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Zany_Zachary1
Asked: 2020-01-09 14:42:20 +0800 CST

Dynamic Trash icon in Dash to Dock on Ubuntu 18.04

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I want to make a trash icon for my dock. Dash to Dock does not have a trash icon that I can add, so I was going to make one. I want the Trash full icon when something gets added to the trash, and I want the Trash Empty icon for when there is nothing in the trash. Can somebody please tell me how to do this? Here is my desktop file:

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=Trash
Comment=Trash
Icon=user-trash
Exec=nautilus trash://
Categories=Utility;
Actions=trash;

[Desktop Action trash]
Name=Empty Trash
Exec=/home/zacharygough/trash.sh -e
trash gnome-shell ubuntu-dock 18.04 dash-to-dock

1 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    Automatically change the icon of a .desktop file, depending on the state of the trash can

    enter image description here enter image description here

    The tiny scrip uses Gio.Filemonitor to watch the state (empty or not) of trash:///

    How to use

    1. Copy the script below into an empty file, name it watchout.py

    2. Replace in the lines:

      # edit path to .desktop files and icon names below
self.fpath = "/home/jacob/Desktop/test.desktop"
self.iconempty = "user-trash"
self.iconfull = "user-trash-full"

      ...the self.fpath, and if you want the self.iconempty and the self.iconfull

    3. Run the script with the command:

      python3 /path/to/watchout.py

    That's it!

    If all works fine, add the very same command to Startup Applications.

    The script

    #!/usr/bin/env python3
from gi.repository import Gio, GLib

class SetTrashIcon:

    def __init__(self):
        # edit path to .desktop file and icon names below
        self.fpath = "/home/jacob/Desktop/test.desktop"
        self.iconempty = "user-trash"
        self.iconfull = "user-trash-full"
        # don't edit below
        self.trashdir = Gio.File.new_for_uri("trash:///")
        monitor = self.trashdir.monitor_directory(0, None)
        monitor.connect("changed", self.actonfile)
        self.currempty = None
        self.check_empty()
        loop = GLib.MainLoop()
        loop.run()

    def replace(self, newicon):
        # set the new icon, replace the Icon- line
        text = open(self.fpath).read()
        toreplace = [s for s in text.split() if s.startswith("Icon=")][0]
        newtext = text.replace(toreplace, "Icon=" + newicon)
        open(self.fpath, "wt").write(newtext)

    def set_icon(self, newempty):
        # if trash state changes, decide which icon to set
        if newempty != self.currempty:
            if newempty:
                self.replace(self.iconempty)
            else:
                self.replace(self.iconfull)
            self.currempty = newempty

    def check_empty(self):
        # check if trash is empty
        newempty = len(list(self.trashdir.enumerate_children(
            "standard::*", Gio.FileQueryInfoFlags.NONE, None
        ))) == 0
        self.set_icon(newempty)

    def actonfile(self, arg1=None, arg2=None, arg3=None, arg4=None):
        # act on changes in the trash content
        if arg4 == Gio.FileMonitorEvent.ATTRIBUTE_CHANGED:
            self.check_empty()

SetTrashIcon()
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