launcher icons

[John Niendorf]

Hi Power-User folks,

I'm having launcher trouble and I was wondering if someone knows how I can
solve the problem.

The bottom line question is how can I add a custom icon to a launcher I've
added to the launcher side bar?

I have been able to add launchers by creating a launcher then moving it to
~/.local/share/applications/ and dragging it to the side bar.
I have been able to get a custom icon to show up in that folder but when I
drag the file to the launcher (side bar) I get a generic spring icon.

Now the really strange part is today I made a launcher exactly the way I've
made and added others to the side bar. Where previously I got the spring
icon in the side bar, today I got a launcher with no icon and the message
that the label was empty. I checked the file and it looked to me to be
exactly the same as another which had the spring icon except the icon-less
launcher opened a different text file, So I copied the .desktop file of the
launcher with a spring icon and changed to command to open the text file I
wanted and that way was at least able to get an icon to appear in the side
bar.

I'm adding two links to this message that will take you to my dropbox
account so you can see screen shots of what I'm talking about.

I'd like to get rid of the spring icons and use more descriptive icons.

Loading Image...

Loading Image...

Thank you - any help is appreciated!

John

[Tom Syroid]

Hi John,

Find the icon you want to use for your launcher on the fs; note the FULL path.
Add the full path to the entry in the launcher code after "ICON="
Logout; log back in.

Ta and Da.

The only catch-22 I've run into is the full path requirement.
Theoretically, the launcher should know where to look, but my personal
experiences show this to not always be the case. So I make it a habit
to use full pathnames to the icons, and I haven't had problems since.

Best,
/tom

Post by John Niendorf
Hi Power-User folks,
I'm having launcher trouble and I was wondering if someone knows how I can
solve the problem.

[John Niendorf]

Hi Tom,

Here is what I have in one .desktop file

[CODE]

#!/usr/bin/env xdg-open

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Icon[en_US]=gnome-panel-launcher
Name[en_US]=Edit-Timed-Reminders
Exec=gedit /home/john/.timedreminders
Name=Edit Timed Reminders
Icon=*/usr/share/pixmaps/gnome-set-time.png*
*
*
I think this is the full path to the png I want to use. Am I missing
something?
I removed the launcher from the side bar (It sounds so odd to say removed
the launcher from the launcher), dragged it back after making sure the above
was in the .desktop file, logged out and back in but I still have a spring
icon.

Thank you,

John

Post by Tom Syroid
Hi John,
Find the icon you want to use for your launcher on the fs; note the FULL path.
Add the full path to the entry in the launcher code after "ICON="
Logout; log back in.
Ta and Da.
The only catch-22 I've run into is the full path requirement.
Theoretically, the launcher should know where to look, but my personal
experiences show this to not always be the case. So I make it a habit
to use full pathnames to the icons, and I haven't had problems since.
Best,
/tom

Post by John Niendorf
Hi Power-User folks,
I'm having launcher trouble and I was wondering if someone knows how I

can

Post by John Niendorf
solve the problem.

[Tom Syroid]

John,

Post by John Niendorf
Type=Application
Terminal=false

==> Icon[en_US]=gnome-panel-launcher <===

Post by John Niendorf
Name[en_US]=Edit-Timed-Reminders
Exec=gedit /home/john/.timedreminders

Nope, nada what I be poking at ;-)

Open nautilus.
Select filesystem in LH pane.
Go to /usr/share/icons/whatever/whatever (sorry, don't have a linux
box in front of me at the moment).
Pick an icon to represent what you want to show in the launcher.
I see you're using gedit to launch a reminder app or note. So pick
either a gedit icon or one of the note/reminder icons.

So for an example (insert the correct path once you've chosen an
icon), the above line should read:

Icon[en_US]=/usr/share/icons/[eg]Clarity/apps/48/gedit.png

/tom

[John Niendorf]

That did it Tom.

THANKS!

John

Post by Tom Syroid
John,

Post by John Niendorf
Type=Application
Terminal=false

==> Icon[en_US]=gnome-panel-launcher <===

Post by John Niendorf
Name[en_US]=Edit-Timed-Reminders
Exec=gedit /home/john/.timedreminders

Nope, nada what I be poking at ;-)
Open nautilus.
Select filesystem in LH pane.
Go to /usr/share/icons/whatever/whatever (sorry, don't have a linux
box in front of me at the moment).
Pick an icon to represent what you want to show in the launcher.
I see you're using gedit to launch a reminder app or note. So pick
either a gedit icon or one of the note/reminder icons.
So for an example (insert the correct path once you've chosen an
Icon[en_US]=/usr/share/icons/[eg]Clarity/apps/48/gedit.png
/tom