Creating themes, where to get started?

[MaDmiX]

Hi folks,

I looked around here and in the YouTube tutorials but there didn't appear to be much there.  Where can I find info on how to get started with creating themes?

Thanks,

MM

[JoeViking245]

Check out the Documentation.pdf in the ..\LaunchBox\Themes directory.  There's a link at the beginning for getting started. When you open it (and after watching it) there are links on the right for more videos.  

[MaDmiX]

Hi JoeViking245,

Thanks for the quick reply.  I looked but there was no .pdf in that folder.  FWIW, I looked in the C:\Users\<USERNAME>\LaunchBox\Themes folder.  Is this what you were referring to?

Thanks,

MM

Edited June 25, 2019 by MaDmiX

[JoeViking245]

It should be in wherever you installed Launchbox and then sub directory Themes.  Of course it is possible that I found it somewhere else a long while back (thus forgot) and put there myself.  It looks something like:  (hopefully it attached here) 

Documentation.pdf

[JoeViking245]

 

 

[MaDmiX]

Thanks!  I started looking at the tutorials from the screenshot in your first post and I will look at the docs you posted also.  That is plenty to get me started.  I like that I can use Visual Studio to work on the themes.

This is very cool

[MaDmiX]

So I am having some trouble out of the gate.  I am trying to follow the first tutorial but first I got the "Invalid Markup" error.  I solved this by adding references as described in another thread.  Now I am getting the following exception error:

An error occurred while finding the resource dictionary "pack://siteoforigin:,,,/Themes/CriticalZoneV2 - Default/Styles/UserControlStyle.xaml".

I searched around but couldn't find a solution to this error.  Sadly I have not been able to successfully open any views yet

Thanks for any help you guys can offer.

MM

[MaDmiX]

Nobody?  Really?  Oh, man this sucks.  I have tried it on 2 separate computers with the same result.  Man, I am bummed

[Retro808]

10 minutes ago, MaDmiX said:

Nobody?  Really?  Oh, man this sucks.  I have tried it on 2 separate computers with the same result.  Man, I am bummed

Small community and we really only have a few regulars who have coding knowledge and theme building knowledge. So it may be slow to get solid answers. A good spot to post and read is this thread. 

[JoeViking245]

For CriticalZoneV2, in Visual Studio I've never been able to see the top half of the screen (preview) due to some error or another.  However you can still make changes to the code and it does work in LB/BB without issue.  You just don't get the WYSIWYG effect and can't make adjustments on the upper half by dragging.  The Default theme you can.  It just lacks the <!--comments--> CZ2 has to help show you where you're at.

[neil9000]

3 minutes ago, JoeViking245 said:

For CriticalZoneV2, in Visual Studio I've never been able to see the top half of the screen (preview) due to some error or another.  However you can still make changes to the code and it does work in LB/BB without issue.  You just don't get the WYSIWYG effect and can't make adjustments on the upper half by dragging.  The Default theme you can.  It just lacks the <!--comments--> CZ2 has to help show you where you're at.

I believe that @CriticalCid completely makes in themes in notepad++ and does not use Visual Studio, could that be a reason why it does not open correctly in that?

[MaDmiX]

Thanks everybody for you responses. 

Per your advice I opted for the default theme instead of CriticalZoneV2 and no errors.  Excited about creating now

[Rincewind]

I would also recommend using Notepad++ to edit your themes, That way your start to understand how the code works and what changes what. I like you wanted to use visual studio because I wanted to see the changes I made on screen but I never managed to get it work work properly. The good news is @y2guru is currently programming a theme editor which will help too make designing themes a lot easier

[MaDmiX]

Quote

I would also recommend using Notepad++ to edit your themes, That way your start to understand how the code works and what changes what. I like you wanted to use visual studio because I wanted to see the changes I made on screen but I never managed to get it work work properly. The good news is @y2guru is currently programming a theme editor which will help too make designing themes a lot easier

I like the idea of a theme editor.  Can't wait to see what @y2guru comes up with.  I use Sublime Text for coding. It's a lot like Notepad++ which I like too but for me, Sublime Text is what I am used to.

[MaDmiX]

Hi folks,

I made an interesting discovery.  Not sure if it holds for all themes but I noticed that I get the "Invalid Markup" errors when I load a downloaded theme into Visual Studio (even though it is in my themes directory).  But if I go and install the same theme into Bigbox using the built in theme installer I don't get the errors.  I just thought I would post this in case others have this issue.

MM

[MGPz12]

I am trying to find what would be the best place to start with LaunchBox Theme creation in XAML. 
I would appreciate if someone could point me in the right direction

[Knowcontrol]

1 hour ago, MGPz12 said:

I am trying to find what would be the best place to start with LaunchBox Theme creation in XAML. 
I would appreciate if someone could point me in the right direction

How to Build a Big Box Theme - The Theme Workshop

https://youtu.be/ZuYHeBaWUPI

[MGPz12]

4 minutes ago, Knowcontrol said:

How to Build a Big Box Theme - The Theme Workshop

https://youtu.be/ZuYHeBaWUPI

I think that video is just for Big Box, not for LaunchBox.
Are there any tutorials specific for LaunchBox view?

[Knowcontrol]

3 minutes ago, MGPz12 said:

I think that video is just for Big Box, not for LaunchBox.

I'm very sorry, I glossed over your question and assumed the question without actually reading!

[faeran]

21 hours ago, MGPz12 said:

I am trying to find what would be the best place to start with LaunchBox Theme creation in XAML. 
I would appreciate if someone could point me in the right direction

There's not a lot out there with regards to LaunchBox theme creation.

To get started, navigate to the LaunchBox\LBThemes folder and make a copy of the Default folder, and give the copied folder a name.

Then you can play with the new theme view files and see how they work.

You'll find all the views that make up a LaunchBox theme inside of LaunchBox\LBTHemes\[theme name]\Views

If you have any questions about LaunchBox theme creation, I would start a new thread.