def triggerItem(self, item):
        """
        Triggers the item by calling its action's toggled state to display or
        hide the dock panel.
        
        :param      item | <QtGui.QTreeWidgetItem>
        """
        if not item:
            return
        
        # emit the trigger action
        self._triggerText = item.text(0)
        self._completer.hide()
        self._completer.setCurrentItem(None)
        self.parent().hide()
        
        # trigger the action
        unwrapVariant(item.data(0, Qt.UserRole)).trigger()