[mythtv-theming] New to theming

[Robert Siebert]

Hi Nick,

I do it differently, when creating a theme. I copy the default-wide xml file to my theme so I have all the widgets already in the xml file.
Then I open the file in an editor and get started. I use al lot of shapes and boxes instead of images. This makes changes much easier.

You can edit the xml file and have mythfrontend open in parallel. When you want to see the changes you just leave the screen you are currently editing and go back into it. Mythfrontend reloads the xml file every time and shows it. This really speeds up theme development. You can therefore better adjust the sizes and positions of the widgets.

Best regards

Robert S

> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: "Robert McNamara" <robert.mcnamara at gmail.com>
> Gesendet: 23.10.09 04:38:28
> An: mythtv-theming at mythtv.org
> Betreff: Re: [mythtv-theming] New to theming


> Hi Nick,
> 
> On Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 7:28 PM, Nick Rout <nick.rout at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Presently it only refers to -users -dev and -commits.
> >
> 
> I agree. I have made the case for same in the past but will pester the
> appropriate folks more compellingly.  :)
> 
> > Now my real question, how do the pros develop their themes? Whats the
> > 'workflow'?
> >
> 
> Check the archive on the list, as I've gone over it a bit generally in
> the past (and there is probably better info there when I sat down
> purposefully).  In short, I lay out each widget type in inkscape,
> bearing in mind the required elements of each (check out the Theme
> development docs to understand the component parts).  Once I've got
> them all worked out, I export any graphical elements, and start work
> on the base.xml file for the theme.  In a perfect world I would theme
> *all* the widgets before starting to lay things out, but to date I
> really only theme the widgets in XML when I need them the first time.
> So, now we have both a visual layout template (the widgets represented
> in Inkscape) and the XML version (base.xml).
> 
> Then I would open up a blank document in Inkscape with the same
> dimensions as a theme screen, and start laying out whatever screen I
> wanted to work on first (if working from scratch, that would need to
> be menu-ui.xml, but if starting with another theme, it could be
> anything.  I lay out all the required and non-required widgets.  Once
> I'm happy with the layout, I start translating it into XML using the
> Inkscape coordinate information.  In my earlier post on this topic, I
> explain how to translate the Inkscape stuff into Myth compatible
> coordinates.
> 
> > I have done some very light gui development using stuff like visual
> > studio or delphi where you can interactively place widgets in a dialog
> > box and then incorporate the results in a wider program.
> >
> > Is there anything similar for placing widgets in a myth theme? Or do
> > people just write their xml code and then reload themes in a frontend
> > to see if it looks right? That seems like a fairly time consuming
> > process, especially as I read on -users today that you need to restart
> > mythfrontend to make use of any changes to a theme.
> >
> 
> No WYSIWYG editor yet, though such a thing would be nice (though
> necessarily pretty complex).  You only need to restart your frontend
> if you change menu-ui.xml or base.xml.  Everything else you can just
> leave and re-enter the screen to see your changes take effect.  It is,
> however, still a time-intensive process.
> 
> 
> > Also whats a good version control system to use for developing themes?
> >
> 
> Whatever you're comfortable with, I imagine.  I will admit I use no
> version control at all right now, though I really, really should.
> 
> 
> Robert
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