launch.sh

launch(){

    # Usage: launch PATH [URI...]

    # NOTE: The bulk of this function is executed in a subshell, i.e. `(..)`
    #       This isn't strictly necessary, but it keeps everything
    #       out of the global namespace and lessens the likelihood
    #       of side effects.

    (

    # where you want to install the launcher to
    appdir=$HOME/.local/share/applications

    # the template used to install the launcher
    template=launcher-XXXXXX.desktop

    # ensure $1 has a .desktop extension, exists, is a normal file, is readable, has nonzero size
    # optionally use desktop-file-validate for stricter checking
    # desktop-file-validate "$1" 2>/dev/null || {
    [[ $1 = *.desktop && -f $1 && -r $1 && -s $1 ]] || {
        echo "ERROR: you have not supplied valid .desktop file" >&2
        return 1
    }

    # ensure the temporary launcher is deleted upon exit
    trap 'rm "$launcherfile" &>/dev/null' EXIT

    # create a temp file to overwrite later
    launcherfile=$(mktemp -p "$appdir" "$template")

    launchername=${launcherfile##*/}
    echo launchername

    # overwrite temp file with the launcher file
    if cp "$1" "$launcherfile" &>/dev/null; then
        gtk-launch "$launchername" "${@:2}"
    else
        echo "ERROR: failed to copy launcher to applications directory" >&2
        return 1
    fi

    )
}