Feature request: close to tray

[Faziri]

Hi

I'm interested in replacing thunderbird with fossamail because tb has been pretty neglected by mozilla for a long time now, there are various bugs and problems that just don't get solved and the devs don't even seem to care. The latest version doesn't even start, it just crashes.

What I thought was gonna be a problem right off the bat was addon compatibility, since the only addons that are likely to work in fossa are very old ones or specifically made ones. I had the same problem with palemoon and decided against it for that reason. Fortunately I use a lot fewer in tb than in ff. The only one that doesn't work is firetray, and that actually reminded me that closing to tray is best programmed at window management level (not to mention requires OS awareness), which is tricky for an addon to do.

So, I'd like to request the ability to close to tray (or minimize to tray if people want to do it semantically wrong) to be added to fossa. Would this be possible?

Cheers and thanks for another great project, MC

[eskaton]

http://rbtray.sourceforge.net/

Let's you minimize any program to the systray. I use it on my work laptop to nest putty and some other apps that are always running but don't need to be seen.

[Antonius32]

Hi Faziri,

Do you use FossaMail on Linux? I do, and in my experience, FireTray works fine with it.. If you're on Windows, Thunderbird-Tray is another good alternative.

[Faziri]

http://rbtray.sourceforge.net/

Let's you minimize any program to the systray. I use it on my work laptop to nest putty and some other apps that are always running but don't need to be seen.

I've used rbtray before, and while it's a nice program, I'm opposed to using it:
-programs being influenced externally by another program to change window behavior can lead to trouble
-only works on windows that use native window frames, so isn't very consistent
-overlaps with built-in function of lots of other programs that can systray themselves

Having a progam implement its own systray functionality is just much cleaner, more reliable and such. Tb/fossa already use a systray icon for new mails, so it can't be hard to make it show up all the time instead of only when there's mail and to have it display the unread count.

[Faziri]

Hi Faziri,

Do you use FossaMail on Linux? I do, and in my experience, FireTray works fine with it.. If you're on Windows, Thunderbird-Tray is another good alternative.

This seems to be essentially the same thing as rbtray but geared specifically towards thunderbird, like a wrapper. Tbh I don't like the idea of interoperation between programs on windows, it always leads to trouble. See previous post as well.

[Moonchild]

I know you probably don't like the idea, but the best solution really is using a third-party program. I personally use Actual Tools for additional window manager functionality (like rollup, systray, transparency, snapping, autosizing, multiple-monitor placement, etc.) and there is absolutely no issue with interaction with other programs -- and if there is, it's easy to exclude a program from the manager.

Building this into Fossamail is not straightforward - you have to understand that any Mozilla application does not behave like your standard GUI program, and doesn't have a single native window in the classical sense. Approaching this from the outside in is a faster and more stable route.

[Faziri]

I'm trying tbtray but it doesn't seem to work well (with fossamail?). It's very glitchy and just doesn't do its job as per the config.

Using rbtray or other tools would merely minimze tb/fossa to a static icon. I need the icon to be different when I have mail, preferably with a counter if possible.

[Antonius32]

I'm trying tbtray but it doesn't seem to work well (with fossamail?). It's very glitchy and just doesn't do its job as per the config.

On the "Thunderbird" tab, did you enter the installation path and the "Exe-Name" for FossaMail?

[Faziri]

I'm trying tbtray but it doesn't seem to work well (with fossamail?). It's very glitchy and just doesn't do its job as per the config.

In the "Thunderbird" tab, did you enter the installation path and the "Exe-Name" for FossaMail?

Yes

The glitches are hard to describe though, it was like the button was only in control of fossa half the time and oblivious about it the other half, among others.

[Antonius32]

Hmm, that's strange. I've been using Thunderbird-Tray for quite a while now, and I've never had any issues with it, really.

Another option is the MinimizeToTray revived extension, have you tried that? I don't think it has any additional features over RBTray, though.

I need the icon to be different when I have mail, preferably with a counter if possible.

FossaMail has built-in options for notification, see http://kb.mozillazine.org/Mail_and_news_settings#Mail. and have a look at the various "mail.biff" preferences described there.

[back2themoon]

Also Min2Tray, which works fine with FossaMail.