The .NET Library to program Windows 7 Taskbar’s coolness and abilities easily is out and has some nice samples that demonstrates how we program Windows 7 Taskbar for our applications. The sample library gives and overview of new Taskbar functionality and the Taskbar and Libraries Sample .NET Interop Library, which is a managed code wrapper and part of the Windows 7 .NET Interop Sample Libraries.

image

If you don’t know about the awesomeness of Windows 7 taskbar then, please watch Windows 7 Taskbar Overview webcast on Channel 9. The sample library has all the necessary code samples that one need to program the taskbar behavior. One of the showcase that is included in the sample demos exhibits the basic features.

image

According to Windows Vista Team blog:

Let’s take a quick look at the main classes that enable developers to take advantage of the new taskbar functionality:

  • The Windows7Taskbar class provides low-level facilities for manipulating the process-wide and window-specific application IDs, controlling custom window preview bitmaps, setting the Taskbar overlay icon and progress bar, and clipping the Taskbar thumbnail
  • The JumpListManager class provides an abstraction of the application’s jump list, including facilities to manipulate custom destinations, user tasks, the Recent and Frequent lists, and items removed by the user
  • The ThumbButtonManager class provides an abstraction of the Taskbar thumbnail toolbar, including the facilities to create thumbnail toolbar buttons and receive notifications when they are clicked
  • The CustomWindowsManager class provides an abstraction of a customized window thumbnail preview and live preview (peek), including the facilities to receive a notification when a preview bitmap is requested by the Desktop Window Manager (DWM), and to automatically grab the preview bitmap of a window

Following are some of the showcased and demo applications:

Progress Bar:
Windows 7 Taskbar enables to show progress bar effect on the application’s icon.

image

Build Jump lists:
Jump lists allow to easily open and enlist the files and applications for quick access

image

Web Browser with multiple tabs demo:
Small web browser like application sample that tells how can “multiple tabs preview” application (like Internet Explorer 8) can be programmed

image

Instant Messenger like Sample that explains Icon changing:
This sample explains how taskbar icon of application can be changed by application’s itself events.

image image image

Simple Document Reader with Taskbar preview example
The sample explains how taskbar preview can be toggled at the application runtime

image

Click this link to go to Windows 7 Taskbar Developer resources page: https://code.msdn.microsoft.com/Windows7Taskbar