Desktop Entry Parser

A TypeScript library for parsing .desktop files according to the Desktop Entry Specification.

Installation

npm install desktop-entry-parser

Usage

Basic Usage

import { parseDesktopFile, parseDesktopString } from 'desktop-entry-parser';

// Parse from file
const entry = parseDesktopFile('/usr/share/applications/firefox.desktop');

// Parse from string
const content = `[Desktop Entry]
Name=Firefox
Exec=firefox %u
Type=Application`;

const entry = parseDesktopString(content);

// Get basic properties
console.log(entry.getName());        // "Firefox"
console.log(entry.getExec());        // "firefox %u"
console.log(entry.isApplication());  // true

Localization Support

// Get localized values
const entry = parseDesktopFile('/path/to/app.desktop');

console.log(entry.getName('zh_CN'));     // Returns Chinese name if available
console.log(entry.getComment('de'));     // Returns German comment if available

Working with Actions

const entry = parseDesktopFile('/path/to/app.desktop');

// Get available actions
const actions = entry.getActions();  // ['new-window', 'new-private-window']

// Get action details
for (const action of actions) {
    console.log(entry.getActionName(action));
    console.log(entry.getActionExec(action));
    console.log(entry.getActionIcon(action));
}

Desktop Environment Visibility

const entry = parseDesktopFile('/path/to/app.desktop');

// Check if should show in specific desktop environment
console.log(entry.shouldShowIn('GNOME'));  // true/false
console.log(entry.shouldShowIn('KDE'));    // true/false

Advanced API

import { DesktopEntryParser, DesktopEntryWrapper } from 'desktop-entry-parser';

// Create parser with options
const parser = new DesktopEntryParser({
    encoding: 'utf8',
    strictMode: true,       // Throw on invalid format
    preserveComments: false
});

// Parse and create wrapper
const entry = parser.parseFile('/path/to/app.desktop');
const wrapper = new DesktopEntryWrapper(entry, parser);

// Get complete metadata
const metadata = wrapper.getMetadata();
console.log(metadata.type);
console.log(metadata.categories);
console.log(metadata.mimeType);

// Get raw entry data
const rawEntry = wrapper.getEntry();
const desktopGroup = rawEntry.groups.get('Desktop Entry');

// Serialize back to string
const serialized = wrapper.serialize();

// Save to file
wrapper.saveToFile('/path/to/new.desktop');

Async Operations

import { parseDesktopFileAsync } from 'desktop-entry-parser';

// Async file parsing
const entry = await parseDesktopFileAsync('/path/to/app.desktop');

// Async save
await entry.saveToFileAsync('/path/to/new.desktop');

API Reference

Main Functions

• parseDesktopFile(filePath: string) - Parse a desktop file synchronously
• parseDesktopFileAsync(filePath: string) - Parse a desktop file asynchronously
• parseDesktopString(content: string) - Parse desktop content from string

DesktopEntryWrapper Methods

Basic Properties

• getName(locale?: string) - Get application name
• getComment(locale?: string) - Get comment/description
• getExec() - Get executable command
• getIcon() - Get icon name/path
• getType() - Get entry type (Application/Link/Directory)
• getUrl() - Get URL (for Link type)

Lists

• getCategories() - Get category list
• getMimeTypes() - Get supported MIME types
• getActions() - Get available actions

Boolean Properties

• isHidden() - Check if entry is hidden
• isTerminal() - Check if runs in terminal
• isApplication() - Check if type is Application
• isLink() - Check if type is Link
• isDirectory() - Check if type is Directory

Actions

• getActionName(action: string, locale?: string) - Get action name
• getActionExec(action: string) - Get action command
• getActionIcon(action: string) - Get action icon

Desktop Environment

• shouldShowIn(desktop: string) - Check if should display in desktop

Metadata

• getMetadata(locale?: string) - Get all metadata as object

Serialization

• serialize() - Convert to desktop file string
• saveToFile(filePath: string) - Save to file
• saveToFileAsync(filePath: string) - Save to file async

License

ISC