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Application Icons on Desktop

If you are used to starting your favorite apps by clicking icons on the desktop like using your Windows or Mac PC, this can also be done through Open OnDemand. There are some app icons already created in the directory /mnt/research/common-data/OnDemand/Desktop-Icons, where you can see them by listing its contents:

input
ls /mnt/research/common-data/OnDemand/Desktop-Icons
output
AFNI.desktop     firefox.desktop    Mathematica.desktop  Terminal.desktop
ANSYS.desktop    Fluent.desktop     ParaView.desktop     VMD.desktop
AnsysEM.desktop  GaussView.desktop  Stata.desktop
COMSOL.desktop   Maestro.desktop    tecplot.desktop

Adding icons

To add the icons to your Desktop when using the OnDemand Interactive Desktop application, follow the steps below:

After starting an Interactive Desktop session, you can copy icons from /mnt/research/common-data/OnDemand/Desktop-Icons. To do so double click the "USERNAME's Home" icon on your desktop or open the "Menu" in the top right corner and search for "Caja". This will start a new file manager window.

In the "Location:" text box, enter the directory /mnt/research/common-data/OnDemand/Desktop-Icons and press Enter (Note: If the "Location:" text box does not allow any input, click on the pencil icon circled in the screenshot below). It should show all available application icons. 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. A small pencil icon above the file listing is circled in red.

The icon you choose will be copied to your desktop.

If you haven't already, create the ~/Desktop directory. Then, use the cp command to copy the icons you would like.

For example, if you would like to have MATLAB icon on your OnDemand desktop, you can run

mkdir -p ~/Desktop
cp /mnt/research/common-data/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.

Creating your own icons

If your favorite app icons are not in the directory, you can use one them as an example, e.g.:

MATLAB.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=MATLAB
Icon=/mnt/research/common-data/OnDemand/icons/matlab.png
Exec=bash -c "module load MATLAB/2023b; matlab -desktop"
Terminal=false

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, and we can help you create one.