Editing the Default theme via Visual Studio

[stigzler]

I've returned to this after giving up a while ago. I'd prefer to do theme editing in VS as I'm familiar with WPF. However, there's an issue with the references which prevents any xaml previews from being built. Not fussy about placeholders for things like carousels, but would be helpful to see panels, border colors etc. 

So, the project file for default.csproj lists references as:

  <ItemGroup>
    <Reference Include="BigBox">
      <HintPath>..\..\Core\BigBox.dll</HintPath>
    </Reference>
    <Reference Include="Caliburn.Micro">
      <HintPath>..\..\Core\Caliburn.Micro.dll</HintPath>
    </Reference>
    <Reference Include="Caliburn.Micro.Platform">
      <HintPath>..\..\Core\Caliburn.Micro.Platform.dll</HintPath>
    </Reference>
    <Reference Include="LaunchBox">
      <HintPath>..\..\Core\LaunchBox.dll</HintPath>
    </Reference>
    <Reference Include="System.Windows.Interactivity">
      <HintPath>..\..\Core\System.Windows.Interactivity.dll</HintPath>
    </Reference>
    <Reference Include="Unbroken">
      <HintPath>..\..\Core\Unbroken.dll</HintPath>
    </Reference>
    <Reference Include="Unbroken.LaunchBox">
      <HintPath>..\..\Core\Unbroken.LaunchBox.dll</HintPath>
    </Reference>
    <Reference Include="Unbroken.LaunchBox.Plugins">
      <HintPath>..\..\Core\Unbroken.LaunchBox.Plugins.dll</HintPath>
    </Reference>
    <Reference Include="Unbroken.LaunchBox.Windows">
      <HintPath>..\..\Core\Unbroken.LaunchBox.Windows.dll</HintPath>
    </Reference>
  </ItemGroup>

VS is unhappy with most of these. There seems to be a variety of issues. Some dlls are just missing from Launchbox\Core (e.g. Caliburn.Micro.dll) whilst some are in incompatible versions (bigbox.dll is presently  .NETCoreApp,Version=v9.0 from .netpeek whilst the theme proj is built on .net Core 3.1 - copilot says these are  incompatible?). 

My question is this - is there any way of getting hold of these 'older' libs (I'm assuming the default theme was built from a specific version of launchbox with the specific file in Core referenced in the theme.csproj). It would essentially just be an older build of LB but I could find anywhere to download historic versions (I know updates are stored in a folder, but I'm suspecting the specific build likely pre-dates my install of a few months ago).

It would be super handy if a 'pack' of the required dlls were avaiable to help theme development. I could be missing something crucial of course...

Edited Saturday at 06:50 PM by stigzler

[JoeViking245]

You won't be able to load the sln.  That's just how it is.  Even if you manually added references, some just will not load (e.g. BigBox.dll).  As in, they're not loadable references from "the outside".

Also, the themes don't Build like you would an app. So, the ones you only need are what's in the declarations of the xaml.  What you really need is just a way to be able to preview the xaml.

The only way I've found is to comment out the lines that are erroring and then [temporally] replace them with a place holder (like an <Image>).  Another option (say, if starting from scratch) is to work with a blank xaml and add your grids and stackpanels etc. to appear how you want them.  This way you get a visual of the layout.  Then fill in some elements (e.g. Image or TextBlock) to fine tune any alignments, margins etc.  Lastly, put in the 'proper' elements.

Neither of which are ideal.

 

I agree that at least having "dummy pack" of the un-referenceable dlls (made referenceable) could be useful.  These 'dummy dll's' could merely contain object placeholders, enough to not throw errors "for the average Joe" trying to view the xamls. 

[stigzler]

Finally braved the Invision Community setting to auto-follow content I post! Thanks for the reply, Joe. 

Yeah - it's all a bit baffling. Just realised that the Default theme references libraries in it that don't event exist (now?) in the Core folder. For example, there is no Unbroken.LaunchBox.Windows.Transitions dll, but the (working) defualt theme references it? Bizarre. I'm really just trying to find a way to display just the panels and manipulate things like borders, backcolors etc. Really not even a need for placeholders as you'll be able to figure out from the page you're editing what is what. However, as it stands, with 85 errors just on one page (seemingly mostly because of failures to resolve the references) not sure about commenting all these out of every page. Screenie illustrating these points:

I'm guessing the default theme was designed at a time when these references were live - that's why I was wondering if just setting up a dummy environment (with a dummy folder structure for the old dlls in a Core Dir two levels below where putting the Default theme for development - i.e. NOT developing inside the Launchbox folder) would be sufficient to at least remove all the errors and at least render a preview (of the panels and basics). I wouldn't expect it to build, just seeking to use the preview function. Given BigBoxTheme.csproj points towards these:

<Reference Include="BigBox">
  <HintPath>..\..\Core\BigBox.dll</HintPath>
</Reference>

My hope was just nabbing the old dlls would be sufficient. 

Nemmind. I DO like the default theme, but just looking to tweak it with a  splash of color to match the theme of my build. Thanks anyway. 

[JoeViking245]

40 minutes ago, stigzler said:

there is no Unbroken.LaunchBox.Windows.Transitions dll

Note, the namespace Transitions is inside the assembly Unbroken.LaunchBox.Windows[.dll].

xmlns:transitions="clr-namespace:Unbroken.LaunchBox.Windows.Transitions;assembly=Unbroken.LaunchBox.Windows"

 

[stigzler]

Good catch.