Create A Whisker Menu Launcher On Manjaro XFCE

Hi Guys,

In this tutorial, we are going to create a Whisker menu launcher ourselves, that is manually. Mostly, when we install application they are integrated into the menu automatically. Meaning the launcher creation has been catered for the by the developers of that application.

A launcher is simply a text file with the .desktop extension. We will look at it soon. Why will I need to create a launcher? This is a simple question, creating launchers are good when you have executable files which you always have type commands to execute them.

In this tutorial am going to create a laucher for one the files i use almost every week. It is a Java executable file used for editing OpenStreetMap called JOSM

Let’s get started.

Right click on the Desktop and Select Create Launcher as shown below:

create_launcher_1_enock

This provides a new window too add details of the launcher. All the fields are very explanatory, I only have to fill a few and my launcher is done:

  • Name: is the name you want to give to it.
  • Description: How you want it to be described in th menu.
  • Command: That is the the command to execute the program
  • Icon: Image show beside launcher in menu.

create_launcher_2_enock

When you double click the file on Desktop your application should start.

First take a look at filename.desktop in your favorite editor:

You should it represented in the format below:

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Name=JOSM
Comment=JOSM - Java OpenStreetMaps Editor
Exec=java -jar /home/setho/josm-tested.jar
Icon=application-x-jar
Path=
Terminal=false
StartupNotify=false

So next time you want to create a launcher why not type it yourself 🙂

Now let’s move our launcher to applications folder

sudo mv Desktop/JOSM.desktop /usr/share/applications

Now open launcher and search for it. There you go.

josm_manaaro_launcher_enock

Clicking it should open your application:

create_launcher_4_JOSM_enock

Enjoy!