SystemTray

Professional, cross-platform SystemTray support for Swing/AWT, GtkStatusIcon, and AppIndicator on Java 8+.

This library provides OS Native menus and Swing/AWT menus, depending on the OS and Desktop Environment and if AutoDetect (the default) is enabled.

• Linux/Unix will automatically choose Native (GtkStatusIcon or AppIndicator) menus, Windows will choose Native (WindowsNotifyIcon with Swing menus), and MacOS will choose AWT.

• Please note that the Native and AWT 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.

• In most cases on Linux/Unix, Native menus are used. In cases where libraries are missing or there are un-resolvable GTK version conflicts, we try to fallback to using Swing.

 

The following unique problems are also solved by this library:

1. Sun/Oracle system-tray icons on Linux/Unix 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 Linux/Unix
3. GNOME3 desktop environments hide or remove entirely system tray icons (hidden from 3.16-3.25, removed from 3.26+)
4. Sun/Oracle system-tray menus on Windows look absolutely horrid
5. Sun/Oracle system-tray icons on Windows are hard-coded to a max size of 24x24 (it was last updated in 2006)
6. Sun/Oracle AWT system-tray menus on MacOS do not respond to both mouse buttons, where native menus do
7. Sun/Oracle AWT system-tray menus on MacOS do not support images, where native menus do
8. Windows native menus do not support images attached to menu entries
9. Windows menus do not support a different L&F from the running application
10. Windows L&F is, by default, not the native L&F.
11. java.awt.Desktop.getDesktop() is broken when using GTK3 or on MacOS.
12. Windows, Linux, and MacOSX menus (native or otherwise) do not support HiDPI configurations
    1. Java8 is not DPI aware (so the icons + fonts must be scaled appropriately)
    2. Java 11+ is DPI aware, but must be explicitly enabled via native API calls
13. Gnome/KDE environments no longer show system-tray icons without special shell extensions installed (this library will install and update them automatically)

This is for cross-platform use, specifically - linux 32/64/arm, mac 32/64/arm, and windows 32/64/arm. Java 8+

 
 

Linux

MacOS

Windows

   

Problems and Restrictions

• JavaFX uses GTK2 for Java <8, and GTK2 or GTK3 for Java 9, and GTK3 for Java 10+. 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, GTK3, or GTK4. We do not support GTK4, and recommend GTK3 (now the default for SWT) If you want to use something else, you must configure both SWT and the SystemTray to same, before SWT is initialized and only if there are problems with the autodetection, via SystemTray.FORCE_GTK2=true;.

• AppIndicators under Ubuntu 16.04 (and possibly other distro's) will not work as a different user without extra work (ie: as a sudo'd user to root), since AppIndicators require a dbus connection to the current user's window manager. (see the Notes below for the details)

• 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 original menus cannot display images attached to menu entries. The native implementation supports images. If forced to Swing instead, the tray-menu will no longer support the OS theme and transparancy.

• Gnome 3: 3.16 - 3.25 (Fedora, Manjaro, Arch, etc) environments by default do not allow the SystemTray icon to be shown. This has been worked around and the tray icon will be placed next to the clock. A different workaround is to install the [Top Icons] (https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/1031/topicons/) plugin which moves icons from the notification drawer sometimes at the bottom left (collapsed) corner of the screen to the menu panel next to the clock.

• Gnome 3: 3.26+ (Fedora, Manjaro, Arch, etc) environments by default do not allow the SystemTray icon to be shown. This has been worked around and the tray icon will be placed next to the clock. A different workaround is to install the Appindicator Support plugin which allows the addition of app-indicator icons where one would expect. Additionally, you will need to install libappindicator-gtk3.

• ToolTips The maximum length is 64 characters long, and it is not supported on all Operating Systems and Desktop Environments. Specifically, Swing and GtkStatusIcon types support tray tooltips and menu tooltips. AppIndicator types do not support tooltips of any kind. Please note that Ubuntu uses AppIndicators!

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

• Linux/Unix and java.awt.Desktop.getDesktop() Please use the dorkbox.util.Desktop class as a replacement, which will intelligently call the correct OS API to open a folder/directory, email, or browser. (Many thanks to QZ Tray for this).

• WSL Windows Subsystem for Linux requires some extra work to get a tray icon showing correctly, either by starting java under windows (instead of WSL), or by adding an X-Server.

AutoDetect Compatibility List

OS | Supported --- | --- | Arch Linux + Gnome3 | ✓ | | | Manjaro Linux + KDE | ✓ | | | ChromeOS | x | | | Debian 8.5 + Gnome3 | ✓ | Debian 8.6 + Gnome3 | ✓ | | | Debian 9.5 + Gnome3 | ✓ | Debian 9.5 + KDE | ✓ | Debian 9.5 + Cinnamon | ✓ | Debian 9.5 + MATE | ✓ | Debian 9.5 + LXDE | ✓ | Debian 9.5 + XFCE | ✓ | | | Elementary OS 0.3.2 | ✓ | Elementary OS 0.4 | ✓ | Elementary OS 5.0 | * | | | Fedora 23 | ✓ | Fedora 24 | ✓ | Fedora 25 | ✓ | Fedora 25 KDE | ✓ | Fedora 26 | ✓ | Fedora 27 | ✓ | Fedora 28 | ✓ | Fedora 29 | ✓ | Fedora 39 | ✓ | | | FreeBSD 11 + Gnome3 | ✓ | | | IGEL OS 9.5 | ✓ | | | Kali 2016 | ✓ | Kali 2017 | ✓ | | | LinuxMint 18 | ✓ | LinuxMint 19 | ✓ | LinuxMint 20 | ✓ | | | Ubuntu 12.04 | ✓ | Ubuntu 14.04 | ✓ | Ubuntu 16.04 | ✓ | Ubuntu 17.04 | ✓ | Ubuntu 17.10 | ✓ | Ubuntu 18.04 | ✓ | Ubuntu 20.04 | ✓ | Ubuntu 22.04 | ✓ | | | UbuntuGnome 16.04 | ✓ | UbuntuGnome 17.04 | ✓ | | | Kubuntu 23.10 | ✓ | | | XUbuntu 16.04 | ✓ | | | MacOSx 10.x | ✓ | MacOSx 11.x | ✓ | MacOSx 12.x | ✓ | MacOSx 13.x | ✓ | MacOSx 14.x | ✓ | | | Windows XP | ✓ | Windows 7 | ✓ | Windows 8.1 | ✓ | Windows 10 | ✓ | Windows 11 | ✓ | | | WSL 1 | x | WSL 2 | x |

• If it is working on an unlisted OS/DE, please let us know!!

Notes:

• The compatibility list only applies while the SystemTray is in AutoDetect mode. Not all OSes support forcing a custom tray type.

• Some Linux operating systems with GNOME 3 might require the installation of the app-indicator library as well. We usually provide feedback when this is necessary. (Arch, Fedora, etc)

• The menu item callbacks occur on their own dispatch thread (instead of being on whatever OS's event dispatch thread), in order to provide consistent actions across all platforms. It is critical to make sure that access to Swing/etc that depend on running events inside their own EDT, are properly called. IE: SwingUtilities.invokeLater(). Do not use invokeAndWait() as weird GUI anomalies can happen.

• Ubuntu 16.04+ with JavaFX require libappindicator1 because of JavaFX GTK and indicator panel incompatibilities. See more details. We attempt to fallback to using Swing in this situation.

• Ubuntu 17.04, Java only supports the X11 backend. MIR is not supported.

• Debian + GNOME 3, SystemTray works, but will only show in a tray via pressing SUPER+M.

• 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.

• ElementaryOS 5.0+ removed support for appindicators by just not including a library. You can add it back with here.

• Linux/Unix: If you want to run this library as a different user, you will need to launch your application via `su