VPN help/questions in with Whonix

I have set up a VPN with openVpn on a VPS and have been connecting to it with the
Service Sys-net VM by running

$ sudo su
bash-5.0# openvpn client.ovpn

in the terminal every time I start Qubes.

First of all is there a better way to do this maybe a script I could use to automatically start the VPN on boot or is this even a proper way to do things I can’t figure out how to configure the VPN under the WiFi network manger in the top right where it lists " Add a VPN connection" is connecting though the Sys-net terminal suitable?

This is my main question though, when I go to other VMs it seems like the VPN is working properly when I check the IPs and the Sys-net is providing the networking like I intend. However when I start Whonix is there a way to ensure that my traffic is first being routed through the VPN then to Whonix?

Ideally I want it to be
Host – VPN – Whonix/Tor

In my Whonix AppVM the networking is listed as : sys-whonix (current)
If I try to change the networking to sys-net Whonix no longer connects to the internet.

There are a couple of guide to setting up a VPN. Maybe those could help? I’m linking bellow one which you can basically do through the user interface (GUI) but on the replies there are links to other projects that allow you do do this.

If you search for VPN on the forum will find many more answers.