Deskbar Applications versus apps

Do you know the differences between Deskbar Applications menu and the apps folder ?

If your answer is no, then this article will make you understand more deeply how Haiku system is organized.

Deskbar menu versus apps

If you look at the Applications menu available in the Deskbar, you should see a list like below :

However, if you go directly in the "apps" folder in the Tracker, the list could be different and should contain more entries :

For instance the "Screenshot" application is not available via the Deskbar menu.

The reason behind is that "Screenshot" can be launched directly via the PrintScreen key.

Hey, but on Mac keyboard there's no PrintScreen key, how can I call the application, if it's not available in the Deskbar menu ?

Good point :)

In case the application is not available in the Deskbar menu, you have several options :

Create a keyboard shortcut as explained in "Redefine print screen key"
Create a link in "/system/non-packaged/bin/" as explained in "Quick launch a RetroArch game"
Create an entry in LaunchBox as explained in "Use LaunchBox"

If you check for the Deskbar menu folder as below :

cd /boot/system/data/deskbar/menu/Applications

The below entries will be visible :

ls -l

As you can see, the first information displayed on each line is "l" indicating it's a link to the "apps" folder corresponding to the application.

If you go into the "/system/apps/" folder, the below applications are visible :

These are the real binary files for the applications.

This is the difference between the "apps" folder and the "Applications" Deskbar menu :)

In the case of the Screenshot application, there's an additional specificity which might be due to an historical reason.

If you check about the binary file for the application, you should see the below :

However there's another binary named "screenshot" (with lowercase "s") available in "/bin" folder which is different :

The "/bin/screenshot" binary has the below options displayed :

Whereas the /system/apps/Screenshot doesn't display these options :

In case you need to call the Screenshot application from the command line, the preferred way is to use the /bin/screenshot command.

But this is a rare situation, because in most cases the corresponding application is in the "/system/apps" folder.

Any other information you would like to share about apps folder ?

You can put a comment below :)