Is it possible to display a wpf window without an icon in the title bar?

Question

As we all know, if the icon for a wpf window is undefined then the default icon is displayed. I want to display a window without any icon in the title bar. I realise that I could use a blank image, however this would cause the text in the title bar to be offset to the right.

Does anyone know of a way to completely remove the icon?

(I tried searching for a similar question but couldn't find anything.)

Answer 1

No, this doesn't seem to be possible. Quoting from the documentation of the Icon property (emphasis mine):

A WPF window always displays an icon. When one is not provided by setting Icon, WPF chooses an icon to display based on the following rules:

1. Use the assembly icon, if specified.
2. If the assembly icon is not specified, use the default Microsoft Windows icon.

If you use Icon to specify a custom window icon, you can restore the default application icon by setting Icon to null.

So, apparently a completely transparent icon seems to be your best bet here. Or perhaps hack around all this by using Windows API functions to set the appropriate style on the window. But this may interfere with WPF's window management.

Answer 2

My first suggestion would be don't do it. In WinForms you can use types of formborderstyles to create a dialog box that has no icon, but only because that is a Windows standard. Only forms with those specific border types should have no icon; it's what users expect.

Answer 3

While not exactly a proper solution, you could try one of the following things:

1. Setting the WindowStyle-Property to ToolWindow will make the Icon disappear, but the title bar (obviously) will be smaller.

2. Write a ControlTemplate for the whole Window. Depending on if the Window has to look like a "real" Window, there'd be much effort into trying to recreate the default Style in the Template.

Answer 4

Simple, add this code to your window:

[DllImport("user32.dll")]
static extern uint GetWindowLong(IntPtr hWnd, int nIndex);

[DllImport("user32.dll")]
static extern int SetWindowLong(IntPtr hWnd, int nIndex, uint dwNewLong);

private const int GWL_STYLE = -16;

private const uint WS_SYSMENU = 0x80000;

protected override void OnSourceInitialized(EventArgs e)
{
    IntPtr hwnd = new System.Windows.Interop.WindowInteropHelper(this).Handle;
    SetWindowLong(hwnd, GWL_STYLE,
        GetWindowLong(hwnd, GWL_STYLE) & (0xFFFFFFFF ^ WS_SYSMENU));

    base.OnSourceInitialized(e);
}

Answer 5

I'm trying to create a Aero Wizard in WPF, so I have to hide the window's icon, too.To do is I am using the Win 32 API, as shown e.g. here. This works fine when debugging the appliocation inside Visual Studio, but when I start the executable wihout debugging, the Icon is still displayed.

Has anyone an idea what causes this?

Answer 6

Why to do this (just to put the problem in perspective).

The Vista UX guidelines state:

Modal error message dialogs don't have title bar icons. Title bar icons are used as a visual distinction between primary windows and secondary windows.