Direct launcher creation on JWM desktop?

[JASpup]

I've only even done it copying .desktop files from existing launchers in rox.

Graphic is an X-series right-click menu option.

Is there a launcher wikka page or old forum intro thread?

[JASpup]

I recently had to exit to terminal to rename a launcher because renaming in thunar wouldn't change the actual file name. It looked changed but was not really renamed. I thought I understood launchers, but I'm still scratching my head.

And when you drag a script to desktop the launcher is the script itself when you try to edit it, not a launcher that runs it.

In my case it defeated the purpose because I'm trying to run icons or file names in terminal and Terminal=true seems like the best way (vs. the right-click menu option or trying to add a script line).

[mikewalsh]

@JASpup :-

I've no idea if this would be of any use to you. I believe I may have mentioned it before.

Taersh created what he calls his 'Right-click Substitute' utility, which allows you to place launchers on the desktop by clicking items in the Menu.

viewtopic.php?t=987

However, this ONLY works for the ROX desktop. It would NOT work for your XFCE-powered Pups, so I don't know if it would help..... Further into the thread, I've provided a pair of "all-in-one" .pets which contain the additional dependencies required for it to work.

Mike.

[mikeslr]

As your OP suggests "Graphic is an X-series right-click menu option" and MikeWalsh understood, you're running an xfce-Puppy: x-tahr?. If so, the title of your OP is misleading. A quick 'google' did not reveal any way to create desktop-launchers under xfce-thunar. The first page of posts that revealed discussed creating a "desktop" file which would be used on your Start-Menu, such programs as AppFinder or could be assigned to a Panel Launcher.

[JASpup]

Thanks I'll have a look. My intention was achieving similar functionality in JWM.

It feels like you know something before a duh moment as we say stateside.

I don't really know what a launcher is, except that they populate menus and are useful for running in terminal.

@JASpup :-

I've no idea if this would be of any use to you. I believe I may have mentioned it before.

Taersh created what he calls his 'Right-click Substitute' utility, which allows you to place launchers on the desktop by clicking items in the Menu.

viewtopic.php?t=987

However, this ONLY works for the ROX desktop. It would NOT work for your XFCE-powered Pups, so I don't know if it would help..... Further into the thread, I've provided a pair of "all-in-one" .pets which contain the additional dependencies required for it to work.

Mike.

[JASpup]

It's a simple user function but nuanced to explain.

I have Scientologist relatives. Holistically it's a bad idea, but one of the religious tenants is talking to people at their level and I empathize.

You can talk ahead in competitive scenarios, or when you want to separate the wheat from the chaff, but normally I think it's best to cooperate and not assume much.

All I am trying to do is achieve basic XFCE puplet functionality in JWM. Despite the odd glitch X-Tahr is the most user-friendly pup I've booted - easiest to get going right away (the reason it isn't X-Slacko is Ubuntu compatibility).

We can easily create a blank launcher template file, but has no one made a creation option for JWM?

This is what rg66's menu option creates:

Code: Select all

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Name=
Comment=
Exec=
Icon=
Path=
Terminal=
StartupNotify=

As your OP suggests "Graphic is an X-series right-click menu option" and MikeWalsh understood, you're running an xfce-Puppy: x-tahr?. If so, the title of your OP is misleading. A quick 'google' did not reveal any way to create desktop-launchers under xfce-thunar. The first page of posts that revealed discussed creating a "desktop" file which would be used on your Start-Menu, such programs as AppFinder or could be assigned to a Panel Launcher.

[mikewalsh]

Technically, a launcher can take several different forms. It can be a line entered into a terminal. It can be a binary dragged direct to the desktop, and tarted-up with an icon. It can be a script which starts an app, where you can drag THIS to the desktop. You can, of course, drag the .desktop entry itself to the ROX desktop.

You can have executable icons in the QuickLaunch area of the taskbar. You can have executable icons sitting in the notification area that will do the same thing.

A 'launcher' is anything that will 'launch', or start, 'fire-up', call it what you will, your desired program/app. No real mystery to it, once you understand that concept... My own desktops contain a combination of all the above. From your threads/posts over several months, I appreciate that you're looking for very simple ways to do most things, that only require one or two clicks, and can be easily understood by those who DON'T understand computers.

Mike.

[JASpup]

Technically, a launcher can take several different forms. It can be a line entered into a terminal. It can be a binary dragged direct to the desktop, and tarted-up with an icon. It can be a script which starts an app, where you can drag THIS to the desktop. You can, of course, drag the .desktop entry itself to the ROX desktop.

If I wanted to learn this more clearly, where should I look?

When I ask these questions, I've already entered the basic terms in wikka or Murga.

How, for example, do you remove a launcher from the desktop by script or cli?

It might be a file in /root/Desktop which is easy, or it might not.

In the latter case, all I know to do is replace PUPPYPIN and restart X which seems overkill.

Then why in a file manager can you rename the launcher, but it's not the actual file name?

Shouldn't the Command entry in a launcher equal the exec portion of its text?

Since they're all text files when you open them as such, why is a script itself when dragged to the desktop and an application a launcher?

[williams2]

How, for example, do you remove a launcher from the desktop by script or cli?

you can put an icon on the rox pinboard (desktop=wallpaper+icons) by running commands in the bash shell, but it really isn't easy.

Look in the RoxFiler documentation, and search for soap
You can look in the Trash roxapp on the desktop to see how it's done.

It might be a file in /root/Desktop

No, the desktop icons are not files in dir.
The icons are configured in the text file /root/Choices/ROX-Filer/PuppyPin
Normally, you configure the pinboard by dragging icons to the desktop, move the icons where you want, and remove icons if you want. That changes the PuppyPin file (it's a text file, you can read it.)

If you change the PuppyPin test file, by editing it in a text editor, or using a script to edit the text file, you don't need to restart X. You can just restart the pinboard (reload the configuration file) like this.
rox -p /root/Choices/ROX-Filer/PuppyPin

Actually, it would be safer to:
1) turn off the pinboard first rox -p=
or switch to another pinboard rox -p pinboard2
2) change the PuppyPin file directly, using a text editor or from a script.
3) reload the configuration file like this: rox -p /root/Choices/ROX-Filer/PuppyPin

If you use soap you don't need to reload the PuppyPin configuration file.

It's better to use the mouse to drag things to and on the desktop (pinboard).

Then why in a file manager can you rename the launcher, but it's not the actual file name?

If you are referring to the text under a desktop icon, it can be the name of the file or dir that the icon is linked to, or any text you like.
If you mean that an executable that you run to start an application may have a different name from the executable file that eventually runs, yes, that is often the case. I start Firefox from a script /root/firefox-start which deletes all of the firefox executables and configuration files and cache files, then unzips the applications files and configuration files that I saved previously, and starts Firefox by executing /opt/firefox/firefox

[JASpup]

you can put an icon on the rox pinboard (desktop=wallpaper+icons) by running commands in the bash shell, but it really isn't easy.

Look in the RoxFiler documentation, and search for soap
You can look in the Trash roxapp on the desktop to see how it's done.

When you write that something is not easy, I take it as a warning to heed.
I will abide the right-click menu Remove item(s) option and try using rox -p.

No, the desktop icons are not files in dir.

This may be a WM functional discrepancy. Icons on a XFCE desktop are in /root/Desktop.

If you are referring to the text under a desktop icon, it can be the name of the file or dir that the icon is linked to, or any text you like.

And that text should be part of the launcher? Its Name= or???

I was referring to the file name in thunar that I changed just like any other file name, but whatever it changed wasn't the real file name as evident in terminal. I did not check roxfiler as though I use it in XFCE, it is not included in the X-series.

The name under the launcher icon, a launcher's ls console file name, the Name field of the launcher, and the file name in a gui file manager beg distinction.

[mikewalsh]

Then why in a file manager can you rename the launcher, but it's not the actual file name?

Shouldn't the Command entry in a launcher equal the exec portion of its text?

In a ideal world, all relevant files for starting/launching apps/programs would be logically-constructed. There ARE guidelines - have been for many years, actually - but there's no 'hard-and-fast' ruling which says this format MUST be followed (or else)!

Because there is no person or organization whose sole concern it is to enforce such stuff, developers are pretty much free to do as they please. So the names/commands don't always match, and, er, yes: I myself have been "guilty" of such transgressions in the past.

Shit happens, I'm afraid.

Mike.

[JASpup]

Another nod to X-series, just to demonstrate what I wrote earlier:

xf-launchers-in-desktop-min.png (27.25 KiB) Viewed 369 times

On desktop are two launchers I just made with the right-click desktop menu. They run scripts that start and remove a static config and the cache directory. On non-builtin or standalone browsers they also load the browser.

It's convenient having them right there in /root/Desktop/.