2021-05-19

Previously I set my Chromebook to run Godot but I didn't like opening terminal to run it and would rather have a pinned icon to launch Godot. Debian Packages installed from Chrome's Files have such shortcuts created automatically but AppImages don't. To make a launcher for an AppImage, it's necessary to make a .desktop file and place it in a specific folder.

One way to make a .desktop file is to open the Text app and write the descriptions by hand.

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Godot
Comment=Great Game Engine
Exec=/home/goldenxp/apps/godot33
Icon=/home/goldenxp/icons/godot-icon.png
Type=Application
Categories=Development;Graphics;Game

There are other options one can take advantage of like keywords and terminal display, etc.

When you're satisfied, you need to save the file in a specific location so that it's picked up by the Chrome OS Launcher. Read here for some info on this. The location I'm going to use is ~/.local/share/applications/. It's hidden by default so when you want to save it, you'll need to show hidden files.

Once you save it, it should take a couple of seconds for it to show up in the Launcher. Now you can click to launch and even pin the app to the shelf.

Note: I've noticed that some .desktop edits don't register updates in Chrome. The workaround is to delete the .desktop file and remake it.