C# Creating A Program That Runs In The Background?

Question

How can I create a program that runs in the background, and can be accessed via the Windows' "Notification Area" (Where the date and time are in the lower right hand corner)?

In other words, I want to be able to create a program that runs and can toggle between having a display window and not having a display window.

Answer 1

Checkout this answer http://stackoverflow.com/questions/46918/whats-the-proper-way-to-minimize-to-tray-a-c-winforms-app/47743#47743 in a related question.

Answer 2

See this link: Traybar app

Answer 3

1. Drag and drop a NotifyIcon and a ContextMenuStrip.
2. Set de NotifyIcon's context menu to the one you added
3. Add 2 menuitems (e.g. Restore, Exit)

4. Set the Form event resize and do the following check

   private void MyForm_Resize(object sender, EventArgs e)
   {
       if (this.WindowState == FormWindowState.Minimized) this.Hide();
       else this.Show();
   }
   
   
   // you could also restore the window with a
   // double click on the notify icon
   private void notifyIcon1_MouseDoubleClick(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
   {
       this.Show();
       this.WindowState = FormWindowState.Normal;
   }
   

For a example can download this project

Don't worry about the right click event, the NotifyIcon will automatically detect it and show the ContextMenu