Theme designer options window

The Ventrilo client uses Ventrilo Theme Pack (VTP) files for all the window layout and graphics support. Themes are developed by “Theme Designers” using normal configuration and graphics files and folders before the VTP is created.

This window is used for Enabling or Disabling the Theme Designer mode and for packing and expanding theme files.

Theme Designer Mode Rules:

1) When designer mode is enabled and a VTP and Expanded Folder of the exact same name are found in the “Themes” folder, the expanded folder will always be used.

2) When designer mode is NOT enabled only VTP’s will be used.

In order to use the features of this window “Theme Designer mode” must be enabled. Toggling the state will require that you restart the Application and not just the main window. Once enabled the list boxes will display VTP files and Expanded folders that have been found in your “Themes” folder. The Refresh button is used to refresh both lists if you copy any files or folders, or if you rename any of the themes.

Please note that every VTP file has an embedded Root folder. This will be the name of the folder when you Pack it into a VTP file. When you or someone else tries to Expand the VTP it will expand to the Root folder embedded in the VTP file. The window will display a warning when the names do not match.

Delete VTP after Expanding:

Used when you click the Expand button. This option is to remove any confusion about what is being used when in theme designer mode. When you click ‘Expand’ the VTP file will be deleted. This makes it apparent that the name of the folder is where all of the active themes components are coming from. (See the two rules at the top of the document).

Delete folder after Packing:

Used when you click the Pack button. This option is to remove any confusion about what folder is being used when in theme designer mode. When you click ‘Pack’ the folder and all of its contents will be deleted. This makes it apparent that you are using the VTP from now on.

This is an optional feature for several reasons:  1) You might not want to use the VTP version because your development is ongoing and you simply wish to make an update and deliver to the rest of the world. 2) You have graphic tool files in your theme folder such as Adobe PSD or AI files that you do not want to lose.

Ignore unsupported files while Packing:

When you click the Pack button your folder will be scanned for supported files. If any unsupported files are found such as PSD or AI files the Pack request will not be performed. This is because VTP files are allowed to contain only certain types of files which are listed here. Enabling this option will instruct the program to continue Packing but will not include the unsupported files. However, if you have the “Delete folder after Packing” option enabled and there are PSD or AI files in your folder and this option is enabled then you will lose all of those files. This option is best used when the “Delete folder after Packing” is disabled.

Supported file extensions:

png
jpg
jpeg
ini

Theme Designer mode:

This option will enable or disable theme designer mode. Enabling this feature will change how the program functions slightly in order to aid the designer in the creation of a theme. You will receive more logging information if problems are found in your theme settings.ini file or if you have missing graphic files.

Flip Titlebar Buttons:

While most operating systems like Windows and Linux place the title bar buttons (Close/Minimize/Maximize) on the right side of the title bar, some systems such as Macintosh OSX place them on the left side of the title bar. As a theme designer you want your themes to work and look good on both styles of platforms. This option will instruct the program to display the title bar buttons on the opposite side of your theme no matter what platform you are developing on. If you are using Windows then this feature will force the buttons to be on the left side. Conversely if you are using a Macintosh then this feature will force the buttons to be on the right side.

All theme designers are encouraged to use this option at least once per new theme in order to know what it looks like on a platform other than the one you are developing on.

Please note that a theme can force a window to display the buttons on a specific side of the title bar. If this theme feature is used then the Flip option will be ignored as the theme takes precedence.

Expand:

This button will read the selected VTP file and expand it to a folder. Please note that the folder name it expands to could be different than the VTP file name. The program will notify you when this occurs.

Pack:

This button will convert the selected theme folder into a VTP file. Be sure you understand what the “Delete folder after Packing” and the “Ignore unsupported files while Packing” options are set to before you click this button.

VTP Files:

This is the list of VTP files found in your “Themes” folder. You must select an item from this list before clicking the Expand button.

Double-clicking an item in this list will open a new file explorer window which displays the contents of the “Themes” folder with the selected item from the list also selected in the browsing window.

Expanded Folders:

This is a list of Expanded theme folders that were found in your “Themes” folder. You must select an item from this list before  clicking the Pack button.

Double-clicking an item in this list will open a new file explorer window which displays the contents of this folder.

Notes:

The “Themes” folder can be opened by the following: Right-click in the main window, click on View, click on Working Directory. The file explorer window will show all of the configuration data for this instance of the program. The “Themes” folder is where all of the VTP files are stored. Theme designers should place their expanded and development folders here as well.

There are times when you might have too many themes in your “Themes” folder. This may make it inconvenient when switching between themes using the Right Click -> Themes menu option, especially if the list is vertically longer than your monitor will display. In order to bypass this you can open the themes folder using the instructions above and then drag a VTP or Folder into the main window or one of its channels windows. The main window will automatically restart just as if you had selected a theme from the popup menu.