0. Background + environment

ubuntu 16.04

Project requirements, currently there is an executable program (test.sh), the script test.sh executes a certain command to open the application, but it is not good to put .sh on the desktop (the icon is the default), so I hope to make one Desktop shortcut, has its own icon, and can be opened by double-clicking

Originally this icon

After making it is such an icon, it is a .desktop desktop shortcut (executable program)

You need to prepare:

test.sh executable program (implemented well, this article does not focus on the content of .sh)

A picture as a shortcut

1. Principle

First of all, we must understand that this name "C10" is essentially a .desktop desktop shortcut, which can be executed by double-clicking. You need to write some relevant parameters inside this file, such as the location to execute the .sh script and the icon you want to use.

The relevant parameters of .desktop are as follows. You can add any parameters you need. In the example below, I only show the more basic parameters (few, but enough to meet most situations)

insert image description here

URL for more information: Desktop Entry Specification (specifications.freedesktop.org)

2. Detailed steps

1) Create a .desktop shortcut

Note: Be sure to create [/usr/share/applications] in this directory

Because this directory is the path for the system to automatically create desktop shortcuts, the save format is xxxx.desktop

(I tried to create it on the desktop, but the picture will not be displayed)

Open the command line, enter the command: enter this path, and then use touch to create a shortcut called test (this name is actually not important, because the name that is written in the parameter will be displayed later)

cd /usr/share/applications
sudo touch test.desktop

2) Add executable permissions to the test.desktop shortcut

sudo chmod +x test.desktop

3) Edit test.desktop content and parameters

Open this file with vim first, if you don’t have vim, you can also use vi

Then copy the content in ( note that the content after the equal sign should be replaced with your own, such as name, executable program location, picture, etc. )

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=C10
GenericName=C10
Comment=test
Exec="/home/wangyunuo/test.sh" %f
Icon=/home/wangyunuo/testImg.png
Terminal=true
Categories=X-Application;

Interpretation of parameters

Type	To allow new types to be added in the future, implementations should ignore desktop entries with unknown types. There are three types: Application, Link, and Directory. Because I want to run the application, I use Application in this field
Name	Application-specific name. My name is "C10"
GenericName	Generic name of the application
Comment	The item's tooltip. Right-click the executable program, you can see it in the properties
Exec	Exec is the path to an executable or script file (.sh). My executable script.sh is in the path of [/home/wangyunuo/test.sh] Note: the value of the Exec field needs to be enclosed in quotation marks and add "%f"
Icon	The location of the picture, the picture I used is in the path [/home/wangyunuo/testImg.png], just write the path directly after =
Terminal	Whether the program is running in a terminal window. Usually there is no need to open the terminal, false is not to run in the terminal, true is to run in the terminal.
Categories	The category in which the entry should appear in the menu.

Well, after replacing the parameters with your own, you can save and exit

4) Modify the shortcut property to be executable by double-clicking

In the [/usr/share/applications] directory, find the file you just finished writing (note that the name at this time has been replaced with the name after the Name parameter, not the initial test.desktop), right click, and select Properties