Desktop file format

Fremantle

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Version=0.1
Type=Application
Terminal=true
Name=topx 
Exec=/usr/bin/osso-xterm top  
Icon=     
#X-Window-Icon=timerwidget
X-Window-Icon=     
X-HildonDesk-ShowInToolbar=true
X-Osso-Type=application/x-executable

Chinook

Format of Maemo .desktop files

Below are the fields supported in hildon-desktop:

Type

Should be application

Icon

Name

Categories

not used on maemo, but used in Ubuntu mobile

Comment

now unused, was used as second line of text in the startup menu in Bora

Exec

NoDisplay

set to true to hide the entry in the menu

StartupNotify

set to false to disable the startup notification banner

StartupWMClass

used to override the expected window class name, default to the binary name

Some Maemo-specific extensions:

X-Text-Domain

set the L10n domain from which the application name is translated (with dgettext)

X-Osso-Service

a DBus service name - if specified hildon desktop will try to call the top_application method on this service rather than execute what is listed in the Exec field).

(Credits to Johan Billen)

BTW: If your application needs the browser to do special URL handling, the desktop file needs to be extended accordingly.