Desktop Launcher Actions

Overview

On many Linux environments, you can add custom entries to the system launcher by modifying the .desktop file. For details, see the freedesktop.org Desktop Entry Specification.

To create a shortcut, you need to provide Name and Exec properties for the entry you want to add to the shortcut menu. The desktop will execute the command defined in the Exec field after the user clicks the shortcut menu item. An example of the .desktop file may look as follows:

Actions=PlayPause;Next;Previous

[Desktop Action PlayPause]
Name=Play-Pause
Exec=audacious -t

[Desktop Action Next]
Name=Next
Exec=audacious -f

[Desktop Action Previous]
Name=Previous
Exec=audacious -r

The preferred way for the desktop to instruct your application on what to do is using parameters. You can find them in your application in the global variable process.argv.