Skin Creation

Bootstrap Structure

The structure of the bootstrap.zip used in the platform as the source of the skins for UX1 is presented here just for your better understanding of the concepts.

The skin customization source files are *.less files downloaded from https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap/tree/v3.2.0 as well as UX1 custom *.less files in the f_a folder (font references and configuration) and a set of predefined skins in the skins/ folder.

bootstrap.less is the main file containing the @import directives to add all other *.less files. During compilation, the LESS compiler merges all imported files and compiles them all into the output file that must be bootstrap.css in our case.

The skins/ folder contains:

• The skin-service_pro.less file that is the basis of all skins and it is loaded before a customized skin.
• Several sample skins, for example, skin-blue.less or skin-green.less, that help you get started with creation of your own skin package.
• The variables.less file is the only file in the project that you should edit. The file is initially empty (zero size) and it is loaded through a chain of @import directives started by bootstrap.less.

Note

When someone upgrades the platform, the upgrade procedure does not touch the variables.less file although it can upgrade the other parts of the skin packages. This keeps the skin customization safe from any platform upgrades.

Development Process

The following diagram presents a typical development workflow:

1. Although the only file you need to edit is skins/variables.less, your local LESS compiler needs all *.less files and other files bound with them. Therefore, download the whole bootstrap.zip file from the management node.

   When you decompress the file, its contents will be placed into the bootstrap/ folder.

2. Modify the skins/variables.less file as needed. Since initially the file is empty, you can copy to it one of the sample light-weight skin contents, such as skin-blue.less or skin-green.less, and then modify it.

   Warning

   Do not edit the skins/skin-service_pro.less file as it is the basis of all other skins. Nevertheless, you can copy some settings from it to the skins/variables.less file to customize those settings.

3. Use a LESS compiler to compile the project into the bootstrap.css file. You will need this file to test and debug the project as explained in the next step.

4. During development and debugging phase, the simplest way is to replace the pre-installed bootstrap.css file in the following path in your lab system:

   $ scp bootstrap.css \
   root@a.isv1.apsdemo.org/usr/local/pem/wildfly-10.1.0.Final/ext/webgate/static/skins/v3/ccp2/
   

   Note

   The internal WildFly version 10.1.0 is valid at the moment of writing this section and can be changed later.

   Warning

   Do not use this way on a production system as it can make its UI unavailable. Operations with brands restore the default contents of the bootstrap.css file on the above-mentioned path.

   Edit the uploaded file and verify the changes in UX1. To make the browser update the rendered view, enable the APS development mode and switch on the development tools on your browser. In this case, the browser refresh operation will render the panel without using cache.

5. Once the UX1 look and feel meets your expectations, the developed variables.less file is ready to build the skin package. Use the described package structure and copy that file to the content/ccp2/ folder. Compress the package into a *.zip file to use it for the skin certification.

6. Follow the Validation and Publication step to certify and publish the skin.

Customizable Elements

Although it is not allowed to edit the skin-service_pro.less file, use it to identify the elements that you can safely redefine in your custom skin. You can modify the following groups of elements:

• Font definition - definition of fonts using the base64 coding
• Color theme - a set of color definitions named as @brand-color-<suffix> used in other sections
• Buttons - definition of buttons
• Statuses - definition of status messages
• Panels - definition of panels
• Other

In the predefined skins/*.less files, you will find examples on customization of the above-mentioned elements.

In a case you need more complex customization that includes customization of some elements originally defined in the *.less files other than the elements defined in skin-service_pro.less, address this task to professionals.

Warning

We do not recommend you to change a size of any UX1 skin elements since the aspect ratio of each element was automatically calculated and a ratio change will affect the layout and make the customized skin incompatible with the further UX1 skin updates.

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