How do I create a Launcher in Ubuntu 9.10 that runs a shell script?

Question

Here's my situation:

• New to Ubuntu (just installed 9.10 Karmic Koala 64 bit)
• Purpose: to easily run PyCharm without too much typing (ie. cd... ./pycharm.sh)
• Want to create desktop Launcher instead of terminal & typing (without resorting to the "Run in Terminal" option)
• Tried to create Launcher to executes .sh script in Document directory
• Right-clicked Desktop > Create Launcher
• a. Type == Application; Browse > [insert absolute path to .sh script]; no luck
• b. Type == Application in Terminal; Browse > ...ditto

I'm open to any other alternatives that involve as little typing as possible. I would like to just start Ubuntu, click Launcher icons, and have terminals spring to life, running the intended scripts.

Crazy? No. Lazy? Probably. Productive? Hopefully :)

Answer 1

You can create a symbolic link to pycharm your the /home/<youruser>/bin directory (you might have to create that directory first).

Afterwards, you should really check out Gnome-Do, a true productivity booster which requires very little typing :) You can install it via Add/Remove programs or just apt-get install gnome-do.

Once installed, just press Win-Space (this pops up the launcher), type 'pycharm' (or whatever name you gave the symlink in your bin directory), hit Enter, and you're good to go.

Answer 2

You can easily create symbolic link like

sudo ln -s /path_to_pycharm/bin/pycharm.sh /usr/local/bin/pycharm

After this you can just type pycharm is app launcher, terminal, wherever!

Answer 3

Just put the full path to the bash script in the command line for the launcher dialog.