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matanster
Asked: 2016-06-28 21:08:19 +0800 CST

Adding a launcher item for a terminal program that has no UI

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Please see the edit at the bottom!

I have followed here for adding an item to the launcher. Here are the contents of my new .desktop file:

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Name=OpenRefine
Comment=2.6-rc.2
Path=/home/foo/openrefine-2.6-rc.2
Exec=/home/foo/openrefine-2.6-rc.2/refine
Terminal=true
Type=Application
Categories=Utility;Application;

(no icon supplied by the application so none included, hopefully a default one will be used). desktop-file-validate passes without errors. So does desktop-file-install. Yet the new program does not show in dash :(

I have started out saving the .desktop file to .local/share/applications, so it is also confusing whether it should remain there after the desktop-file-install or rather it should have been created in some temporary place to begin with, rather than there.

Thanks for clarifying how this should be done.

Edit:

Notably, this program, OpenRefine, when started in a terminal, does not open a UI window. It only starts a web server and launches the default browser against it.

unity

3 Answers

  1. You can use "Main Menu" app (install with sudo apt install alacarte).
    Run it from Dash or from Terminal (alacarte).
    Then you can add launcher item:

    1. Choose category from list on left
    2. Click "New item" button
    3. Insert needed information into fields
    4. Click "OK" and close.

    Now you should have your icon on launcher.

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  2. I use

    sh -c "cd /home/foo/openrefine-2.6-rc.2 && ./refine"

    in the place of

    /home/foo/openrefine-2.6-rc.2/refine

    in the code above.

    You can also use $HOME instead of /home/foo, where foo is your username.

    • 1

  3. Disclaimer: This is very similar @Ven3k but more complete, with a lot of screenshots. Also is very similar to this and this answers but specifically for Openrefine.

    You can create a shortcut to any program and eventually add it to dock/taskbar/launchbar by:

    1. Go to Main menu program (alacarte package): From Show Applications or just hit Super (win) key.

      screenshot

    2. "New item", complete the filename, browse for the exacutable program:

      screenshot

    3. Optional: Add a cute icon: Clic on the icon and search for it. For openrefine you can download one or you will find one on myOpenRefineFolder/webapp/modules/core/images/logo-gem-126.png

      screenshot

      screenshot

      screenshot

    4. Optional Add it to dock/launchbar/taskbar:

      screenshot

      screenshot

    If you clic and nothing happen try to run the same command path directly on a terminal. If another Openrefine instance (or other program) is using the same port you'll get a

    Error: Something is already running on http://127.0.0.1:3333/ but doesn't seem to be OpenRefine. Maybe a proxy issue?

    Find the culprit with ss -tlpn | grep 3333. If you get a PID you can then kill PID it.

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