The windows 7 taskbar

Unfortunately, there is no equivalent for setting the application ID of a specific window. Instead, this can be accomplished by either writing the required wrapper manually or using the predecessor of the Windows API Code Pack. A sample interoperability library for the Windows 7 taskbar can be downloaded from Windows 7 taskbar: Developer Resources. Using the library provides you with the Windows7Taskbar. SetWindowAppId static method which does the ugly interoperability work.

The route to most Windows 7 taskbar features is via the ITaskbarList3 interface. If you're using managed code and managed wrappers, you might never have to come across this interface.

However, if you're using native code, it's important that you know how to get your hands on one. That's easy if you just make sure that you do so after you received the message indicating that the taskbar button was created. In other words, you must wait for the taskbar button to become initialized, and then obtain a pointer to the ITaskbarList3 interface, like so:.

Setting an overlay icon or providing a progress bar in the Windows 7 taskbar is a fairly easy task. The managed equivalent is the Taskbar. OverlayImage property, which is equally easy to use. The following code controls an application's overlay icon based on a selection made in a combo box also shown in Figure 4 :. There are several states available for applications to use: indeterminate, paused, error and normal.

The appearances of the various states are summarized in Figure 5. State and Taskbar. CurrentValue static properties, as well as the Taskbar. MaxValue property. The following code and Figure 6 demonstrate how a background operation can affect the state of the taskbar progress control assume that the DoWork function runs in a separate, background thread :.

Applications that take advantage of the built-in file operation functionality, added to the Windows Shell in Windows Vista, automatically get taskbar progress support for free. If you use the Win32 SHFileOperation function or IFileOperation interface, your taskbar button will automatically light up with progress information, even if you're invoking the APIs from a console application. Try his samples on Windows 7, and you will immediately see a demonstration of the taskbar progress bar.

Thumbnail toolbars are a great addition to the Windows 7 taskbar landscape. Thumbnail and live preview functionality have been greatly enriched in Windows 7 unfortunately, it is not within the scope of this article to discuss them in any detail. Thumbnail toolbars provide a mini "remote-control" opportunity for a window from its thumbnail. For example, to switch to the next song in Windows Media Player you don't need to use the clumsy Media Player desk band or to switch to the Media Player application.

Instead, you can use the thumbnail toolbar directly to perform this task, without interrupting your work flow by jumping to another application, as shown in Figure 7.

To use a thumbnail toolbar, you must wait for the taskbar button to become initialized, and then obtain a pointer to the ITaskbarList3 interface, as described earlier. This message is dispatched to the window to which the thumbnail belongs. Figure 8 demonstrates the creation and message handling that are required. The managed equivalent does not currently appear in the Windows API Code Pack, but it is planned to appear in a future release.

In the meantime, you can use the Windows 7 taskbar Interop Sample Library. It contains the ThumbButtonManager class with the corresponding CreateThumbButton and AddThumbButtons methods for controlling the thumbnail toolbar, and also the ThumbButton class for modifying the thumbnail button state at runtime.

To receive notifications, you register for the ThumbButton. Clicked event and override your window procedure to dispatch the messages to the ThumbButtonManager class, which does the dispatching magic for you. For more details, see the blog article " Windows 7 Taskbar: Thumbnail Toolbars. The final feature of the Windows 7 taskbar that we discuss in detail here is the jump list, arguably the most important feature that applications need to take advantage of in order to truly shine on Windows 7.

In the Windows 7 taskbar, each taskbar button is associated with a jump list. This is a retractable menu that shows a collection of items also called destinations and tasks that are relevant to the given application.

Tasks are typically represented by shell links also known as shortcuts, through the IShellLink interface , and can be used to launch other associated applications or even your own application with a different set of command line arguments. Some applications may choose to customize the tasks area of a jump list.

For example, Windows Live Messenger uses a variety of tasks and separators to make it easier to use the application from the jump list, as shown in Figure 9. Some other applications might choose to customize the items or destinations area of the jump list, and even categorize the items to make the user's work more convenient.

At the very least, applications should provide a collection of recent or frequent items pertinent to the application, because users will grow to expect this functionality from every Windows 7 application. Taskbar Screenshot. Try WindowBlinds. However, you may need classic shell to change the start button. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams?

Learn more. Asked 5 years, 1 month ago. Active 1 year, 3 months ago. Viewed 30k times. Is there any software or steps to make Windows 10 taskbar to look like Windows 7?

It's much clearer if window is open in Windows 7. I don't like absence of non-bottom borders in Windows 10 Taskbar items. And it helped me To get start button like Windows 7 Make taskbar bigger Add opacity for my start and taskbar But my taskbar icons are the same All the windows are open on screenshot but they still have only bottom border.

Instead of this I want this. Improve this question. Vadim Ovchinnikov. Vadim Ovchinnikov Vadim Ovchinnikov 3 3 gold badges 4 4 silver badges 14 14 bronze badges. You might want to try Classic Shell. I remember it could change my start menu to any windows theme I wanted. Hold down the primary mouse button, and then drag the mouse pointer to the place on the screen where you want the taskbar.

Click on the OK button to finalize your changes. Home » Linux. Like this post? Please share to your friends:.