Jumplists in VB.NET Windows Form Application

Question

Is there a way to create Windows Taskbar jumplists in a VB.NET Windows Form Application? I'd like to add my last opened files to the list.

I've done a bunch of searching and can find this: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.windows.shell.jumplist?redirectedfrom=MSDN&view=net-5.0, but I can't figure out how to get System.Windows.Shell to be accessible in my application. It says the namespace can't be found.

Any direction you can point me would be appreciated!

Answer 1

Here's what I got working:

Dim a As System.Windows.Application = System.Windows.Application.Current
If a Is Nothing Then a = New System.Windows.Application

Dim currJumpList As System.Windows.Shell.JumpList = JumpList.GetJumpList(a)
If currJumpList Is Nothing Then
    currJumpList = New JumpList
    JumpList.SetJumpList(a, currJumpList)
Else
    currJumpList.JumpItems.Clear()
End If

Dim jumpTask As JumpTask

jumpTask = New JumpTask
jumpTask.Title = "This is what gets shown to the user"
jumpTask.Description = "This is what the user sees if they hover or the item"
jumpTask.ApplicationPath = "pathToYourEXE"
jumpTask.Arguments = "Your arguments"
jumpTask.CustomCategory = "The category header"
currJumpList.JumpItems.Add(jumpTask)

currJumpList.Apply()

Important Notes:

• You'll need to add a reference to PresentationFramework.dll. If your in Visual Studio, its in the Framework section.
• its really important to call the Apply() after you make changes to the JumpList.
• if you are winforms, the moment you add a reference to you PresentationFramework, you'll notice the appearance of your GUI changes. This appears to be releated to DPI awareness. To fix, Go to your Project Properties --> Application --> View Windows Settings. This should bring up your app.manifest. In there, you'll see a commented section on dpiaware. Uncomment the entire section. Play with setting the value to true / false. I found that false would keep the GUI looking like it used to, while true improved the clarity of the fonts in my GUI. Either value should fix the issue though.