Can't add shortcut to app launcher

Question

I've downloaded Cisco PacketTracer and ran it normally from terminal with a ./PacketTracer7 command in packettracer's Bin folder. No problem there. The problem is, i can't add it to the launcher (with App-Editor) or pin it to plank. I need to run it exactly from that folder.

I can install it and run it from the menu, but it messes the app window resolution. Everything looks huge. So i need to launch it from that path. Is there a way around it? I tried sh /home/user/packettracer/PacketTracer7 in App-Editor, but that doesn't work either.

Answer 1

Pardon me for asking this in the answer section, but I don't have a high enough reputation to ask in the comment section.

1) What version of elementary are you using?

I can get Packet Tracer to install and run just fine in Loki, but I have issues with running it in Juno.

2) Whether it's Loki or Juno, it looks like Packet Tracer's desktop file is incorrect.

If you go to /usr/share/applications, the pt7.desktop file looks like this:

[Desktop Entry]
Exec=PacketTracer7
Icon=pt7
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Name=Packet Tracer 7.2

I changed it to:

[Desktop Entry]
Exec=packettracer
Icon=/opt/pt/art/app.ico
Type=Application
Terminal=true
Name=Packet Tracer 7.2
Categories=Development;IDE;

and then it puts an icon under Programming in the Application menu.

In Loki, I can alternate-click and select "Keep in Dock" to put it on the Plank. I can also run it just fine - even without any resolution problems.

However, in Juno, I can't get it to run from the menu or from the terminal. If I type packettracer in the terminal, It says Starting Packet Tracer 7.2 but it never runs.

UPDATE: Packet Tracer does appear to have another .desktop file than the one that ends up in /usr/share/applications. It's in /opt/pt/bin and it's called Cisco-PacketTracer.desktop. It's contents are:

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Type=Application

Exec=packettracer %F
Icon=/opt/pt/art/app.png

Name=Cisco Packet Tracer
Categories=Application;Network;

MimeType=application/x-pkt;application/x-pka;application/x-pkz;

But still can't get it working in Juno - even with your method of ./PacketTracer7. I get the following message:

error while loading shared libraries: libpng12.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

Answer 2

Solved it!

I made a desktop file in ~.local/share/applications/ with the following content:

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Type=Application

Exec=/home/USER/PacketTracer/bin/PacketTracer7
Icon=/home/USER/PacketTracer/art/pkz.png
Path=/home/USER/PacketTracer/bin/
Name=Cisco Packet Tracer
Categories=Application;Network;

MimeType=application/x-pkt;application/x-pka;application/x-pkz;

The shortcut immediately appeared in app launcher.