How Can I Start a WinForms Application Minimized to the System Tray Without Any Visibility Issues?

Starting a WinForm Application Minimized to Tray

Creating an application that minimizes to the tray using a NotifyIcon is often a convenient feature. However, starting the application minimized with a hidden window can present challenges.

In one instance, minimizing the app initially leaves it visible in the alt-tab dialog. Resolving this by changing the FormBorderStyle to a ToolWindow option introduces a new issue: the window's titlebar becomes briefly visible above the start menu during startup.

To address these problems, consider preventing the form from appearing at all during startup. This requires overriding the SetVisibleCore() method:

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

The allowVisible flag indicates whether the form should be visible. By setting it to false at startup, it prevents the form from becoming visible even with the WindowState initially set to Minimized.

Additionally, override the OnFormClosing event handler to handle closing the form from the system menu:

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

Setting allowClose to false suppresses the default close behavior and instead hides the form.

In the NotifyIcon context menu, you can define handlers for Show and Exit commands to control the form's visibility and the application's termination, respectively.

This approach allows you to start the application minimized to the tray, without any unintended side effects, leaving the NotifyIcon as the primary user interface component.

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