Shortcut¶
Shortcut is a cross platform command line application and API for creating shortcuts.
shortcut will do its best to find your app, searching for the usual suspects in the usual places (i.e. those in the PATH), or you can give it a full path.
To create desktop and menu shortcuts for python:
Using the app:
shortcut python
Using the Python API:
from shortcut import ShortCutter s = ShortCutter() s.create_desktop_shortcut("python") s.create_menu_shortcut("python")
It was created to solve a simple problem - if you install a python package using pip there is no simple way of creating a shortcut to the program it installs.
Documentation¶
There is comprehensive documentation at shortcut.readthedocs.io.
Table of Contents¶
shortcut app¶
The command line application shortcut creates desktop and menu shortcuts.
shortcut will search for the app or use a full path if given.
Options¶
The -h or --help option will display the help:
shortcut --help
usage: shortcut [-h] [-d] [-m] target
Auto shortcut creator
positional arguments:
target The target executable to create Desktop and Menu shortcuts
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-d, --desktop Only create a desktop shortcut
-m, --menu Only create a menu shortcut
To only create a desktop shortcut use --desktop:
shortcut --desktop python
Or just a menu shortcut using --menu:
shortcut --menu python
API¶
ShortCutter¶
-
class
shortcut.base.ShortCutter¶ Creates applicaton shortcuts for Windows, MacOS and Linux operating systems.
To create desktop and menu shortcuts to python:
from shortcut import ShortCutter s = ShortCutter() s.create_desktop_shortcut("python") s.create_menu_shortcut("python")
-
create_desktop_shortcut(target)¶ Creates a desktop shortcut to a target.
Parameters: target (str) – The target to create a shortcut for, it can be a fully qualified file path /path/to/my_program or a simple application name my_program. Returns a tuple of (target_name, target_path, shortcut_file_path)
Creates a menu shortcut to a target.
Parameters: target (str) – The target to create a shortcut for, it can be a fully qualified file path /path/to/my_program or a simple application name my_program. Returns a tuple of (target_name, target_path, shortcut_file_path)
-
create_shortcut(target, shortcut_directory)¶ Creates a shortcut to a target.
Parameters: - target (str) – The target to create a shortcut for, it can be a fully qualified file path /path/to/my_program or a simple application name my_program.
- shortcut_directory (str) – The directory path where the shortcut should be created.
Returns a tuple of (target_name, target_path, shortcut_file_path)
-
desktop_directory¶ Sets or returns the directory used when creating desktop shortcuts.
-
find_target(target)¶ Finds a file path for a target application.
Parameters: target (str) – The target to find, it can be a fully qualified file path /path/to/my_program or a simple application name my_program. Returns a single target file path or
Noneif a path cant be found.
Sets or returns the directory used when creating menu shortcuts.
-
search_for_target(target)¶ Searches for a target application.
Parameters: target (str) – The target to find. Returns a list of potential target file paths, it no paths are found an empty list is returned.s
-
Operating Systems¶
Shortcut support Windows, MacOS and Linux.
The way shortcuts are provide and applications launched depends on the operating system.
Windows¶
.lnk files pointing directly to the application paths are created in the User Desktop (CSIDL_DESKTOPDIRECTORY) and Program (CSIDL_PROGRAMS) folders.
MacOS¶
MacOS applications are created which run the application via a terminal and copied to the User Desktop (~/Desktop) and Launchpad (/Applications).
Linux¶
.desktop files are created which start the application via the shell and created in the User Desktop (~/Desktop) and applications menu (~/.local/share/applications).
Build¶
Instructions for developing and building shortcut.
Windows¶
Develop¶
Installing tools:
pip install pip --upgrade
pip install setuptools wheel twine
Get repo and install for dev:
git clone https://github.com/martinohanlon/shortcut
cd shortcut
git checkout dev
python setup.py develop