Refer: http://askubuntu.com/questions/142159/desktop-shortcut-to-create-a-new-desktop-shortcut-doesnt-do-anything
Use the following to create an icon to launch program, put it with your progam and you can then drag it onto the taskbar, but remember it's a link to the launcher
To create Desktop shortcuts in Ubuntu,gnome-panel package is required first.
Open Terminal. To open terminal click the Dash home from Unity launcher. And type terminal in the search field. And click Terminal.
Type the below code in terminal and hit enter.
$ sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends gnome-panel
Then type below code in terminal and hit enter, but put yourself in the the folder of the application, this allows the icon image to always appear properly
The magic is making sure your BASH script has proper permissions and is executable.
Make a Bash Script Executable, use chmod to do the trick as follows:
$ chmod u+x script-name.sh
Use this:
$ gnome-desktop-item-edit . --create-new
Instead of this
$ gnome-desktop-item-edit ~/Desktop/ --create-new
Updated: https://superuser.com/questions/552959/quickly-create-an-entry-in-the-side-bar-launcher
$ gnome-desktop-item-edit --create-new ~/.local/share/applications
Make sure you delete old items from here for cleanup:
/home/mruckman/.local/share/applications
The create launcher window will pop-up,Type application name in the name field and type application name or path or browse in the command field. And click OK button.
Now check your desktop for the shortcut.
desktop shortcut
If you want your shortcut to appear in the Unity launcher panel (the pop-out one on the left), you can drag it there from the desktop.