# gapplication

GIO Developer Ryan Lortie
gapplication
1
User Commands

# gapplication

D-Bus application launcher

          gapplication
          help
          COMMAND

          gapplication
          version

          gapplication
          list-apps

          gapplication
          launch
          APPID

          gapplication
          launch
          APPID
          FILE

          gapplication
          list-actions
          APPID

          gapplication
          action
          APPID
          ACTION
          PARAMETER

## Description

`gapplication` is a commandline implementation of the client-side of the org.freedesktop.Application interface as specified by the freedesktop.org Desktop Entry Specification.

`gapplication` can be used to start applications that have `DBusActivatable` set to `true` in their `.desktop` files and can be used to send messages to already-running instances of other applications.

It is possible for applications to refer to `gapplication` in the `Exec` line of their `.desktop` file to maintain backwards compatibility with implementations that do not directly support `DBusActivatable`.

`gapplication` ships as part of GLib.

## Commands

### Global commands

`help` COMMAND

  Displays a short synopsis of the available commands or provides detailed help on a specific command.

`version`

  Prints the GLib version whence `gapplication` came.

`list-apps`

  Prints a list of all application IDs that are known to support D-Bus activation. This list is generated by scanning `.desktop` files as per the current `XDG_DATA_DIRS`.

`launch` APPID FILE

  Launches an application.

  The first parameter is the application ID in the familiar "reverse DNS" style (eg: '`org.gnome.app`') without the `.desktop` suffix.

  Optionally, if additional parameters are given, they are treated as the names of files to open and may be filenames or URIs. If no files are given then the application is simply activated.

`list-actions` APPID

  List the actions declared in the application's `.desktop` file. The parameter is the application ID, as above.

`action` APPID ACTION PARAMETER

  Invokes the named action (in the same way as would occur when activating an action specified in the `.desktop` file).

  The application ID (as above) is the first parameter. The action name follows.

  Optionally, following the action name can be one parameter, in GVariant format, given as a single argument. Make sure to use sufficient quoting.

## Examples

### From the commandline

Launching an application:

            gapplication launch org.example.fooview

Opening a file with an application:

            gapplication launch org.example.fooview ~/file.foo

Opening many files with an application:

            gapplication launch org.example.fooview ~/foos/*.foo

Invoking an action on an application:

            gapplication action org.example.fooview create

Invoking an action on an application, with an action:

            gapplication action org.example.fooview show-item '"item_id_828739"'

### From the `Exec` lines of a `.desktop` file

The commandline interface of `gapplication` was designed so that it could be used directly from the `Exec` line of a `.desktop` file.

You might want to do this to allow for backwards compatibility with implementations of the specification that do not understand how to do D-Bus activation, without having to install a separate utility program.

Consider the following example:

            [Desktop Entry]
            Version=1.1
            Type=Application
            Name=Foo Viewer
            DBusActivatable=true
            MimeType=image/x-foo;
            Exec=gapplication launch org.example.fooview %F
            Actions=gallery;create;

            [Desktop Action gallery]
            Name=Browse Gallery
            Exec=gapplication action org.example.fooview gallery

            [Desktop Action create]
            Name=Create a new Foo!
            Exec=gapplication action org.example.fooview create

### From a script

If installing an application that supports D-Bus activation you may still want to put a file in `/usr/bin` so that your program can be started from a terminal.

It is possible for this file to be a shell script. The script can handle arguments such as --help and --version directly. It can also parse other command line arguments and convert them to uses of `gapplication` to activate the application, open files, or invoke actions.

Here is a simplified example, as may be installed in `/usr/bin/fooview`:

            #!/bin/sh

            case "$1" in
              --help)
                echo "see 'man fooview' for more information"
                ;;

              --version)
                echo "fooview 1.2"
                ;;

              --gallery)
                gapplication action org.example.fooview gallery
                ;;

              --create)
                gapplication action org.example.fooview create
                ;;

              -*)
                echo "unrecognised commandline argument"
                exit 1
                ;;

              *)
                gapplication launch org.example.fooview "$@"
                ;;
            esac

## See also

Desktop Entry Specification, gdbus 1 , xdg-open 1 , desktop-file-validate 1