Control when to Hide/Show Inactive System Tray Icon

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Jerry McMorran - 30 Nov 2004 16:49 GMT

For Windows XP, inactive system tray icons will be hidden automatically according to the user's OS settings.
I know I could send a "modify" message at constant time interval to prevent my icon from being inactive. However, I would like to be
more flexible....
When you right-click the XP's task bar, you can set such settings for each icon. There are 3 choices available: "Hide if inactive",
"Always show", "Always hide".
What I'm thinking of is that are there any APIs or Registry entries to control the settings for a specific icon only? Or how to
modify those OS settings programmatically?

Thanks in advance!

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Ken Halter - 30 Nov 2004 17:23 GMT

> What I'm thinking of is that are there any APIs or Registry entries to
> control the settings for a specific icon only? Or how to
> modify those OS settings programmatically?

I haven't tried but..... here's some code.

Subject: Making certain programs' tray icons "always show" programatically
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&selm=2e1feb28.0405101825.7e16738%40pos
ting.google.com

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Ken Halter - MS-MVP-VB - http://www.vbsight.com
Please keep all discussions in the groups..

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Jerry McMorran - 30 Nov 2004 18:56 GMT

Thanks! I finally see some code for this.
At a glance, the code is accessing the registry and modify the "TrayNotify" key's "IconStreams" value.
However, I tried to export the content of that key to a .reg file first. Then I changed an icon from "Hide when unused" to "Show
always" by right clicking on the taskbar. And I then do another export again. I do a diff (file compare) on the 2 .reg files, they
are the same...
Where did the change go?

"Ken Halter" <Ken_Halter@Use_Sparingly_Hotmail.com> ¼¶¼g©ó¶l¥ó·s»D:#qAeRFw1EHA.412@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...

> > What I'm thinking of is that are there any APIs or Registry entries to
> > control the settings for a specific icon only? Or how to
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
> Ken Halter - MS-MVP-VB - http://www.vbsight.com
> Please keep all discussions in the groups..

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Jerry McMorran - 30 Nov 2004 19:16 GMT

Oh, I've found out the reason.
It's been mentioned subsequent messages in the thread.

"Jerry McMorran" <jerry@home.soho> ???????:OT9xW5w1EHA.164@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...

> Thanks! I finally see some code for this.
> At a glance, the code is accessing the registry and modify the "TrayNotify" key's "IconStreams" value.
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
> > Ken Halter - MS-MVP-VB - http://www.vbsight.com
> > Please keep all discussions in the groups..

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VB Forum / General / November 2004

Control when to Hide/Show Inactive System Tray Icon