Launchers

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.

John 14:6 (NHEB)

A launcher makes items quickly accessible. They launch applications, documents, webpages and more. Also known as shortcuts; launchers provide faster, easier access to the the things they point to. And launchers may be almost anywhere – on the Desktop, in the menu, in the panel, in folders…

Anatomy of a Launcher:

[Desktop Entry] the type of file a launcher is; a desktop entry file.
Name=Name of the launcher and / or thing it points to
Comment=Description shown when the cursor hovers over it (tooltip)
Exec=Command to open the application, start the process, etc.
Terminal=Does this thing run in a Terminal; true or false?
Type=Kind of launcher; usually an Application (sometimes a directory, etc.)
Icon=Name of (and maybe the path to) the icon or other image file
Categories=Where it'll show (under what sub-menu) in the menu

_{Note: all non-English references were removed for space considerations}

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Launcher for the 12 Apostles Quiz & Memory Game, included in C4C Ubuntu.

[Desktop Entry] Version=1.1 Type=Application Name=12 Apostles Comment=12 Apostels Quiz & Memory Game Icon=/usr/share/christian/icons/The12.png Exec=ruffle /usr/share/christian/12-apostles/The_Twelve_Apostles.swf Actions=Categories=christian-local;

Launcher for MusicBrainz Picard, a music tagger and organizer. MusicBrainz Picard is available in Gnome Software as a .deb or Flatpak (or snap).

[[Desktop Entry] Name=MusicBrainz Picard Comment=Tag your music with the next generation MusicBrainz tagger Exec=picard %F Terminal=false Type=Application StartupNotify=true StartupWMClass=Picard Icon=org.musicbrainz.Picard Categories=AudioVideo;Audio;AudioVideoEditing; MimeType=application/ogg;application/x-flac;audio/aac;audio/ac3;audio/aiff;audio/ape;audio/dsf;audio/flac;audio/midi;audio/mp4;audio/mpeg;audio/mpeg4;audio/mpg;audio/ogg;audio/vorbis;audio/x-aac;audio/x-aiff;audio/x-ape;audio/x-flac;audio/x-flac+ogg;audio/x-m4a;audio/x-midi;audio/x-mp3;audio/x-mpc;audio/x-mpeg;audio/x-ms-wma;audio/x-ms-wmv;audio/x-musepack;audio/x-oggflac;audio/x-speex;audio/x-speex+ogg;audio/x-tak;audio/x-tta;audio/x-vorbis;audio/x-vorbis+ogg;audio/x-wav;audio/x-wavpack;audio/x-wma;video/x-ms-asf;video/x-theora;video/x-wmv; Actions=new-window; [Desktop Action new-window] Name=New Window Exec=picard --stand-alone-instance %F

Launcher for Spotify, a music streaming service with vast media library. Spotify is available in Gnome Software as a Flatpak (or snap)

[Desktop Entry]Type=Application Name=Spotify GenericName=Music Player Icon=com.spotify.Client Exec=/usr/bin/flatpak run --branch=stable --arch=x86_64 --command=spotify --file-forwarding com.spotify.Client @@u %U @@ Terminal=false MimeType=x-scheme-handler/spotify; Categories=Audio;Music;Player;AudioVideo; StartupWMClass=spotify X-GNOME-UsesNotifications=true X-Flatpak-Tags=proprietary; X-Flatpak=com.spotify.Clienty

Launcher for Zoom™, (audio and) video conferencing software. Zoom is available in Gnome Software as a Flatpak (or snap).

[Desktop Entry] Name=Zoom Comment=Zoom Video Conference GenericName=Zoom Client for Linux Exec=/usr/bin/flatpak run --branch=stable --arch=x86_64 --command=zoom --file-forwarding us.zoom.Zoom @@u %U @@ Icon=us.zoom.Zoom Terminal=false Type=Application StartupNotify=true Categories=Network;InstantMessaging;VideoConference;Telephony; MimeType=x-scheme-handler/zoommtg;x-scheme-handler/zoomus;x-scheme-handler/tel;x-scheme-handler/callto;x-scheme-handler/zoomphonecall;application/x-zoom X-KDE-Protocols=zoommtg;zoomus;tel;callto;zoomphonecall; StartupWMClass=zoom X-Flatpak-Tags=proprietary; X-Flatpak=us.zoom.Zoom

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EDIT A LAUNCHER

We’re going to explore two different ways to edit a launcher. We use Catfish File Search to find calculator images on the system, Ristretto Image View to preview them – and for this first example, settle on elementary-xfce’s accessories-calculator.

Method 1: Go to Menu > Accessories > Galculator, right-click and select Edit Application…

Rename Galculator, Calculator. Click the icon and navigate to /usr/share/icons/elementary-xfce/apps/64/accessories-calculator.png and [Save]

We then check out the result in the menu:

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Method 2: (again) use Catfish File Search to search for calculator images and Ristretto Image Viewer to preview them

Still in Catfish, right-click the calculator image you settled on and chose Copy Location from the drop-down

Then open the File Manager (Thunar) as root
Open a Terminal [Ctrl]+[Alt]+[T] and type:
pkexec thunar
Press the [Enter] key

Type in your password/passphrase, click the [Authenticate] button

Navigate to /usr/share/applications/ and click the magnifying glass icon to search for Galculator

Right-click galculator.desktop and Open With > Mousepad

Change the “G” to a “C” in the Name key to make it say Calculator

Select the word galculator in the Icon key, paste (the path to the image you copied) and save

“Calculator” in the Menu

_{Galculator is an open source (basic and scientific) calculator licensed under GPL-2.0}