NotifyIconService

• Jul 11, 2021
• 4 minutes to read

NotifyIconService is an INotifyIconService implementation that allows you to place a notification icon (system tray icon) in the Windows notification area and manage its behavior.

• Getting Started
• Notification States
• Context Menus
• Example

Getting Started

To display a tray icon in the Windows notification area, attach the NotifyIconService to your View. The most straightforward way to attach a service is to use the Smart Tag as described in Quick Actions. Alternatively, you can do this manually as shown in the code snippet below.

XAML

<UserControl x:Class="NotifyIconService.Views.MainView"
             ...
             xmlns:dx="http://schemas.devexpress.com/winfx/2008/xaml/core"             
             xmlns:dxmvvm="http://schemas.devexpress.com/winfx/2008/xaml/mvvm">
    <dxmvvm:Interaction.Behaviors>
        <dx:NotifyIconService ... />            
    </dxmvvm:Interaction.Behaviors>
    ...
</UserControl>

By default, the NotifyIconService‘s notification icon displays the image specified within the NotifyIconService.Icon property. If you’re going to display multiple images depending on certain conditions, use the NotifyIconService’s notification states.

When the NotifyIconService‘s tray icon is left clicked, the NotifyIconService executes the command specified in the NotifyIconService.LeftClickCommand property. In addition to LeftClickCommand, you can assign a context menu to the tray icon.

Notification States

The NotifyIconService‘s Notification State is an instance of the NotifyIconState class that provides the Icon and ToolTip properties specifying the tray icon’s image and tooltip respectively. Notification States are stored within the NotifyIconService.States property.

XAML

<dx:NotifyIconService ... >
    <dx:NotifyIconService.States>
        <dx:NotifyIconState Name="connected" Icon="Images/connected.ico"/>
        <dx:NotifyIconState Name="disconnected" Icon="Images/disconnected.ico"/>
    </dx:NotifyIconService.States>
</dx:NotifyIconService>

To switch between the predefined states, use the INotifyIconService.SetStatusIcon method. If you wish to reset the notification icon to the default image, use the INotifyIconService.ResetStatusIcon method. To learn how to obtain the NotifyIconService if the ViewModel is a POCO object, see Services in POCO objects. If it’s a ViewModelBase descendant, refer to Services in ViewModelBase descendants.

Note

The NotifyIconService recognizes states by their names, so each state should have a unique name.

You can also pass an object of the Icon type as the SetStatusIcon method’s parameter. In this case, the specified icon will be placed inside the notification icon directly.

Context Menus

To assign a menu to the notification icon, use the NotifyIconService’s NotifyIconService.ContextMenu property.

XAML

<dx:NotifyIconService ... >
    <dx:NotifyIconService.States>
        <dx:NotifyIconState Name="connected" Icon="Images/connected.ico"/>
        <dx:NotifyIconState Name="disconnected" Icon="Images/disconnected.ico"/>
    </dx:NotifyIconService.States>
    <dx:NotifyIconService.ContextMenu>
        <dxb:PopupMenu>
            <dxb:BarButtonItem Content="Connect" Command="{Binding ConnectCommand}"/>
            <dxb:BarButtonItem Content="Disconnect" Command="{Binding DisconnectCommand}"/>
        </dxb:PopupMenu>
    </dx:NotifyIconService.ContextMenu>
</dx:NotifyIconService>

Example

MainView.xaml

<UserControl x:Class="NotifyIconService.Views.MainView"
             xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
             xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
             xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
             xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
             xmlns:dx="http://schemas.devexpress.com/winfx/2008/xaml/core"
             xmlns:dxb="http://schemas.devexpress.com/winfx/2008/xaml/bars"
             xmlns:dxmvvm="http://schemas.devexpress.com/winfx/2008/xaml/mvvm" 
             xmlns:ViewModels="clr-namespace:NotifyIconService.ViewModels"
             mc:Ignorable="d" DataContext="{dxmvvm:ViewModelSource ViewModels:MainViewModel}"
             d:DesignHeight="300" d:DesignWidth="300">

    <dxmvvm:Interaction.Behaviors>
        <dxmvvm:CurrentWindowService/>
        <dx:DXMessageBoxService/>
        <dx:NotifyIconService LeftClickCommand="{Binding ActivateMainWindowCommand}"
                              Icon="Images/default.ico">
            <dx:NotifyIconService.States>
                <dx:NotifyIconState Name="connected" Icon="Images/connected.ico"/>
                <dx:NotifyIconState Name="disconnected" Icon="Images/disconnected.ico"/>
            </dx:NotifyIconService.States>
            <dx:NotifyIconService.ContextMenu>
                <dxb:PopupMenu>
                    <dxb:BarItemMenuHeader Content="NotifyIconService's Menu ">
                        <dxb:BarItemMenuHeader.ContentTemplate>
                            <DataTemplate>
                                <TextBlock Text="{Binding}" FontSize="10" />
                            </DataTemplate>
                        </dxb:BarItemMenuHeader.ContentTemplate>
                        <dxb:BarButtonItem Content="Connect" Command="{Binding ConnectCommand}" />
                        <dxb:BarButtonItem Content="Disconnect" Command="{Binding DisconnectCommand}" Glyph="{dx:DXImage Image=Delete_16x16.png}"/>
                        <dxb:BarItemSeparator/>
                        <dxb:BarButtonItem Content="About"  Command="{Binding AboutCommand}" Glyph="{dx:DXImage Image=Information_16x16.png}"/>
                    </dxb:BarItemMenuHeader>
                </dxb:PopupMenu>
            </dx:NotifyIconService.ContextMenu>
        </dx:NotifyIconService>
    </dxmvvm:Interaction.Behaviors>
    <Grid>
        <Grid.RowDefinitions>
            <RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
            <RowDefinition/>
        </Grid.RowDefinitions>
        <GroupBox Header="Action" Margin="5 2">
            <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
                <dx:SimpleButton Content="Connect" Command="{Binding ConnectCommand}" Margin="2 5" />
                <dx:SimpleButton Content="Disconnect" Command="{Binding DisconnectCommand}" Margin="2 5"/>
                <dx:SimpleButton Content="Reset" Command="{Binding ResetCommand}" Margin="2 5"/>
            </StackPanel>
        </GroupBox>
        <GroupBox Header="Status" Margin="5 2" Grid.Row="1" >
            <TextBlock VerticalAlignment="Center" HorizontalAlignment="Center">
                <TextBlock.Style>
                    <Style TargetType="TextBlock">
                        <Setter Property="Opacity" Value="0.75"/>
                        <Setter Property="FontSize" Value="25"/>
                        <Setter Property="Text" Value="Default"/>
                        <Setter Property="Foreground" Value="Gray"/>
                        <Style.Triggers>
                            <DataTrigger Binding="{Binding IsConnected}" Value="True">
                                <Setter Property="Text" Value="Connected"/>
                                <Setter Property="Foreground" Value="YellowGreen"/>
                            </DataTrigger>
                            <DataTrigger Binding="{Binding IsConnected}" Value="False">
                                <Setter Property="Text" Value="Disconnected"/>
                                <Setter Property="Foreground" Value="LightPink"/>
                            </DataTrigger>
                        </Style.Triggers>
                    </Style>
                </TextBlock.Style>
            </TextBlock>
        </GroupBox>
    </Grid>
</UserControl>

MainViewModel.cs

using DevExpress.Mvvm;
using DevExpress.Mvvm.DataAnnotations;
using DevExpress.Mvvm.POCO;
using DevExpress.Xpf.Core;

namespace NotifyIconService.ViewModels {
    [POCOViewModel]
    public class MainViewModel {

        public MainViewModel() {
            IsConnected = null;
        }

        protected ICurrentWindowService CurrentWindowService { get { return this.GetService<ICurrentWindowService>(); } }
        protected INotifyIconService NotifyIconService { get { return this.GetService<INotifyIconService>(); } }
        protected IMessageBoxService MessageBoxService { get { return this.GetService<IMessageBoxService>(); } }

        public void ActivateMainWindow() {
            CurrentWindowService.SetWindowState(System.Windows.WindowState.Normal);
            CurrentWindowService.Activate();
        }
        public void Connect() {
            NotifyIconService.SetStatusIcon("connected");
            IsConnected = true;
        }
        public bool CanConnect() {
            return IsConnected != true;
        }

        public void Disconnect() {
            NotifyIconService.SetStatusIcon("disconnected");
            IsConnected = false;
        }
        public bool CanDisconnect() {
            return IsConnected == true;
        }

        public void Reset() {
            NotifyIconService.ResetStatusIcon();
            IsConnected = null;
        }

        public void About() {
            MessageBoxService.ShowMessage("This example demonstrates how to use NotifyIconService ", "About");
        }

        public virtual bool? IsConnected { get; set; }
    }
}

MainViewModel.vb

Imports DevExpress.Mvvm
Imports DevExpress.Mvvm.DataAnnotations
Imports DevExpress.Mvvm.POCO
Imports DevExpress.Xpf.Core

Namespace NotifyIconService.ViewModels
    <POCOViewModel> _
    Public Class MainViewModel

        Public Sub New()
            IsConnected = Nothing
        End Sub

        Protected ReadOnly Property CurrentWindowService() As ICurrentWindowService
            Get
                Return Me.GetService(Of ICurrentWindowService)()
            End Get
        End Property
        Protected ReadOnly Property NotifyIconService() As INotifyIconService
            Get
                Return Me.GetService(Of INotifyIconService)()
            End Get
        End Property
        Protected ReadOnly Property MessageBoxService() As IMessageBoxService
            Get
                Return Me.GetService(Of IMessageBoxService)()
            End Get
        End Property

        Public Sub ActivateMainWindow()
            CurrentWindowService.SetWindowState(System.Windows.WindowState.Normal)
            CurrentWindowService.Activate()
        End Sub
        Public Sub Connect()
            NotifyIconService.SetStatusIcon("connected")
            IsConnected = True
        End Sub
        Public Function CanConnect() As Boolean
            Return Not IsConnected.Equals(True)
        End Function

        Public Sub Disconnect()
            NotifyIconService.SetStatusIcon("disconnected")
            IsConnected = False
        End Sub
        Public Function CanDisconnect() As Boolean
            Return IsConnected = True
        End Function

        Public Sub Reset()
            NotifyIconService.ResetStatusIcon()
            IsConnected = Nothing
        End Sub

        Public Sub About()
            MessageBoxService.ShowMessage("This example demonstrates how to use NotifyIconService ", "About")
        End Sub

        Public Overridable Property IsConnected() As Boolean?
    End Class
End Namespace