How can I run the Python program in the background while GUI is closed? But the GUI can be restored

Question

Is there anyway I can run this program like this.

At the start of the program GUI shows and background process starts running. And the the GUI can be closed and opened anytime the user wants. But the background process keeps running uninterrupted.

Here is my current code. 4 classes.

1. FileHandler
2. Scanner <- Inherits from QThread
3. UserInterface <- Takes QMainWindow as an argument
4. Main <- Inherits from UserInterface

import math
import sys
import time
import psutil
import win32gui
import win32process
import threading
import atexit
from PyQt5 import QtCore, QtGui, QtWidgets
from PyQt5.QtChart import QChart, QChartView, QPieSeries
from PyQt5.QtCore import QThread, pyqtSignal

RECORDED_PROGRAMS = {}

class FileHandler():
    def __init__ (self):
        print("[+] Driver File Initiated...")
        self.logFile = open("log.txt", "a+")
        self.dataFile = open("data.txt", "a+")

    def readFile(self):
        pass

    def writeFile(self):
        print("[+] {} : Writing Data to the File...".format(time.strftime("%H:%M:%S".format(time.localtime()))))
        self.dataFile.write("\nOn Write : {} : ".format(time.strftime("%H:%M:%S".format(time.localtime()))) + str(RECORDED_PROGRAMS))

    def closeFile(self):
        print("[+] File Handler Exiting...")
        print("[+] Closing File...")
        self.dataFile.write("\nOn Exit  : {} : ".format(time.strftime("%H:%M:%S".format(time.localtime()))) + str(RECORDED_PROGRAMS))
        self.dataFile.write("\n=================================================================================")
        self.dataFile.write("\n[!] Program Exited. TimeStamp: {}".format(time.strftime("%H:%M:%S", time.localtime())))
        self.dataFile.write("\n=================================================================================")
        self.dataFile.close()
        self.logFile.close()
#==============================================================================================================
class Scanner(QThread):

    signal = pyqtSignal(bool)
    
    def run(self):
        print("[+] Scanner Initialized...")
        count = 0
        while True:
            count += 1
            try:
                activeWindowId = win32gui.GetForegroundWindow()
                threadList = win32process.GetWindowThreadProcessId(activeWindowId)
                mainThreadName = psutil.Process(threadList[-1]).name()

                if(mainThreadName in RECORDED_PROGRAMS.keys()):
                    RECORDED_PROGRAMS[mainThreadName] += 1
                else:
                    RECORDED_PROGRAMS[mainThreadName] = 1
            except Exception as E:
                print("[-] Error in Scanner...")
                print("======================================================")
                print(E)
                print("======================================================")

            if count == 60:
                self.signal.emit(True)
                count = 0
            time.sleep(1)

#==============================================================================================================
class UserInterface():
    def __init__(self, MainWindow):
        self.setupUi(MainWindow)

    def setupUi(self, MainWindow):
        MainWindow.setObjectName("MainWindow")
        MainWindow.resize(640, 480)
        sizePolicy = QtWidgets.QSizePolicy(QtWidgets.QSizePolicy.Fixed, QtWidgets.QSizePolicy.Fixed)
        sizePolicy.setHorizontalStretch(0)
        sizePolicy.setVerticalStretch(0)
        sizePolicy.setHeightForWidth(MainWindow.sizePolicy().hasHeightForWidth())
        MainWindow.setSizePolicy(sizePolicy)
        MainWindow.setMinimumSize(QtCore.QSize(640, 480))
        MainWindow.setMaximumSize(QtCore.QSize(640, 480))
        font = QtGui.QFont()
        font.setFamily("Bahnschrift")
        font.setPointSize(14)
        MainWindow.setFont(font)

        self.centralwidget = QtWidgets.QWidget(MainWindow)
        self.centralwidget.setObjectName("centralwidget")

        self.centralWidgetHLayout = QtWidgets.QHBoxLayout(self.centralwidget)
        self.centralWidgetHLayout.setObjectName("centralWidgetHLayout")

        self.leftGroupBox = QtWidgets.QGroupBox(self.centralwidget)
        self.leftGroupBox.setMinimumSize(QtCore.QSize(300, 462))
        self.leftGroupBox.setMaximumSize(QtCore.QSize(300, 462))
        self.leftGroupBox.setObjectName("leftGroupBox")

        self.leftGroupVLayout = QtWidgets.QVBoxLayout(self.leftGroupBox)
        self.leftGroupVLayout.setContentsMargins(5, 5, 5, 5)
        self.leftGroupVLayout.setSpacing(5)
        self.leftGroupVLayout.setObjectName("leftGroupVLayout")

        self.widget = QtWidgets.QWidget(self.leftGroupBox)
        self.widget.setMinimumSize(QtCore.QSize(288, 427))
        self.widget.setMaximumSize(QtCore.QSize(288, 427))
        self.widget.setObjectName("widget")
        self.widgetLayout = QtWidgets.QVBoxLayout(self.widget)
        self.widgetLayout.setContentsMargins(0, 0, 0, 0)
        self.widgetLayout.setSpacing(0)
        self.widgetLayout.setObjectName("widgetLayout")

        self.series = QPieSeries()
        self.chart = QChart()
        self.chart.addSeries(self.series)
        self.chartView = QChartView(self.chart)
        self.chart.setAnimationOptions(QChart.SeriesAnimations)
        self.chart.legend().hide()

        self.widgetLayout.addWidget(self.chartView)
        self.leftGroupVLayout.addWidget(self.widget)
        self.centralWidgetHLayout.addWidget(self.leftGroupBox)

        self.rightGroupBox = QtWidgets.QGroupBox(self.centralwidget)
        self.rightGroupBox.setMinimumSize(QtCore.QSize(316, 462))
        self.rightGroupBox.setMaximumSize(QtCore.QSize(316, 462))
        self.rightGroupBox.setObjectName("rightGroupBox")

        self.rightGroupVLayout = QtWidgets.QVBoxLayout(self.rightGroupBox)
        self.rightGroupVLayout.setContentsMargins(5, 5, 5, 5)
        self.rightGroupVLayout.setSpacing(5)
        self.rightGroupVLayout.setObjectName("rightGroupVLayout")

        self.tableView = QtWidgets.QTableWidget(self.rightGroupBox)
        self.tableView.setMinimumSize(QtCore.QSize(304, 427))
        self.tableView.setMaximumSize(QtCore.QSize(304, 427))
        self.tableView.setFrameShape(QtWidgets.QFrame.StyledPanel)
        self.tableView.setFrameShadow(QtWidgets.QFrame.Plain)
        self.tableView.setLineWidth(1)
        self.tableView.setMidLineWidth(0)
        self.tableView.setObjectName("tableView")
        self.tableView.setColumnCount(2)
        self.tableView.setRowCount(0)

        item = QtWidgets.QTableWidgetItem()
        self.tableView.setHorizontalHeaderItem(0, item)
        item = QtWidgets.QTableWidgetItem()

        self.tableView.setHorizontalHeaderItem(1, item)
        self.tableView.horizontalHeader().setVisible(True)
        self.tableView.horizontalHeader().setDefaultSectionSize(150)
        self.tableView.horizontalHeader().setHighlightSections(False)
        self.tableView.horizontalHeader().setMinimumSectionSize(150)
        self.tableView.verticalHeader().setVisible(True)
        self.tableView.verticalHeader().setDefaultSectionSize(31)

        self.rightGroupVLayout.addWidget(self.tableView)
        self.centralWidgetHLayout.addWidget(self.rightGroupBox)
        MainWindow.setCentralWidget(self.centralwidget)

        self.retranslateUi(MainWindow)
        QtCore.QMetaObject.connectSlotsByName(MainWindow)

    def retranslateUi(self, MainWindow):
        _translate = QtCore.QCoreApplication.translate
        MainWindow.setWindowTitle(_translate("MainWindow", "MainWindow"))
        self.leftGroupBox.setTitle(_translate("MainWindow", "Top 10 Overview"))
        self.rightGroupBox.setTitle(_translate("MainWindow", "Recorded Programs"))
        self.tableView.setSortingEnabled(True)
        item = self.tableView.horizontalHeaderItem(0)
        item.setText(_translate("MainWindow", "Program Name"))
        item = self.tableView.horizontalHeaderItem(1)
        item.setText(_translate("MainWindow", "Time (mins)"))

        MainWindow.show()

    
#===========================================================================================================================
class Main(UserInterface):
    def __init__(self, MainWindow):
        self.scanner = Scanner()
        self.fileHandler = FileHandler()
        self.runScanner()
        super().__init__(MainWindow)

    def runScanner(self):
        self.scanner.signal.connect(self.update)
        self.scanner.start()

    def update(self):
        self.updateChart()
        self.updateTable()
        self.updateLog()

    def updateChart(self):
        print("[+] Updating Chart...")
        self.chart.removeSeries(self.series)
        self.series.clear()
        for key, val in RECORDED_PROGRAMS.items():
            self.series.append(key, math.ceil(val/60))

        self.chart.addSeries(self.series)

    def updateTable(self):
        print("[+] Updating Table...")
        rowCount = len(RECORDED_PROGRAMS)
        self.tableView.setRowCount(rowCount)
        programNames = list(RECORDED_PROGRAMS.keys())
        timeRec = list(RECORDED_PROGRAMS.values())

        for row in range(rowCount):
            for column in range(2):
                if column == 0:
                    self.tableView.setItem(row, column, QtWidgets.QTableWidgetItem(str(programNames[row])))
                
                if column == 1:
                    self.tableView.setItem(row, column, QtWidgets.QTableWidgetItem(str(math.ceil(timeRec[row]/60))))

    def updateLog(self):
        print("[+] Updating Log...")
        self.fileHandler.writeFile()

    def quit(self):
        print("[+] Quitting Program...")
        self.scanner.terminate()
        self.fileHandler.closeFile()
#===========================================================================================================================
def _exit():
    print("[+] At Exit Func Triggered...")
    main.quit()

if __name__ == "__main__":
    guiApplication = QtWidgets.QApplication(sys.argv)
    window = QtWidgets.QMainWindow()
    main = Main(window)
    atexit.register(_exit)

    stop = False
    while not stop:
        answer = input("Stop [Y/N]? ")
        if answer == "Y":
            stop = True
        time.sleep(0.5)    
    
    print("[+] Main Loop Exit hit...")

Answer 1

There are a couple ways you can do this. You can set it to hide windows with self.hide() and self.show() to show them again, or you can use the self.setVisible(False) on each window you want to hide. You can loop through them to hide all of them. You could either leave one window open with a push button to call the functions to show and hide them, or you can use another library like pynput to set keybinds to show or hide the window. Of course you should make a seperate function for this and call it by the push button or keybind, and you can choose what to do in the function by checking if self.isVisible(). The name doesn't have to be self, it can be each one you want to hide and you can loop through them and use a comprehension or lambda function.