SystemTray

Professional, cross-platform SystemTray support for Swing/AWT, GtkStatusIcon, and AppIndicator system-tray types for java applications on Java 6+.

This library provides OS Native menus and Swing/AWT menus, depending on the OS and Desktop Environment, and if AutoDetect (the default) is set. Linux/Unix will automatically choose Native menus, Windows will choose Swing, and MacOS will choose AWT.

• Please note that Native menus, follow the specified look and feel of that OS and are limited by what is supported on the OS. Consequently they are not consistent across all platforms and environments.

 

The following unique problems are also solved by this library:

1. Sun/Oracle system-tray icons on gnu/linux do not support images with transparent backgrounds
2. Sun/Oracle system-tray and SWT system-tray implementations do not support app-indicators, which are necessary on different distributions of gnu/linux and unix
3. Sun/Oracle system-tray menus on Windows look absolutely horrid
4. Sun/Oracle system-tray icons on Windows are hard-coded to a max size of 24x24 (it was last updated in 2006)
5. Sun/Oracle system-tray menus on MacOS do not always respond to both mouse buttons, where Apple menus do
6. Windows native menus do not support images attached to menu entries
7. Windows menus do not support a different L&F from the running application

This is for cross-platform use, specifically - linux 32/64, mac 32/64, and windows 32/64. Java 6+

 
 

Problems and Restrictions

• JavaFX uses GTK2 for Java <8, and GTK2 or GTK3 for Java 9+. We try to autodetect this, and are mostly successful. In some situations where it doesn't work. Please set SystemTray.FORCE_GTK2=true;, or to change JavaFX (9+), use -Djdk.gtk.version=3 to solve this.

• SWT can use GTK2 or GTK3. If you want to use GTK2 you must force SWT into GTK2 mode via System.setProperty("SWT_GTK3", "0"); before SWT is initialized and only if there are problems with the autodetection, you can also set SystemTray.FORCE_GTK2=true;.

• AppIndicators under Ubuntu 16.04 (and possibly other distro's) will not work as a different user (ie: as a sudo'd user to root), since AppIndicators require a dbus connection to the current user's window manager -- and this cannot happen between different user accounts. There is no workaround.

• MacOSX is a special snowflake in how it handles GUI events, and so there are some bizzaro combinations of SWT, JavaFX, and Swing that do not work together (see the Notes below for the details.)

• MacOSX native menus cannot display images attached to menu entries. If desired, one could override the default for MacOSX so that it uses Swing instead of AWT, however this will result the SystemTray no-longer supporting the OS theme and transparency. The default of AWT was chosen because it looks much, much better than Swing.

• Gnome3 (Fedora, Manjaro, Arch, etc) environments by default do not allow the SystemTray icon to be shown. This has been worked around (it will be placed next to the clock) for most Gnome environments, except for Arch linux. Another workaround is to install the Top Icons plugin plugin which moves icons from the notification drawer (it is normally collapsed) at the bottom left corner of the screen to the menu panel next to the clock.

• ToolTips The maximum length is 64 characters long, and it is not supported on all Operating Systems and Desktop Environments. Please note that Ubuntu does not always support this!

• Linux/Unix Menus Some linux environments only support right-click to display the menu, and it is not possible to change the behavior.

Compatibility Matrix

✓=supported, -= not supported, += see notes

OS	Java/Swing	JavaFX	SWT
XUbuntu 16.04	✓	✓	✓
Ubuntu 16.04	✓	+	✓
UbuntuGnome 16.04	✓	+	✓
Fedora 23	✓	✓	✓
Fedora 24	✓	✓	✓
Fedora 25	✓	✓	✓
Fedora 25 KDE	✓	✓	✓
LinuxMint 18	✓	✓	✓
Elementary OS 0.3.2	-	✓	✓
Elementary OS 0.4	-	✓	✓
Arch Linux + Gnome3	✓	✓	✓
FreeBSD 11 + Gnome3	✓	✓	+
Debian 8.5 + Gnome3	-	-	-
Debian 8.6 + Gnome3	-	-	-
MacOSx	✓	+	✓
Win XP	✓	✓	✓
Win 7	✓	✓	✓
Win 8.1	✓	✓	✓
Win 10	✓	✓	✓

Notes:

• Ubuntu 16.04+ with JavaFX require libappindicator1 because of JavaFX GTK and indicator panel incompatibilities. See more details.

• MacOSX JavaFX (Java7) is incompatible with the SystemTray by default. See issue details.

  • To fix this do one of the following
    • Upgrade to Java 8
    • Add : -Djavafx.macosx.embedded=true as a JVM parameter
    • Set the system property via System.setProperty("javafx.macosx.embedded", "true"); before JavaFX is initialized, used, or accessed. NOTE: You may need to change the class (that your main method is in) so it does NOT extend the JavaFX Application class.

• SWT builds for FreeBSD do not exist.

 
 

Customization parameters:

SystemTray.AUTO_SIZE   (type boolean, default value 'true')
 - Enables auto-detection for the system tray. This should be mostly successful.
   
 
SystemTray.FORCE_GTK2    (type boolean, default value 'false')
 - Forces the system tray to always choose GTK2 (even when GTK3 might be available).
 

SystemTray.FORCE_TRAY_TYPE   (type SystemTray.TrayType, default value 'AutoDetect')
 - Forces the system tray detection to be AutoDetect, GtkStatusIcon, AppIndicator, Swing, or AWT.
   This is an advanced feature, and it is recommended to leave it at AutoDetect.

 
SystemTray.ENABLE_SHUTDOWN_HOOK    (type boolean, default value 'true')
 -  When in compatibility mode, and the JavaFX/SWT primary windows are closed, we want to make sure that the SystemTray is also 
    closed.  Additionally, when using the Swing tray type, Windows does not always remove the tray icon if the JVM is stopped, 
    and this makes sure that the tray is also removed from the notification area. 
    This property is available to disable this functionality in situations where you don't want this to happen.
    This is an advanced feature, and it is recommended to leave as true.
 
 
SystemTray.AUTO_FIX_INCONSISTENCIES    (type boolean, default value 'true')
 -  Allows the SystemTray logic to resolve various OS inconsistencies for the SystemTray in different combinations
 
 
SystemTray.SWING_UI    (type SwingUIFactory, default value 'null')
 - Allows the developer to provide a custom look and feel for the Swing UI, if defined. See the test example for specific use.
      
 
SystemTray.DEBUG    (type boolean, default value 'false')
 -  This property is provided for debugging any errors in the logic used to determine the system-tray type and initialization feedback.
  
  
Extension.ENABLE_EXTENSION_INSTALL    (type boolean, default value 'true')
 - Permit the StatusTray icon to be displayed next to the clock by installing an extension. By default, gnome 
   places the icon in the "notification drawer", which is a collapsible menu (usually) at the bottom left corner 
   of the screen.  This should be set to false if you want to preserve the default Desktop Environment UI preferences.
   Additionally, Arch Linux is the only exception to this rule where it does not install the extension, so TopIcons is
   necessary for placing the icon near the clock.
  
  
Extension.ENABLE_SHELL_RESTART    (type boolean, default value 'true')
 - Permit the gnome-shell to be restarted when the extension is installed.
  
  
Extension.SHELL_RESTART_COMMAND    (type String, default value 'nome-shell --replace &')
 - Command to restart the gnome-shell. It is recommended to start it in the background (hence '&')
  
  

The test application is on GitHub, and a simple example is as follows:

    SystemTray.SWING_UI = new CustomSwingUI();

    SystemTray systemTray = SystemTray.get();
    if (systemTray == null) {
        throw new RuntimeException("Unable to load SystemTray!");
    }
 
    try {
        systemTray.setImage("grey_icon.png");
    } catch (IOException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
 
    systemTray.setStatus("Not Running");
    
    
    systemTray.getMenu().add(new MenuItem("Quit", new ActionListener() {
        @Override
        public
        void actionPerformed(final ActionEvent e) {
            systemTray.shutdown();
            //System.exit(0);  not necessary if all non-daemon threads have stopped.
        }
    })).setShortcut('q'); // case does not matter

 
 

Note: This project was heavily influenced by the excellent Lantern project (when it was Java based),
      *Many* thanks to them for figuring out AppIndicators via JNA.
      https://github.com/getlantern/lantern

Note: Gnome-shell users can install an extension to support placing the tray icon next to all 
      of other OS tray icons. By default, all tray icons go to a "Notification drawer" which 
      is initially hidden. 

Note: AppIndicator environments (mostly, just Ubuntu) might notice the menu 
      getting constructed (it starts out small, then fills the space). Sometimes 
      even the small menu will get stuck, and be slightly visible behind the 
      larger menu.  
        If this happens to you, please let us know in an issue, with detailed 
        system info, please!
      

 
 

ISSUES:
      'Trying to remove a child that doesn't believe we're it's parent.'
      
      This is a known appindicator bug, and is rather old. Some distributions use 
      an OLD version of libappindicator, and will see this error. 
         See: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/1077
         
         
      'gsignal.c: signal 'child-added' is invalid for instance 'xyz' of type 'GtkMenu''
      This is a known appindicator bug, and is rather old. Some distributions use an 
      OLD version of libappindicator, and will see this error. 
      
      The fallout from this issue (ie: menu entries not displaying) has been 
      *worked around*, so the menus should still show correctly.
         See: https://askubuntu.com/questions/364594/has-the-appindicator-or-gtkmenu-api-changed-in-saucy
  

   

Release Notes

This project includes some utility classes that are a small subset of a much larger library. These classes are kept in sync with the main utilities library, so "jar hell" is not an issue, and the latest release will always include the same version of utility files as all of the other projects in the dorkbox repository at that time.

Please note that the utility source code is included in the release and on our GitHub repository.

Maven Info

<dependency>
  <groupId>com.dorkbox</groupId>
  <artifactId>SystemTray</artifactId>
  <version>3.1</version>
</dependency>

Or if you don't want to use Maven, you can access the latest files and source-code directly from here:
https://github.com/dorkbox/SystemTray/releases
https://oss.sonatype.org/content/repositories/releases/com/dorkbox/SystemTray/

https://repo1.maven.org/maven2/net/java/dev/jna/jna/
https://repo1.maven.org/maven2/org/slf4j/slf4j-api/
https://repo1.maven.org/maven2/org/javassist/javassist/

License

This project is © 2014 dorkbox llc, and is distributed under the terms of the Apache v2.0 License. See file "LICENSE" for further references.