CREATE A LAUNCHER TO AN EXISTING FILE
Launch VLC and have it open a playlist.
We’ve previously downloaded and saved Freedom Kids™ in the Music folder. We’ve also saved a playlist of the songs with three different extensions; .m3u, m3u8 and .xspf
Method 1: Right-click any empty space on the Desktop and choose Create Launcher… from the drop down.
Fill out the Create Launcher pop-up form:
Name: Freedom Kids™
Comment: Scripture-Fed and Spirit-Led Music
Command: vlc /home/username/Music/Freedom-Kids/Freedom-Kids.xspf
Note: To change the playlist type, simply change the extension from .xspf to .m3u or .m3u8, (or .asx, or .b4s, or .pls).
Method 2: Right-click any empty space on the Desktop and choose Create Document > Empty File
Name the file freedom-kids.desktop and click the [Create] button.
Right-click and choose to Open With “Mousepad”
Copy the following, Paste in the text file, Save and Close
[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Type=Application
Name=Freedom Kids™
Comment=Scripture-Fed and Spirit-Led Music
Icon=/home/username/Music/Freedom-Kids/cover.jpg
Exec=vlc /home/username/Music/Freedom-Kids/Freedom-Kids.m3u
Confirm you trust the launcher
Method 1: Command-line
Open a Terminal [Ctrl]+[Alt]+[T] and type:chmod a+x ~/Desktop/freedom-kids.desktop
Method 2: GUI (a)
When you attempt to use the launcher the first time (by double-clicking it), Mark it Executable.
Method 3: GUI (b)
Right-click the launcher, choose Properties from the drop-down menu, click the Permissions tab, and check the Program: Allow this file to run as a program check box.
Whichever way you went about it, the launcher should now be fully functional. Double-click it to play Freedom Kids™ in VLC:
ADD A LAUNCHER TO THE MENU
Categorize the launcher by adding the Categories key. Adding a launcher without the Categories key will make the launcher appear in (a new) category called Other.
Right-click the Freedom Kids™ launcher and choose to Open With “Mousepad”
Add Categories=AudioVideo;Audio; at the end, Save and Close.
[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Type=Application
Name=Freedom Kids™Comment=
Scripture-Fed and Spirit-Led Music
Icon=/home/username/Music/Freedom-Kids/cover.jpg
Exec=vlc /home/username/Music/Freedom-Kids/Freedom-Kids.m3u8
Categories=AudioVideo;Audio;
Method 1: Add the launcher to the menu via command-line
Copy the launcher to ~/.local/share/applications (locally ~ for you only)
Open a Terminal [Ctrl]+[Alt]+[T] and type:sudo cp ~/Desktop/freedom-kids.desktop ~/.local/share/applications
Move the launcher to /usr/share/applications (globally ~ for all users)
Open a Terminal [Ctrl]+[Alt]+[T] and type:sudo mv ~/Desktop/freedom-kids.desktop /usr/share/applications
Method 2: Add the launcher to the menu via GUI
Right-click the Launcher and Copy (if you want to keep a copy on the Desktop), or Cut (if you don’t).
Open a Terminal [Ctrl]+[Alt]+[T] and type:pkexec thunar
Press the [Enter] key
Provide your password / passphrase and click the [Authenticate] button.
Click File System on the left pane.
Double-click each of the following folders; usr, share and applications. Paste the launcher.
Freedom Kids™ in the Menu:
LAUNCHER TO AN INTERNET RADIO STATION
The launcher below is to DOC Radio, a ministry of “The DOC” (Downtown Outreach Center) and Calvary Chapel Southside in St. Petersburg, Florida in the United States. A .pls playlist file was downloaded from Internet Radio, opened in Mousepad, and the link was copied and pasted into the Command / Exec key.
[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Name=DOC Radio
Comment=Contemporary Christian Music!
Exec=vlc http://199.195.194.140:8043/listen.pls?sid=1
Icon=/usr/share/icons/Adwaita/512×512/devices/audio-headphones.png
Categories=AudioVideo;Audio;
Remember to save launchers made in Mousepad (or other text editor) with the .desktop extension
More Internet Radio Stations AccuRadio, ChristianRadio.com, ChristianTuner, Icecast, iHeartRADIO, Internet Radio, Live365, raddio, and SHOUTcast
LAUNCHER(S) TO CBN RADIO NETWORK STATIONS
The Christian Broadcasting Network features 11 different radio streams. To change the broadcast to one of the others; just change the word contemporary in the Command / Exec key below to christmas, country, country-christmas, fiesta-hoy, gospel, instrumental, news, praise, southern-gospel or superbook.
[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Type=Application
Name=CBN
Comment=Christian Broadcasting Network
Icon=/usr/share/icons/CBN_logo.svg.png
Exec=vlc http://cbnradio.streamguys1.com/contemporary-128K?
Categories=AudioVideo;Audio;Player;
Remember to save launchers made in Mousepad (or other text editor) with the .desktop extension
The icon, CBN_logo.svg.png was downloaded from Wikimedia Commons
LAUNCHER(S) TO LIBREOFFICE DOCUMENTS
The LibreOffice suite features six different applications. To create a launcher to a LibreOffice document, simply make the Command / Exec key show what application the document should open in: Exec=libreoffice –base(or calc, draw, impress, math, or writer)/path/to/Your-Document. If you want to use the default (Elementary-Xfce) LibreOffice document icons, you don’t have to provide a path to them, just the name.
[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Type=Application
Exec=libreoffice --base /path/to/Your DataBase
Icon=libreoffice-base
[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Type=Application
Exec=libreoffice --calc /path/to/Your Spreadsheet
Icon=libreoffice-calc
[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Type=Application
Exec=libreoffice --draw /path/to/Your Drawing
Icon=libreoffice-draw
[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Type=Application
Exec=libreoffice --impress /path/to/Your Presentation
Icon=libreoffice-impress
[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Type=Application
Exec=libreoffice --math /path/to/Your Math File
Icon=libreoffice-math
[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Type=Application
Exec=libreoffice --writer /path/to/Your Word Processing Doc
Icon=libreoffice-writer
Remember to save launchers made in Mousepad (or other text editor) with the .desktop extension
More about Launchers Launcher, Desktop Item Editor and Launcher Panel Plugin on Xfce Documentation. Also see How to add new menu items to XFCE menu on Internal Pointers.