Getting Started with WinForms NotifyIcon

This article shows how you can start using RadNotifyIcon. The following result will be achieved at the end of this tutorial:

The screenshot above is captured under OS Windows 11. The design of RadNotifyIcon and its elements may differ according to the operating system (and OS style theme) that shows it.

Follow the steps:

1. Go ahead and add a RadNotifyIcon and a RadButton from the toolbox.

2. Set the BalloonIcon property for RadNotifyIcon at design time:

3. Add a method called InitializeNotifyIcon to initialize the data displayed inside the notify balloon. The TrayIcon indicates what icon will be shown in the taskbar notification area:

         private void InitializeNotifyIcon()
        {
            this.radNotifyIcon1.ShowTrayIcon = true;
            this.radNotifyIcon1.BalloonText = "Look for the Telerik UI for WinForms icon in the taskbar notification area (can b" +
                "e hidden in the overflow tray). \r\nHappy coding 🐱‍💻!";
            this.radNotifyIcon1.TrayIcon = new System.Drawing.Icon("../../WinForms128x28.ico");
            this.radNotifyIcon1.BalloonTitle = "Getting Started with RadNotifyIcon";
            this.radNotifyIcon1.GuidItem = new System.Guid("00000001-0002-0003-0004-000000000567");

            this.radNotifyIcon1.TooltipText = "Telerik UI for WinForms RadNotifyIcon";
        }

    Private Sub InitializeNotifyIcon()
        Me.radNotifyIcon1.ShowTrayIcon = True
        Me.radNotifyIcon1.BalloonText = "Look for the Telerik UI for WinForms icon in the taskbar notification area (can b" & "e hidden in the overflow tray). " & vbCrLf & "Happy coding 🐱‍💻!"
        Me.radNotifyIcon1.TrayIcon = New System.Drawing.Icon("../../WinForms128x28.ico")
        Me.radNotifyIcon1.BalloonTitle = "Getting Started with RadNotifyIcon"
        Me.radNotifyIcon1.GuidItem = New System.Guid("00000001-0002-0003-0004-000000000567")
        Me.radNotifyIcon1.TooltipText = "Telerik UI for WinForms RadNotifyIcon"
    End Sub

You should replace the placeholder GuidItem with your own Guid. Make sure to create two separate Guids for building in Debug and Release mode and use the same ones for a given application. This will allow Windows to recognize the icon each time you show it in the tray.

Each time you use a new GuidItem, Windows will register a new icon. To learn how to clear the icon cache, you can check out the following thread: How to remove old notification icons from the Windows 10 system tray.

The Registry Editor gives you access to the registered icons as well and it is possible to delete the desired icon in "Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\NotifyIconSettings" Read More...

4. Double click the RadButton at design time to generate its Click event handler. Then, add the code for showing the notify icon for the "NotifyIconDemo" application:

         private void radButton1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            this.radNotifyIcon1.ShowBalloonTip();
        }

     Private Sub radButton1_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
        Me.radNotifyIcon1.ShowBalloonTip()
    End Sub

By default, the icon will be displayed in the tray area once the application is started. If you want to manually show the icon, you can initially set its ShowTrayIcon property to False and then set it to True at a later moment when it is necessary.

Customize the Content

RadNotifyIcon offers the PopupContent property which allows you to achieve any UI that should be displayed when the tray icon is clicked. It is just necessary to add a UserControl to the form.

Sample design for the BalloonUserControl

Its design depends on the exact requirement a developer may have. Then, set the PopupContent property to an instance of that control.:

The PopupContent property accepts any value of type Control.

Interacting with the Icon

The RadNotifyIcon supports displaying a popup, tooltip, context menu and balloon notifications. You can learn more about each feature in its respective article:

• Tooltip

• ContextMenu

• Popup

• Balloon Notifications

See Also

• Tooltip
• ContextMenu
• Popup
• Balloon Notifications

Telerik UI for WinForms Learning Resources

• Telerik UI for WinForms NotifyIcon Component
• Getting Started with Telerik UI for WinForms Components
• Telerik UI for WinForms Setup
• Telerik UI for WinForms Application Modernization
• Telerik UI for WinForms Visual Studio Templates
• Deploy Telerik UI for WinForms Applications
• Telerik UI for WinForms Virtual Classroom(Training Courses for Registered Users)
• Telerik UI for WinForms License Agreement)