Display String in System Tray (instead of TrayIcon)

[Jonathan Culloty]

Hi, I'm using the Java SystemTray http://java.sun.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/awt/SystemTray.html to display a parameter.
I want to read this parameter hourly and display the value in the system tray.
My problem is that I can only display a trayicon and not a string.
I know I can add a popup to the tray icon which contains a string but i wanted the user to see teh string without any interaction.

any ideas how to get around this?
Thanks,

Jonathan

[Rob Spoor]

I don't know if the task bar allows icons to be wider than 16 pixels, but you could always create a BufferedImage on which you draw your string:

BufferedImage image = new BufferedImage(16, 16, BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_ARGB);
Graphics2D g2d = image.createGraphics();
g2d.drawString(...);
g2d.dispose();
trayIcon.setImage(image);

[Jonathan Culloty]

thank you very much Rob, it worked perfectly....

[Jonathan Culloty]

One last quick one, I am currently only able to display 2 characters in the icon using this method.
Is there anyway to squeeze more chars in here, or am I limited to just two?
I guess the 16x16 pixel size of the icon limits the space...
Thanks,
Jon

[Rob Spoor]

I can think of two ways to shrink your letters:
1) make a larger image, and call setImageAutoSize(true) on your TrayIcon
2) use a smaller font for the Graphics object.

You can do 2 like this:

Graphics2D g2d = image.createGraphics();
Font font = g2d.getFont();
font = font.deriveFont(4.0f); // or any other size
g2d.setFont(font);
// rest of the code

Overall 1) should be easier since the size doesn't really matter. You can make the image any size (as long as it is a square), and let the system handle the resize. However, I don't know if it performs well. You will have to test that.

[Jonathan Culloty]

One last question about Images. I have 2 gifs, both are 8 pixels wide and 16 pixels high.
I want to put one gif on the left side of a system tray icon and the other on the right side.
Sort of like below, is this possible to do? I've been try to get it to work without success for the last while.

Thanks,
Jon

ooooooooxxxxxxxx
ooooooooxxxxxxxx
ooooooooxxxxxxxx
ooooooooxxxxxxxx
ooooooooxxxxxxxx
ooooooooxxxxxxxx
ooooooooxxxxxxxx
ooooooooxxxxxxxx
ooooooooxxxxxxxx
ooooooooxxxxxxxx
ooooooooxxxxxxxx
ooooooooxxxxxxxx
ooooooooxxxxxxxx
ooooooooxxxxxxxx
ooooooooxxxxxxxx
ooooooooxxxxxxxx

[Rob Spoor]

You can use the code I provided loooong ago and use the Graphic2D object's drawImage methods.

[Jonathan Culloty]

Hi Rob, I was trying like that except I either saw a completely clear or completely black icon depending on the BufferedImage .TYPE I use... Thanks

BufferedImage buff = new BufferedImage(16, 16, BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_ARGB );
Graphics2D g2d = buff.createGraphics();
Image leftimg = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getImage(getClass().getResource("img/leftside.gif"));
Image rightimg = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getImage(getClass().getResource("img/rightside.gif"));
			
g2d.drawImage(leftimg, 0, 0, 8, 16, null);
g2d.drawImage(rightimg, 8, 0, 8, 16, null);
g2d.dispose();
trayIcon1.setImage(buff);

[Rob Spoor]

Are you sure those resources are right? Because that code should work.

What does the following print:

System.out.println(getClass().getResource("img/leftside.gif"));   
System.out.println(getClass().getResource("img/rightside.gif"));

[Jonathan Culloty]

file:/Users/jonathanculloty/forge/BBUM/bin/bbum/img/leftside.gif
file:/Users/jonathanculloty/forge/BBUM/bin/bbum/img/rightside.gif

[Jonathan Culloty]

Fiund this, it seems to be the same problem....
http://forums.sun.com/thread.jspa?threadID=736202

[Rob Spoor]

ImageIcon calls a protected method called loadImage after it has loaded the image using Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getImage:

protected void loadImage(Image image) {
    synchronized(tracker) {
        int id = getNextID();

        tracker.addImage(image, id);
        try {
            tracker.waitForID(id, 0);
        } catch (InterruptedException e) {
            System.out.println("INTERRUPTED while loading Image");
        }
        loadStatus = tracker.statusID(id, false);
        tracker.removeImage(image, id);

        width = image.getWidth(imageObserver);
        height = image.getHeight(imageObserver);
    }
}

tracker is an instance of MediaTracker, getNextID() simply returns a new ID each time it's called.

[Jonathan Culloty]

Hi Rob, I got it to work, finally.
IconImage was the way to go.
Thanks for your help and patience.
/Jon

    public static BufferedImage toBufferedImage(Image leftimage, Image rightimage) {
    
    	leftimage = new ImageIcon(leftimage).getImage();
    	rightimage = new ImageIcon(rightimage).getImage();
        BufferedImage bimage = null;
    
        int type = BufferedImage.TYPE_INT_RGB;
        bimage = new BufferedImage(16, 16, type);
        Graphics g = bimage.createGraphics();
    
        g.drawImage(leftimage, 0, 0, null);
        g.drawImage(rightimage, 8, 0, null);
        g.dispose();
    
        return bimage;
    }

[Rob Camick]

Just thought I'd mention the Compound Icon which may be easier then doing your own custom painting.

[Maneesh Godbole]

Cool!
I can see from the figure that overlay/merge is also possible.

[Rob Spoor]

That CompoundIcon looks pretty cool, but it's not really appropriate here. TrayIcon takes an Image, not an Icon.

[Rob Camick]

Rob Prime wrote:That CompoundIcon looks pretty cool, but it's not really appropriate here. TrayIcon takes an Image, not an Icon.

Oops, good point, I've never used the TrayIcon and was just going by the name.