Can you send a signal to Windows Explorer to make

Question

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?

Answer 1

I use the following C++ code to get the window handle to the tray window. Note: this has only been tested on Windows XP.

HWND FindSystemTrayIcons(void)
{
    // the system tray icons are contained in a specific window hierarchy;
    // use the Spy++ utility to see the chain
    HWND hwndTray = ::FindWindow("Shell_TrayWnd", "");
    if (hwndTray == NULL)
        return NULL;
    HWND hwndNotifyWnd = ::FindWindowEx(hwndTray, NULL, "TrayNotifyWnd", "");
    if (hwndNotifyWnd == NULL)
        return NULL;
    HWND hwndSysPager = ::FindWindowEx(hwndNotifyWnd, NULL, "SysPager", "");
    if (hwndSysPager == NULL)
        return NULL;
    return ::FindWindowEx(hwndSysPager, NULL, "ToolbarWindow32", "Notification Area");
}