This problem has been afflicting me for quite a while and it's been really annoying.
Every time I login after a reboot/power cycle the explorer takes some time to show up. I've taken the step of waiting for all the services to boot up and then I login, but it doesn't make any difference. The result is always the same: Some of the icons do not show up even if the applications have started.
I've dug a bit on the code that makes one application "stick" an icon in there, but is there an API call that one can perform so explorer re-reads all that icon info? Like invalidate or redraw or something of the sort?
Apparently, it looks like Jon was right and it's not possible to do it.
I've followed Bob Dizzle and Mark Ransom code and build this (Delphi Code):
procedure Refresh;
var
hSysTray: THandle;
begin
hSysTray := GetSystrayHandle;
SendMessage(hSysTray, WM_PAINT, 0, 0);
end;
function GetSystrayHandle: THandle;
var
hTray, hNotify, hSysPager: THandle;
begin
hTray := FindWindow('Shell_TrayWnd', '');
if hTray = 0 then
begin
Result := hTray;
exit;
end;
hNotify := FindWindowEx(hTray, 0, 'TrayNotifyWnd', '');
if hNotify = 0 then
begin
Result := hNotify;
exit;
end;
hSyspager := FindWindowEx(hNotify, 0, 'SysPager', '');
if hSyspager = 0 then
begin
Result := hSyspager;
exit;
end;
Result := FindWindowEx(hSysPager, 0, 'ToolbarWindow32', 'Notification Area');
end;
But to no avail.
I've even tried with
InvalidateRect()
and still no show.
Any other suggestions?
Take a look at this blog entry: REFRESHING THE TASKBAR NOTIFICATION AREA. I am using this code to refresh the system tray to get rid of orphaned icons and it works perfectly. The blog entry is very informative and gives a great explanation of the steps the author performed to discover his solution.
#define FW(x,y) FindWindowEx(x, NULL, y, L"")
void RefreshTaskbarNotificationArea()
{
HWND hNotificationArea;
RECT r;
GetClientRect(
hNotificationArea = FindWindowEx(
FW(FW(FW(NULL, L"Shell_TrayWnd"), L"TrayNotifyWnd"), L"SysPager"),
NULL,
L"ToolbarWindow32",
// L"Notification Area"), // Windows XP
L"User Promoted Notification Area"), // Windows 7 and up
&r);
for (LONG x = 0; x < r.right; x += 5)
for (LONG y = 0; y < r.bottom; y += 5)
SendMessage(
hNotificationArea,
WM_MOUSEMOVE,
0,
(y << 16) + x);
}