How to Start a WinForms App Minimized to the System Tray Without Artifacts?

Starting a WinForm Application Minimized to the Tray

When creating a WinForm application that minimizes to the tray, you may encounter issues starting the app minimized. This can result in visible titlebar artifacts or improper behavior when launching the app.

Problem: App Minimizes but Appears in Alt-Tab

To address this issue, change the FormBorderStyle property to one of the ToolWindow options. However, this can introduce a new problem where the titlebar becomes temporarily visible when launching the app minimized.

Solution: Override SetVisibleCore()

The recommended approach to start the app minimized without any visible artifacts is to override the SetVisibleCore() method. Here's an implementation:

protected override void SetVisibleCore(bool value) {
    if (!allowVisible) {
        value = false;
        if (!this.IsHandleCreated) CreateHandle();
    }
    base.SetVisibleCore(value);
}

In this example, the allowVisible flag ensures the form is only visible when the user explicitly requests it.

Handle Form Closing

To prevent closing the app from the taskbar or alt-tab when minimized, override the OnFormClosing() method:

protected override void OnFormClosing(FormClosingEventArgs e) {
    if (!allowClose) {
        this.Hide();
        e.Cancel = true;
    }
    base.OnFormClosing(e);
}

The allowClose flag ensures the form only closes when the user explicitly requests it.

Additional Considerations

Note that the Load event does not fire until the form is first shown. Therefore, perform initialization in the form's constructor rather than the Load event handler.

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