vb.net how do I make an application that only has a notifyicon and no windows form?

Question

I want to make an application that only has a notifyicon and doesn't have any visible window form when it starts up. I see some example sort of like what I want to do for c#, but I don't see how to do this in vb.net project.

Answer 1

A form is not strictly necessary. You can instantiate a NotifyIcon and use that without creating a form:

Public Class AppContext
    Inherits ApplicationContext

    Private notifyIcon As NotifyIcon
    Private appActive As Boolean

    Public Sub New()
        AddHandler Application.ApplicationExit, AddressOf OnApplicationExit

        notifyIcon = New NotifyIcon()
        notifyIcon.Icon = My.Resources.ActiveIcon
        notifyIcon.Text = "The app is active."

        AddHandler notifyIcon.MouseClick, AddressOf OnIconMouseClick

        appActive = True
        notifyIcon.Visible = True

    End Sub

    Private Sub OnApplicationExit(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
        If notifyIcon IsNot Nothing Then
            notifyIcon.Dispose()
        End If
    End Sub

    Private Sub OnIconMouseClick(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As MouseEventArgs)

        If e.Button = MouseButtons.Left Then
            appActive = Not appActive
            notifyIcon.Icon = If(appActive, My.Resources.ActiveIcon, My.Resources.InactiveIcon)
            notifyIcon.Text = If(appActive, "The app is active.", "The app is not active.")
        Else
            If MsgBox("Do you want to Exit?", MsgBoxStyle.YesNo) = MsgBoxResult.Yes Then
                notifyIcon.Visible = False
                ExitThread()
            End If
        End If
    End Sub

End Class

And then start your app from a Sub Main:

Public Module EntryPoint
    Public Sub Main()
        Dim ctx As New AppContext()
        Application.Run(ctx)
    End Sub
End Module