.. _org.freedesktop.portal.DynamicLauncher:

======================================
 Dynamic Launcher
======================================

-----------
Description
-----------

.. _org.freedesktop.portal.DynamicLauncher 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.



.. _org.freedesktop.portal.DynamicLauncher Properties:

----------
Properties
----------

.. _org.freedesktop.portal.DynamicLauncher:SupportedLauncherTypes:

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:

org.freedesktop.portal.DynamicLauncher:version
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

::

    version readable u




.. _org.freedesktop.portal.DynamicLauncher Methods:

-------
Methods
-------

.. _org.freedesktop.portal.DynamicLauncher.Install:

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:

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 :ref:`org.freedesktop.portal.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 :ref:`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 :doc:`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 :ref:`org.freedesktop.portal.Request` object representing this call



.. _org.freedesktop.portal.DynamicLauncher.RequestInstallToken:

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:

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:

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:

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:

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


