Add system tray support

[jiajunhuang]

sometimes I need the app to minimize, and stay in the system tray, will fyne support system tray?

[andydotxyz]

Yes it will, at some point. Probably not in 1.1 or 1.2 but I would like to see it added soon after.

[epver]

I use systray to achieve this function, first transition

[ergoz]

+1
i need to create app with only system tray. But systray package cant create multi-level menu

[andydotxyz]

Currently we don't have sub-menu support either.
We should add it soon, though I don't think it has a ticket so I will add one now.

Systray will come :)

[pkk-code]

I use systray to achieve this function, first transition

When i use systray and fyne. It works perfectly fine on windows OS, but fails on Mac OS. Is there a workaround to this problem? it seems its caused by runtime.LockOSThread() used by fyne and systray in the main.

Stack trace:

2020-05-12 21:02:57.559 main[12053:8552769] *** Assertion failure in +[NSUndoManager _endTopLevelGroupings], /BuildRoot/Library/Caches/com.apple.xbs/Sources/Foundation/Foundation-1455.12/Foundation/Misc.subproj/NSUndoManager.m:361
2020-05-12 21:02:57.560 main[12053:8552769] *** Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSInternalInconsistencyException', reason: '+[NSUndoManager(NSInternal) _endTopLevelGroupings] is only safe to invoke on the main thread.'
*** First throw call stack:
(
0 CoreFoundation 0x00007fff363c8d7b __exceptionPreprocess + 171
1 libobjc.A.dylib 0x00007fff5d664c76 objc_exception_throw + 48
2 CoreFoundation 0x00007fff363ceb12 +[NSException raise:format:arguments:] + 98
3 Foundation 0x00007fff384faa30 -[NSAssertionHandler handleFailureInMethod:object:file:lineNumber:description:] + 193
4 Foundation 0x00007fff38489624 +[NSUndoManager(NSPrivate) _endTopLevelGroupings] + 469
5 AppKit 0x00007fff338ce936 -[NSApplication run] + 997
6 main 0x0000000004494b30 nativeLoop + 160
7 main 0x0000000004493903 _cgo_cafa63f1ae52_Cfunc_nativeLoop + 35
8 main 0x0000000004064200 runtime.asmcgocall + 112
)

[andydotxyz]

macOS requires that code manipulating graphical elements run on the main thread. Do these things must run within the main() goroutine. Future versions of Fyne will be enforcing this to ensure cross platform consistency.

[andydotxyz]

Submenu support is now in so it seeme likely that we could include systray in 2.0 late this year

[izturn]

any progress ?

[andydotxyz]

No, sorry. 2.0 is due this month but we are really up against it and late last year really did not exactly go according to plan (as for many people).

[owmo-dev]

Does anyone have a workaround/suggestion for being able to use systray right now? My use case is an always persistent tray that can launch one or more fyne windows, but I haven't had much luck yet getting them working together.

[andydotxyz]

You will need a system tray API that does not require blocking the main thread @grantmoore3d.
Once you have found one of them it should just work.

[andydotxyz]

Sadly it looks like we will have to implement this from scratch as the Linux implementations all seem to use GTK/Qt.
Too much work to fit into 2.1 at this stage sadly.

[dawei101]

https://github.com/getlantern/systray

The systray repo have already done these work, why don't we merge from it.

[changkun]

I think we'd more like to have a decent API set rather than using it directly merging it from the others.

Maybe, we could have something like fyne.io/x/tray as a fork of that package, that collaborate with the existing fyne codebase (which resolves the mainthread issue), No compatibility guarantee though, purely experimental.

[andydotxyz]

We cannot use tools like systray as they bring in external dependencies (like GTK+ on Linux)

[changkun]

We cannot use tools like systray as they bring in external dependencies (like GTK+ on Linux)

For experimental purposes, we may have it work with external dependencies first (then rewrite it afterward)?

[andydotxyz]

I don't think that depending on another widget toolkit is a good idea, even in the short term.
You will have to solve problems (like threading) that are not a worry if we use our code.

[changkun]

depending on another widget toolkit

Not really sure (because I haven't program any tray application yet) the main repository will depend on an external. But ideally, it should be like a standalone package where people may:

import "fyne.io/x/tray"

When the design converges to a fixed point, the only change might be:

-import "fyne.io/x/tray"
+import "fyne.io/fyne/v2/tray"

[andydotxyz]

Proposal for the API (yes it is super simple, but fulfils what was agreed to add at this stage):

type desktop.App interface {
	SetSystemTrayMenu(*fyne.Menu)
}

Usage:

menu := fyne.NewMenu("Tray menu title", items...)
a := app.New()
if desk, ok := a.(desktop.App); ok {
	desk.SetSystemTrayMenu(menu)
}

Potentially we also need SetSystemTrayIcon(fyne.Resource) to support apps changing the icon and it would default to the app icon.

[stuartmscott]

There are a few possibilities for implementing this in Android;

• as a persistent notification with actions (the same type that music players use to allow quick access to controls) - https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/notifiers/notifications#Actions
• as a bubble (I personally find them annoying, but to each their own) - https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/bubbles
• as a quick settings tile (though the user needs to add the tile to their settings manually) - https://developer.android.com/reference/android/service/quicksettings/TileService

[qwc]

Hi,
I got the same usecase as mentioned above. I want to create a systray app (only Linux) which supports just a small menu, maybe a tooltip and notifications to be displayed.
Everything else, fyne has anyway. :)

Is there maybe already a prototype I could use for hacking?

I looked at systray already. But I took the restriction to have no other dependencies than Golang, and therefore I want to use fyne and fyne only.
TBH: I am currently in the research phase for the small systray app that I want for my already working service. The service is a nice MVP by itself, but having notifications for it would be the perfect fit and make the package complete. (https://qwc.github.io/backive/)

[andydotxyz]

You can track development on feature/systray branch on my fork. We have added Windows and macOS support already.
I will open a PR once Linux is complete.

[qwc]

Thank you for the effort! I think it will come just in time for the continuation of my project. :)

[riyalol]

Thanks for this excellent integration. I tried to give it a go (I know it is still WIP) for a little project that I am building.

With this piece of code:

mi := fyne.NewMenuItem("Login", func() {
	log.Println("System tray menu tapped")
})

if desk, ok := a.(desktop.App); ok {
	menu := fyne.NewMenu("Login", mi)
	desk.SetSystemTrayMenu(menu)
}

However, when I hit the "Login" button, the log message gets printed only once. After that, the "Login" menu does not seem to be active, and repeated presses don't invoke the callback (and hence do not print the log message). Any idea what might be the issue? Thanks in advance.

[andydotxyz]

Thanks for the report @riyalol I will look into it as I develop the feature further.

[andydotxyz]

That issue is resolved on the latest commit of the PR @riyalol :)

[qwc]

but the library still needs work for Linux - working on it separately.

Damn, my current usecase is Linux only. Fingers crossed for easy solveable problems on Linux. * Impatiently waiting * ;)
My next project needs it for all OSs. ;)

[andydotxyz]

Anything you know about dbus menus may help progress the Linux stuff quicker - it is a spaghetti of services and interfaces without documentation :(

[qwc]

I as well do only know the basics. 😒
Not enough to use it for programming applications using it.

I could just find the dbus spec: https://dbus.freedesktop.org/doc/dbus-specification.html
Maybe d-feet helps in debugging: https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/DFeet
Development repo: https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/dbus
Anything else should be on https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/dbus/

With dbus menus specifically i couldn't find anything additional, tbh. So nothing new to add. :( :( :'(

[andydotxyz]

Landed in develop :)

[mvdelt]

Proposal for the API (yes it is super simple, but fulfils what was agreed to add at this stage):

type desktop.App interface {
	SetSystemTrayMenu(*fyne.Menu)
}

Usage:

menu := fyne.NewMenu("Tray menu title", items...)
a := app.New()
if desk, ok := a.(desktop.App); ok {
	desk.SetSystemTrayMenu(menu)
}

Potentially we also need SetSystemTrayIcon(fyne.Resource) to support apps changing the icon and it would default to the app icon.

@andydotxyz Hi, thank you so much for developing these features.
I'm a newbie to Fyne. I just want to test the system tray. (and notification if it's possible.)
I searched quite a bit, but don't know what desktop.App is.
Do I need to go get fyne.io/fyne/v2@develop and import some different packages for the system tray?
If there is an example for system tray implementation, please let me know.
Dumb question but looking forward to your help. thanks! :)

P.S.1: I found github.com/fyne-io/systray,
but it's different than the above code you wrote. What should I use?

P.S.2: Yeah, this is not a place to talk about Go language itself,
but that code seems quite different from normal type assertion in Go.
Normally it's usually interface.(concrete_type), isn't it?
Thank you!

[andydotxyz]

The code above is a type query - ok is true if the assertion is correct.
To get it working you need to add the import "fyne.io/fyne/v2/driver/desktop" sorry I missed that in the instructions.

Notifications work without anything special as they are on all platforms and are at App.SendNotification()

[mvdelt]

The code above is a type query - ok is true if the assertion is correct. To get it working you need to add the import "fyne.io/fyne/v2/driver/desktop" sorry I missed that in the instructions.

Notifications work without anything special as they are on all platforms and are at App.SendNotification()

Thanks! works like a charm.

(Just for future reference, edited:)
There was a squiggly line in App in desktop.App, even though "fyne.io/fyne/v2/driver/desktop" was imported. The IDE (vscode) said "App not declared by package desktop". Previously I thought I imported a wrong package because of this. I couldn't go to the definition for desktop.App or desk.SetSystemTrayMenu.
But, interestingly, there was no problem with building and running, and the system tray worked well.
I restarted vscode several times but it didn't fix the squiggly line, but somehow suddenly it got fixed after I looked through the go.mod file. But I didn't modify anything... I think my system is not very stable(Win10 and vscode).

Anyways, now I can see the related definitions as well.
Thanks again :)

P.S. Solution: use 'replace' directive in go.mod file so that Go can resolve to the correct version of the package.
Just changing the fyne version in 'require' directive does not always make Go resolve to that version(I think it can happen if the version is pseudo-version number).
Researching on 'Go module' helps a lot: Go modules, go.mod file, and Managing dependencies.

[mei2015]

why not to realese

[Jacalz]

why not to realese

This will be in the next release and it is releasing very soon.

[paboum]

Why is this KDE-dependent? Shouldn't you use the following?
https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications/StatusNotifierItem/
example https://github.com/remko/go-sni

[andydotxyz]

It isn't KDE specific - but all the panels we tested supported the kde notation but did not all support the FDO specification.
If you are aware of any panels that this does not work with please open an issue.