_LBUTTONDOWN
            'nothing
        
        Case WM_LBUTTONUP
            If Me.WindowState = vbMinimized Then
                Me.WindowState = vbNormal
                Me.Show
            Else
                Me.WindowState = vbMinimized
                Me.Hide
            End If
            
        Case WM_RBUTTONDBLCLK
            'nothing
        
        Case WM_RBUTTONDOWN
            'nothing
        
        Case WM_RBUTTONUP
            'nothing
            
    End Select
    
Exit Sub
ErrorHandler: 'Display error message
    Screen.MousePointer = vbDefault
    MsgBox Err.Description, vbInformation, App.ProductName & " - " & Me.Caption

End Sub

Step five: Add a popup-menu

Making further use of the system tray icon is usually via a popup-menu - here's how to do that! After creating a menu with the following structure: 

 File
 -Option1
 -Option2
 ----------
 -Exit

I can use the popup-menu function to have the options appear where the mouse is. By adding the following code to the Form_MouseMove event. Doing so means a popup-menu appears when the user right-clicks on the system tray icon.

Code: 

Case WM_RBUTTONUP
    Call PopupMenu(mnuFile, vbPopupMenuRightAlign)

Step six: Interact with popup-menu

Here, if you've any experience working with menus you'll know that it's very straight-forward: depending on the index of the menu clicked, do a specific bit of code (see below).

Code: 

Private Sub mnuFileArray_Click(Index As Integer)

    Select Case Index
        Case 0 'Option 1
            MsgBox "You've clicked on option1 - good for you!", _
                   vbInformation, App.ProductName & Me.Caption
                   
        Case 1 'Option 2
            MsgBox "You've clicked on option2 - great!", _
                   vbInformation, App.ProductName & Me.Caption
                   
        Case 4 'Option 1
            Unload Me
            End
    
    End Select
    
End Sub

To Fix Popup Menu not closing problem

Problem: To close the popup menu when clicked anywhere outside the menu.

Solution: You must set the current window as the "foreground window"

Do the following...

In general declaration insert the following: 

Private Declare Function GetWindowThreadProcessId Lib "user32" (ByVal hwnd As Long,
lpdwProcessId As Long) As Long

Before you can display your menu you have put in these lines of code.... 

Dim hProcess As Long
GetWindowThreadProcessId hwnd, hProcess
AppActivate hProcess

Now, call you menu. For example, my code followed was: 

Me.PopupMenu mnuContext

Showing 'Balloon' Tips

In order to show the nice little 'balloon' tips that you often see programs creating in Windows, you have to use the NOTIFYICONDATAW structure (whereas usually you would be using the NOTIFYICONDATAA structure, signifying ANSI rather than Unicode).

Here's the code: 

   Public Type NOTIFYICONDATAW
      cbSize As Long             ' 4
      hwnd As Long               ' 8
      uid As Long                ' 12
      uFlags As Long             ' 16
      uCallbackMessage As Long   ' 20
      hIcon As Long              ' 24
      szTip(0 To 255) As Byte    ' 280
      dwState As Long            ' 284
      dwStateMask As Long        ' 288
      szInfo(0 To 511) As Byte   ' 800
      uTimeOutOrVersion As Long  ' 804
      szInfoTitle(0 To 127) As Byte ' 932
      dwInfoFlags As Long        ' 936
      guidItem As Long           ' 940
   End Type
   
   Public Declare Function Shell_NotifyIconW Lib "shell32.dll" (ByVal dwMessage As Long, ByRef lpData As NOTIFYICONDATAW) As Long
   
   Public Enum eBalloonIconTypes
      NIIF_NONE = 0
      NIIF_INFO = 1
      NIIF_WARNING = 2
      NIIF_ERROR = 3
      NIIF_NOSOUND = &H10
   End Enum
   
   Public Sub ShowBalloonTip(ByVal sMessage As String, Optional ByVal sTitle As String, Optional ByVal eIcon As eBalloonIconTypes, Optional ByVal lTimeOutMs = 30000)
       Dim nidW As NOTIFYICONDATAW
       
       With nidW
           .cbSize = 936
           stringToArray sMessage, .szInfo, 512
           stringToArray sTitle, .szInfoTitle, 128
           .uTimeOutOrVersion = lTimeOutMs
           .dwInfoFlags = eIcon
           .uFlags = NIF_INFO
           .hwnd = Me.hWnd
           
           Shell_NotifyIconW NIM_MODIFY, nidW
       End With
   End Sub

Note: VB gets the "wrong" size for NOTIFYICONDATAW when using the Len() function as you normally would to pass the size of a structure to an API. It return 940 instead of 936, causing the call to fail. This is the reason why the literal value is used there for nidW.cbSize.

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