SH3D on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

[DerekvG]

I have resinstalled 2 PC's with Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
the first thing i installed was SH3D because I want to avoid any issues

on My Desktop it works fine.

done the same on my laptop and SH3D doesn't start from the terminal it says command not found while i'm in the folder
HOW can I diagnose what is going on, what info do you need

[DerekvG]

On my laptop installed SH3D as per download page i.e. extracted files to / and maintained the directory structure of the archive
- checked permissions for executable and behaviour = run software
=> doubleclicking Sweethome3D run software starts but the nothing happens
=> for terminal : cd to SH3D directory then SweetHome3D results in command not found

java version :
openjdk version "11.0.9" 2020-10-20
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 11.0.9+11-Ubuntu-0ubuntu1.20.04)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 11.0.9+11-Ubuntu-0ubuntu1.20.04, mixed mode, sharing)

[UbuntuBirdy]

What was your exact command to run it from the terminal? You know, you have to start the command with "./"? So the command you have to type in is "./SweetHome3D" (wihtout "").

[DerekvG]

indeed that works but

Gtk-Message: 19:20:31.218: Failed to load module "canberra-gtk-module"

The iconspace in the launcher is empty/blank and it says "com-eteks-sweethome3d-SweetHome3D"

starting from Nautilus is still not resolved

created a desktop file as

[UbuntuBirdy]

Why do you wanna start it from nautilus???

[DerekvG]

I don't want to start it from terminal because the terminal window stays open. Further more it is not listed in the Application selector

I prefer starting it from Nautilus because I know it works, whereas whan I start if from terminal things go wrong and work gets lost. ( I have been working like that since feb/march of this year whan I reinstalled and had the same problem and instability over and over again.
Moreover I can save the launcher instance to luncher favourites and i can restart it from the launcher bar

The Bundle in the distro is out of date 5.x( if i'm not mistaken) it's not even worth to install

BTW =============
on my last start in Terminal following errors showed up
... ~/SweetHome3D-6.4.2$ ./SweetHome3D
Gtk-Message: 11:28:55.194: Failed to load module "canberra-gtk-module"
Exception in thread "pool-8-thread-1" java.lang.NullPointerException
at com.eteks.sweethome3d.swing.ImportedTextureWizardStepsPanel$19.run(Unknown Source)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1149)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:624)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:748)

[DerekvG]

this is my .desktop file (on both machines disk config, mount points and directory structure are identical)

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Name=Sweet Home 3D 6.4.2
GenericName=Interior 2D design application with 3D preview
GenericName[de]=Innenraumplaner
Comment=Interior design Java application for quickly choosing and placing furniture on a house 2D plan drawn by the end-user with a 3D preview
Exec=/home/derek/SweetHome3D-6.4.2/SweetHome3D
Icon=SweetHome3DIcon
StartupNotify=true
StartupWMClass=com-eteks-sweethome3d-SweetHome3D
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=Graphics;2DGraphics;3DGraphics;
Keywords=interior;design;2D;3D;home;house;furniture;java;

[UbuntuBirdy]

Not sure if it helps, but try to edit the "Path" and the "Exec" line in your .desktop file like this:

Path=/home/derek/SweetHome3D-6.4.2
Exec="/home/derek/SweetHome3D-6.4.2/SweetHome3D" %U

And then save this .desktop file in

"/home/derek/.local/share/applications"

SweetHome3D will now appear in your applications.
You're right, starting from the terminal is not an acceptable option. But you could even start a software from the terminal with a .desktop with the corect exec line.

[DerekvG]

Got it to work from Nautilus

I edited the .desktop in /usr/share/applications
and corrected the path to /home/derek (replaced the capitals)

I changed the properties of the file , and in permissions switched off the executable flag and open with text editor.

In Nautilus : Preferences -> Behavior -> Executable Text Files to Ask what to do.

Stopped Nautilus , and rebooted Ubuntu , started Nautilus

In Nautilus : Preferences -> Behavior -> Executable Text Files to Run executable.
I changed the properties of the file , and switched ON the executable flag of SweetHome3D and open with Run software.

and it starts and i could append it to favorites (dock)

[UbuntuBirdy]

WOW! I tried to help you, and now you showed me how to do it! NICE!
Next time you do not have to reboot Ubuntu, you only quit Nautilus from the terminal with "nautilus -q". And then start Nautilus from where you do it normally.