Hide mirc on taskbar - mIRC Discussion Forums

I would like an option for mirc to never be shown on the taskbar and only appear in the tray.

Thanks! Ben

why?

The icon takes up less space in the tray, and on the taskbar it only adds to the clutter and I feel like it's in my way. I always keep mirc running so would be nice having the icon out of the way and in a more permanent location.

im not even sure that possible, its probably, but idk

It's possible, because I've seen other programs do that, however, note that removing the taskbar entry also means that you wouldn't be able to access mIRC using Alt+Tab

Not accusing you or anything, but could you point out the benefit this would be to users who don't use mIRC as a file sharing application? Otherwise, what's the point of having mIRC run all the time?

Regards,

I run it all of the time. I also am in a support channel and whenever I come back to the computer, I look for issues needing resolved. There are other reasons to just let it run 24/7, such as the trivia bot that I run. I think filesharing isn't really the issue because anyone just running a filesharing bot can minimize it to the tray and it's never an issue. It's people who want it maximized all of the time, which are usually going to be people actually using it to do things, such as chatting/helping.

I would like to remove it from the taskbar too and have it only in the system tray. I don't always run mine 24/7. All programs should have this option really.

Originally Posted By: Mentality

Not accusing you or anything, but could you point out the benefit this would be to users who don't use mIRC as a file sharing application? Otherwise, what's the point of having mIRC run all the time?

Regards,

Many people using mirc as bot, and i have my mirc connected 24/7, not cos i use it as bot. I just want to be able to open mirc and see what happens

so you don't need to file share (did see your comment "Not accusing you or anything") just wanted to say it's many ppl running mirc 24/7 without have a wierd "reason" to do so

I don't really mind the large box in my taskbar, however, I do support this idea.

Ah, I forgot about bots, haven't used an mIRC bot for years.

What a waste of energy/electricity

Nevermind.

http://minimize2tray.com/minimizetotray.zip

Install
Run
Applications tab
Add
Put in $mircexe evaluated

"You can use Minimize To Tray to hide running programs or games on your work computer from boss."

lol funny. Although I'd rather not use a third party app for something like this, It's a good alternative until it's added in mIRC.

Is this in any way better than mIRC's built-in minimize to tray option?

Originally Posted By: Sat

Is this in any way better than mIRC's built-in minimize to tray option?

Good point, it may remove the taskbar button when minmized, but the OP requested that mIRC have an option to only show in the system tray at all times, not just when minimized. mIRC already has the minimize to tray feature.

thats still kind of dumb, because that would have to make mIRC a window inside the real mirc to get it off the taskbar which would prob screw up something along the way

That's simply not true. It's absolutely possible to remove a regular top-level window from the taskbar. How do you think mIRC does it already for the Minimize To Tray option?

Hello,
If you wish to hide mIRC from your taskbar to the tray, follow the steps:

Open mIRC
type alt + O
Display - Options
Then go to Tray & Choose your options.

Hope to have help you

He wants it on the tray even when maximized and never on the taskbar, which is not a current option.

we do have the option "On startup minimise mIRC to tray" in it

Yes we have the option to minimize mIRC to tray.

That means it is placed in the tray ONLY when minimized. The request is for the option to remove mIRC from the taskbar and place it in the tray ALWAYS, not only when it's minimized.

That isn't what the OP wants, however.

Yes, but that doesn't resolve the problem, as the OP wants mIRC open and available for him to read/type in.. when minimized he can't do that.

Nobody's mentioned a dual (or more!) monitor setup yet! It's only natural to cast away task bar clutter when you can in all actuality have mIRC visible at all times. Quite a few of my mIRC-using friends work it like this - and they also run mIRC 24/7.

It would be incredibly helpful to get this feature in.

I gotta agree with the OP here... It always gets on my nerves that MSN does *not* do this. mIRC is in the class of programs that should have this functionality as many people do use mIRC as a form of messenger program.

mIRC has supported dual monitors for as long as I can recall. The option to permit it is located in mIRC Options - Display - Options.

There is a check box there to enable/disable Dual monitor support

That wasn't the point, RusselB. He was making a point that having the OP's feature request would be even more useful for people using dual monitors.

I agree with the OP's suggestion: mIRC could really use a way to get rid of the taskbar item. Like some of the other repliers, I leave my client on 24 hours a day, and while I usually don't mind the taskbar item, I will sometimes decide to have a more than a few different applications open simultaneously. With my already dwindling taskbar space, mIRC (combined with Pidgin, which also cannot be active and absent from the taskbar) starts accounting for a significant portion of the unnecessarily used space.

What's interesting is, I seem to vaguely recall already having this ability at some point in time. I'm not sure if I had used a third party program or what, but the only method of removing taskbar items I've found recently is TrayIt, which results in an extra (dummy) system tray icon. One could then remove the normal system tray icon, but of course, then the status indications of the icon is no longer available. This same issue occurs in Pidgin. Their excuse for not resolving it was that it's a "windows OS issue." Considering mIRC is built specifically for Windows, I hope this is not the case here.

Here, you can use this dll, notaskbar.dll, in the meantime...

Drop it in $mircdir and add:

Code:

on *:APPACTIVE:.timer 1 0 dll notaskbar.dll DeleteTab

There is a side-effect since the window seems to get re-inserted into the taskbar *after* the APPACTIVE event (hence the timer), so you see some movement if you switch from mirc while its not minimized.

I threw it together in a couple of minutes using info about the ITaskbarList interface. The other method would just be using SetParent() to set mIRC's parent as a hidden window-- same effect but bulkier code.

You can use this dll to hide any window by HWND if you supply a number as a parameter, so:

dll notaskbar.dll DeleteTab $window(-2).hwnd

would have the same effect as without any parameter.

There's also an "AddTab" method which does the exact opposite, but same syntax.

The code for the dll is right here, for those interested-- specifically Khaled, who can throw this into mIRC sometime and hook it up with Tray stuff

Code:

#include <windows.h>
#include <shobjidl.h>

int __stdcall DeleteTab(HWND mWnd, HWND aWnd, char *data, char *parms, BOOL show, BOOL nopause)
{
	CoInitialize(NULL);
	ITaskbarList *pTaskbar = NULL;
	CoCreateInstance(CLSID_TaskbarList, NULL, CLSCTX_SERVER, IID_ITaskbarList, (LPVOID*)&pTaskbar);

	if (pTaskbar) {
		pTaskbar->HrInit();
		pTaskbar->DeleteTab(*data ? (HWND)atoi(data) : mWnd);
	}
	CoUninitialize();

	return 1;
}

int __stdcall AddTab(HWND mWnd, HWND aWnd, char *data, char *parms, BOOL show, BOOL nopause)
{
	CoInitialize(NULL);
	ITaskbarList *pTaskbar = NULL;
	CoCreateInstance(CLSID_TaskbarList, NULL, CLSCTX_SERVER, IID_ITaskbarList, (LPVOID*)&pTaskbar);

	if (pTaskbar) {
		pTaskbar->HrInit();
		pTaskbar->AddTab(*data ? (HWND)atoi(data) : mWnd);
	}
	CoUninitialize();

	return 1;
}

It's under a Please Steal Me (tm) license, especially since I "borrowed" the boiler plate code myself from this thread.

I salute you argv0! I salute you! This is a most fantastic, a most fantastic contribution to the mIRC scene. The most important feature that mIRC never had!

Thank you!