Application Icons on Desktop

It is much easier to execute your favorite apps by clicking icons on the desktop just like using your Windows or Mac PC. We can certainly do this through Open OnDemand. There are some app icons already created in the directory /opt/software/OnDemand/Desktop-Icons, where you can see them by listing the folder:

$ ls /opt/software/OnDemand/Desktop-Icons
ANSYS.desktop             Dolphin.desktop  GaussView.desktop  Maestro.desktop   rstudio.desktop  tecplot.desktop           VMD.desktop
chromium-browser.desktop  firefox.desktop  GSEA.desktop       MATLAB.desktop    sas.desktop      Terminal.desktop
COMSOL.desktop            Fluent.desktop   Jupyter.desktop    Nautilus.desktop  Stata.desktop    User's Anaconda3.deskto

User can easily add the icons to their OnDemand interactive desktop by following the sections below.

[ Use Command Lines ] [ Use Interactive Desktop ] [ Create App Icons ]

A video instruction is also provided (click to start).

Use Command Lines

You can simply copy them to your desktop directory ~/Desktop . For example, if you would like to have MATLAB icon on your OnDemand desktop, you can run

$ mkdir -p ~/Desktop
$ cp /opt/software/OnDemand/Desktop-Icons/MATLAB.desktop ~/Desktop/

Once the apps' desktop files are copied, request an Interactive Desktop session as mentioned in the Open OnDemand page. You should see the apps' icons on your desktop once you launch it:

Screenshot of the ICER interactive desktop showing application icons.

Use Interactive Desktop

You can also request and start an Interactive Desktop session to copy the app icons from /opt/software/OnDemand/Desktop-Icons. Simply double-click the "Trash" or "Computer" icon on your desktop. It will pop out the file manager window. In the "Location:" place, please enter the directory /opt/software/OnDemand/Desktop-Icons. (If the "Location:" place does not allow any input, please click on Screenshot of a pencil and paper icon. ). It should show all app icons in the window. Right click on an app icon you would like to copy to your desktop. Choose "Copy to" and click "Desktop":

Screenshot of the interactive desktop window showing the right click menu of an application icon, with Copy to Desktop highlighted.

The icon you choose will be copied to your desktop.

Create App Icons

If your favorite app icons are not in the directory, you can try to use one them as an example

$ cat /opt/software/OnDemand/Desktop-Icons/MATLAB.desktop

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=MATLAB
Icon=/opt/software/OnDemand/images/matlab.png
Exec=bash -c "module load MATLAB/2018a; matlab -desktop"
Terminal=false
GenericName=

and modify it. Change the following contents

Name=<Software Name>
Icon=<Location and File name of the Software Icon>
Exec=<Commands to Run the Software>

to your app's. Save the file with your app's file name in ~/Desktop directory. Every time you launch an Interactive Desktop session, the icon shows on your desktop. If you have any question, please let us know. We can help you to create one.