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# Dynamic Launcher

## Description

Portal for installing application launchers

The DynamicLauncher portal allows sandboxed (or unsandboxed) applications to install launchers (.desktop files) which have an icon associated with them and which execute a command in the application. The desktop environment would display the launcher to the user in its menu of installed applications. For example this can be used by a sandboxed browser to install web app launchers. The portal also allows apps to uninstall the launchers, launch them, and read the desktop file and icon data for them.

The standard way to install a launcher is to use the org.freedesktop.portal.DynamicLauncher.PrepareInstall method which results in a dialog being presented to the user so they can confirm they want to install the launcher. Then, the token returned by org.freedesktop.portal.DynamicLauncher.PrepareInstall would be passed to the org.freedesktop.portal.DynamicLauncher.Install method to complete the installation.

However, in the rare circumstance that an unsandboxed process such as a system component needs to install a launcher without user interaction, this can be accomplished by using the org.freedesktop.portal.DynamicLauncher.RequestInstallToken method and passing the acquired token to org.freedesktop.portal.DynamicLauncher.Install.

This documentation describes version 1 of this interface.

## Properties

### org.freedesktop.portal.DynamicLauncher:SupportedLauncherTypes

    SupportedLauncherTypes readable u

A bitmask of available launcher types. Currently defined types are:

- 1: Application. A launcher that represents an application.

- 2: Webapp. A launcher that represents a web app.

### org.freedesktop.portal.DynamicLauncher:version

    version readable u

## Methods

### org.freedesktop.portal.DynamicLauncher.Install

    Install (
      IN token s,
      IN desktop_file_id s,
      IN desktop_entry s,
      IN options a{sv}
    )

Installs a .desktop launcher and icon into appropriate directories to allow the desktop environment to find them. Please note that this method overwrites any existing launcher with the same id. If you want to present the user with a confirmation dialog in that case, you can check for it using the org.freedesktop.portal.DynamicLauncher.GetDesktopEntry method and clean up any state from the previous launcher if you want.

`token` must be a token that was returned by a previous org.freedesktop.portal.DynamicLauncher.PrepareInstall or org.freedesktop.portal.DynamicLauncher.RequestInstallToken call. The token can only be used once and is valid for up to five minutes.

The icon and name used for the launcher will be the ones from the previous org.freedesktop.portal.DynamicLauncher.PrepareInstall or org.freedesktop.portal.DynamicLauncher.RequestInstallToken call.

The `desktop_file_id` must have “.desktop” as a suffix. Except in the special case when the calling process has no associated app ID, `desktop_file_id` must have the app ID followed by a period as a prefix, regardless of whether the calling process is sandboxed or unsandboxed.

The `desktop_entry` should be a valid desktop entry file beginning with `[Desktop Entry]`, except it should not include `Name=` or `Icon=` entries (if present, these will be overwritten by the portal implementation). The `Exec=` entry will be rewritten to call the sandboxed application e.g. via “flatpak run”, if the application is sandboxed.

It is recommended to include a `TryExec=` line with either a binary name or an absolute path. The launcher will be deleted if the `TryExec` binary cannot be found on session start.

The `options` vardict currently has no supported entries.

token

  Token proving authorization of the installation

desktop_file_id

  The `.desktop` file name to be used

desktop_entry

  The text of the Desktop Entry file to be installed, see below

options

  Vardict with optional further information

### org.freedesktop.portal.DynamicLauncher.PrepareInstall

    PrepareInstall (
      IN parent_window s,
      IN name s,
      IN icon_v v,
      IN options a{sv},
      OUT handle o
    )

Presents a dialog to the user to allow them to see the icon, potentially change the name, and confirm installation of the launcher.

Supported keys in the `options` vardict:

- `handle_token` (`s`)

  A string that will be used as the last element of the `handle`. Must be a valid object path element. See the Request documentation for more information about the `handle`.

- `modal` (`b`)

  Whether to make the dialog modal. Defaults to true.

- `launcher_type` (`u`)

  The type of launcher being created. For supported values see the org.freedesktop.portal.DynamicLauncher:SupportedLauncherTypes property. Defaults to “Application”.

- `target` (`s`)

  For a launcher of type “Webapp”, this is the URI, as described in RFC 3986, of the web app being installed. This is displayed in the user-facing dialog. For other launcher types, this is not needed.

- `editable_name` (`b`)

  If true, the user will be able to edit the name of the launcher. Defaults to true.

- `editable_icon` (`b`)

  If true, the user will be able to edit the icon of the launcher, if the implementation supports this. Defaults to false.

The following results get returned via the org.freedesktop.portal.Request::Response signal:

- `name` (`s`)

  The chosen name for the launcher. This can be either a user chosen name, or the name passed in `name`.

- `icon` (`v`)

  The chosen icon for the launcher. This can be either a user chosen icon, or the icon passed in `icon_v`.

- `token` (`s`)

  Token that can be passed to a subsequent org.freedesktop.portal.DynamicLauncher.Install call to complete the installation without another dialog.

parent_window

  Identifier for the application window, see Window Identifiers

name

  The default name for the launcher

icon_v

  A `GBytesIcon` icon as returned by `g_icon_serialize()`. Must be a png or jpeg no larger than 512x512, or an svg

options

  Vardict with optional further information

handle

  Object path for the Request object representing this call

### org.freedesktop.portal.DynamicLauncher.RequestInstallToken

    RequestInstallToken (
      IN name s,
      IN icon_v v,
      IN options a{sv},
      OUT token s
    )

This method is intended for use only by specific components that have their application ID allowlisted in the portal backend (e.g. GNOME Software and KDE Discover). It is otherwise not guaranteed to work.

The token returned by this method can be used to avoid the need for a confirmation dialog; the token can be passed to the Install() method just as if it were acquired via the PrepareInstall() method.

The `options` vardict currently has no supported entries.

name

  The name that will be used in the desktop file

icon_v

  A `GBytesIcon` icon as returned by `g_icon_serialize()`. Must be a png or jpeg no larger than 512x512, or an svg

options

  Vardict with optional further information

token

  the token to be used with the org.freedesktop.portal.DynamicLauncher.Install method

### org.freedesktop.portal.DynamicLauncher.Uninstall

    Uninstall (
      IN desktop_file_id s,
      IN options a{sv}
    )

This method deletes the desktop file and corresponding icon from the appropriate directories to remove the launcher referred to by `desktop_file_id`.

The `desktop_file_id` must have `.desktop` as a suffix. Except in the special case when the calling process has no associated app ID, `desktop_file_id` must have the app ID followed by a period as a prefix, regardless of whether the calling process is sandboxed or unsandboxed.

For example, Epiphany, which has the app ID “org.gnome.Epiphany” in stable builds, might use a `desktop_file_id` like `org.gnome.Epiphany.WebApp_e9d0e1e4b0a10856aa3b38d9eb4375de4070d043.desktop` In that example the desktop file would exist at the path `~/.local/share/xdg-desktop-portal/applications/org.gnome.Epiphany.WebApp_e9d0e1e4b0a10856aa3b38d9eb4375de4070d043.desktop` with a sym link in `~/.local/share/applications/`. The checksum at the end of the file name is an implementation detail in Epiphany and not required by the portal.

This method is intended to be called by the application that created the launcher, e.g. a web browser, so it can clean up associated data as part of the uninstallation. Consequently, the proper way for a software center to remove a launcher is by using the APIs provided by the application that installed it. For example, for GNOME Software to remove web launchers created by Epiphany, it would use the `org.gnome.Epiphany.WebAppProvider` D-Bus interface.

Please note that this method call will fail if the specified launcher already does not exist.

The `options` vardict currently has no supported entries.

desktop_file_id

  The .desktop file name

options

  Vardict with optional further information

### org.freedesktop.portal.DynamicLauncher.GetDesktopEntry

    GetDesktopEntry (
      IN desktop_file_id s,
      OUT contents s
    )

This function returns the contents of a desktop file with the name `desktop_file_id` in `contents`.

The `desktop_file_id` must have “.desktop” as a suffix. Except in the special case when the calling process has no associated app ID, `desktop_file_id` must have the app ID followed by a period as a prefix.

This method only works for desktop files that were created by the dynamic launcher portal.

desktop_file_id

  The .desktop file name

contents

  the contents of the named .desktop file

### org.freedesktop.portal.DynamicLauncher.GetIcon

    GetIcon (
      IN desktop_file_id s,
      OUT icon_v v,
      OUT icon_format s,
      OUT icon_size u
    )

This function returns the contents of the icon specified in the “Icon” key of the desktop file with the name `desktop_file_id` in `icon_v`. The icon #GVariant can be passed to g_icon_deserialize() to reconstruct the #GIcon.

The `desktop_file_id` must have “.desktop” as a suffix. Except in the special case when the calling process has no associated app ID, `desktop_file_id` must have the app ID followed by a period as a prefix.

The format and size of the icon are returned in `icon_format` and `icon_size`. For svg icons, `icon_size` is currently always set to 4096, but don’t depend on that as it may change in the future.

This method only works for desktop files that were created by the dynamic launcher portal.

desktop_file_id

  The .desktop file name

icon_v

  the icon as a serialized #GBytesIcon

icon_format

  one of “png”, “jpeg”, “svg”

icon_size

  the width and height in pixels of the icon

### org.freedesktop.portal.DynamicLauncher.Launch

    Launch (
      IN desktop_file_id s,
      IN options a{sv}
    )

This function launches the app specified by `desktop_file_id`.

The `desktop_file_id` must have “.desktop” as a suffix. Except in the special case when the calling process has no associated app ID, `desktop_file_id` must have the app ID followed by a period as a prefix.

This method only works for desktop files that were created by the dynamic launcher portal.

Supported keys in the `options` vardict include:

- `activation_token` (`s`)

  A token that can be used to activate the chosen application.

desktop_file_id

  The .desktop file name

options

  Vardict with optional further information