Re: [Dorset] Getting programs on to the 'Application Launcher' menu
On Sat, 04 Feb 2023 17:05:16 +, Ralph Corderoy wrote: > Hi Patrick, > > Thanks for digging. > > > With some experimentation, I found that the null byte comes from > > KMail's "Add quote characters" feature. Oh dear. I don't think > > it is supposed to do that. > : > :-) Perhaps some off-by-one error included the terminator of a > > NUL-terminated string. It looks like the bug got fixed for newer releases in KPIMTextEdit: https://invent.kde.org/pim/kpimtextedit/-/commit/5be92c63f3bf351eebaeab5860409873d398bce5 Sure enough, if I break from habit and include a newline character at the end of the text selection before issuing the Add Quote Characters command, then the null character does not appear. Patrick -- Next meeting: Online, Jitsi, Tuesday, 2023-02-07 20:00 Check to whom you are replying Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk
Re: [Dorset] Getting programs on to the 'Application Launcher' menu
Hi Patrick, Thanks for digging. > With some experimentation, I found that the null byte comes from > KMail's "Add quote characters" feature. Oh dear. I don't think it is > supposed to do that. :-) Perhaps some off-by-one error included the terminator of a NUL-terminated string. > I assume the list server is receiving my base64 and turning it into > 7bit, but somehow the 0x00 becomes 0x80. Postel's Law has a lot to answer for. And yet people still promote it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robustness_principle#Criticism -- Cheers, Ralph. -- Next meeting: Online, Jitsi, Tuesday, 2023-02-07 20:00 Check to whom you are replying Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk
Re: [Dorset] Getting programs on to the 'Application Launcher' menu
On Sat, 04 Feb 2023 07:00:27 +, Ralph Corderoy wrote: > You email has a byte with the value 0x80 after the semicolon in the > Categories line, rendered as ASCII above, by the time it reaches > here. > > Is it in the .desktop file or did it get added somewhere between > there and here? If it's in the file, perhaps that's stopping it > being fully processed? The <80> is not in the file. In the file, the byte after the semicolon is 0x0A; a newline. > The email has ‘Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit’ so that eighth bit > did well to get here, and the software badly for letting it. It's > the only top-bit-set byte. The message in my 'Sent' has 'Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64' Decoding this, the character after the semicolon is a null byte 0x00, followed by the two expected newlines (0x0A). That's a bit weird. With some experimentation, I found that the null byte comes from KMail's "Add quote characters" feature. Oh dear. I don't think it is supposed to do that. It looks like KMail decides it can't use 7bit encoding because of the null byte, so it uses base64 encoding instead. Normally it defaults to 7bit. I don't know whether a null byte is technically valid in a base64- encoded email, but it does seem unorthodox. I assume the list server is receiving my base64 and turning it into 7bit, but somehow the 0x00 becomes 0x80. Patrick -- Next meeting: Online, Jitsi, Tuesday, 2023-02-07 20:00 Check to whom you are replying Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk
Re: [Dorset] Getting programs on to the 'Application Launcher' menu
On 04/02/2023 07:00, Ralph Corderoy wrote: Hi Patrick, I downloaded the .deb package from their website at MicroBlocks.fun and opened it as an archive file to see what the .desktop file contains: [Desktop Entry] Name=MicroBlocks Comment=MicroBlocks is a graphical and dynamic blocks language for 32 bit microcontroller boards such as the BBC micro:bit, the Adafruit Circuit Playground Express, the NodeMCU and many Arduinos. Exec=/usr/local/bin/ublocks Icon=/usr/share/icons/MicroBlocks.png Type=Application Categories=Development;<80> This seems to show that MicroBlocks should appear in the Development submenu. If it doesn't, I see two possibilities: You email has a byte with the value 0x80 after the semicolon in the Categories line, rendered as ASCII above, by the time it reaches here. Is it in the .desktop file or did it get added somewhere between there and here? If it's in the file, perhaps that's stopping it being fully processed? The email has ‘Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit’ so that eighth bit did well to get here, and the software badly for letting it. It's the only top-bit-set byte. $ tr -d '\000-\177' I got the original OK. Peter M. -- Next meeting: Online, Jitsi, Tuesday, 2023-02-07 20:00 Check to whom you are replying Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk
Re: [Dorset] Getting programs on to the 'Application Launcher' menu
Hi Patrick, > I downloaded the .deb package from their website at MicroBlocks.fun > and opened it as an archive file to see what the .desktop file > contains: > > > [Desktop Entry] > > Name=MicroBlocks > > Comment=MicroBlocks is a graphical and dynamic blocks language for > > 32 bit microcontroller boards such as the BBC micro:bit, the > > Adafruit Circuit Playground Express, the NodeMCU and many Arduinos. > > Exec=/usr/local/bin/ublocks > > Icon=/usr/share/icons/MicroBlocks.png > > Type=Application > > Categories=Development;<80> > > This seems to show that MicroBlocks should appear in the Development > submenu. If it doesn't, I see two possibilities: You email has a byte with the value 0x80 after the semicolon in the Categories line, rendered as ASCII above, by the time it reaches here. Is it in the .desktop file or did it get added somewhere between there and here? If it's in the file, perhaps that's stopping it being fully processed? The email has ‘Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit’ so that eighth bit did well to get here, and the software badly for letting it. It's the only top-bit-set byte. $ tr -d '\000-\177' http://dorset.lug.org.uk New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk
Re: [Dorset] Getting programs on to the 'Application Launcher' menu
Re-sending this as I originally mistakenly sent it directly to Peter (at 17:13) instead of to the list. On Fri, 03 Feb 2023 12:25:35 +, Peter Merchant via dorset wrote: > Tried Locate - /usr/share/applications/MicroBlocks.desktop If you view the .desktop file as text, it should contain the command you need in order to run the application. I downloaded the .deb package from their website at MicroBlocks.fun and opened it as an archive file to see what the .desktop file contains: > [Desktop Entry] > Name=MicroBlocks > Comment=MicroBlocks is a graphical and dynamic blocks language for > 32 bit microcontroller boards such as the BBC micro:bit, the > Adafruit Circuit Playground Express, the NodeMCU and many Arduinos. > Exec=/usr/local/bin/ublocks > Icon=/usr/share/icons/MicroBlocks.png > Type=Application > Categories=Development;À This seems to show that MicroBlocks should appear in the Development submenu. If it doesn't, I see two possibilities: 1. The menu hasn't been "rebuilt" to take into account new .desktop files since MicroBlocks was installed. 2. Something is preventing the MicroBlocks.desktop file from getting included whenever the menu is built. In the case of possibility no. 1, then you could try running kbuildsycoca5 Which should result in the menu getting regenerated (among other things). I vaguely remember doing this in the past when an application wasn't showing up in my menu. It is supposed to happen automatically, though. In the case of possibility no. 2, then I suppose I might suspect the file permissions on the desktop file to be incorrect. Or, you might get some useful output from kbuildsycoca5 telling you something's wrong with the .desktop file. If you create a new item in the KDE Menu editor, as Terry suggested, then it will create a new .desktop file in ~/.local/share/applications containing the information you enter. Anyway, I hope this is in some way helpful. Patrick -- Next meeting: Online, Jitsi, Tuesday, 2023-02-07 20:00 Check to whom you are replying Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk
Re: [Dorset] Getting programs on to the 'Application Launcher' menu
On 03/02/2023 16:43, Peter Merchant wrote: On 03/02/2023 13:40, Peter Merchant wrote: On 03/02/2023 12:42, Terry Coles wrote: On 03/02/2023 11:39, Peter Merchant via dorset wrote: Ah, herein is the rub. I don't know where the program is stored. And with the Arduino one, I have installed and removed it so many times trying to find a version that works for me that I am sure that my computer is full of junk. PS Arduino IDE vn.2 I couldn't get on with trying to find the hardware that i needed. It has a known bug. You shouldn't need to know where the program is stored; just the command to launch it. Since you say that it works from the command line, then you should have enough to get it to work. It doesn't run from the command line, but it is found and runs from the search bar in the Application Launcher. When It is found this way, I can bring up the properties with a right click, but haven't yet found how to set it in the Application Launcher. Will try again later - duty calls. P. I found the Microblocks in what Terry called the friendly name, and selected the application location and put that in the program name in the application launcher menu item, and that sorted that. Thanks Terry, I found an Arduino link as per Hugh's suggestion in /home/peterm/.local/share/applications/arduino-arduinoide.desktop But doing the same as above doesn't work. It 'cannot find the application' Correction: Using the full 'friendly' name does work, so everything is now sorted. "env BAMF_DESKTOP_FILE_HINT=/var/lib/snapd/desktop/applications/arduino_arduino.desktop /snap/bin/arduino" Thanks everyone. Peter I did a locate on Arduino-arduinoide and found about 30 locations. Still working on it. P. -- Next meeting: Online, Jitsi, Tuesday, 2023-02-07 20:00 Check to whom you are replying Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk
Re: [Dorset] Getting programs on to the 'Application Launcher' menu
On 03/02/2023 13:40, Peter Merchant wrote: On 03/02/2023 12:42, Terry Coles wrote: On 03/02/2023 11:39, Peter Merchant via dorset wrote: Ah, herein is the rub. I don't know where the program is stored. And with the Arduino one, I have installed and removed it so many times trying to find a version that works for me that I am sure that my computer is full of junk. PS Arduino IDE vn.2 I couldn't get on with trying to find the hardware that i needed. It has a known bug. You shouldn't need to know where the program is stored; just the command to launch it. Since you say that it works from the command line, then you should have enough to get it to work. It doesn't run from the command line, but it is found and runs from the search bar in the Application Launcher. When It is found this way, I can bring up the properties with a right click, but haven't yet found how to set it in the Application Launcher. Will try again later - duty calls. P. I found the Microblocks in what Terry called the friendly name, and selected the application location and put that in the program name in the application launcher menu item, and that sorted that. Thanks Terry, I found an Arduino link as per Hugh's suggestion in /home/peterm/.local/share/applications/arduino-arduinoide.desktop But doing the same as above doesn't work. It 'cannot find the application' I did a locate on Arduino-arduinoide and found about 30 locations. Still working on it. P. -- Next meeting: Online, Jitsi, Tuesday, 2023-02-07 20:00 Check to whom you are replying Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk
Re: [Dorset] Getting programs on to the 'Application Launcher' menu
On 03/02/2023 13:40, Peter Merchant wrote: It doesn't run from the command line, but it is found and runs from the search bar in the Application Launcher. When It is found this way, I can bring up the properties with a right click, but haven't yet found how to set it in the Application Launcher. Will try again later - duty calls. That's weird! I thought that typing a command into the search bar invoked the same process as if you'd run it from the shell. Presumably not. I assume that means is that you are typing the friendly name of the program into the search bar and the application is offered to you in the list underneath? If it is, the search bar has found it and offered a path to the command, but I can't see how to find out that command name. Have you tried googling this? -- Terry Coles -- Next meeting: Online, Jitsi, Tuesday, 2023-02-07 20:00 Check to whom you are replying Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk
Re: [Dorset] Getting programs on to the 'Application Launcher' menu
Google suggests that the arduino ide binary is located in ~/.local On Fri, 3 Feb 2023 at 13:40, Peter Merchant wrote: > On 03/02/2023 12:42, Terry Coles wrote: > > On 03/02/2023 11:39, Peter Merchant via dorset wrote: > >> Ah, herein is the rub. I don't know where the program is stored. And > with the Arduino one, I have installed and removed it so many times trying > to find a version that works for me that I am sure that my computer is full > of junk. PS Arduino IDE vn.2 I couldn't get on with trying to find the > hardware that i needed. It has a known bug. > > > > You shouldn't need to know where the program is stored; just the command > to launch it. Since you say that it works from the command line, then you > should have enough to get it to work. > > > It doesn't run from the command line, but it is found and runs from the > search bar in the Application Launcher. When It is found this way, I can > bring up the properties with a right click, but haven't yet found how to > set it in the Application Launcher. Will try again later - duty calls. > > P. > > > -- > Next meeting: Online, Jitsi, Tuesday, 2023-02-07 20:00 > Check to whom you are replying > Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk > New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk > -- Sent from my iPhone -- Next meeting: Online, Jitsi, Tuesday, 2023-02-07 20:00 Check to whom you are replying Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk
Re: [Dorset] Getting programs on to the 'Application Launcher' menu
On 03/02/2023 12:42, Terry Coles wrote: On 03/02/2023 11:39, Peter Merchant via dorset wrote: Ah, herein is the rub. I don't know where the program is stored. And with the Arduino one, I have installed and removed it so many times trying to find a version that works for me that I am sure that my computer is full of junk. PS Arduino IDE vn.2 I couldn't get on with trying to find the hardware that i needed. It has a known bug. You shouldn't need to know where the program is stored; just the command to launch it. Since you say that it works from the command line, then you should have enough to get it to work. It doesn't run from the command line, but it is found and runs from the search bar in the Application Launcher. When It is found this way, I can bring up the properties with a right click, but haven't yet found how to set it in the Application Launcher. Will try again later - duty calls. P. -- Next meeting: Online, Jitsi, Tuesday, 2023-02-07 20:00 Check to whom you are replying Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk
Re: [Dorset] Getting programs on to the 'Application Launcher' menu
On 03/02/2023 11:39, Peter Merchant via dorset wrote: Ah, herein is the rub. I don't know where the program is stored. And with the Arduino one, I have installed and removed it so many times trying to find a version that works for me that I am sure that my computer is full of junk. PS Arduino IDE vn.2 I couldn't get on with trying to find the hardware that i needed. It has a known bug. You shouldn't need to know where the program is stored; just the command to launch it. Since you say that it works from the command line, then you should have enough to get it to work. -- Terry Coles -- Next meeting: Online, Jitsi, Tuesday, 2023-02-07 20:00 Check to whom you are replying Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk
Re: [Dorset] Getting programs on to the 'Application Launcher' menu
On 03/02/2023 11:39, Peter Merchant via dorset wrote: On 03/02/2023 09:39, Terry Coles wrote: On 03/02/2023 09:26, Peter Merchant wrote: I recently installed a program to my Kubuntu 20.04 system called Microblocks. It is a scratch-like program for things like an ESP-32. The problem is that it doesn't appear anywhere in my application launcher, but if I type the name in on the 'search' bar of the AL, it finds it. Does anybody know how I can add it to the Application Launcher? I am having the same problem with the Arduino IDE. Peter, There are two ways to do this; one for the main Application launcher as you requested and one for the Widgets on an Activity. I can't give you a step by step, because it depends on the program concerned. For the main Launcher; right-click the launcher icon and select 'Edit Applications...'. This launches the KDE Menu Editor. Click on the appropriate Menu Item, eg 'System', right=click on that and select 'New Item'. Then fill in the blanks including the command that launches the program. Ah, herein is the rub. I don't know where the program is stored. And with the Arduino one, I have installed and removed it so many times trying to find a version that works for me that I am sure that my computer is full of junk. PS Arduino IDE vn.2 I couldn't get on with trying to find the hardware that i needed. It has a known bug. To do it as a Widget you need the Widget 'QuickLaunch' installed then simply right-click within the QuickLaunch area and proceed as with the main App Launcher. Not interested in this. Let us know how you get on. So far so Not so good. Tried Whereis to find it - no luck Tried which to find it - no luck Tried Locate - /usr/share/applications/MicroBlocks.desktop So I edited the application launcher, but when I tried it - nothing happened. .still working on it. -- Next meeting: Online, Jitsi, Tuesday, 2023-02-07 20:00 Check to whom you are replying Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk
Re: [Dorset] Getting programs on to the 'Application Launcher' menu
On 03/02/2023 09:39, Terry Coles wrote: On 03/02/2023 09:26, Peter Merchant wrote: I recently installed a program to my Kubuntu 20.04 system called Microblocks. It is a scratch-like program for things like an ESP-32. The problem is that it doesn't appear anywhere in my application launcher, but if I type the name in on the 'search' bar of the AL, it finds it. Does anybody know how I can add it to the Application Launcher? I am having the same problem with the Arduino IDE. Peter, There are two ways to do this; one for the main Application launcher as you requested and one for the Widgets on an Activity. I can't give you a step by step, because it depends on the program concerned. For the main Launcher; right-click the launcher icon and select 'Edit Applications...'. This launches the KDE Menu Editor. Click on the appropriate Menu Item, eg 'System', right=click on that and select 'New Item'. Then fill in the blanks including the command that launches the program. Ah, herein is the rub. I don't know where the program is stored. And with the Arduino one, I have installed and removed it so many times trying to find a version that works for me that I am sure that my computer is full of junk. PS Arduino IDE vn.2 I couldn't get on with trying to find the hardware that i needed. It has a known bug. To do it as a Widget you need the Widget 'QuickLaunch' installed then simply right-click within the QuickLaunch area and proceed as with the main App Launcher. Not interested in this. Let us know how you get on. -- Next meeting: Online, Jitsi, Tuesday, 2023-02-07 20:00 Check to whom you are replying Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk
Re: [Dorset] Getting programs on to the 'Application Launcher' menu
On 03/02/2023 09:26, Peter Merchant wrote: I recently installed a program to my Kubuntu 20.04 system called Microblocks. It is a scratch-like program for things like an ESP-32. The problem is that it doesn't appear anywhere in my application launcher, but if I type the name in on the 'search' bar of the AL, it finds it. Does anybody know how I can add it to the Application Launcher? I am having the same problem with the Arduino IDE. Peter, There are two ways to do this; one for the main Application launcher as you requested and one for the Widgets on an Activity. I can't give you a step by step, because it depends on the program concerned. For the main Launcher; right-click the launcher icon and select 'Edit Applications...'. This launches the KDE Menu Editor. Click on the appropriate Menu Item, eg 'System', right=click on that and select 'New Item'. Then fill in the blanks including the command that launches the program. To do it as a Widget you need the Widget 'QuickLaunch' installed then simply right-click within the QuickLaunch area and proceed as with the main App Launcher. Let us know how you get on. -- Terry Coles -- Next meeting: Online, Jitsi, Tuesday, 2023-02-07 20:00 Check to whom you are replying Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk
