Creating a Local Desktop Application for Ubuntu

To develop a local Ubuntu desktop application using PySide2, Tkinter, or other desktop application frameworks, follow these steps to create an interactive frontend user application. These steps will guide you through setting up the application on your operating system, helping you test your PySide2 application.

1. Understand Requirements: First, make sure you understand the following steps. For instance, I will create a text editor named “Example Text Editor” using PySide2.
2. Create a .desktop Application: Create a .desktop file in the /usr/share/applications folder. You can use the following command to open the file for editing:

sudo nano /usr/share/applications/texteditor.desktop

3. Inside texteditor.desktop, add the following content:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Example Text Editor
Exec=/usr/bin/python3 /path/to/your/pyside2_script.py %f
MimeType=application/{extension};
Terminal=false
Type=Application

Save the file and exit the text editor.

4. Create a MIME Type Configuration: In the /usr/share/mime/packages directory, create an XML file for the application. Use the following command:Inside texteditor.xml, add the following content:

<?xml version="1.0"?> <mime-info xmlns="http://www.freedesktop.org/standards/shared-mime-info">   
<mime-type type="application/{extension}">     
<comment>Example Text File</comment>     
<glob pattern="*{extension}"/>   
</mime-type> </mime-info>

Save the file and exit the text editor.

5. Update Databases: Run the following commands to update the desktop and MIME databases:

sudo update-desktop-database
sudo update-mime-database /usr/share/mime

Open with Function: Now, you can open files with your PySide2 application using the “Open With” function. Your application should appear in the list of available applications.

Following these steps should help you create and integrate your PySide2 application into the Ubuntu desktop environment.

Note: you can also view inside the View All Applications

Feel free to comment to ask question, for code and any help.