Developers Guide

Magnifique Developerʼs Guide So, you want to develop a theme. Developers are important, Magnifique would not be here without them. Weʼve made the theme making process as easy as possible. To create basic theme files you do not need to know any coding whatsoever. Hereʼs how to start. The only real part the developer needs to do is create a “root” folder. The root folder contains everything the theme will install. Hereʼs a basic tree map of what a root folder CAN contain (doesnʼt have to contain everything, but this is what its possible to contain): root -- window --- ArtFile.bin --- AquaUI.bundle --- Extras.rsrc --- Extras2.rsrc --- LeopardUI.bundle --- SArtFile.bin -- dock --- <any dock resource file> -- custom --- <any custom files organized by directory structure> -- scripts --- preinstall --- postinstall --- restore Hereʼs a real Finder picture of what this would look like: The “window” folder = Main system (window theme), “dock” folder = Dock theme and “custom” and “scripts” folders go together, they = custom theme. You can have one or any combination of these 3 to use (again, not all the files have to be there, only the ones you will use). Note that each of these 3 will be presented as options on the “Apply Theme” dialog, and they all wonʼt just automatically installed (you can pick and choose Dock, main system-window theme, and custom mods, choosing one, two, or all three) Letʼs go through each of the 3 in order. Window (main system theme). This has the ability to install ArtFile.bin, SArtFile,bin, Extras.rsrc, Extras2.rsrc, LeopardUI.bundle, AquaUI.bundle. You donʼt need to include all the files, only the ones you modified. For example here is the root >> window folder of the iLeopard theme: Just like it looks, create a “window” folder inside the root folder and put the files in there. Note that this “window” folder will ONLY install the files mentioned above, it will not install anything else. Dock theme This adds a Dock theme. Simply create a “dock” folder inside the root folder and put your modified Dock resource files in there. Anything in the “dock” folder will be installed to /System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/Resources/ overwriting any existing files. Here is a screenshot of some of the files in a dock theme: Custom theme The most flexible, and also the hardest one to do. This allows you to install ANY file to the system. 2 sections for this, placing the files, and writing scripts. -- Placing files For custom, files are placed in a hierarchal directory structure. For example, lets say you had the custom file “/System/Library/CustomFile.X”. To do this you would use a structure like this: root -- custom --- System ---- Library ---- CustomFile.X So…