I have completed my first pass at monoLaunch.exe. This little utility is a Win32 SDK C/C++ application that can be used to launch Gtk# applications using the Mono runtime without opening the sometimes referred to as "unsightly" console window (the window for stdout, stderr and stdin).

This app is somewhat clever in the sense that it goes to the registry and based on the contents of \\SOFTWARE\Novell\mono\DefaultCLR key it gets the location of mono.bat to use it as the executable in the CreateProcess call. What this in turn means is that you can put monoLaunch .exe in the system directory and as the mono installers evolve it will likely always launch your Gtk# executable using the latest mono runtime without you having to jack with path statements and the like.

I will be putting together a quick tutorial that shows how to create a short-cut to an application in the Start Menu using monoLaunch. Shortly thereafter, I will make an installer available for monoLaunch at:

http://forge.novell.com/modules/xfmod/project/?monowin32

In the mean time you can start looking at some source code if you care to.

WARNING: Monoers may convulse when looking at Win32 C/C++ that uses Hungarian notation, _T() macros and little comments.