How to Create a Minimal System Tray Application in .NET Windows Forms?

Building a .NET Windows Forms System Tray Minimized Application

Unlike traditional applications that can be minimized to the system tray, Windows Forms applications that reside solely in the system tray require a different approach. This article is intended to guide you through the steps of building such a minimal application.

Solution:

The key to this type of application is to override the default Application.Run() method, which starts the standard application loop. Instead, you will create a custom class that inherits from the ApplicationContext class. In the ApplicationContext's constructor, you initialize the NotifyIcon instance, which represents the icon in the system tray and handle its behavior.

Code:

Here is an example of the code you need to implement:

<code class="language-csharp">static class Program
{
    [STAThread]
    static void Main()
    {
        Application.EnableVisualStyles();
        Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);

        Application.Run(new MyCustomApplicationContext());
    }
}

public class MyCustomApplicationContext : ApplicationContext
{
    private NotifyIcon trayIcon;

    public MyCustomApplicationContext()
    {
        // 初始化托盘图标
        trayIcon = new NotifyIcon()
        {
            Icon = Resources.AppIcon,
            ContextMenu = new ContextMenu(new MenuItem[] {
                new MenuItem("退出", Exit)
            }),
            Visible = true
        };
    }

    void Exit(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        // 隐藏托盘图标，否则它将一直显示到用户将鼠标悬停在其上
        trayIcon.Visible = false;

        Application.Exit();
    }
}</code>

This code creates an application that exists only in the system tray, with an icon, tooltip, and a right-click menu option to exit the application.

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