Application manager (FontBase AppImage)

Hello everybody.
For font management I use FontBase-2.18.1.AppImage.
I want to add it to the Application manager under “Graphics” but I don’t know how to do it.
Apparently I have to add a shortcut but I don’t know how to create it, I tried copying the path and pasting it in the corresponding folder but nothing happens.
Well, I accept your suggestions, maybe it’s not possible. I don’t know.
Thank you very much.

Hello @Claudio ,
It is good you want to learn inserting AppImages to jgmenu.
This may help (sorry for not testing it)
A quick and easy workaround from AUR if version 2.19-4 also suits you:
yay fontbase

Hi @zolw, thank you very much for your reply, I will read the instructions and try to see if I can do it.
For now the installed version works perfect, if it causes me problems I will try to install it from yay.

Solved.
I went to read the post you recommended, and just below there was one from @napcok I read it to compare and it was easier for me so I decided to try it first.
I followed the steps and it’s working. Here is the code from the .desktop file

[Desktop Entry]
Name=FontBase
Exec=/home/claudio/FontBase-2.18.1.AppImage
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Icon=/usr/share/icons/mabox_border_32.png
Name=FontBase
Comment=Fonts manager editor
Categories=Graphics
MimeType=text/Fonts;
Keywords=FontBase;
StartupWMClass=FontBase
Actions=NewWindow;

So you can use it by replacing the data with the apps you want to add to your jgmenu.


Now I have to create a personalized icon :smiley:
I really love Mabox. Makes me feel that I can

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Font-Base
As I said, I still had to create the icon.
I did it with Gimp and there it is working.

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If you are using appimages and have added them to the menu, maybe this will help you, since yesterday I could not use FontBase from the menu so I decided to check if everything was in order, as [Desktop Entry] was generated manually, when you update the appimage you have to make the change in the file for the new version, that solved my problem, I guess it is applicable to any appimage.

Is there any way to have this done automatically as with the rest of the apps?

Thank you all very much, I hope I have been helpful with this short comment.

Hi Claudio,

What I do is make a ~/bin folder, and keep .AppImages and anything else I want to run in there (just to keep things tidy.) Also add this to the path - edit your .bashrc file and near the end, add something like:

# append our ~/bin path to the system path variable
export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/bin
# now when you type a command, it will also search in ~/bin 
# expose PATH to the OS
export PATH

And reboot. Then create a regular file ~/bin/fontbase and set its permissions to execute all, and edit the contents. Paste in the following:

#!/bin/bash
cd "${0%/*}"
# the above are work-arounds for allowing jgmenu to "see" this
# the first is a "shebang" which indicates that this is a script
# the second forces bash (the shell) to `cd` to this location
# now that we're here, try running any AppImage matching:
./FontBase-*.AppImage

Assuming you also have a file in there named FontBase-2.21.0.AppImage, and its permissions are set to execute all, then calling fontbase will start that file… even if you are currently in /opt/someweirdfolder!

The advantage of doing all this, comes when upgrading. Simply download the new .AppImage into ~/bin, mark it as execute all, and delete the original one. That’s it! Our fontbase script will attempt to run anything matching FontBase-<whatever...>.AppImage. :grinning:

If you then want to make a jgmenu launcher for this (so it is visible in the Applications Menu and quick search), I suggest creating the file ~/.local/share/applications/font-base.desktop and paste in exactly this*:

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=FontBase
Exec=~/bin/fontbase
Terminal=false
Hidden=false
Icon=font-editor
Categories=Graphics

After you save it, hit the Super key or right-click on any empty desktop area to bring up the jgmenu. Type in font and it should find your launcher, press Enter to open it.

  • Note that jgmenu is rather picky about what is in the .desktop file. I’ve tested this one and it works, but adding more to it (like a GenericName, Comment, or custom Icon) could prevent it from being visible in jgmenu.
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Hi, thank you very much for your contribution, as soon as I get my Mabox back I will try it, it stopped working after the last update and I can’t get it to work. Sorry for the delay in replying. My times are complicated.