

Windows Notification Area Workaround - alediaferia
http://thread0.wordpress.com/2014/11/09/workaround-windows-tray-area-item-preference/

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teovall
Stop. Just stop. This is why we can't have nice things.

Of course _your_ application's icon should always be visible in the
notification area. Everyone thinks _their_ application should always be
visible.

Your application should also always be pinned to the user's taskbar and start
menu and should have an icon on the Desktop. It should start at Windows
startup and pop up notifications randomly about insignificant things the user
doesn't need to take action on.

Your application should also be topmost at all times. Even more topmost than
other application's topmost windows.

Here's a great article about why you shouldn't do this:

[http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2006/11/01/92244...](http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2006/11/01/922449.aspx)

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alediaferia
I see your point. And I agree with it. I'm not suggesting to override user
preferences. But there are some specific cases when a tray icon application
loses most of its functionality from disappearing. The Windows API could at
least let the developer know when the icon gets hidden: this way the user
could be presented with a one-time dialog that informs about the user
experience change that happens when hiding the icon.

Or, this could be an app permission requested to the user.

Just my 2 cents of course.

~~~
teovall
Such as?

By default, notifications will still be shown for hidden icons. Notifications
are the way urgent, actionable items should be presented to the user.

If something isn't urgent and actionable, why is it so important that it be
shown to the user? It should be up to the user to decide if and when they want
to see it.

~~~
alediaferia
Well IIRC tray icon notifications on Windows will only be shown for a limited
amount of time. What if the user wasn't at the PC at the time?

------
PaulHoule
ouch

