12. Run a Program from the Run Application Dialog

See Also

20 Add Items to a Panel

21 Add Items to a Menu

63 About Finding and Installing New Applications

GNOME provides menu icons for many of the applications and applets installed when you run the NLD installation. These menu icons are present on either the Programs or System menus. Additional applets and other useful utilities are installed with NLD that are not represented on the menu system. One way you can run these is from the Run Application dialog.

Note

The Run Application dialog is really one way of accessing the NLD command line. You must know the command that starts a particular application or applet to take advantage of the Run Application dialog.

The Run Application dialog is also useful if you add applications or applets to your NLD installation (you can download any number of GNU applications and applets for Linux distributions such as NLD). Seldom-used applications and applets can be run from the Run Application dialog. However, if you find that you are using an application or applet a lot, it makes sense to add that application or applet to a panel (such as the top panel) as a shortcut or add the program to a menu.

Open the Run Application Dialog

Select the System menu on the top panel and then select Run Program. The Run Application dialog opens. To view a list of some of the applications installed with NLD, select the Show list of known applications. This list does not list all the applications or applets available. You can view the command that actually starts one of the listed applications by selecting a particular application in the known applications list.

Note

Understanding file types and finding specific files, particularly those that launch applications, requires that you have an understanding of how programs are installed and then launched in NLD. See Chapter 7, "Adding and Managing Software Applications and Tools in NLD," for more information.

Enter Program Command

Enter the program command in the command box. As you type the command, if the command is recognized, an autocomplete feature helps you complete the command. For example, a command you might find useful is the gnome-panel-screenshot command that takes a screen shot of the NLD desktop. When you run the command, it opens a dialog box that allows you to specify where the screen capture file should be saved.

Run the Application

To run the application after entering the appropriate command, click the Run button. The application or applet opens in a window. In the case of the gnome-panel-screenshot command, a Save Screenshot dialog opens, which allows you to specify the location for the saved screen capture.