Make a jframe "shine" on the taskbar

[danoc93]

Hi... have you ever used MSN messenger or any application that as soon as something happens the icon in the task bar lights up and starts shining...?

I developed a chat application and i want that as soon as i receive a new pm the pvt window "shines"... it happens when the window is opened for the first time, but if you keep it opened as soon as u receive a new pm it won't do it again...

[wsaryada]

The trick is to use the JFrame's toFront() method.

[danoc93]

I use toFront but it opens the window and brings it to front... i need it to stay minimized and then to shine

[wsaryada]

I've tried it in my Windows box. When the JFrame is minimized it just flashes and doesn't open the window. But if my window is open is indeed become a top most window.

[KevinWorkman]

I'd recommend using SystemTray and just changing the icon.

[danoc93]

Mmmm... can I use the toFront and the minimize without making it noticeable to the user? I think that would work...

[KevinWorkman]

Mmmm... can I use the toFront and the minimize without making it noticeable to the user? I think that would work...

That seems like a hack, especially because it might behave differently on different systems. But it's really up to you.

[danoc93]

Well, I'll try to use that, if it doesn't work, well I will cry :'(... does anybody else have another possible solution?

[KevinWorkman]

Well, I'll try to use that, if it doesn't work, well I will cry :'(... does anybody else have another possible solution?

You have two possible solutions, neither of which is very hard to test. I'd recommend trying them both out and letting us know how they work (and if they don't work, specifically why not), then we can go from there.

[danoc93]

toFront doesn't make the icon shine when its minimized, it just does something weird like losing focus of the window i'm into but nothing else, it doesn't either shine or show in the front...