For 11.04 and earlier:
Unity does support custom launchers from .desktop files. To create custom launcher from a .desktop
file you need to create a *.desktop
file for your program.
gedit ~/.local/share/applications/name.desktop
The .desktop
file should look something like this:
[Desktop Entry]
Name=the name you want shown
Comment=
Exec=command to run
Icon=icon name
Terminal=false
Type=Application
StartupNotify=true
In your file manager open your home folder and navigate to:
(You may need to press ctrl+h to show hidden files to see the .gconf
directory.)
.gconf-> desktop-> unity-> launcher -> favourites
you'll see a bunch of folders starting with "app-
".
you need to create a folder for your program. Use the same name.desktop you used in /usr/share/applications
. Go into 1 of the folders for something that is already on the dock & copy the xml file and paste that into your new folder. Open it with your text editor and change the name of the *.desktop
to your name.desktop
.
Open gconf-editor (you can open gconf by running the command gconf-editor
in the Terminal) & go to:
desktop-> unity-> launcher -> favorites
Double click the list on the right & add your name.desktop
.
Log out & back in and you should see your launcher.
(thank you kerry_s on the Ubuntu Forums for helping with this answer)
Unity also has a feature called Lenses. By default, you have two in Unity: Applications and Files. In the future, you will be able to install and create a lot more. There is some info about that on the Ubuntu wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Unity/Lenses
You can just copy your *.desktop
file to ~/.local/share/applications
.
Or use alacarte
application for this.
sudo apt-get install alacarte
Best Answer
Use IDE to create launcher. Open Tools -> Create Desktop Entry...
Alternate method:
You need to create a application launcher first.
Installing gnome-panel
To create launcher
This will open up a "Create Launcher" window
This will create a launcher file in
/usr/share/applications
directory. Now double click and open the file.Once the file is launched. You can see the process in the unity launcher. Right click on the icon in the unity launcher and click "Lock to Launcher"
Alternatively you can create a .desktop file
Found this .desktop file here. I haven't tested it. Try your luck.