.Net Console Application in System tray

Question

Is there a way I can put a console application in the system tray when minimizing ?

Answer 1

Yes, you can do this. Create a Windows Forms application and add a NotifyIcon component.

Then use the following methods (found on MSDN) to allocate and display a Console

[DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
public static extern Boolean AllocConsole();

[DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
public static extern Boolean FreeConsole();

[DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
public static extern Boolean AttachConsole(Int32 ProcessId);

When your console is onscreen, capture the minimize button click and use it to hide the console window and update the Notify icon. You can find your window using the following methods (found on MSDN):

[DllImport("user32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
static extern IntPtr FindWindow(string lpClassName, string lpWindowName);

// Find window by Caption only. Note you must pass IntPtr.Zero as the first parameter.
// Also consider whether you're being lazy or not.
[DllImport("user32.dll", EntryPoint="FindWindow", SetLastError = true)]
static extern IntPtr FindWindowByCaption(IntPtr ZeroOnly, string lpWindowName);

Be sure to call FreeConsole whenever you're ready to close the app.

Answer 2

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

static NotifyIcon notifyIcon = new NotifyIcon();
static bool Visible = true;
static void Main(string[] args)
{
    notifyIcon.DoubleClick += (s, e) =>
    {
        Visible = !Visible;
        SetConsoleWindowVisibility(Visible);
    };
    notifyIcon.Icon = Icon.ExtractAssociatedIcon(Application.ExecutablePath);
    notifyIcon.Visible = true;
    notifyIcon.Text = Application.ProductName;

    var contextMenu = new ContextMenuStrip();
    contextMenu.Items.Add("Exit", null, (s, e) => { Application.Exit(); });
    notifyIcon.ContextMenuStrip = contextMenu;

    Console.WriteLine("Running!");

    // Standard message loop to catch click-events on notify icon
    // Code after this method will be running only after Application.Exit()
    Application.Run(); 

    notifyIcon.Visible = false;
}

[DllImport("user32.dll")]
public static extern IntPtr FindWindow(string lpClassName, string lpWindowName);
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
static extern bool ShowWindow(IntPtr hWnd, int nCmdShow);
public static void SetConsoleWindowVisibility(bool visible)
{
    IntPtr hWnd = FindWindow(null, Console.Title);
    if (hWnd != IntPtr.Zero)
    {
        if (visible) ShowWindow(hWnd, 1); //1 = SW_SHOWNORMAL           
        else ShowWindow(hWnd, 0); //0 = SW_HIDE               
    }
}

Answer 3

A console has no window to minimize by itself. It runs in a command prompt window. You might hook the window messages and hide the window on minimize. In your application it's possible to add a tray icon just the same as you would do it in a windows application. Well, somehow this smells...

But: I'm not sure why you want to do this. A console application is by design different to a windows application. Hence, maybe it's an option to change the app to be a windows form application?

Answer 4

[DllImport("user32.dll")]
internal static extern bool SendMessage(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, Int32 wParam, Int32 lParam);
static Int32 WM_SYSCOMMAND = 0x0112;
static Int32 SC_MINIMIZE = 0x0F020;

static void Main(string[] args)
{
    SendMessage(Process.GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle, WM_SYSCOMMAND, SC_MINIMIZE, 0);
}

Answer 5

I use TrayRunner for exactly this purpose. Essentially, it wraps a console application capturing all output. But when minimized, it minimizes to the system tray instead of the task bar. You can even customize what icon to show when minimized. I use it for things like Tomcat or Apache to free up space on my taskbar without running them as Windows Services.

Answer 6

You can't hide a console application because it does not actually have a window to hide, seeing as how it is running in the console (the console itself is just a window of the console, not the app running in it)