Is there a way to make a console window flash in the task bar programatically

Question

Basically I made console app that performs some task that takes a few minutes. I'd like to have it flash in the taskbar to let me know when it's done doing its thing.

Answer 1

Using the answer that @Zack posted and another one to find the handle of a console app I came up with this and it works great.

class Program
{
    [DllImport("user32.dll")]
    [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
    static extern bool FlashWindowEx(ref FLASHWINFO pwfi);

    [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
    public struct FLASHWINFO
    {
        public UInt32 cbSize;
        public IntPtr hwnd;
        public UInt32 dwFlags;
        public UInt32 uCount;
        public Int32 dwTimeout;
    }

    public const UInt32 FLASHW_ALL = 3;

    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Flashing NOW");
        FlashWindow(Process.GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle);
        Console.WriteLine("Press any key to continue");
        Console.ReadKey();
    }

    private static void FlashWindow(IntPtr hWnd)
    {
        FLASHWINFO fInfo = new FLASHWINFO();

        fInfo.cbSize = Convert.ToUInt32(Marshal.SizeOf(fInfo));
        fInfo.hwnd = hWnd;
        fInfo.dwFlags = FLASHW_ALL;
        fInfo.uCount = UInt32.MaxValue;
        fInfo.dwTimeout = 0;

        FlashWindowEx(ref fInfo);
    }
}

Answer 2

Combining the answer in the question linked in @Zack's comment and getting the hwnd of a console window using this I was able to get it working. This is the class I created:

public static class FlashWindow
{
    [DllImport("user32.dll")]
    [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
    static extern bool FlashWindowEx(ref FLASHWINFO pwfi);
    [DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
    static extern IntPtr GetConsoleWindow();

    [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
    public struct FLASHWINFO
    {
        public UInt32 cbSize;
        public IntPtr hwnd;
        public UInt32 dwFlags;
        public UInt32 uCount;
        public UInt32 dwTimeout;
    }

    public const UInt32 FLASHW_ALL = 3;

    public static void Flash()
    {
        FLASHWINFO fInfo = new FLASHWINFO();

        fInfo.cbSize = Convert.ToUInt32(Marshal.SizeOf(fInfo));
        fInfo.hwnd = GetConsoleWindow();
        fInfo.dwFlags = FLASHW_ALL;
        fInfo.uCount = UInt32.MaxValue;
        fInfo.dwTimeout = 0;

        FlashWindowEx(ref fInfo);
    }
}

It doesn't ever stop flashing until it's closed but that wasn't important for my purposes.

Answer 3

I read that it wasn't possible to get the window handle of a console window through any direct means, but it seems to be pretty simple in .NET actually. So, it's pretty much the same as this question:

class Program
{
    [DllImport("user32.dll")]
    [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
    static extern bool FlashWindowEx(ref FLASHWINFO pwfi);

    [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
    public struct FLASHWINFO
    {
        public UInt32 cbSize;
        public IntPtr hwnd;
        public UInt32 dwFlags;
        public UInt32 uCount;
        public UInt32 dwTimeout;
    }

    public const UInt32 FLASHW_STOP = 0;
    public const UInt32 FLASHW_CAPTION = 1;
    public const UInt32 FLASHW_TRAY = 2;
    public const UInt32 FLASHW_ALL = 3;
    public const UInt32 FLASHW_TIMER = 4;
    public const UInt32 FLASHW_TIMERNOFG = 12; 

    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        // Give you a few seconds to alt-tab away :)
        Thread.Sleep(2000);

        // Flash on the task bar, until the window becomes the foreground window.
        // Constants for other behaviors are defined above.
        FLASHWINFO fInfo = new FLASHWINFO();
        fInfo.cbSize = Convert.ToUInt32(Marshal.SizeOf(fInfo));
        fInfo.hwnd = Process.GetCurrentProcess().MainWindowHandle;
        fInfo.dwFlags = FLASHW_TRAY | FLASHW_TIMERNOFG;
        fInfo.uCount = UInt32.MaxValue;
        fInfo.dwTimeout = 0;
        FlashWindowEx(ref fInfo);

        // Wait for input so the app doesn't finish right away.
        Console.ReadLine();
    }
}