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+---
+title: Creating a New Application with D-bus activation
+---
+
+*Note: The that the D-Bus interface is in deprecation phase and for the time
+being only available for application & services that still rely on them. Once
+we migrate everything to gRPC, we will remove D-Bus IPC support.*
+
+Applications are:
+
+-  Software designed to perform a specific task during a limited amount of time.
+-  Graphical interface allowing user to interact with.
+
+Applications are executed by `applaunchd`, the AGL
+[application launcher service](02_Application_Startup_Dbus.md).
+
+# Basic requirements
+
+In order to be enumerated by `applaunchd`, applications must provide the a `.desktop` file, as
+defined by the [Desktop Entry specification](https://specifications.freedesktop.org/desktop-entry-spec/desktop-entry-spec-latest.html).
+
+The desktop entry file should be installed to `/usr/share/applications` (or the `applications`
+sub-directory of any entry present in the `XDG_DATA_DIRS` environment variable) and have a
+meaningful name. It is considered good practice to use reverse-DNS notation for the desktop
+entry file name, following the recommendations of the [D-Bus specification](https://dbus.freedesktop.org/doc/dbus-specification.html#message-protocol-names):
+- this avoids potential name collisions with other desktop entry files
+- it makes it easier to enable [D-Bus activation](#d-bus-activation) during the application
+  development cycle if needed
+- for [graphical applications](#graphical-applications), it ensures the chosen Wayland `app-id`
+  will be unique
+
+Such a file must contain at least the following keys:
+- `Type`: desktop entry type, must be set to `Application`
+- `Name`: application name, as it should be displayed in menus and application launchers
+- `Exec`: full path to the main executable
+
+Below is an example of a minimal desktop entry file:
+
+```
+[Desktop Entry]
+Type=Application
+Name=Example Application
+Exec=/usr/bin/example-app
+```
+
+Graphical applications must also provide an `Icon` entry pointing to the application icon.
+The value for this entry must either be the full path to the icon's file or, for icons part
+of an existing [icon theme](https://specifications.freedesktop.org/icon-theme-spec/icon-theme-spec-latest.html),
+the name of an element of this theme.
+
+In addition, a number of optional fields can be used to change how `applaunchd` will consider the
+application:
+- `Version`: version of the Desktop Entry Specification the file conforms to, must be `1.5`
+- `Hidden`: boolean value, if `true` the application is always ignored by `applaunchd` and
+  won't be listed nor executed
+- `Terminal`: boolean value, if `true` the application is excluded when requesting the list of
+  graphical applications from `applaunchd`
+- `DBusActivatable`: boolean value, must be `true` for [D-Bus activated applications](#d-bus-activation)
+- `Implements`: list of D-Bus interfaces the application implements, only used for D-Bus activated
+  applications.
+
+Finally, graphical applications may also define the `StartupWMClass` key in some cases. Please
+refer to the [graphical applications](#graphical-applications) section for more information.
+
+# D-Bus activation
+
+Similarly to [services](03_Creating_a_New_Service.md#d-bus-activation), applications can
+also be activated through D-Bus.
+
+Such applications must name their `.desktop` file after the D-Bus name they register. In addition,
+this file must contain the following entries:
+
+```
+DBusActivatable=true
+Implements=IFACE1;IFACE2;...
+```
+
+Where `IFACEn` are the names of the D-Bus interfaces the application implements.
+
+In addition, they must provide a D-Bus service file named `NAME.service` and installed
+to `/usr/share/dbus-1/services`.
+
+The contents of the D-Bus service file must be the following:
+
+```
+[D-BUS Service]
+Name=NAME
+Exec=/path/to/executable
+```
+
+For example, an application registering the `org.automotivelinux.Example` D-Bus name
+and implementing the `org.automotivelinux.Example.Search1` and `org.automotivelinux.Example.Execute1`
+interfaces would provide the following files:
+
+* Desktop entry (`/usr/share/applications/org.automotivelinux.Example.desktop`):
+
+```
+[Desktop Entry]
+Type=Application
+Version=1.5
+Name=Example Application
+Exec=/usr/bin/example-app
+Icon=example-icon
+Terminal=false
+DBusActivatable=true
+Implements=org.automotivelinux.Example.Search1;org.automotivelinux.Example.Execute1
+```
+
+* D-Bus service file (`/usr/share/dbus-1/services/org.automotivelinux.Example.service`):
+
+```
+[D-BUS Service]
+Name=org.automotivelinux.Example
+Exec=/usr/bin/example-app
+```
+
+*Note: in addition to their own D-Bus interface, D-Bus activated applications must also
+implement the `org.freedesktop.Application` interface as defined in the
+[Desktop Entry specification](https://specifications.freedesktop.org/desktop-entry-spec/1.1/ar01s07.html).*
+
+# Graphical applications
+
+In addition, graphical applications need to comply with a few more requirements:
+
+1\. Each application must set a Wayland application ID appropriately as soon as its main window
+is created.
+
+2\. The `app-id` must be specified in the desktop entry file by adding the following line:
+
+```
+StartupWMClass=APP_ID
+```
+
+3\. The desktop entry file must be named `APP_ID.desktop`.
+
+Doing so will ensure other software can associate the actual `app-id` to the proper application.
+
+*Note: application ID's are set using the [XDG toplevel](https://wayland-book.com/xdg-shell-basics/xdg-toplevel.html)
+Wayland interface.*