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| 6 | <title>Setting the Application Icon</title>
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| 31 | </td>
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| 32 | <td align="right" valign="center"><img src="logo32.png" align="right" width="64" height="32" border="0"></td></tr></table><h1 align=center>Setting the Application Icon</h1>
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| 33 |
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| 34 |
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| 35 |
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| 36 | <p> The application icon, typically displayed in the top-left corner of an
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| 37 | application's top-level windows, is set by calling the
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| 38 | <a href="qwidget.html#setIcon">QWidget::setIcon</a>() method on top-level widgets.
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| 39 | <p> In order to change the icon of the executable application file
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| 40 | itself, as it is presented on the desktop (i.e. prior to application
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| 41 | execution), it is necessary to employ another, platform-dependent
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| 42 | technique.
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| 43 | <p> <!-- toc -->
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| 44 | <ul>
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| 45 | <li><a href="#1"> Setting the Application Icon on Windows
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| 46 | </a>
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| 47 | <li><a href="#2"> Setting the Application Icon on Mac OS X
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| 48 | </a>
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| 49 | <li><a href="#3"> Setting the Application Icon on common Linux desktops
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| 50 | </a>
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| 51 | <ul>
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| 52 | <li><a href="#3-1"> KDE
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| 53 | </a>
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| 54 | <li><a href="#3-2"> GNOME
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| 55 | </a>
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| 56 | </ul>
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| 57 | </ul>
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| 58 | <!-- endtoc -->
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| 59 |
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| 60 | <p> <h2> Setting the Application Icon on Windows
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| 61 | </h2>
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| 62 | <a name="1"></a><p> First, create an ICO format bitmap file that contains the icon image. This
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| 63 | can be done with e.g. Microsoft Visual C++: Select "File|New...", then
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| 64 | select the "File" tab in the dialog that appears, and choose "Icon". (Note
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| 65 | that you do not need to load your application into Visual C++; here we are
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| 66 | only using the icon editor).
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| 67 | <p> Store the ICO file in your application's source code directory, for
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| 68 | example, with the name, "myappico.ico". Then, create a text file
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| 69 | called e.g. "myapp.rc" in which you put a single line of text:
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| 70 | <pre>
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| 71 | IDI_ICON1 ICON DISCARDABLE "myappico.ico"
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| 72 | </pre>
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| 73 |
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| 74 | <p> Finally, assuming you are using <a href="qmake-manual.html">qmake</a>
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| 75 | to generate your makefiles, add this line to your "myapp.pro" file:
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| 76 | <p> <pre>
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| 77 | RC_FILE = myapp.rc
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| 78 | </pre>
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| 79 |
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| 80 | <p> Regenerate your makefile and your application. The .exe file will now be
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| 81 | represented with your icon e.g. in Explorer.
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| 82 | <p> If you do not use <a href="qmake-manual.html">qmake</a>, the necessary
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| 83 | steps are: first, run the "rc" program on the .rc file, then link your
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| 84 | application with the resulting .res file.
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| 85 | <p> <h2> Setting the Application Icon on Mac OS X
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| 86 | </h2>
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| 87 | <a name="2"></a><p> The application icon, typically displayed in the application dock
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| 88 | area, is set by calling <a href="qwidget.html#setIcon">QWidget::setIcon</a>() on a top-level widget. It
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| 89 | is possible that the program could appear in the application dock area
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| 90 | before the function call, in which case a default icon will appear
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| 91 | during the bouncing animation.
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| 92 | <p> To ensure that the correct icon appears, both when the application is
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| 93 | being launched, and in the Finder, it is necessary to employ a
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| 94 | platform-dependent technique.
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| 95 | <p> Although many programs can create icon files (<tt>.icns</tt>), the recommended
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| 96 | approach is to use the <em>Icon Composer</em> program supplied by Apple (in the
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| 97 | Developer/Application folder). <em>Icon Composer</em> allows you to import several
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| 98 | different sized icons (for use in different contexts) as well as the masks
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| 99 | that go with them. Save the set of icons to a file in your project
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| 100 | directory.
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| 101 | <p> If you are using <a href="qmake-manual.html">qmake</a> to generate
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| 102 | your make files, you only need to add a single line to your <tt>.pro</tt>
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| 103 | project file. For example, if the name of your icon file is
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| 104 | <tt>myapp.icns</tt>, and your project file is <tt>myapp.pro</tt>, add this line
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| 105 | to <tt>myapp.pro</tt>:
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| 106 | <pre>
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| 107 | RC_FILE = myapp.icns
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| 108 | </pre>
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| 109 |
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| 110 | This will ensure that <a href="qmake-manual.html">qmake</a> puts your
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| 111 | icons in the proper place and creates an <tt>Info.plist</tt> entry for the
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| 112 | icon.
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| 113 | <p> If you do not use <a href="qmake-manual.html">qmake</a>, you must do
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| 114 | the following manually:
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| 115 | <ol type=1>
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| 116 | <li> Create an Info.plist file for your application (using the
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| 117 | PropertyListEditor, found in Developer/Applications).
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| 118 | <li> Associate your .icns record with the CFBundleIconFile record in the
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| 119 | Info.plist file (again, using the PropertyListEditor).
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| 120 | <li> Copy both the icns and your Info.plist into your application bundle
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| 121 | Resource directory.
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| 122 | </ol>
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| 123 | <p> <h2> Setting the Application Icon on common Linux desktops
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| 124 | </h2>
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| 125 | <a name="3"></a><p> In this section we briefly describe the issues involved in providing
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| 126 | icons for applications for two common Linux desktop environments:
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| 127 | <a href="http://www.kde.org/">KDE</a> and <a href="http://www.gnome.org/">GNOME</a>. The core technology used to describe application icons
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| 128 | is the same for both desktops, and may also apply to others, but there
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| 129 | are details which are specific to each. The main source of information
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| 130 | on the standards used by these Linux desktops is <a href="http://www.freedesktop.org/">freedesktop.org</a>. For information
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| 131 | on other Linux desktops please refer to the documentation for the
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| 132 | desktops you are interested in.
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| 133 | <p> Often, users do not use executable files directly, but instead launch
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| 134 | applications by clicking icons on the desktop. These icons are
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| 135 | representations of `desktop entry files' that contain a description of
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| 136 | the application that includes information about its icon. Both desktop
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| 137 | environments are able to retrieve the information in these files, and
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| 138 | they use it to generate shortcuts to applications on the desktop, in
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| 139 | the start menu, and on the panel.
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| 140 | <p> More information about desktop entry files can be found in the
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| 141 | <a href="http://www.freedesktop.org/Standards/desktop-entry-spec">Desktop Entry Specification</a>.
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| 142 | <p> Although desktop entry files can usefully encapsulate the application's details,
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| 143 | we still need to store the icons in the conventional location for each desktop
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| 144 | environment. A number of locations for icons are given in the
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| 145 | <a href="http://www.freedesktop.org/Standards/icon-theme-spec">Icon Theme Specification</a>.
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| 146 | <p> Although the path used to locate icons depends on the desktop in use,
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| 147 | and on its configuration, the directory structure beneath each of
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| 148 | these should follow the same pattern: subdirectories are arranged by
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| 149 | theme, icon size, and application type. Generally, application icons
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| 150 | are added to the hicolor theme, so a square application icon 32 pixels
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| 151 | in size would be stored in the <tt>hicolor/32x32/apps</tt> directory beneath
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| 152 | the icon path.
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| 153 | <p> <h3> KDE
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| 154 | </h3>
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| 155 | <a name="3-1"></a><p> Application icons can be installed for use by all users, or on a per-user basis.
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| 156 | A user currently logged into their KDE desktop can discover these locations
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| 157 | by using <a href="http://developer.kde.org/documentation/other/kde-config.html">kde-config</a>, for example,
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| 158 | by typing the following in a terminal window:
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| 159 | <p> <pre>
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| 160 | kde-config --path icon
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| 161 | </pre>
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| 162 |
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| 163 | <p> Typically, the list of colon-separated paths printed to stdout includes the
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| 164 | user-specific icon path and the system-wide path. Beneath these
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| 165 | directories, it should be possible to locate and install icons according
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| 166 | to the conventions described in the
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| 167 | <a href="http://www.freedesktop.org/Standards/icon-theme-spec">Icon Theme Specification</a>.
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| 168 | <p> If you are developing exclusively for KDE, you may wish to take
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| 169 | advantage of the <a href="http://developer.kde.org/documentation/other/makefile_am_howto.html">KDE build system</a> to configure your application. This ensures
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| 170 | that your icons are installed in the appropriate locations for KDE.
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| 171 | <p> The KDE developer website is <a href="http://developer.kde.org/">http://developer.kde.org/</a>.
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| 172 | <p> <h3> GNOME
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| 173 | </h3>
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| 174 | <a name="3-2"></a><p> Application icons are stored within a standard system-wide directory containing
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| 175 | architecture-independent files. This location can be determined by
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| 176 | using gnome-config, for example by typing the following in a terminal
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| 177 | window:
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| 178 | <p> <pre>
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| 179 | gnome-config --datadir
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| 180 | </pre>
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| 181 |
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| 182 | <p> The path printed on stdout refers to a location that should contain a directory
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| 183 | called <tt>pixmaps</tt>; the directory structure within the <tt>pixmaps</tt>
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| 184 | directory is described in the <a href="http://www.freedesktop.org/Standards/icon-theme-spec">Icon Theme
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| 185 | Specification</a>.
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| 186 | <p> If you are developing exclusively for GNOME, you may wish to use
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| 187 | the standard set of <a href="http://developer.gnome.org/tools/build.html">GNU Build Tools</a>,
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| 188 | also described in the relevant section of
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| 189 | the <a href="http://developer.gnome.org/doc/GGAD/ggad.html">GTK+/Gnome
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| 190 | Application Development book</a>. This ensures that your icons are
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| 191 | installed in the appropriate locations for GNOME.
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| 192 | <p> The GNOME developer website is <a href="http://developer.gnome.org/">http://developer.gnome.org/</a>.
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| 193 | <p>
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| 194 | <!-- eof -->
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| 195 | <p><address><hr><div align=center>
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| 196 | <table width=100% cellspacing=0 border=0><tr>
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| 197 | <td>Copyright © 2007
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| 198 | <a href="troll.html">Trolltech</a><td align=center><a href="trademarks.html">Trademarks</a>
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| 199 | <td align=right><div align=right>Qt 3.3.8</div>
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| 200 | </table></div></address></body>
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| 201 | </html>
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