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I personally use Ubuntu 12.04 with the gnome-panel desktop, so this may be less appropriate for other distros/desktops. Either way, I think it may be a good idea.

Personally, I find having to open playonlinux then run the program I want to be a little annoying. So, I set up a workaround with two files for the application, for the sake of example, lets uses microsoft word 2010.

I created 2 files, first ~/.locale/applications/ms-word-2010.desktop containing
[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Terminal=false
Icon=ms-word-2010
Type=Application
Categories=Office;
Exec=ms-word-2010 %U
Name=Word 2010
Comment=Create and edit text and graphics in letters, reports, documents and Web pages by using Word 2010.
Comment[en]=Create and edit text and graphics in letters, reports, documents and Web pages by using Word 2010.

and /usr/bin/ms-word-2010 containing
!#/bin/bash
playonlinux --run "Microsoft Word 2010

I then extracted the .ico files from $WINEPREFIX/drive_c/Program\\ Files/Microsoft\\ Office/Office14/WORDICON.EXE, and extracted the .png files from that. I then selected the best quality .png and resized them to various sizes 16x16 - 256x256, and placed each into /usr/share/icons/hicolor/$SIZE/ms-word-2010.png, with the end result of having Microsoft Word 2010 showing up in my Office applications menu, and being able to access it easily, without needig to go into playonlinux itself.

My question of legality is, could we set up a ppa to host these icons/launchers, for not ony msoffice but any other successfully playedonlinux'ed program? or, barring that, a ppa with a wrapper script, similar to the flashplugin-installer script, that would automate the above task? I am quite willing to write the script for ms-office and rpg maker xp, as these are the only 2 programs I use atm via playonlinux.

I think this could be very usefull for other users, and more seamlesly integrate these programs into the host os.

Thats already done. After you install a program on POL, there is an option in the Config area. Highlight your program in Configure area, then click on the icon for the program you want to make a shortcut for (NOT the WINEPREFIX, the actual game/program launcher), then click "Make a new shortcut from this virtual drive" and it will place a shortcut, WITH icon, on your desktop. No need to go through all of that. Its been implemented.

As for the hosting for icons and whatnot; they are already hosted on POLs servers. Once you create a script and have it approved, you just submit the links to your icons, and they will get them hosted on their servers, so that the script automatically pulls them from their servers. :)

Yeah, I am aware of the icon on desktop, I just never use them (I'm not a fan of desktop shortcuts and always delete them). I'm more thinking about integrating into the unity-dash and gnome/kde/xfce/etc menus.

Actually I have an idea. what if, instead of on the desktop, the launcher was created in $HOME/.local/share/applications? A slight change to the POL_Shortcut could add the Categories= line to the .desktop file and cause it to show up where it belongs, for example
POL_Shortcut "IE8.EXE" "Internet Explorer 8" "Internet"
would create a shortcut to IE8 that would show up in the internet section of the gnome menu and presumeably other desktop's menus.

Edited by ntzrmtthihu777

Hmmm. Well, im not sure a re-write of that POL function would be appropriate, BUT perhaps there is a way that we can add a function in specifically for unity. But again, therein lies the problem; a lot of people dont use unity, and a lot dont really like it. Not to mention, its an Ubuntu only feature. So, a whole new function would need to be written to recognize and change the shortcut feature, based on just one OS with a Desktop Environment that no one else is using. Not saying that it couldnt happen. Maybe there is a way to set up a symbolic link if Unity is detected? Im not sure.

If you want, you can submit a feature request in the Bugs section. At least then it will be on record, and it may actually happen.

Edited by RoninDusette

Actually this is not so much unity linux in general (I dislike unity too, I reverted to gnome-panel). Unity does not have a sorted menu function deally, but having the shortcut file in $HOME/.locale/share/applications/ would benefit it, as the applications would be searchable through the dash.

I'm talking about the gnome-desktop, and also xfce, kde and lxde, which are not ubuntu-specific. In fact according to Freedesktop, LinuxCritic and various voices in #ubuntu, #kubuntu, #fedora, and #debian the *.desktop format is more or less universal. I cannot speak about mac atm but I am researching right now, in the #macrumors channel.

Placing the actual file in the $HOME/.local/share/applications with a symlink to the desktop would work wonderfully, I bet.

Edited by ntzrmtthihu777

Yeah. I think that a sym-link would be the best way to deal with that. I would still submit a feature request and see if this can be implemented.

Exactly where would that be, may I ask? :S still a noob on this forum.

Lol. no problem.

http://www.playonmac.com/en/tracker-2.html

Also, if you are on the POL home page, you can click "Bugs" in the top-right hand corner, and that will take you to the bug reporting page. There you can open up tickets for bugs that you find in scripts, the website, or in the actual POL application itself. There are guidelines, but that is the spot where you would do it. :)

Edited by RoninDusette