Windows 7 Taskbar Features in .NET 4

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.NET 4.0 introduces the System.Windows.Shell namespace which makes it very easy for you to leverage the Windows 7 taskbar enhancements in your application such as:

  • Jump List
  • Progress
  • Icon Overlays
  • Custom Categories in your Jump List
  • Thumbnail Preview
  • Thumbnail Toolbar Buttons

Most of these features can literally be implemented in a line or two of .NET code or XAML. I wrote this brief white paper and downloadable sample project to demonstrate how easy it is to build this functionality with a mixture of imperative C# code and declarative XAML. The scenario is based on this simple CRM-like WPF application. 

While these features are Windows 7 specific, using the .NET APIs your application will gracefully degrade on operating systems prior to Windows 7.