./program into shortcut

action_owl · 01-22-2009, 01:25 PM

in order to run an application called Processing, I have to navigate to the folder, open a terminal and then type ./processing and it starts, how can I make a icon that does this for me automatically? would it be a shell script? and how are icons set up in linux?
thanks

repo · 01-22-2009, 01:28 PM

rightclick on the desktop=> create launcher
You can put the full path to the file
/foo/foo/processing
or copy processing to /usr/local/bin/

jhwilliams · 01-22-2009, 01:32 PM

hey owl,

Yes, I'd write a shell script.

In a text editor, write this, and then save it to your Desktop. (with a name like myshortcut or something more appropriate.)

Code:

#!/bin/sh
cd /enter/the/directory/path/here
./processing &

then right click on the file on your desktop and pimp out the icon, etc. There are a bunch of options. MAKE SURE you set execute permission on it. Then you should be able to just run the script by double clicking it on your desktop.

jhwilliams · 01-22-2009, 01:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by repo

rightclick on the desktop=> create launcher
You can put the full path to the file
/foo/foo/processing
or copy processing to /usr/local/bin/

This would usually work, but I have used awful executables in the past that NEED to be run from their directory because of the way they were coded, so a launcher might not necessarily do the job. From what was said above, it sounded to me like he might be dealing with one such nasty piece of software.