PyQt5 - Lesson 003. QSystemTrayIcon - How to minimize application to tray

Pycharm, Qt, PyQt5, QSystemTrayIcon

Similar article on Qt/C++

One of the first articles on working with Qt has an article on working with QSystemTrayIcon . Now came the turn of the same material, but in Python using PyQt5 library.

This article will discuss how to write a simple application to PyQt5, which will be minimized to the system tray when you click a menu item in the system tray icon, or by pressing the close button.

Project structure in this case is minimal. There is only one file, which will be run. That is main .py file.

The application itself will be as follows.

If the checkbox is checked, the application will minimize to the system tray, otherwise the application will be terminated. In addition, it is possible to fold the application to the system tray using the context menu of the application icon in the system tray.

When the application is minimized to the system tray on the close button of the application window, it will display a message about it.

main .py

from PyQt5.QtWidgets import QApplication, QMainWindow, QLabel, QGridLayout, QWidget, QCheckBox, QSystemTrayIcon, \
    QSpacerItem, QSizePolicy, QMenu, QAction, QStyle, qApp
from PyQt5.QtCore import QSize
 
 
class MainWindow(QMainWindow):
    """
         Сheckbox and system tray icons.
         Will initialize in the constructor.
    """
    check_box = None
    tray_icon = None
 
    # Override the class constructor
    def __init__(self):
        # Be sure to call the super class method
        QMainWindow.__init__(self)
 
        self.setMinimumSize(QSize(480, 80))             # Set sizes
        self.setWindowTitle("System Tray Application")  # Set a title
        central_widget = QWidget(self)                  # Create a central widget
        self.setCentralWidget(central_widget)           # Set the central widget
 
        grid_layout = QGridLayout(self)         # Create a QGridLayout
        central_widget.setLayout(grid_layout)   # Set the layout into the central widget
        grid_layout.addWidget(QLabel("Application, which can minimize to Tray", self), 0, 0)
 
        # Add a checkbox, which will depend on the behavior of the program when the window is closed
        self.check_box = QCheckBox('Minimize to Tray')
        grid_layout.addWidget(self.check_box, 1, 0)
        grid_layout.addItem(QSpacerItem(0, 0, QSizePolicy.Expanding, QSizePolicy.Expanding), 2, 0)
 
        # Init QSystemTrayIcon
        self.tray_icon = QSystemTrayIcon(self)
        self.tray_icon.setIcon(self.style().standardIcon(QStyle.SP_ComputerIcon))
 
        '''
            Define and add steps to work with the system tray icon
            show - show window
            hide - hide window
            exit - exit from application
        '''
        show_action = QAction("Show", self)
        quit_action = QAction("Exit", self)
        hide_action = QAction("Hide", self)
        show_action.triggered.connect(self.show)
        hide_action.triggered.connect(self.hide)
        quit_action.triggered.connect(qApp.quit)
        tray_menu = QMenu()
        tray_menu.addAction(show_action)
        tray_menu.addAction(hide_action)
        tray_menu.addAction(quit_action)
        self.tray_icon.setContextMenu(tray_menu)
        self.tray_icon.show()
 
    # Override closeEvent, to intercept the window closing event
    # The window will be closed only if there is no check mark in the check box
    def closeEvent(self, event):
        if self.check_box.isChecked():
            event.ignore()
            self.hide()
            self.tray_icon.showMessage(
                "Tray Program",
                "Application was minimized to Tray",
                QSystemTrayIcon.Information,
                2000
            )
 
 
if __name__ == "__main__":
    import sys
 
    app = QApplication(sys.argv)
    mw = MainWindow()
    mw.show()
    sys.exit(app.exec())

Video