Awn

Some launchers don't launch duplicates - why ?

Asked by drekka

When I drag and drop an icon to avant it creates a launcher so I can start programs. Whats got me confused is that sometimes it creates a lanucher which always starts a new instance of the program and other times it creates a launcher which only works with a single instance.

For example, I have two icons which I've drag and dropped onto avant. Both of these icons will try and start a new instance of the program. One is for Eclipse and the other is for a bash command line. I've dragged and dropped these icons on avant which has created two icons on it's bar. THe eclipse icon is acting the same way and every time I click it is starts a new instance of Eclipse. I'd actually like to stop this but for the moment it's fine as it's the same as the behaviour of the icon I dropped.

The second launcher which is for a bash command line behaves differently. Instead of starting a new command shell each time I click it, it tracks and reselects the first one I started. This is different to the icon which I dropped.

Preferably I'd like to be able to choose in an icons preferences which behaviour to use. Or at least I'd like to understand why this is happening. Any ideas ?

Derek

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Miika-Petteri Matikainen
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Best Miika-Petteri Matikainen (mpmatikainen) said : 		#1

This is a known issue. Awn tries to match a process and a task icon, but it doesn't work properly.

See:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/awn/+bug/129753

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drekka (d4rkf1br3) said : 		#2

Thanks, I've added a comment to that bug describing the behaviour on my system. Hope it helps.

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pavpanchekha (pavpanchekha) said : 		#3

This is because AWN matches precesses to tasks by looking at the task name. Example:

I have a launcher named "Terminal" in my dock.
This launcher launches a program whose title is "[path] - Terminal"
AWN uses launcher as task icon.
I rename "Terminal" launcher to "Command Line"
AWN does not use launcher as task icon, because "Command Line" is not part of the program's title
I configure the terminal to have the title "[path] - Command Line" (from its preferences)
AWN uses launcher as task icon.

If you configure (I don't know how to, sorry) Eclipse to have "Eclipse" in the title (If it doesn't already) and make that your launcher's name, It will not create a new instance. If you rename you Bash Command Line launcher to "Terminal" or "Konsole" or whatever it has in the title, It will launch a new instance. If you want the opposite behaviour, make sure the launcher name is not part of the window's title.

Lastly, you can middle click to launch a new instance of a used launcher.

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MasterOfTheHat (masterofthehat) said : 		#4

I'm actually trying to get launcher to create a new task icon each for each instance but can't. The solution posted above doesn't work for me.

I've tried renaming the launcher to something completely unrelated to the app it's launching, (using my name, for instance), but awn still uses the launcher for that instance. I've also tried renaming a menu item for the app and dragging that to the bar, but same results.

It looks like this is happing for most apps in my launcher menu: Firefox, gnome-terminal, gedit, calculator, xmms, xchat. The only ones I've found that open a new task icon for each instance are nautilus and ies4linux.

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Nick King (nick-king) said : 		#5

I can confirm the solution doesn't work for me either.

The application name is Rational Application Developer, the title shown is also Rational Application Developer, but it will always launch a new instance.

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Haminjouri Alaki (haminjouri) said : 		#6

The solution doesn't work for me either.
And even if it did work, I don't think that this is a good solution to the problem. I should be able to name my launcher anything I like, and prevent/cause the appearance of a new icon in the dock.

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wombalton (wombalton) said : 		#7

one thing i dont't get: i have a launcher for banshee and one for thunderbird.
for thunderbird i get a new icon when i open it, but not for banshee. both have total diffrent names in the window title and the launcher name.
how can that be? i want the same behavior for thunderbird as for banshee.

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Markus (doits) said : 		#8

having the same problem with 0.3.9-trunk. for me, it is shredder (thunderbird 3.0.1pre). always new icon, no matter how i name the launcher. with 0.3.2.1 (karmic) it does not have this behavior.

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Mark Lee (malept) said : 		#9

There seems to be a problem with accurately associating the Thunderbird 3.0 system launcher file (the file that is shown in the various application menus) with Thunderbird's running process. We're looking into it.

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Markus (doits) said : 		#10

wow, fast reply - thanks. but in the meanwhile i just solved the problem by dropping the thunderbird-icon from regular gnome-menu into awn. this works!

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wombalton (wombalton) said : 		#11

sorry markus, this may work for you but not for me. whats your command for starting thunderbird? mine is just /opt/Thunderbird/thunderbird. Is there maybe a parameter which has an influence?

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Markus (doits) said : 		#12

i have installed thunderbid 3.0.1pre from https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-mozilla-daily/+archive/ppa

this creates an entry "Shredder 3 Mail/News" in the normal gnome-menu. dropping this entry into awn solved my problem.

the launcher-properties created by dropping it into awn are:

Name: Shredder 3 Mail/News
Description: Read/Write Mail/News with Mozilla Shredder 3
Command: thunderbird-3.0 %u

hope this helps.