Re: viewing and editing the "run command" field of a launcher

[Peter Stein <nbi wideopenwest com>]

David Shochat wrote:
> Peter Stein wrote:
>
> > Does anyone know how to do this? As a GNOME newbie I tried the 
> > intuitive thing which is right-clicking on an icon and selecting 
> > properties. Alas, no "run command". I have not been able to find any 
> > documentation that describes how to do this. Can 
> > gnome-desktop-item-edit be used for this? How about manual edits of 
> > configuration files, be they text or binary? TIA.
>
>
> Actually, you did the right thing. So if you didn't see a "Command:" 
> field, my guess is you had right clicked on an applet rather than a 
> launcher (they look the same). To get a new launcher, right-click on an 
> empty area of a panel and select Add to Panel -> Launcher... The 
> Launcher Properties dialog has a help button.

No, I know how to create new launchers. I definitely clicked on 
launchers. Based on searching with Google this appears to be an 
oversight/bug for which some patches are in the works. I find it amazing 
that this has not been addressed earlier in GNOME. It's completely 
intuitive that there ought to be a way to directly access *all* the 
properties of a launcher that had to be specified during its creation.

> There is a help item in the main menu. Select Core Desktop, then Working 
> With Panels. Section 1.4 is about launchers.
> -- David

The GNOME help is next to worthless. Nowhere is there an example of how 
to use gnome-desktop-item-edit. I eventually figured it out by 
trial-and-error, gnome-desktop-item-edit is indeed the right tool for 
editing the "run command" field. As is aptly pointed out in some of the 
Google search hits, it shouldn't take an external tool to do this, 
viewing/editing should be possible via "properties".

Peter Stein