NotifyIcon Class

Definition

Specifies a component that creates an icon in the notification area. This class cannot be inherited.

public sealed class NotifyIcon : System.ComponentModel.Component
Inheritance

Examples

The following code example demonstrates using the NotifyIcon class to display an icon for an application in the notification area. The example demonstrates setting the Icon, ContextMenu, Text, and Visible properties and handling the DoubleClick event. A ContextMenu with an Exit item on it is assigned to the NotifyIcon.ContextMenu property, which allows the user to close the application. When the DoubleClick event occurs, the application form is activated by calling the Form.Activate method.

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

public class Form1 : System.Windows.Forms.Form
{
    private System.Windows.Forms.NotifyIcon notifyIcon1;
    private System.Windows.Forms.ContextMenu contextMenu1;
    private System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem menuItem1;
    private System.ComponentModel.IContainer components;

    [STAThread]
    static void Main() 
    {
        Application.Run(new Form1());
    }

    public Form1()
    {
        this.components = new System.ComponentModel.Container();
        this.contextMenu1 = new System.Windows.Forms.ContextMenu();
        this.menuItem1 = new System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem();

        // Initialize contextMenu1
        this.contextMenu1.MenuItems.AddRange(
                    new System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem[] {this.menuItem1});

        // Initialize menuItem1
        this.menuItem1.Index = 0;
        this.menuItem1.Text = "E&xit";
        this.menuItem1.Click += new System.EventHandler(this.menuItem1_Click);

        // Set up how the form should be displayed.
        this.ClientSize = new System.Drawing.Size(292, 266);
        this.Text = "Notify Icon Example";

        // Create the NotifyIcon.
        this.notifyIcon1 = new System.Windows.Forms.NotifyIcon(this.components);

        // The Icon property sets the icon that will appear
        // in the systray for this application.
        notifyIcon1.Icon = new Icon("appicon.ico");

        // The ContextMenu property sets the menu that will
        // appear when the systray icon is right clicked.
        notifyIcon1.ContextMenu = this.contextMenu1;

        // The Text property sets the text that will be displayed,
        // in a tooltip, when the mouse hovers over the systray icon.
        notifyIcon1.Text = "Form1 (NotifyIcon example)";
        notifyIcon1.Visible = true;

        // Handle the DoubleClick event to activate the form.
        notifyIcon1.DoubleClick += new System.EventHandler(this.notifyIcon1_DoubleClick);
    }

    protected override void Dispose( bool disposing )
    {
        // Clean up any components being used.
        if( disposing )
            if (components != null)
                components.Dispose();            

        base.Dispose( disposing );
    }

    private void notifyIcon1_DoubleClick(object Sender, EventArgs e) 
    {
        // Show the form when the user double clicks on the notify icon.

        // Set the WindowState to normal if the form is minimized.
        if (this.WindowState == FormWindowState.Minimized)
            this.WindowState = FormWindowState.Normal;

        // Activate the form.
        this.Activate();
    }

    private void menuItem1_Click(object Sender, EventArgs e) {
        // Close the form, which closes the application.
        this.Close();
    }
}

Remarks

Icons in the notification area are shortcuts to processes that are running in the background of a computer, such as a virus protection program or a volume control. These processes do not come with their own user interfaces. The NotifyIcon class provides a way to program in this functionality. The Icon property defines the icon that appears in the notification area. Pop-up menus for an icon are addressed with the ContextMenu property. The Text property assigns ToolTip text. In order for the icon to show up in the notification area, the Visible property must be set to true.

Constructors

NotifyIcon()

Initializes a new instance of the NotifyIcon class.

NotifyIcon(IContainer)

Initializes a new instance of the NotifyIcon class with the specified container.

Properties

BalloonTipIcon

Gets or sets the icon to display on the balloon tip associated with the NotifyIcon.

BalloonTipText

Gets or sets the text to display on the balloon tip associated with the NotifyIcon.

BalloonTipTitle

Gets or sets the title of the balloon tip displayed on the NotifyIcon.

CanRaiseEvents

Gets a value indicating whether the component can raise an event.

(Inherited from Component)
Container

Gets the IContainer that contains the Component.

(Inherited from Component)
ContextMenu

Gets or sets the shortcut menu for the icon.

ContextMenuStrip

Gets or sets the shortcut menu associated with the NotifyIcon.

DesignMode

Gets a value that indicates whether the Component is currently in design mode.

(Inherited from Component)
Events

Gets the list of event handlers that are attached to this Component.

(Inherited from Component)
Icon

Gets or sets the current icon.

Site

Gets or sets the ISite of the Component.

(Inherited from Component)
Tag

Gets or sets an object that contains data about the NotifyIcon.

Text

Gets or sets the ToolTip text displayed when the mouse pointer rests on a notification area icon.

Visible

Gets or sets a value indicating whether the icon is visible in the notification area of the taskbar.

Methods

CreateObjRef(Type)

Creates an object that contains all the relevant information required to generate a proxy used to communicate with a remote object.

(Inherited from MarshalByRefObject)
Dispose()

Releases all resources used by the Component.

(Inherited from Component)
Dispose(Boolean)

Releases the unmanaged resources used by the Component and optionally releases the managed resources.

(Inherited from Component)
Equals(Object)

Determines whether the specified object is equal to the current object.

(Inherited from Object)
GetHashCode()

Serves as the default hash function.

(Inherited from Object)
GetLifetimeService()
Obsolete.

Retrieves the current lifetime service object that controls the lifetime policy for this instance.

(Inherited from MarshalByRefObject)
GetService(Type)

Returns an object that represents a service provided by the Component or by its Container.

(Inherited from Component)
GetType()

Gets the Type of the current instance.

(Inherited from Object)
InitializeLifetimeService()
Obsolete.

Obtains a lifetime service object to control the lifetime policy for this instance.

(Inherited from MarshalByRefObject)
MemberwiseClone()

Creates a shallow copy of the current Object.

(Inherited from Object)
MemberwiseClone(Boolean)

Creates a shallow copy of the current MarshalByRefObject object.

(Inherited from MarshalByRefObject)
ShowBalloonTip(Int32, String, String, ToolTipIcon)

Displays a balloon tip with the specified title, text, and icon in the taskbar for the specified time period.

ShowBalloonTip(Int32)

Displays a balloon tip in the taskbar for the specified time period.

ToString()

Returns a String containing the name of the Component, if any. This method should not be overridden.

(Inherited from Component)

Events

BalloonTipClicked

Occurs when the balloon tip is clicked.

BalloonTipClosed

Occurs when the balloon tip is closed by the user.

BalloonTipShown

Occurs when the balloon tip is displayed on the screen.

Click

Occurs when the user clicks the icon in the notification area.

Disposed

Occurs when the component is disposed by a call to the Dispose() method.

(Inherited from Component)
DoubleClick

Occurs when the user double-clicks the icon in the notification area of the taskbar.

MouseClick

Occurs when the user clicks a NotifyIcon with the mouse.

MouseDoubleClick

Occurs when the user double-clicks the NotifyIcon with the mouse.

MouseDown

Occurs when the user presses the mouse button while the pointer is over the icon in the notification area of the taskbar.

MouseMove

Occurs when the user moves the mouse while the pointer is over the icon in the notification area of the taskbar.

MouseUp

Occurs when the user releases the mouse button while the pointer is over the icon in the notification area of the taskbar.

Applies to

Product Versions
.NET Framework 1.1, 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 4.5.1, 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.7, 4.7.1, 4.7.2, 4.8, 4.8.1
Windows Desktop 3.0, 3.1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9