How do I open the menu using windows shortcut (.lnk file)?

[paolosezart]

I know that it is possible to call SystemTrayMenu from the windows tray (next to the clock). But it's much more familiar to me to do this from the "Quick Launch" menu, which is located in windows Explorer along the way. C:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch. I would like to create a shortcut there to run SystemTrayMenu.
I have now implemented this using a vbs+bat script. To simulate pressing LeftAlt + Win, I set this combination to open the SystemTrayMenu menu.

LeftAlt + Win.vbs

Option Explicit

Dim shell, fso, base, batPath

Set shell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

base = fso.GetParentFolderName(WScript.ScriptFullName)
shell.CurrentDirectory = base

batPath = """" & base & "\LeftAlt + Win.bat"""

shell.Run batPath, 0, False

LeftAlt + Win.bat

<# :
@echo off
powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command "iex ((Get-Content '%~f0') -join [Environment]::NewLine)"
exit /b
#>

$Signature = @'
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
public static extern void keybd_event(byte bVk, byte bScan, uint dwFlags, uint dwExtraInfo);
'@

$Win32Keyboard = Add-Type -MemberDefinition $Signature -Name "Win32Keyboard" -Namespace "Win32" -PassThru

$VK_LALT = 0xA4   # Left Alt
$VK_LWIN = 0x5B   # Left Windows
$KEYEVENTF_KEYUP = 0x0002

$Win32Keyboard::keybd_event($VK_LALT, 0, 0, 0)
$Win32Keyboard::keybd_event($VK_LWIN, 0, 0, 0)

$Win32Keyboard::keybd_event($VK_LWIN, 0, $KEYEVENTF_KEYUP, 0)
$Win32Keyboard::keybd_event($VK_LALT, 0, $KEYEVENTF_KEYUP, 0)

However, it seems to me that this is not the best option.
Is it possible to access the SystemTrayMenu menu from a windows shortcut without creating workarounds in the form of simulating keyboard keystrokes?
Or at least implement a call from the command line (bat script) using arguments.

[Hofknecht]

@paolosezart
Thank you for your feedback!
You are right — simulating key presses via scripts (VBS/BAT/AutoHotkey) is more of a workaround and not the cleanest solution.
Currently, SystemTrayMenu is designed to be triggered via a global hotkey, which is the fastest and most direct way on Windows.
A more robust approach would be to support triggering the menu via:
command line arguments (e.g. SystemTrayMenu.exe --open)
or another IPC mechanism
Technologies like EventWaitHandle or Windows Messages could be used internally for this and would be just as fast as a hotkey.
I agree that being able to launch it from a shortcut (e.g. Quick Launch) would be useful — I’ll consider adding support for this 👍