Using Process

// Starting a windows program with Process
private void StartXXX()
{
 string dir = @"C:\CODE\blahblahblah\Server\XXX\bin";
 string exe = "XXX.exe";

 Process shellRunProcess = new Process();
 shellRunProcess.StartInfo.FileName = exe;
 shellRunProcess.StartInfo.WorkingDirectory = dir;
 shellRunProcess.StartInfo.Arguments = "-c";
 shellRunProcess.StartInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Minimized;
 shellRunProcess.Start();
}


// Terminating a process
private void TerminateXXX()
{
 // Remove the '.exe' extension when looking for the process
 Process[] processes = Process.GetProcessesByName("XXX"); 
 foreach (Process p in processes)
 {
  p.CloseMainWindow();
 }
}

When running a batch file or console type application, you can start if like so and have the output redirected to a control in your form. See this link for more information Launching A Console Process And Redirecting the Output

private void StartProcessWithoutWindow()
{
 Process process = new Process();
 process.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
 process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
 process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardError = true;
 process.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
 process.StartInfo.FileName = FileName;
 process.StartInfo.Arguments = Arguments;
 process.StartInfo.WorkingDirectory = WorkingDirectory;
 process.Start();
}

String Formatting

String Formatting Concise blog on c# string formatting Padding a number out with spaces or zeroes

public void TestNumberPaddingForString()
{
 int x = 1017;
 string msg = "->" + x.ToString("D8") + "<-";
 string msg2 = "->" + string.Format("{0:D8}", x) + "<-";
 Console.WriteLine(msg);
 Console.WriteLine(msg2);
 msg = "->" + x.ToString().PadLeft(8) + "<-";
 msg2 = "->" + string.Format("{0:D}", x).PadLeft(8) + "<-";
 Console.WriteLine(msg);
 Console.WriteLine(msg2);
 msg = "->" + x.ToString().PadRight(8) + "<-";
 msg2 = "->" + string.Format("{0}", x).PadRight(8) + "<-";
 Console.WriteLine(msg);
 Console.WriteLine(msg2);
}

Produces output:

->00001017<-
->00001017<-
->    1017<-
->    1017<-
->1017    <-
->1017    <-

Setting Form or Application Icon

To set the Icon of a WinForm application go to the Project properties and set the icon to use within the 'Application' tab. If you are using 'Icon and Manifest' option you can select the Icon into the text box. Setting a Form Icon Set this with the 'Icon' property of the form

Adding App Icon To Taskbar

Adding you WinForm app to the taskbar Some missing points 1. As it is, when minimized, the window will appear both in the taskbar (minimised) in the system tray. To fix this set the main form property 'ShowInTaskbar' to false;

public XXXForm()
{
 InitializeComponent();
 this.ShowInTaskbar = false;
}

Change the 'notifyIcon_DoubleClick':

private void notifyIcon_DoubleClick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
 Show();
 ShowInTaskbar = true;
 WindowState = FormWindowState.Normal;
}

Also I prefer to override the resize rather than pick up an event

protected override void OnResize(EventArgs e)
{
 base.OnResize(e);
 // Hide the form when it is minimised
 if (FormWindowState.Minimized == WindowState)
  Hide();
}

I also added a menu timer to ensure that when the mouse leaves the context menu the menu dissappears after a short time (3 seconds). Aagh, next bit is for WPF based taskbar app.

using System.Windows.Threading;
...
public partial class AppMainWindow : Window
{
...
  private DispatcherTimer timer = null;
...
    public AppMainWindow ()
    {
      InitializeComponent();
...
      contextMenu = (ContextMenu)this.FindResource("NotifierContextMenu");
      contextMenu.Closed += new RoutedEventHandler(menu_Closed);
      contextMenu.Opened += new RoutedEventHandler(menu_Opened);
      CreateMenuTimer();
    }
...
  #region Timer

  private void CreateMenuTimer()
  {
    const int MILLISECOND = 10000;
    timer = new DispatcherTimer();
    // Disable (stop) it 
    timer.IsEnabled = false;
    // Set timer event interval
    timer.Interval = new TimeSpan((long)(3000 * MILLISECOND));
    // Timer events
    timer.Tick += new EventHandler(timer_Tick);
  }

  void timer_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
  {
    if (contextMenu.IsOpen)
    {
      if (contextMenu.IsMouseOver && contextMenu.IsMouseDirectlyOver)
      {
        contextMenu.IsOpen = false;
      }
    }
    else
    {
      timer.Stop(); 
    }
  }

  void menu_Opened(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
  {
    timer.Start();
  }

  void menu_Closed(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
  {
    timer.Stop(); 
  }

  #endregion Timer