# mktrayicon `mktrayicon` is a simple proxy program that lets you create and modify system tray icons without having to deal with a graphical toolkit like GTK. `mktrayicon` expects to be given a name pipe (FIFO) file path when it is started, and you control your status icon by writing to this named pipe. *Note that the pipe should already be created before you call `mktrayicon`*. Every line written to the pipe should contain a single letter specifying what operation to perform, optionally followed by a space and a parameter to the command. Each command should be terminated by a newline. The following commands are supported: - `q`: Terminate `mktrayicon` and remove the tray icon - `i `: Set the graphic to use for the tray icon; it can be a stock icon name (see `/usr/share/icons`) or path to a custom icon - `t `: Set the text to display in the icon tooltip - `t`: Remove the icon tooltip - `c `: Set the command to be execute when the user clicks the icon (`cmnd` is passed to `/bin/sh -c`) - `c`: Remove the click handler - `h`: Hide the tray icon - `s`: Show the tray icon By default, the `none` tooltip icon is used. To change this, pass `-i ` or `-i ` when running `mktrayicon`. Note that any script communicating with `mktrayicon` **must**, for the time being, send `q` when they are done. Just removing the FIFO file will **not** cause the tray icon to be removed. ## Why? Because I wanted to be able to create tray icons from bash without all the hassle of interacting with GTK. Now I can create scripts for measuring stuff and instantly make tray icons out of them (3G signal strength for example). ## Example run This example is also in `examples/test.sh` so you can try running it. ```bash #!/bin/bash # Set up tray icon mkfifo /tmp/$$.icon ./mktrayicon /tmp/$$.icon & # Manipulate tray icon # Click handling echo "c xterm -e /bin/sh -c 'iwconfig; read'" > /tmp/$$.icon # Change the icon and tooltip for i in none weak ok good excellent; do echo "i network-wireless-signal-$i-symbolic" > /tmp/$$.icon echo "t Signal strength: $i" > /tmp/$$.icon sleep 2 done # Remove tooltip and click handler echo "c" > /tmp/$$.icon echo "t" > /tmp/$$.icon # Toggle the visibility of the icon for a bit for i in {1..3}; do for j in h s; do echo $j > /tmp/$$.icon sleep 1 done done # Remove tray icon echo "q" > /tmp/$$.icon rm /tmp/$$.icon ``` ## Known bugs This is my first time using the GTK+ C library, and I've got to say it is less than pleasant to work with. My biggest issue has been trying to do blocking IO without blocking the GUI thread, as GTK seems to not like that. **Patches are very welcome!**