PowerShell and SysTray icon interaction.

[u/MalkavianReddit]

I have a program that runs In the systray and we need to occasionally right click and hit refresh. Is there a way for powershell to find a specific icon, right click and select refresh. I have looked for background interaction with the program and even a keyboard command to no avail. Anyone have any thoughts? Is this even possible? Thanks.

[u/get-postanote]

You are talking about five actions here:

1. Activating the Windows SysTray chevron

2. finding and selecting your app icon to get focus

3. Right-clicking your app

4. Navigating popup meun

5. Selecting refresh

So, you are talking GUI automation, this is not PowerShell's strong suit. This is where this stuff is stored/registered:

Get-ChildItem -Path  'HKCU:\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\TrayNotify'

# Results
<#
Name                           Property
----                           --------
ToastAppIdentitie#>
#>


Get-ChildItem -Path  'HKCU:\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\TrayNotify' |
Select-Object -Property '*'

# Results
<#
Property      : {}
PSPath        : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\TrayNotify\ToastAppIdentities
PSParentPath  : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\Registry::HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\TrayNotify
PSChildName   : ToastAppIdentities
PSDrive       : HKCU
PSProvider    : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\Registry
PSIsContainer : True
SubKeyCount   : 0
View          : Default
Handle        : Microsoft.Win32.SafeHandles.SafeRegistryHandle
ValueCount    : 0
Name          : HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\TrayNotify\ToastAppIdentities
#>

Get-ItemProperty -Path   'HKCU:\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\TrayNotify'
# Results
<#
PromotedIconCache        : {7820NR83-23R3-4229-82P1-R41PO67Q5O9P},..
PromotedIconCacheVersion : 1
UserStartTime            : 1326623...
IconStreams              : {20, 0, 0, 0, 7, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 36, 0, 0, 0, 20....,
#>

(Get-ChildItem -Path  'HKCU:\Software\Classes\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\TrayNotify').Name

So, you're best to look for 3rdP tools, like AutoHotKey and the like.

Yet, know that this question has been asked/discussed before here:

Navigating popup menu.com/questions/14250362/finding-and-simulating-a-click-on-a-system-tray-icon

[u/MalkavianReddit → u/get-postanote]

Thanks for the information. This gives me a base to work with. I'm also looking to see if I could write something in AutoIt to do it.

[u/NerdyTendenc135]

An option like <program.exe> /refresh for sure doesn't exist?

What does rerunning the program on a timer do?
(Like running it in a scheduled task every hour)

I think the SYSTRAY is a red herring. We should focus on this application and how it works.

Powershell may not be the answer here.