Hi All,
I was just wondering if anyone could help me out with some code that would hide (remove) the WLM icon from the taks bar. I want to write a script that will allow you to use a shortcut to hide the WLM icon...this will work hand in hand with MPL's Lock feature.

I can't find the code to hide the system tray icon anywhere! Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Black Ice

You probably wouldn't be able to do that with a script. You might be able to try patching a Messenger .dll file, but that is not recommended or allowed. Alternatively, you could cheat and make a transparent icon (or one that blends into the system tray) and set that as the icon on locking.

Hope that this helps

Thanks for the reply.
Well how come you can get programs that hide the icon(s) of program(s) in the system tray? Aswell as hide the process in the Task Manager? Surely there is a way to do this, even if it's not in JScript. Like you said a DLL...here's a link to a similar plug-in for normal Messenger Plus!

http://360software.dakotabcn.net/umlock/index.html

This would allow you to hide msn's system tray icon with a shortcut.

I haven't given up yet because I know software can do this like...the ones at this page

Well.. perhaps you could use a script that runs one of these external programs, or another program with the capabilities to hide the icon. I would be very surprised if you could hide the icon directly from a script.

Maybe not a script but a DLL or VB code

Yes, and then you could run this DLL or VB code from the script at certain points.

Yup, only problem now is finding the right VB code...

Ok I'm really stuck, I've been searchin' for days. Does anyone know some VB 6 code that will allow me to hide another apps system tray icon (messenger live's icon).

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance

Hey Black_Ice, i have found a partial solution to your problem. i myself used the Ultimate messenger lock alot, i can help you make the messenger icon dissappear, as in remove the icon but leave a space instead. go to the messenger plus! live preferences, click on the messenger tab, messenger lock. tick the checkbox that says "modify the systray icon" then click the icon, change the path to "C:\WINDOWS\system32\Shell32.dll,50" without the " and click ok. this will replace the messenger icon with a blank space every time you lock messenger. you might also want to disable the tooltip of the icon.

Look please refrain from posting in threads where you do not know the correct answer.

This process is long and drawn out so I am not going to give you the exact code however I will tell you it is possible.

You need to basically get the handle of the icons and enumerate through them till you find the one relating to msnmsgr.exe. Once you find that you can (with some code) send NIM_DELETE to the icon and it will be removed.

http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=176085

If you want to see an example of getting the handle of the icons take a look at -dt-'s script to change the tooltip of the icon to include your email and status.
[Release] Email tooltip

Thanks I'lll give it ago and alert you of any success.

quote:

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Originally posted by Matty
This process is long and drawn out
(...)
You need to basically get the handle of the icons and enumerate through them till you find the one relating to msnmsgr.exe.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Matty
If you want to see an example of getting the handle of the icons take a look at -dt-'s script to change the tooltip of the icon to include your email and status.
[Release] Email tooltip

---

code:

---

function RemoveTrayIcon() {
        var NIM_DELETE = 0x2;
        var NOTIFYICONDATA = Interop.Allocate(88);
        with (NOTIFYICONDATA) {
                WriteDWORD(0, NOTIFYICONDATA.Size);
                WriteDWORD(4, GetMSNHiddenWindowHandle());
                WriteDWORD(8, 40046);
        }
        Interop.Call('shell32.dll', 'Shell_NotifyIconA', NIM_DELETE, NOTIFYICONDATA);
}

function GetMSNHiddenWindowHandle() {
        var tIDCurrent = Interop.Call('Kernel32', 'GetCurrentThreadId');
        var hWnd = 0;
        while (hWnd = Interop.Call('User32', 'FindWindowExW', 0, hWnd, 'MSNHiddenWindowClass', 0))
                if (Interop.Call('User32', 'GetWindowThreadProcessId', hWnd, 0) === tIDCurrent)
                        return hWnd;
}

---

how do use your script to hide the messenger icon when we lock messenger?

I'm working on that part but as of yet you can't. The code is just there but doesn't do anything yet.

quote:

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Originally posted by shrav/oo7`
how do use your script to hide the messenger icon when we lock messenger?

---

sorry if this is slightly off topic, but can other icons within Messenger be altered too? for example the the icon that appears in the very top-left corner of a chat window, along with icon displayed in the task bar when a chat is open? - Just wondering if they could be altered to the 'away/busy' icons when your contact is set to that status, could be quite useful.

quote:

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Originally posted by shrav/oo7`
how do use your script to hide the messenger icon when we lock messenger?

---

code:

---

function OnEvent_MessengerLocked(){
    RemoveTrayIcon();
}

function OnEvent_MessengerUnlocked(){
    RestoreTrayIcon();
}

---

your script doesn't work. i want to remove the messenger icon and the space that it takes as well when i lock messenger.

You won't be able to unlock it unless you use a different key combination like matty mentioned.

quote:

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However doing this will cause you not to be able to get out of Messenger Lock unless you have a global shortcut to unlock it.

---

quote:

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Originally posted by shrav/oo7`
your script doesn't work. i want to remove the messenger icon and the space that it takes as well when i lock messenger.

---

quote:

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Originally posted by Black_Ice
You won't be able to unlock it unless you use a different key combination like matty mentioned.

---

it still doesnt work. just to make sure, i have to go to the MP! L preferences click on the scripts tab and create a new one, then i have to add matty's script over there and save it. i should then be able to lock messenger using my shortcut which is ctrl+space and the icon should disappear as well as the space. i should then be able to unlock messsenger using my unlock shortcut which is ctrl+alt+space, then i type in my messenger lock password and messenger should open up. i have unticked the option to modify the system icon like CookieRevised suggested.

You must add Matty's code to the end of the script (at the bottom).

end of wat script?

You must add Matty's code to the end of the script posted by cookie

OOOOOOOHHH!! i was just putting matty's script there thanks alot well i suppose your problem is solved as well!

Yup, no problem

ok this isn't right. when i lock messenger the icon goes away then when i unlock it my icon doesn't come back, if i try locking it again it doesn't lock

Have you disabled the "change icon to" (has a picture of networking icon). You can't have this enabled.

yes i have i also disabled the remove tooltip option

i think the problem might be in cookies script as matty has the

"function OnEvent_MessengerUnlocked(){
RestoreTrayIcon();
}"

part. i'm not so sure what cookies script does but i can make out mattys script says to remove the icon when messenger is locked and bing it back again when it is unlocked.

You must Enable:
-Activate messenger lock with a system wide shorcut
-Change my status (option)
-Unlock with system wide shortcut

You must Disable:
-Modify tray Icon
-Disable tooltip and menu of system tray icon

Works for me. I don't use the password option but shouldn't make a difference

ok i really feel stupid now. i was copying and pasting cookies script instead of downloading the file. just a little note you don't need to enable the change status option if you don't want to.

Ok my script WAS working...then I tried making an xml to go with it. I created a new .js file and then Plus! wouldn't let me run the script saying that it's either 'defective' or I have 'limited rights'. I'm sure there's something in my script that I've overlooked... Anyway I deleted the .js file and moved the xml file out of the directory I was using. So the script is back to how it was when it was working...only that it's not working!!

[Edit]
I made a new script just then and copied the code from the script that i've uploaded....it worked!?!? Yet still won't work in it's other form...
[/Edit]

Any help is much appreciated, I've attached what I have so far.

whoa, wats the problem the script works fine... just add mattys code to cookies code and it'll work fine.

I've added other stuff to it

like wat?

Like making it revert back to ur status to what it was before it went into lock. Cause when mines in lock it changes my status to 'away' so when I use matty's and cookie's script...when I unlock it says my status is 'away'

anything else?

Not yet but will add in a later version:
-GUI window forcing those certain options to be enabled or disabled (for it to work)
-Remove messenger's process from task manager eg. msgmessenger.exe (or whateva it is)

k keep working on it but for now i think cookies and mattys script is enough for me. thanks for your effort Black_Ice, Matty and CookieRevised

quote:

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Originally posted by Black_Ice
Like making it revert back to ur status to what it was before it went into lock.

---

quote:

---

your altered comments
// Just some helper function to get some icon
// Invisible window has a space in the system tray (like an invisible icon)
function GetMSNHiddenWindowIcon() {

---

quote:

---

original comments
// Just some helper function to get some icon
// (who knew that hidden window had an icon dodgy MS people adding an icon to an always invisible window )
function GetMSNHiddenWindowIcon() {

---

Well you added in ur script:

code:

---

My.Status = My.Status

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Black_Ice
Well you added in ur script:

code:

---

My.Status = My.Status

---

This keeps changing my status to 'away' after I come out of lock. During lock I have it set to go to 'away' but when I unlock it sets me as away and counts down from 15seconds...asking me if i'd like to personalise my status. Anyway I deleted this line in your code and all works well.

Guess it's no longer my script at all, you did it all.

---

Well then the stuff I added was nessisary to fix that glitch up with the 'away' thing popping up.

tbh, the stuff you added didn't fixed it and even wouldn't work (see first comment in my previous post here). simply removing the 'status=status' line is a way better fix (which works) for this.

But to 'fix' it in a proper way you have to make a function which catches the icon handles and set the tray icon to the proper icon using that same API.

It works for me, what part doesn't work for you if I may ask?

Everything you added to the script in this post. Which I explained why it doesn't work in this post.

What is posted there will not work with you either. It will not work for anyone as that altered and added code of yours is full of bugs and doesn't make much sense either.


Nothing personal, but why are people not reading posts properly? *sigh*

Just a question i dont change my status when i lock messenger and i dont have that personalised status pop-up box enabled either. is there some glitch that i need to clear up in the script if i use these options? Another thing is there are these lines in cookies script

// Main stuff: Change the tooltip to whatever you want
function ChangeTooltip(newtext) {
// Create the datablock structure (v2)
var NOTIFYICONDATA = Interop.Allocate(488);
// Fill in some needed parameters
with (NOTIFYICONDATA) {
WriteDWORD(0, NOTIFYICONDATA.Size); //DWORD cbSize
WriteDWORD(4, GetMSNHiddenWindowHandle()); //HWND  hWnd
WriteDWORD(8, 40046); //UINT  uID
WriteDWORD(12, NIF_TIP); //UINT  uFlags
WriteString(24, newtext.substring(0, 127), false); //WCHAR szTip[128]

it says change the tooltip to whatever you want, what if i dont want to change it, do I leave it as it is? It also says to fill in some needed parameters, what do i need to fill in and how do i do it. if there is also some other manual editing i need to do plz can you tell me. i am a total newbie to scripting but i get the general idea most of the time.

quote:

---

Originally posted by shrav/oo7`
Just a question i dont change my status when i lock messenger and i dont have that personalised status pop-up box enabled either. is there some glitch that i need to clear up in the script if i use these options?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by shrav/oo7`
Another thing is there are these lines in cookies script

// Main stuff: Change the tooltip to whatever you want
function ChangeTooltip(newtext) {
// Create the datablock structure (v2)
var NOTIFYICONDATA = Interop.Allocate(488);
// Fill in some needed parameters
with (NOTIFYICONDATA) {
WriteDWORD(0, NOTIFYICONDATA.Size); //DWORD cbSize
WriteDWORD(4, GetMSNHiddenWindowHandle()); //HWND  hWnd
WriteDWORD(8, 40046); //UINT  uID
WriteDWORD(12, NIF_TIP); //UINT  uFlags
WriteString(24, newtext.substring(0, 127), false); //WCHAR szTip[128]

it says change the tooltip to whatever you want, what if i dont want to change it

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by shrav/oo7`
It also says to fill in some needed parameters, what do i need to fill in and how do i do it.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by shrav/oo7`
i am a total newbie to scripting but i get the general idea most of the time.

---

yeah i know i don't really know anything about scripting. well i suppose i should be fine as i am, i don't need to alter anything.

Cookie, or anyone else for that matter...
It appears the code posted by Cookie will remove WLM icon but on unlock WLM crashes with a custom-like "report error to microsoft message." Can anyone confirm this? I'm using:

WLM Version: 8.0.0812.00
MP!L Version: 4.11.0.254

I have a hunch that it's WLM (hope this isn't a permanent problem! Wonder if it works in 8.1 Beta...) just wondering if anyone else has the same issues?

Thanks.