Customize your system tray with YAD
Bespoke System Tray
© Photo by Suhyeon Choi on Unsplash
YAD lets you customize your system tray with one-line Bash tray scripts.
My goal was to find a simple way to group together my favorite apps and web pages into a system tray item. There are a number of different approaches to this, but for my requirements I found that the YAD (Yet Another Dialog) tool [1] gave me everything that I needed, and I could do it all with just one line of Bash script.
In this article, I will introduce Bash tray scripts with three examples. The first example will show how to create tray scripts that put Linux diagnostic data into both custom dialogs and terminal windows. In the second example, I will add pop-up browser windows to a right-click submenu. The final example will look at how to toggle the tray icon, command, and tooltip with simulated weather conditions.
Getting Started
There are a number of different tools for creating system tray applications, such as AllTray and KDocker. For my projects, I prefer YAD because it lets you create custom dialogs and it supports dynamic changes to the tray features. YAD is a command-line dialog tool very similar to Zenity [2], but with some added features such as system tray support and a more complete dialog functionality.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you've found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
2024 Open Source Professionals Job Survey Now Open
Share your expectations regarding open source jobs.
-
Arch Linux 2023.12.01 Released with a Much-Improved Installer
If you've ever wanted to install Arch Linux, now is your time. With the latest release, the archinstall script vastly simplifies the process.
-
Zorin OS 17 Beta Available for Testing
The upcoming version of Zorin OS includes plenty of improvements to take your PC to a whole new level of user-friendliness.
-
Red Hat Migrates RHEL from Xorg to Wayland
If you've been wondering when Xorg will finally be a thing of the past, wonder no more, as Red Hat has made it clear.
-
PipeWire 1.0 Officially Released
PipeWire was created to take the place of the oft-troubled PulseAudio and has finally reached the 1.0 status as a major update with plenty of improvements and the usual bug fixes.
-
Rocky Linux 9.3 Available for Download
The latest version of the RHEL alternative is now available and brings back cloud and container images for ppc64le along with plenty of new features and fixes.
-
Ubuntu Budgie Shifts How to Tackle Wayland
Ubuntu Budgie has yet to make the switch to Wayland but with a change in approaches, they're finally on track to making it happen.
-
TUXEDO's New Ultraportable Linux Workstation Released
The TUXEDO Pulse 14 blends portability with power, thanks to the AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS CPU.
-
AlmaLinux Will No Longer Be "Just Another RHEL Clone"
With the release of AlmaLinux 9.3, the distribution will be built entirely from upstream sources.
-
elementary OS 8 Has a Big Surprise in Store
When elementary OS 8 finally arrives, it will not only be based on Ubuntu 24.04 but it will also default to Wayland for better performance and security.