PAM Theme Builder Portable 0.3.1.7 (beta)

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October 14, 2010 - 3:05pm

solanus

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PAM Theme Builder Portable 0.3.1.7 (beta)

Application: PAM Theme Builder Portable
Category: Utilities
License: Open Source
Language: English
Description: ThemeBuilder is a tool to help you create Themes for 2.0b5, by displaying the theme as you edit the files that make up the theme. When finished, you can package it as a .patheme file, ready for installation in PAM 2.0b5.

A Portable Apps Platform Theme is made up of multiple png files: for the background, the scrollbars, the buttons, and the progress bars, as well as the folder icons. Also, the PATheme.ini file controls the colors and other aspects of the theme. Creating a theme is as easy as editing these files, but normally it's hard to see how they fit together without installing the theme. The PAM Theme Builder assembles those files as a mockup of the platform, so you can immediately see what the final theme will look like. PAM Theme Builder also has a built-in function to package your finished theme as a .patheme file.

Download PAM Theme Builder Portable 0.3.1.7 [6.7MB download / 9.8MB installed]
(MD5: bba91b29d9eaa5c14d94e94760d82447)

Release Notes:
0.3.1.7(19NOV2010): Fixed images' alignments so they match PAM exactly. Fixed Batch Open and Select Images screens bug. Recoded the PATheme.INI editor functions to prevent error listed by PortableManiac. Better error handling when user puts in a nonsense color value. Added a mutual exclusivity proc so you can either edit the INI manually, or use the controls on the right, but not both at the same time (ijitproofery). Improved stability. Zipped source code in Other for smaller footprint (saves ~5MB of installed size!).
0.3.1.6(12NOV2010): Some minor bugfixes. Added Netbook mode to better fit on screen of 600px height. Full FF00FF transparency included, displays exactly like Platform. Added ability to package only selected images into the theme. Batch Open screen and Select Images screen show current images. Added Photoreal icon pack in Example Themes.
0.3.1.4(06NOV2010): Fixed Open/Package path bug. Improved help viewer. Added a Batch Image Open function.
0.3.1.2 (02NOV2010): Fixed Bug to reset Toggle BG and Chrome. Users can now browse for custom image editor, even non-portable. Added several alternate 'Personal Pics' that can be switched by clicking.
0.3.1.1 (31OCT2010): PNG images can now be opened directly in image editor. Users can choose default portable image editor in preferences. Example personal picture can be toggled on and off. PATheme.ini updates automatically when color picker changes. Support for IconPacks added. Help file added.
Repackaged using the official format, compactor, launcher, and installer.
License file added as recommended by JTH.
0.2.1.2 (27OCT2010): Embedded the INI editor into the app. Added Color pickers. INI file is automagically updated as you change options. Reduced file size by removing redundant embedded images. Super Monkey Bicycle Awesome.
0.2.1.1 (25OCT2010): Totally recoded in Lazarus/OpenPascal. Added ability to toggle chrome files and background files.Changed version numbering system as suggested by Chris.
0.1 DevTest 3 (15OCT2010): Fixed a switch in the packaging batch file to add menu_icons folder
0.1 DevTest 2 (14OCT2010): Changed to DevTest as I am still adding features.
Added ability to re-open .pathemes stored in /Data/Output.
Added "PlainTemplate.patheme" stored in /Data/Output.
0.1 beta 1 (14OCT2010): Initial release

Known Issues:

Chrome values are not quite right. Since the PATheme.ini file is case sensitive, the correct values are "white", "dark" and "custom". For now, manually edit the case in the INI Editor and save the file before packaging.
Does not Open or Package Themes to the Windows 7 Libraries shortcuts. You can still access these folders using Windows Explorer.
When editing INI file manually, it only likes hexidecimal values (000000-FFFFFF) for colors. It generally handles this error gracefully, but if you put in a whole lotta gobbledygook in the INI file, you can crash it.
If you go to Batch Open images, and you have no image editor selected, it prompts you with Preferences, but if you don't change it to a valid value, the program can hang. Restart fixes it. You can prevent this by setting an image editor in Preferences before you try to open any images for editing.

To Do:

Need more user feedback
Make (more) Icon Packages

Notes:
Released 1st IconPack on Homepage - Photoreal Icon Pack.

October 15, 2010 - 12:52am

solanus

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Updated to DevTest 2

I've also created the first theme made entirely using the PAM Theme Builder, called "Purple Space".
It's available on my Homepage.

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October 15, 2010 - 3:09am

(Reply to #2) #3

romulous

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Very Nice

Purple Space is very nice solanus Just made it my new default theme in fact. One minor thing - my monitor has a black bezel, and halfway down the right hand border of the theme, the purple colour becomes a black. That's fine, but as this is the side that backs onto the monitor bezel, the theme actually blends in with the monitor for part of the right hand side, which is a little distracting. It's not too bad though, only a minor thing.

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October 15, 2010 - 11:22am

(Reply to #3) #4

ceciliaFX

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wow

"Purple Space" is spectacular!

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November 5, 2010 - 7:05am

(Reply to #4) #5

ien

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this is so cool. thanks!

hi! this is my first post here in this forum, i just learned about PA.com yesterday and started using the programs available. I must say, after ghosting through the threads i realized how active the community is, so i signed up.

about your application, after downloading i immediately made a theme of my own; this is easy to use even for a n00b like me. hehe. but i have a problem with exporting the file into a package. file > packagetheme produces an error. So in the end i just zipped the files up and changed the extension to .patheme, which worked perfectly.

Here's the two versions of what i made, one with the magenta on and the other without (i'm using winXP, i read in the beta release note of PAM that the magenta not working properly is a bug).

please take a look a them. what do you think?

http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/4020/scandy.jpg
http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/7440/scandywhiteborder.jpg

November 5, 2010 - 11:03am

(Reply to #5) #6

solanus

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Welcome to PortableApps!

The theme looks great!
Reminds me of those multicolored candy buttons on paper I used to eat as a kid.
I especially like the close and eject buttons.

Regarding the bug - I'm using the same procedure to open and pack themes, and to open and pack IconPacks.(I'm using something different to open the images).
Are you getting a similar error when you try to open a theme?

Can you post the error message?

Thanks!

EDIT: I've discovered that the open/pack procedure has trouble resolving paths to user profile folders (see known issues).
Try packaging your theme into a folder on your USB drive.

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November 5, 2010 - 8:45am

(Reply to #6) #7

Darkbee

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Nice!

The Scandy theme is very cool in a far-out, trippy, peace way, man. Nice work.

Welcome to PortableApps.com.

October 15, 2010 - 2:40pm

solanus

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Added new Theme Metallik

Added new Theme "Metallik" to my home page, made with the PAM Theme Builder.
If anyone else uses this app to make a theme, please let me know what you think.

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October 16, 2010 - 11:22pm

solanus

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Plans and Ideas

Plans.
The more I play with this app, the more potential I see, but I'm going eventually to have to code it in a sexier language. I've started teaching myself Lazarus, which has a lot in common with Delphi, but it's FOSS. That will allow me to make a proper exe and package it with the launcher, yadayada. Don't expect it too soon - I've only just said Hello to the World

Ideas.
I've started adding some blog posts to my homepage where I discuss theming tutorials - today was all about FF00FF. I'm just too disorganized to write a simple tutorial on theming, but I can carry on about a single topic with the best.
The thing is, as I wrote about FF00FF, I realized that it currently makes Aero themes impossible, but JTH has clearly intended it to have Aero capabilities. I kind of feel like I'm poking around in the dark with a stick. I know how things work NOW, but have no clue what changes will be added to theming in the near future, because the team is only reporting vague plans and tantalizing screenshots.

So, for now, whatever I add to the app, or report in the blog, or themes I make, will apply only to 2.0b5. I'm not likely to put the effort to clean up the ragged edges of ThemeBuilder until I know more about the future of themes in PAM.

You may ask, why do I bother making an app and themes now? Why not wait until the final release of PAM 2.0? Simple answer: I don't expect that release any time soon, at least not in the next 6-12 months*, but I have ideas that I want to express now. And considering the closed* nature of PAM development, the one thing that the average user CAN contribute is themes.

See? I told you I can carry on!

*Yeah, I know.

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October 17, 2010 - 12:43am

(Reply to #9) #10

romulous

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Appreciated

Your theming work is much appreciated solanus My goal is to be able to have the old Violet theme (from 2.0 Beta 4) looking exactly as it does in that Beta in the most recent versions (the version in Beta 5 looks awful compared to Beta 4 which is why I don't use Violet at the moment). Unless there is some official theming documentation coming, your documentation is the only way I am going to be able to achieve that.

Oh, and the download on your miniapps page for the ThemeBuilder is still Beta 2 though.

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October 17, 2010 - 2:12am

(Reply to #10) #11

solanus

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Thanks!

I fixed the links.
Yeah, the color-switching that is used in 2.0b5 kinda looks muddy; it's because the Chrome files are not quite transparent enough; and the violet BackgroundColor may not be optimized.
If you want to hack the new Violet theme, your best bet is to copy the old background.png from the old Violet theme, tweak it just a tad in GIMP ( the drivespace area is longer in the new ) and drop it into the new Violet theme folder. Then edit the PATheme.ini to set the Chrome=custom and Background=custom.
You'll still have the buttons from the new theme, but the overall color will be better.

You can also reduce the muddiness of all the color themes by editing the Chrome files (in App\Graphics\Chrome) directly. In GIMP, if you simply increase the contrast of white.png by +30, and re-save, the colors will show through better.
But you'll probably also want to tweak the background colors, too

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October 20, 2010 - 4:46am

(Reply to #11) #12

romulous

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I've made a start on it

I've extracted the old Violet theme from 2.0 Beta 4, and have made a start on editing the background.png file. I've also loaded up ThemeBuilder - I've noticed one minor thing (the title bar still refers to Dev Test 0.2 instead of 0.3), and one thing I'm not sure about. When I click the List/Open Theme button, an error appears:
Windows cannot find '.\App\ThemeBuilder\7zip\unpacktheme.bat'. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again.

Except for the '.' in the path, I've checked - and that batch file is there. The path I am running the exe file from is C:\TempFiles\PAMThemeBuilder\App\ThemeBuilder\ThemeBuilder.hta

There is a 7zip folder in the ThemeBuilder folder, with the following files:
7za.exe
7zcopying.txt
7zlicense.txt
7zreadme.txt
packtheme.bat
unpacktheme.bat

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October 20, 2010 - 10:49am

(Reply to #12) #13

solanus

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Hmmm...

Yeah, I'm having issues with paths.
I use VBScript to point the folder to the batch files.
It seems to use different paths, depending on whether you start the app from the menu or not!
So, when I first developed it and ran it outside the menu, it worked OK.
Once I installed it to the PA Menu, I got a similar error, so I adjusted the paths in the main app and the batch files to compensate, and then it worked.
But then it wouldn't work for me outside the menu.
I developed it on Windows 7, but I also tested it on Windows 2000.

Are you starting it from the PortableApps Menu?

P.S. Yeah, the header thing is a typo.
P.P.S. If you are still having issues, I can try reworking it to use Javascript instead of VBScript. Ultimately I will be learning how to code it in Lazarus...

EDIT: This may help me diagnose the problem, too. Save any work you've done in a separate location.
If you click on the link that says "Package Your Theme" (it has an icon that's a red circle with a T) then click the link that says "RESET TO DEFAULT THEME", you get a view with a button that says "Reset to Default". Click that button. You should see a Security warning - it's OK, choose RUN. It SHOULD run the batch file to reset the theme to the default. You may need to hit F5 to refresh the screen.
If that works, I may have a solution.

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October 22, 2010 - 3:06am

(Reply to #13) #14

romulous

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Not from the menu

No, I just installed the app to a temp folder on my hard drive and ran it from there (i.e. the executable directly from the folder using my file manager). I can try installing it to my USB drive and running it from the menu if it would help.

This was the output of the command window when I followed the steps in your edit:

C:\TempFiles\PAMThemeBuilder\App\ThemeBuilder>xcopy /y/s App\DefaultData\*.* App
\Theme\
File not found - *.*
0 File(s) copied

C:\TempFiles\PAMThemeBuilder\App\ThemeBuilder>pause
Press any key to continue . . .

I think that means it didn't work?

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October 22, 2010 - 3:47am

(Reply to #14) #15

solanus

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It doesn't work if you run it from file manager.

Those errors will all show up if you run it directly.
Install it in the PA Menu using the Install a New App function, and it should run OK.

Let me know how it works out!

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October 22, 2010 - 5:04am

(Reply to #15) #16

romulous

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Just Tried from PApps Menu

And this was the output of the command window:

O:\PortableApps\PAMThemeBuilder>echo off
.
.
.
.
.
Available Themes in Output Directory:
PlainTemplate.patheme
.
.
Enter the name of your theme to open (without .patheme extension):

Your input was: PlainTemplate

Processing archive: ..\..\..\Data\Output\PlainTemplate.patheme

Extracting appbutton_hover.png
Extracting app_progress_background.png
Extracting background.png
Extracting button_close_hover.png
Extracting button_close_normal.png
Extracting button_close_pressed.png
Extracting button_eject_hover.png
Extracting button_eject_normal.png
Extracting button_eject_pressed.png
Extracting button_scrolldown_hover.png
Extracting button_scrolldown_normal.png
Extracting button_scrollup_hover.png
Extracting button_scrollup_normal.png
Extracting drive_space_slider.png
Extracting folderbutton_divider.png
Extracting folderbutton_hover.png
Extracting PATheme.ini

Everything is Ok

Files: 17
Size: 16595
Compressed: 17022
Press any key to continue . . .

I just typed in PlainTemplate, I wasn't entirely sure what to do here. I'm not sure what the result of the command window was - there is a file called PlainTemplate.patheme in O:\PortableApps\PAMThemeBuilder\Data\Output - but the timestamp on it is 15/10/10, which is a week ago (and I only ran the command a minute ago, so I don't think it was generated by the command). Anyway, whatever it was meant to do, the error when I clicked the button has gone by the looks of it when I run from the PortableApps menu.

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October 22, 2010 - 8:54am

(Reply to #16) #17

solanus

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It's behaving correctly

You loaded a saved theme called PlainTemplate.
If you hit F5, it should refresh the screen of the app, and you should have a very plain gray theme with black lines.

Please understand that this app is in the early stages of development, so a lot of stuff requires more user input than most - for instance, instead of your normal File-Open dialog, it has a command screen than lists the available themes and requires you to type them in.

ANYWAY, you should read the Help.html file that's in the PAMThemeBuilder folder, it's got lots of good info.

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October 23, 2010 - 11:36am

#18

solanus

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@JTH: re PA.c logo

For this app, I'm creating a mock-up of the Platform to assist in theme building.
Of course, that means that there needs to be a logo at the top of the display.

I have two choices, either of which is OK with me:
1. Use the actual PortableApp.com logo
2. Create a logo that uses the same area, but isn't the official logo.

Since the logo is yours, how do you feel about this?

Thanks.

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October 25, 2010 - 11:49pm

#19

solanus

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Ported to Lazarus/OpenPascal

Well, after 5 long days of learning Lazarus, I've got a version that functions pretty well.
It's more advanced in that it's compiled, and more like a standard app. It has standardized menus to package and open themes, and the ability to toggle the chrome files, the background, the app list, and the button states. It also can open the folder containing the theme files that you edit.

In other ways, it's incomplete, though. The main thing I need to work out is how to open the files directly in GIMP. There's also no help file.

Upcoming features that I hope to implement:
- Color-pickers that change the font colors and background color, and write these values directly to the PATheme.ini.
- Theme Details input dialog that writes the values directly to the PATheme.ini.
- Setting the transparency color to FF00FF to mimic the behavior of the PAM.
- Preferences that allow the user to set default Theme Details, and pick a default image editor.

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October 26, 2010 - 12:10am

#20

Chris Morgan

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Numbering

I would recommend that you use a number scheme like 0.2, 0.2.1, etc. rather than the Development Test system; the Development Test system is for making an existing app portable, when there are changes in the portable version but not in the base application.

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October 26, 2010 - 12:29am

(Reply to #20) #21

solanus

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OK.

I'm open to suggestions, and I'd rather follow standards to prevent confusion.

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October 27, 2010 - 2:27am

#22

solanus

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Major improvements

PAMTB 0.2.1.2 has many improvements.
Screenshot:
https://sourceforge.net/dbimage.php?id=282667

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October 27, 2010 - 10:18am

#23

Darkbee

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*applause*

This will be a boon for PortableApps, and gives an opportunity to those creative but less technically inclined users to create some superb themes for PAM. *applause*

Well done Solanus!

October 29, 2010 - 5:16pm

#24

solanus

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Stuck on a few things

Anybody with OpenPascal or Lazarus experience:
I have set up a preferences window that saves the relative path to the image editor of your choice.
I have the various images set up so that the EU can choose them from the Edit menu.
What I want to do is have the EU choose an image, and that image open in the editor that they've chosen.
The problem is that the two commands that I can use seem to have different issues.

TProcess can open the full program and file path just the way I want it, but the the process thread remains open even if you close the main app, until you close the image editor, or the main app crashes when you re-open it. If I can figure out how to launch the image file with the image editor app, without it remaining connected to the main app, I can use this.

ShellExecute can open the full program path, and it runs independently fine, but I can't put the file in the path or it fails.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

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October 29, 2010 - 5:25pm

(Reply to #24) #25

Chris Morgan

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PAM

Take a look at how PAM does it.

If you're using ShellExecute, the image path would go in the third argument, lpParameters.

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“A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” – Proverbs 15:1

October 30, 2010 - 3:38am

(Reply to #25) #26

solanus

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THANKS!

Initial experiments show it working w/GIMP, exactly as I'd like it to.

Thanks very much Chris!!!
With this resolved, I should be able to accomplish the first 4 todos and post a new version soon.

Your help is always welcome, timely and extremely useful!

EDIT: I've got the app working as intended, with only one caveat: It works perfectly if you start the main executable, but when launched in the PA Platform, all the relative paths in the app get messed up. I'm using ExtractFileDir(Application.ExeName) to set the App\PAMThemeBuilder folder as my reference for relative paths, but it acts like a different folder when launched from the menu.

I need to play with Chris' Launcher to see if I can resolve this.

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October 30, 2010 - 3:51am

(Reply to #26) #27

Chris Morgan

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Working directory

The working directory clearly has something to do with it. The easiest workaround is to change the working directory, but using absolute paths is obviously the best solution.

I'm not sure about how it should be done in Delphi, but in the Windows API, you'd be looking at GetFullPathName and SetCurrentDirectory.

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“A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” – Proverbs 15:1

October 30, 2010 - 9:44am

(Reply to #27) #28

solanus

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*Smacks head again*

OK, can I chalk this up to 3AM brain? I cleaned up my code a bit, set WorkingDirectory=%PAL:AppDir%\PAMThemeBuilder in the launcher ini file, and it's back in bidnit.
Thanks once more Chris.

Now I just need to add help files, a license and all the official doodads and meepzorps that make it Real PA Format, and I can post a version that I think people can use.

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October 31, 2010 - 1:13pm

#29

depp.jones

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Nice Work! This is one great

Nice Work!

This is one great little peace of software. I always wanted to do some theming, but wasn't able to since I use a 120dpi display, so was affected by PAMs scaling issue (hopefully John makes that optional in one of the next releases). As your app displays the graphics unscaled I can now test my theming skills, when I have some time left.

Thanks a lot!

October 31, 2010 - 8:01pm

#30

solanus

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PAM Theme Builder Portable 0.3.1.1 release for testing

This is a major development milestone.
All the intended features are functional, and it is packaged in the official format.
Please test this and let me know of any issues.
If you've downloaded previous versions, you should uninstall them and install this one.

Many thanks to Chris Morgan, John Haller and my brother-in-law for their help.

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November 2, 2010 - 11:55am

#31

solanus

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Updated to 0.3.1.2

Fixed some bugs.
Added the ability to browse and select any image editor.
Added a check to see if image editor exists, and prompts to select another if it doesn't.
Added several alternate 'Personal Pics' that can be switched by clicking on the pic.

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November 6, 2010 - 7:50pm

#32

solanus

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Updated to 0.3.1.4

Fixed the path bug, made the internal help files prettier with rich text.
Best of all, added a new screen to allow you to Batch Open image files.
Did code cleanup, so app is smaller even with new features.

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November 8, 2010 - 11:18am

#33

PortableManiac

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Finally

I have been waiting for this for a long time! I am so happy you made this program.

Make the world portable! Please.

November 8, 2010 - 11:25am

#34

PortableManiac

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Small screens

I have one problem with this program. It cannot be resized so it gets cut off on my netbook.

Make the world portable! Please.

November 8, 2010 - 1:06pm

(Reply to #34) #35

solanus

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What's the resolution of your Netbook?

The main screen display needs to be at least 573 pixels high, which is the size of the actual PA.c Platform.
The menu bar at the top is 20 pixels on my system.
That makes 593 pixels.
However, the border and title bar add another 40+ pixels, so we are talking ~640

If you have your taskbar set to AutoHide (I'm assuming you want to maximize usable screen space), then you should have at least 600px of height to work with - most standard netbooks are 1024 x 600.

I can add a feature to hide the border and title bar in the Preferences, and set the display so you can drag it.

Would 593 pixels high work for you?

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November 11, 2010 - 8:59pm

#36

PortableManiac

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Joined: 2010-07-01 22:29

I think so

I think that would work. If not it would at least be better. Thanks

Make the world portable! Please.

November 12, 2010 - 9:50am

(Reply to #36) #37

solanus

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Updated to 0.3.1.6

I've added a Netbook mode that should fit OK on screens as small as 600 px high.
A major addition is the ability to only add the files you want into the theme package.

This should be the last big push to add features. I'll do bugfixes promptly, tho.

FYI - I initially uploaded a broken build by mistake - it was only up for the first five minutes, and then I uploaded the good one. If you downloaded it right after it was first posted, you may want to download it again.
The broken build did not save "Partial" Themes correctly (it left out the PAtheme.ini). Sorry for the inconvenience.

I made this half-pony, half-monkey monster to please you.

November 17, 2010 - 5:43pm

#38

PortableManiac

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Problems

I keep getting an error when trying to edit ini settings.
http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/5061/capturelri.png

Make the world portable! Please.

November 18, 2010 - 3:27pm

(Reply to #38) #39

solanus

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Hmmm...

I just played with it and got that error sometimes, but only when I directly edited the ini file in the window. If I use the color pickers and the text fields to the right, it doesn't give an error.
I think I know the source of the error, and I'll need to rework the code to fix it.
In the meantime:
If you keep getting the error, choose OK so that the app doesn't close. Use the button to reload the Default PATheme.INI file - it may throw the error again, so you may need to try twice.
To edit the INI file, only use the color pickers and fields on the right.

I will fix this for the next release.
Thanks a lot for feedback - this is the first app I've coded from scratch, so I truly appreciate constructive criticism. Give me until this weekend to release a bug-fix.

EDIT Found the problem, fixed. Will release new in a few days. Still throws errors if you input an invalid color value (non-hexidecimal) into the PATheme.ini file. Will try to put in better error handling, or at least a warning.

I made this half-pony, half-monkey monster to please you.

November 19, 2010 - 6:33pm

#40

solanus

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Updated to 0.3.1.7

Some bugfixes, code redesign behind the scenes, better error handling, smaller footprint. No astonishingly new functionality, but if you get errors saving the PATheme.ini file, could be worth upgrading. This is all still beta, so I'm open to any suggestions for improvements.

I made this half-pony, half-monkey monster to please you.

November 25, 2010 - 12:17pm

(Reply to #40) #41

Starport592

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Well if you don't mind...

I absoluetly love this program. It is quite handy. The only thing would be changing the picture. Alongside a picture editor, you should have a replace option, so instead of opening, say, mircosoft paint, you get to choose a new file to replace the old one. Other than that it's wonderful! Still very funcional without this feature and quite useful. Thanks for the program!!

"Welcome to the Internet, where men are men, women are men, and children are the FBI."
--Matthew Tam

"It is better to take what is not yours, than leave it there, neglected..."
--Mark Twain

November 26, 2010 - 9:16am

#42

Glorfyboy

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Last seen: 12 years 3 weeks ago

Joined: 2010-11-26 09:02

Awesome App

This is an excellent app, and I've been very happy with it to date. It's intuitive, easy to use, and works great! The only thing I run into is when I've been working with it for awhile (I make simple themes using images from a far too large but very nice anime wallpaper collection, and tend to make a bunch at once) is that the filename value in the save window doesn't clear after you start over with new or open a pre-existing theme. It's not too big a deal but I tend to have a twitchy enter finger, so after I open a theme and modify it, I'll go to save it, but since I had just saved a theme before I might see the file name, if it's similar I'll hit enter only to realize I've just overwritten previous theme I was working on.

One more thing I'd like to see feature wise is for the packaging partial themes. It was an excellent idea to implement, but I tend to use the same settings for it over and over, but it clears every time you use it, so an option to remember your selections would be awesome.

Excellent app, I am beyond happy with it, and your gimp template was a huge help as well. Keep up the good work!

November 26, 2010 - 10:07am

(Reply to #42) #43

solanus

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Thanks for the feedback

For the theme packaging, I'm not sure I can do that, but I'll give it a shot.
It SHOULD be prompting you if you save over an existing theme, so you should already have a chance to say no before you overwrite.

For the packaging of the partial themes, I am using the same window for that as for the batch open, so I'm clearing the selections so it doesn't carry over from one to the other.
I might be able to add an option to save the settings in the ini file, or I could just duplicate the window... I need to look into it, cuz I want to keep the file size low.

I made this half-pony, half-monkey monster to please you.

November 26, 2010 - 10:34am

(Reply to #43) #44

Glorfyboy

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Yes, that's where my twitchy

Yes, that's where my twitchy enter finger gets me too, since you're overwriting the theme when you're updating it right? You then expect that pop up notification that you're overwriting the file. It wouldn't be an issue if you 'updated' the file when you opened the theme rather than 'overwrite' the file, with more of a simple ctrl+s save structure. So if you hit ctrl+s after opening a file it saves it, but after starting a new file ctrl+s brings the save as dialog box up, though not being a developer I'm sure that's nowhere near as simple as it sounds.

Overall it's really minor, and I'm sure most people don't sit down and make 5 or 6 themes in one go, or go through updating all your previously made themes with a different template or update some older themes. I just tend to have a lot of free time on my hands so I turn it into a bit of a project.

May 20, 2011 - 7:50pm

#45

Motosuwa

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Last seen: 10 years 8 months ago

Joined: 2009-11-10 11:18

Good work!

Just one thing: when I put the chrome dark on my theme, it comes up as the chrome light when installed. IS this a bug or did I not do something right?

You know what, I've been thinking. When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life TAKE THE LEMONS BACK! Get mad!! I don't want your lemons; what am I supposed to do with THESE!?

May 20, 2011 - 10:21pm

(Reply to #45) #46

solanus

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Hmm... good call.

Actually, the PATheme.ini file is case sensitive, and my app capitalizes the D in Dark.
Open the INI editor, and change the word Dark to dark. Click Save PATheme.ini, and repackage. It should work.

I made this half-pony, half-monkey monster to please you.

May 21, 2011 - 12:16am

(Reply to #46) #47

Motosuwa

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OH... okay.

I'll do that then. Thanks.

You know what, I've been thinking. When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life TAKE THE LEMONS BACK! Get mad!! I don't want your lemons; what am I supposed to do with THESE!?

May 21, 2011 - 12:49am

(Reply to #47) #48

solanus

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There are a few annoying little bugs like that.

But so far they all have workarounds.

I'm waiting for the release of 2.0 before I make a new release of my app, in case there's some significant changes in the theme process. I kinda thought we'd be there by now.

I made this half-pony, half-monkey monster to please you.

May 21, 2011 - 2:53am

(Reply to #48) #49

Motosuwa

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Me too.

That's why I started making the themes on your program. Which, by the way, is wonderfully simple to work with. Love how it's usable in conjunction with GIMP. Definitely beats what I had to do with the PAM mod menu. If you'd like to see what I did with the app (which have now been successfully fixed, BTW), go on the first page of the update from last month. The upload links are somewhere close to the bottom of the page.

You know what, I've been thinking. When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life TAKE THE LEMONS BACK! Get mad!! I don't want your lemons; what am I supposed to do with THESE!?

July 6, 2011 - 11:05pm

#50

mumuaxe

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Last seen: 12 years 2 months ago

Joined: 2011-07-06 01:38

How the heck?

you know what else you should add, free image movement...
ive been cracking my skull triying to move the drive space bar a little bit to the right, and it has been a serious pain in the coxxis man...
the free image movement should work for all images including the portableapps.com logo, which i have edited and now looks cooler -.-
and while you are at it, the image movement will inmediatly mod the .ini file for permanent change!!
please add!!!

July 6, 2011 - 11:29pm

(Reply to #50) #51

solanus

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It doesn't work that way.

The location of the individual images in the layout of the platform are hardcoded into the platform. So, the locations and sizes of the app_progress_background, drive_space_slider, the buttons, and icons are not changeable at all by my program. Also, the ini file does not control the locations of these images.
You can mimic resizing to a certain degree by using transparency in your png file, but only within the confines of the pre-set image area.
Also, the PortableApps logo at the top of the page cannot be changed by my app, and I have no intention of trying until JTH builds that into the platform. The only way that I know to change the logo is to recompile the platform in Delphi, which would mean that it's a fork and not the official platform; and my app will only support the official version.

I made this half-pony, half-monkey monster to please you.

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