How does Windows force "minimized" state from a desktop shortcut?

Question

I have an application that is designed to minimize to the system tray. No issues there.

The problem I am having is that I cannot determine what Windows is doing to force the minimized state when I set up a desktop shortcut to that executable and launch it, such as:

I put some debug outputs in the form's constructor and launched via the shortcut. I get no command line arguments and a check of WindowState yields Normal. Yet the app starts minimized to the taskbar.

However, that's the rub: I want it to start minimized to the system tray, just as it would if the form were on-screen and the user minimized it. Not all the time, just when a "minimize" shortcut is used, or when the user clicks Minimize on the form, of course.

EDIT: for the curious...my initial testing was flawed because I checked in the constructor. Placing the test in the Load method produced a Minimized state, to which I could then react and call my code to perform the "minimize-to-tray".

Answer 1

Windows is starting the process with parameters to minimize the main window.

In C#, you can do the same by setting WindowStyle (MSDN) at ProcessStartInfo for use in Process.Start().

In the native world, you would use the CreateProcess (MSDN) API and pass a STARTUPINFO, setting wShowWindow to SW_MINIMIZE.

To query the window state, use GetWindowInfo (MSDN), look at dwStyle and check if WS_MINIMIZEis set. In C#, this should be in Form.WindowState.