Create-a-macOS-Menu-Bar-App-with-Python-Pomodoro #

Create a macOS Menu Bar App with Python (Pomodoro Timer) – Camillo Visini #

Created: July 13, 2020 2:44 AM URL: https://camillovisini.com/create-macos-menu-bar-app-pomodoro/ ! As an example, we will create a 🍅 pomodoro app, which you can use to boost your productivity and manage your time from the convenience of your menu bar. We will be using the following software:

• Python 3 and PyCharm as an IDE
• Rumps → Ridiculously Uncomplicated macOS Python Statusbar apps
• py2app → For creating standalone macOS apps from Python code *(how cool is that? Enter the following in your terminal:

pip3 install -U py2app # this will install py2app using pip, or to upgrade to the latest released version of py2app
pip3 install -U rumps # this will install rumps using pip, or to upgrade to the latest released version of rumps

Step 2: Basic example #

Open the project directory in your favorite editor or IDE – in my case PyCharm – by typing:

charm .

In pomodoro.py we need to set up the following boilerplate code in order to get started:

import rumps
class PomodoroApp(object):
def __init__(self):
self.app = rumps.App("Pomodoro", "🍅")
def run(self):
self.app.run()
if __name__ == '__main__':
app = PomodoroApp()
app.run()

If you execute the python program using python3 pomodoro.py, you will notice a new addition to your menu bar – albeit with limited functionality, as you can see… A barely functional menu bar app…

Step 3: Full implementation #

Now we will implement the actual functionality of our pomodoro menu bar app – see the complete code for pomodoro.py below:

import rumps
class PomodoroApp(object):
def __init__(self):
self.config = {
"app_name": "Pomodoro",
"start": "Start Timer",
"pause": "Pause Timer",
"continue": "Continue Timer",
"stop": "Stop Timer",
"break_message": "Time is up!
Take a break :)",
"interval": 1500
}
self.app = rumps.App(self.config["app_name"])
self.timer = rumps.Timer(self.on_tick, 1)
self.interval = self.config["interval"]
self.set_up_menu()
self.start_pause_button = rumps.MenuItem(title=self.config["start"], callback=self.start_timer)
self.stop_button = rumps.MenuItem(title=self.config["stop"], callback=None)
self.app.menu = [self.start_pause_button, self.stop_button]
def set_up_menu(self):
self.timer.stop()
self.timer.count = 0
self.app.title = "🍅"
def on_tick(self, sender):
time_left = sender.end - sender.count
mins = time_left // 60 if time_left >= 0 else time_left // 60 + 1
secs = time_left % 60 if time_left >= 0 else (-1 * time_left) % 60
if mins == 0 and time_left < 0:
rumps.notification(title=self.config["app_name"], subtitle=self.config["break_message"], message='')
self.stop_timer()
self.stop_button.set_callback(None)
else:
self.stop_button.set_callback(self.stop_timer)
self.app.title = '{:2d}:{:02d}'.format(mins, secs)
sender.count += 1
def start_timer(self, sender):
if sender.title.lower().startswith(("start", "continue")):
if sender.title == self.config["start"]:
self.timer.count = 0
self.timer.end = self.interval
sender.title = self.config["pause"]
self.timer.start()
else:
sender.title = self.config["continue"]
self.timer.stop()
def stop_timer(self):
self.set_up_menu()
self.stop_button.set_callback(None)
self.start_pause_button.title = self.config["start"]
def run(self):
self.app.run()
if __name__ == '__main__':
app = PomodoroApp()
app.run()

By executing the python program again using python3 pomodoro.py, you can see our menu bar app in its full glory: Now we’re getting there!

Step 4: Create macOS app from our python code #

In setup.py we need to add the following code, which provides all the necessary instructions to create the application bundle (app name, app version, app icon, etc.)