I am trying to add VisualWorks from Cincom.com (www.http://cincomsmalltalk.com) to the Ubuntu MATE 18.04 menu.

After installing the app and setting the appropriate environmental variables, I ran the following in a MATE Terminal window:
$VISUALWORKS/bin/linuxx86_64/vwlinuxx86_64 "$VWPROJECTS/launchpad64.im"
The app started correctly.

VISUALWORKS is the directory in which I installed the app - /media/robert/Shared/Users/Shared/Programs/vw8.3pul.
Note that this directory is in a different partition than the Ubuntu MATE partition.
VWPROJECTS is the directory containing my work - /media/robert/Shared/Users/robert/VisualWorks Projects. This is in the same partition as the app installation.
By putting the app in a different partition I can re-install Ubuntu MATE without having to re-install my apps.

Since the Terminal command worked, I tried creating a launcher (on the Desktop right-click Create Launcher. In the properties window I pasted the same command that I used in the Terminal window.
Type: Application
Name: VisualWorks
Command: $VISUALWORKS/bin/linuxx86_64/vwlinuxx86_64 "$VWPROJECTS/launchpad64.im"
Comment:

When I try the launcher, nothing happens.

I tried to add the app to the Ubuntu MATE Menu. I found out that the package name is mozo and it runs when you click Menu->Control Center then in the Control Center click Main Menu.

When the Main Menu window opened, I selected Menus:Programming and then New item. I added a new entry with the same properties as the launcher. I made sure that the Show: box was checked and exited mozo.

Then I tried to actually use it. The entry was not there. I checked under Programming and All. Nothing.

I restarted the Menu->Control Center and clicked on Main Menu. The app is there.

Apparently mozo does work, but the MATE Menu does not.

Currently I am working around the bug by opening a Terminal window and entering the command manually. It would help if Ubuntu MATE had a button or menu that would execute the app start command!

I tried Ask Ubuntu, but I am barred from asking questions. One responder to a previous question was personally insulting. I responded that the replies should focus on the problem, not personalities. The next thing I know, I am barred for asking questions.

I hope this forum follows the Ubuntu code of conduct and has some ubuntu - unlike Ask Ubuntu.

Try altering Command in the launcher to give the full path of the application, i.e. starting with /media.

Tried changing $VISUALWORKS to /media/robert/Shared/Users/Shared/Programs/vw8.3pul.

Still does not work.

The app still appears in the Main Menu editor, just not in the actual Menu. The bug is not in the data but in the Ubuntu MATE Menu.

Ubuntu is a version of Debian, so try running update-menus from the command line, failing that, I would create a script to launch it, rather than typing in the long address every time.

Dear fatMac,
Tried update-menus. The command ran normally but had no effect on the bug in the Menu behavior. I believe the problem is not in the data Menu uses, but in the program itself.