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<refentry id="gnome-desktop-item-edit-1">
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<refmeta><refentrytitle>gnome-desktop-item-edit</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
<refmiscinfo class="date">2 Oct 2003</refmiscinfo>
<refmiscinfo class="sectdesc">&man1;</refmiscinfo>
<refmiscinfo class="software">&release;</refmiscinfo>
<refmiscinfo class="arch">generic</refmiscinfo>
<refmiscinfo class="copyright">&suncopy;</refmiscinfo>
</refmeta>
<indexterm><primary>gnome-desktop-item-edit</primary></indexterm><indexterm>
<primary>GNOME Desktop file editor</primary></indexterm><refnamediv id="gnome-desktop-item-edit-1-name">
<refname>gnome-desktop-item-edit</refname><refpurpose>GNOME Desktop file editor</refpurpose>
</refnamediv>
<refsynopsisdiv id="gnome-desktop-item-edit-1-synp"><title>&synp-tt;</title>
<cmdsynopsis><command>&cmd;</command><arg choice="opt"><option>-create-new
</option></arg><arg choice="plain"><option role="nodash">filename</option></arg>
</cmdsynopsis></refsynopsisdiv>
<refsect1 id="gnome-desktop-item-edit-1-desc"><title>&desc-tt;</title>
<para><command>&cmd;</command> is the GNOME Desktop file editor, which you
can use to create or edit the <filename>.desktop</filename> (known as desktop)
file. GNOME uses a standard desktop file specification as proposed by freedesktop.org.
A desktop file consists of a number of name-value pairs that define how a
desktop should organize a particular application. As this is defined as an
open standard, integration of applications into GNOME Desktop is relatively
straightforward.</para>
<para>A basic entry in the desktop file must start with a tag called [Desktop
Entry]. It can then have a number of name-value pairs as defined by the standard.
The minimum entries are as follows:<variablelist><varlistentry><term>Name
</term><listitem><para>the name of the application</para>
</listitem></varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term>Comment</term><listitem><para>a textual description of
the application which is displayed as a tooltip message by <filename>gnome-panel
</filename>. When set appropriately, the comment can be localized within the
same file. </para>
</listitem></varlistentry>
</variablelist><variablelist><varlistentry><term>Exec</term><listitem><para>
the name of the actual executable </para>
</listitem></varlistentry>
</variablelist><variablelist><varlistentry><term>Icon</term><listitem><para>
the file name of the icon image </para>
</listitem></varlistentry>
</variablelist><variablelist><varlistentry><term>Type</term><listitem><para>
the desktop file type </para>
</listitem></varlistentry>
</variablelist><variablelist><varlistentry><term>Categories</term><listitem>
<para>a multi-string field which is used by <filename>gnome-panel</filename>
to group applications into the appropriate categories.</para>
</listitem></varlistentry>
</variablelist></para>
<para>These desktop files provide the information to <filename>gnome-panel
</filename>, which 	places the application in the appropriate locations on
the panel. In a similar manner, the GNOME file manager (Nautilus) uses information
from the desktop files to display the 'applications:///' view.</para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1 id="gnome-desktop-item-edit-1-opts"><title>&opts-tt;</title>
<para>The following options are supported:</para>
<variablelist termlength="medium"><varlistentry><term><option>-create-new
</option></term><listitem><para>Creates a new <filename>.desktop</filename>
file.</para>
</listitem></varlistentry>
</variablelist></refsect1>
<refsect1 id="gnome-desktop-item-edit-1-oper"><title>&oper-tt;</title>
<para>The following operands are supported:</para>
<variablelist termlength="medium"><varlistentry><term><option role="nodash"><replaceable>
filename</replaceable></option></term><listitem><para>The name of the desktop
file to be edited or viewed.</para>
</listitem></varlistentry>
</variablelist></refsect1>
<refsect1 id="gnome-desktop-item-edit-1-exam"><title>&exam-tt;</title>
<example role="example"><title>Editing an existing .desktop file</title>
<para><screen>example% <userinput>&cmd; <replaceable>fullpath</replaceable>/<replaceable>
filename</replaceable></userinput></screen></para>
<para>This command invokes the launcher dialog and loads the contents
of the specified desktop file into the relevant fields.</para>
</example>
</refsect1>
<refsect1 id="gnome-desktop-item-edit-1-exit"><title>&exit-tt;</title>
<para>The following exit values are returned:</para>
<variablelist termlength="xtranarrow"><varlistentry><term><returnvalue>0</returnvalue></term>
<listitem><para>Application exited successfully</para>
</listitem></varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term><returnvalue>>0</returnvalue></term><listitem><para>Application
exited with failure</para>
</listitem></varlistentry>
</variablelist></refsect1>
<refsect1 id="gnome-desktop-item-edit-1-file"><title>&file-tt;</title>
<para>The following files are used by this application:</para>
<variablelist termlength="wholeline">
<varlistentry><term><filename>/usr/bin/&cmd;</filename> 
</term><listitem><para>Executable for GNOME Desktop file editor</para>
</listitem></varlistentry>
<varlistentry><term>/usr/share/applications/</term>
<listitem><para>Location of system desktop files</para>
</listitem></varlistentry>
</variablelist></refsect1>
<refsect1 id="gnome-desktop-item-edit-1-attr"><title>&attr-tt;</title>
<para>See <olink targetdocent="REFMAN5" localinfo="attributes-5"><citerefentry>
<refentrytitle>attributes</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry></olink>
for descriptions of the following attributes:</para>
<informaltable frame="all">
<tgroup cols="2" colsep="1" rowsep="1"><colspec colname="COLSPEC0" colwidth="1*">
<colspec colname="COLSPEC1" colwidth="1*">
<thead>
<row><entry align="center" valign="middle">ATTRIBUTE TYPE</entry><entry align="center"
valign="middle">ATTRIBUTE VALUE</entry></row>
</thead>
<tbody>
<row><entry><para>Availability</para></entry><entry><para>gnome/gnome-panel
</para></entry></row>
<row><entry colname="COLSPEC0"><para>Interface stability</para></entry><entry
colname="COLSPEC1"><para>Volatile</para></entry></row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</informaltable>
</refsect1>
<refsect1 id="gnome-desktop-item-edit-1-also"><title>&also-tt;</title>
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<para>
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>gnome-panel</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>nautilus</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
<citerefentry><refentrytitle>attributes</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>
</para>
<para>Latest version of the <citetitle>GNOME Desktop User Guide</citetitle> for your platform.</para>
</refsect1>
<refsect1 id="gnome-desktop-item-edit-1-note"><title>&note-tt;</title>
<para>Written by Ghee Teo, Sun Microsystems Inc., 2003.</para>
</refsect1>
</refentry>
