Creating an application with no taskbar icon

Chris Maunder

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5 Jan 2000CPOL

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A simple method to create a main window that does not appear in the windows taskbar

This is a technique I first saw in Mike Blaszczak's 'stealth' program.

It is desirable sometimes to not have your application window show up in the taskbar. For instance, you may have an application resides in the system tray, and since it already has a system tray icon, having the extra icon in the taskbar is needless duplication. A simple way to create a window that will not have an icon in the taskbar is to create a separate invisible window, and have that invisible window be the parent of your applications window.

The way to do this, and still allow your application's window to remain visible, is to set the invisible window as parent in your application's PreCreateWindow override.

First, declare a window member variable in your Main Frame class:

class CMainFrame : public CFrameWnd
{
...
protected:
    CWnd m_wndInvisible;
...

Then override CMainFrame::PreCreateWindow:

BOOL CMainFrame::PreCreateWindow(CREATESTRUCT& cs)
{
    if (!CFrameWnd::PreCreateWindow(cs))
         return FALSE;

     // Create invisible window
     if (!::IsWindow(m_wndInvisible.m_hWnd))
     {
        LPCTSTR pstrOwnerClass = AfxRegisterWndClass(0);
        if (!m_wndInvisible.CreateEx(0, pstrOwnerClass, _T(""), WS_POPUP,
                CW_USEDEFAULT, CW_USEDEFAULT, CW_USEDEFAULT, CW_USEDEFAULT,
                NULL, 0))
            return FALSE;
     }

    cs.hwndParent = m_wndInvisible.m_hWnd;

    return TRUE;
}

That's all you need to do! The invisible window will be automatically destroyed when the main application closes.

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)

Written By

Chris Maunder

Founder

Canada

Chris Maunder is the co-founder of CodeProject, DeveloperMedia and ContentLab, and has been a prominent figure in the software development community for nearly 30 years. Hailing from Australia, Chris has a background in Mathematics, Astrophysics, Environmental Engineering and Defence Research. His programming endeavours span everything from FORTRAN on Super Computers, C++/MFC on Windows, through to to high-load .NET web applications and Python AI applications on everything from macOS to a Raspberry Pi. Chris is a full-stack developer who is as comfortable with SQL as he is with CSS.

In the late 1990s, he and his business partner David Cunningham recognized the need for a platform that would facilitate knowledge-sharing among developers, leading to the establishment of CodeProject.com in 1999. Chris's expertise in programming and his passion for fostering a collaborative environment have played a pivotal role in the success of CodeProject.com. Over the years, the website has grown into a vibrant community where programmers worldwide can connect, exchange ideas, and find solutions to coding challenges. Chris is a prolific contributor to the developer community through his articles and tutorials, and his latest passion project, CodeProject.AI.

In addition to his work with CodeProject.com, Chris co-founded ContentLab and DeveloperMedia, two projects focussed on helping companies make their Software Projects a success. While at CodeProject, Chris' roles included Architecture and coding, Product Development, Content Creation, Community Growth, Client Satisfaction and Systems Automation, and many, many sales meetings. All while keeping his sense of humour.

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Creating an application with no taskbar icon

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