How to create a system tray popup message with python? (Windows)

I recently used the Plyer package to create cross-platform notifications without pain, using the Notification facade (it have many other interesting things that are worth to take a look at).

Pretty easy to use:

from plyer.utils import platform
from plyer import notification

notification.notify(
    title='Here is the title',
    message='Here is the message',
    app_name='Here is the application name',
    app_icon='path/to/the/icon.' + ('ico' if platform == 'win' else 'png')
)

With the help of the pywin32 library you can use the following example code I found here:

from win32api import *
from win32gui import *
import win32con
import sys, os
import struct
import time

class WindowsBalloonTip:
    def __init__(self, title, msg):
        message_map = {
                win32con.WM_DESTROY: self.OnDestroy,
        }
        # Register the Window class.
        wc = WNDCLASS()
        hinst = wc.hInstance = GetModuleHandle(None)
        wc.lpszClassName = "PythonTaskbar"
        wc.lpfnWndProc = message_map # could also specify a wndproc.
        classAtom = RegisterClass(wc)
        # Create the Window.
        style = win32con.WS_OVERLAPPED | win32con.WS_SYSMENU
        self.hwnd = CreateWindow( classAtom, "Taskbar", style, \
                0, 0, win32con.CW_USEDEFAULT, win32con.CW_USEDEFAULT, \
                0, 0, hinst, None)
        UpdateWindow(self.hwnd)
        iconPathName = os.path.abspath(os.path.join( sys.path[0], "balloontip.ico" ))
        icon_flags = win32con.LR_LOADFROMFILE | win32con.LR_DEFAULTSIZE
        try:
           hicon = LoadImage(hinst, iconPathName, \
                    win32con.IMAGE_ICON, 0, 0, icon_flags)
        except:
          hicon = LoadIcon(0, win32con.IDI_APPLICATION)
        flags = NIF_ICON | NIF_MESSAGE | NIF_TIP
        nid = (self.hwnd, 0, flags, win32con.WM_USER+20, hicon, "tooltip")
        Shell_NotifyIcon(NIM_ADD, nid)
        Shell_NotifyIcon(NIM_MODIFY, \
                         (self.hwnd, 0, NIF_INFO, win32con.WM_USER+20,\
                          hicon, "Balloon  tooltip",msg,200,title))
        # self.show_balloon(title, msg)
        time.sleep(10)
        DestroyWindow(self.hwnd)
    def OnDestroy(self, hwnd, msg, wparam, lparam):
        nid = (self.hwnd, 0)
        Shell_NotifyIcon(NIM_DELETE, nid)
        PostQuitMessage(0) # Terminate the app.

def balloon_tip(title, msg):
    w=WindowsBalloonTip(title, msg)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    balloon_tip("Title for popup", "This is the popup's message")

You will need to use a 3rd party python GUI library or the pywin32 library. TkInter, the GUI toolkit that comes bundled with python does not support system tray pop ups.

Multiform neutral libraries that support working with the system tray:

  • wxPython
  • PyGTK
  • PyQT

Windows specific library that supports working with the system tray:

  • pywin32

Information/example of system tray pop ups using wxpython on windows:

  • Unable to use wx.NotificationMessage properly with wxPython

Here is the simple way to show notifications on windows 10 using python: module win10toast.

Requirements:

  • pypiwin32
  • setuptools

Installation:

>> pip install win10toast

Example:

from win10toast import ToastNotifier
toaster = ToastNotifier()
toaster.show_toast("Demo notification",
                   "Hello world",
                   duration=10)

Resultant of the code