C#•13mo ago

I can't use notifyIcon on my c# console app

I am trying to make a notifyIcon by i have this: The type or namespace name 'NotifyIcon' could not be found (are you missing a using directive or an assembly reference?) and when i try to fix it using: using System.Windows.Forms; i have this error : The type or namespace name 'Forms' does not exist in the namespace 'System.Windows' (are you missing an assembly reference?)

23 Replies

RémiOP•13mo ago

I tryed dotnet add package System.Windows.Forms but it didn't work i am using vscode and dotnet 8

Pobiega•13mo ago

Yeah iirc it's not trivial to get s notification icon with a console app, as you need a window handle to.. handle clicks on the icon.

RémiOP•13mo ago

actually i just want a tray icon not even a console app, or any window

Pobiega•13mo ago

You can't "just" have a tray icon. They are not standalone things. You need an application that owns the icon and handles interactions with the icon

RémiOP•13mo ago

I don't any window if you prefer this is why i chose console app

Pobiega•13mo ago

A reasonable assumption, but a console app doesn't by default come with a window handle. And you need a window handle to have a tray icon. If you Google ".net tray icon console app" I'm sure you'll find plenty of ways to solve this

RémiOP•13mo ago

they are using System.Windows.Forms but i can't manage to make it works

Pobiega•13mo ago

Are they somewhat recent? Like .net 5 or newer? A guide using .net framework will likely not work

RémiOP•13mo ago

no I can't find something for .net 8

Pobiega•13mo ago

.net 8 is one month old bruh

RémiOP•13mo ago

do you have any idea how can add windw.Forms package to this project ?

Pobiega•13mo ago

You need to add a property to your csproj to include the winforms stuff, but I'm not sure that's enough here

RémiOP•13mo ago

How would u recommend me to do this little project ? I wanna change the tray icon if cap is activated

Pobiega•13mo ago

Cap?

RémiOP•13mo ago

when you write in CAPITALIZE or not

Pobiega•13mo ago

Caps lock

RémiOP•13mo ago

and shift

Pobiega•13mo ago

Idk, without any research what so ever... I'd probably just make a winforms app and hide the window That gives you a window handle and it's then trivial to implement the icon

RémiOP•13mo ago

I lookedd at that but didn't find how to hide the window

Pobiega•13mo ago

Isn't it just setting Visible to false on the form?

RémiOP•13mo ago

wdym ?

Pobiega•13mo ago

I mean exactly that :p a Form object has a Visible property, that can be set to false. this hides the window at least, thats what I remember. Maybe thats for controls in general and forms need to use .Hide(); not sure winforms isnt exactly relevant these days

RémiOP•12mo ago

I finaly mange to make it, but I have an issue

using System;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

class Program
{
    [DllImport("shell32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
    public static extern bool Shell_NotifyIcon(int dwMessage, NOTIFYICONDATA lpData);
    [DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
    static extern IntPtr GetConsoleWindow();
    [DllImport("user32.dll")]
    static extern bool ShowWindow(IntPtr hWnd, int nCmdShow);

    const int SW_HIDE = 0;
    const int SW_SHOW = 5;
    const int NIM_ADD = 0x00000000;
    const int NIM_DELETE = 0x00000002;
    const int NIF_MESSAGE = 0x00000001;
    const int NIF_ICON = 0x00000002;
    const int NIF_TIP = 0x00000004;

    [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, CharSet = CharSet.Unicode)]
    public struct NOTIFYICONDATA
    {
        public int cbSize;
        public IntPtr hWnd;
        public int uID;
        public int uFlags;
        public int uCallbackMessage;
        public IntPtr hIcon;
        [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValTStr, SizeConst = 128)]
        public string szTip;
    }

    static void Main()
    {
        NOTIFYICONDATA nid = new NOTIFYICONDATA();
        nid.cbSize = Marshal.SizeOf(nid);
        nid.hWnd = GetConsoleWindow();
        nid.uID = 1;
        nid.uFlags = NIF_MESSAGE | NIF_ICON | NIF_TIP;
        nid.uCallbackMessage = 0x8000;

        // Specify the path to your custom icon
        nid.hIcon = LoadIcon("C:\\Users\\SCD UM\\Desktop\\pro\\Caps\\sign_way_direction_arrow_up_icon_256189.ico");
        nid.szTip = "";

        Shell_NotifyIcon(NIM_ADD, nid);
        ShowWindow(GetConsoleWindow(), SW_HIDE);
        Console.WriteLine("Press Enter to exit.");
        Console.ReadLine();

        Shell_NotifyIcon(NIM_DELETE, nid);
        Thread.Sleep(5000);
    }

    // Load icon from file
    private static IntPtr LoadIcon(string path)
    {
        IntPtr hIcon = IntPtr.Zero;
        hIcon = new System.Drawing.Icon(path).Handle;
        return hIcon;
    }
}

using System;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

class Program
{
    [DllImport("shell32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
    public static extern bool Shell_NotifyIcon(int dwMessage, NOTIFYICONDATA lpData);
    [DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
    static extern IntPtr GetConsoleWindow();
    [DllImport("user32.dll")]
    static extern bool ShowWindow(IntPtr hWnd, int nCmdShow);

    const int SW_HIDE = 0;
    const int SW_SHOW = 5;
    const int NIM_ADD = 0x00000000;
    const int NIM_DELETE = 0x00000002;
    const int NIF_MESSAGE = 0x00000001;
    const int NIF_ICON = 0x00000002;
    const int NIF_TIP = 0x00000004;

    [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, CharSet = CharSet.Unicode)]
    public struct NOTIFYICONDATA
    {
        public int cbSize;
        public IntPtr hWnd;
        public int uID;
        public int uFlags;
        public int uCallbackMessage;
        public IntPtr hIcon;
        [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValTStr, SizeConst = 128)]
        public string szTip;
    }

    static void Main()
    {
        NOTIFYICONDATA nid = new NOTIFYICONDATA();
        nid.cbSize = Marshal.SizeOf(nid);
        nid.hWnd = GetConsoleWindow();
        nid.uID = 1;
        nid.uFlags = NIF_MESSAGE | NIF_ICON | NIF_TIP;
        nid.uCallbackMessage = 0x8000;

        // Specify the path to your custom icon
        nid.hIcon = LoadIcon("C:\\Users\\SCD UM\\Desktop\\pro\\Caps\\sign_way_direction_arrow_up_icon_256189.ico");
        nid.szTip = "";

        Shell_NotifyIcon(NIM_ADD, nid);
        ShowWindow(GetConsoleWindow(), SW_HIDE);
        Console.WriteLine("Press Enter to exit.");
        Console.ReadLine();

        Shell_NotifyIcon(NIM_DELETE, nid);
        Thread.Sleep(5000);
    }

    // Load icon from file
    private static IntPtr LoadIcon(string path)
    {
        IntPtr hIcon = IntPtr.Zero;
        hIcon = new System.Drawing.Icon(path).Handle;
        return hIcon;
    }
}

This works, but I can't hide the console app I tryed to set the output from console app to windows applcation but when I do that i don't have a tray icon So i try to hide the windw but it just minimised it

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I can't use notifyIcon on my c# console app