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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…

A (sample) Multimedia Menu


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


12 Apostles Quiz & Memory Game

Launcher for the 12 Apostles Quiz & Memory Game, one of the 150 SWF (Flash) files that play via the born-again Gnash snap in Home. This game is included in C4C Ubuntu.

[Desktop Entry]
Name=12 Apostles
Exec=gnash ./snap/gnash-raymii/.c4c/12-apostles/The_Twelve_Apostles.swf
Comment=Quiz & Memory Game
Icon=/usr/share/christian/icons/The12.png
NoDisplay=false
Terminal=false
Categories=Christian;
StartupNotify=true
Type=Application
gmail-gui Snap version of Gmail

Launcher for gmail-gui With at least 1.5 billion users, Google’s Gmail is the most popular email service in the world. gmail-gui is available as a snap as shown here.

[Desktop Entry]
X-SnapInstanceName=gmail-gui
Name=Gmail
Exec=env BAMF_DESKTOP_FILE_HINT=/var/lib/snapd/desktop/applications/gmail-gui_gmail-gui.desktop /snap/bin/gmail-gui %U
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Icon=/snap/gmail-gui/1/meta/gui/icon.png
StartupWMClass=gmail-gui
Comment=Snap Version of Gmail
Categories=Utility;
Path=
StartupNotify=false
MusicBrainz Picard

Launcher for MusicBrainz Picard, an open source, cross-platform music tagger and organizer. MusicBrainz Picard is available on Gnome Software, or via PPA, flatpack or snap as shown here.

[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;
Spotify

Launcher for Spotify, a music streaming service with vast media library and over 400 million active users. Spotify is available via Gnome Software, or as a snap or .deb as shown here.

[Desktop Entry]
X-SnapInstanceName=spotify
Type=Application
Name=Spotify
GenericName=Music Player
Icon=/snap/spotify/58/usr/share/spotify/icons/spotify-linux-128.png
Exec=env BAMF_DESKTOP_FILE_HINT=/var/lib/snapd/desktop/applications/spotify_spotify.desktop /snap/bin/spotify %U
Terminal=false
MimeType=x-scheme-handler/spotify;
Categories=Audio;Music;Player;AudioVideo;
StartupWMClass=spotify
Wide Margin

Launcher for Wide Margin, the simple and clean-interfaced, King James Version Bible daily reading and as-you-type search tool. This application is included in C4C Ubuntu.

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Type=Application
Comment=Simple Bible Application
Comment[en_US]=Simple Bible Application
Exec=widemargin
Icon=widemargin
StartupNotify=true
Terminal=false
Name=Wide Margin
Name[en_US]=Wide Margin
Categories=Education;
Zoom

Launcher for Zoom, (audio and) video conferencing software with over 300 million daily meeting participants. Zoom is available via .deb as shown here or as zoom-client snap as shown here.

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Zoom
Comment=Zoom Video Conference
Exec=/usr/bin/zoom %U
Icon=Zoom
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Encoding=UTF-8
Categories=Network;Application;
StartupWMClass=zoom
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;
Name[en_US]=Zoom

EDIT A LAUNCHER

gmail-gui

Edit the gmail-gui launcher

Original gmail-gui in the Menu


Right-Click the launcher and choose Edit Application…

Edit Application


Edit the Name and Icon

Edit gmail-gui Launcher


Choose a default Elementary-Xfce gmail.png icon (or whatever other image file you like)

Choose New gmail-gui Icon


Change the Name to Gmail and Save

Change the name to Gmail


You can add this (or any) launcher to the Desktop, just by right-clicking it and selecting Add to Desktop

Add Gmail to the Desktop


New Gmail Launcher on the Desktop