Theme Template for Nokia E61?

[czoth]

Hey,

I'm trying to build a corporate-theme for the E61, but I can't find a template with the resolution I need: 320x240 (E61 is PDA-Style)
All available resolutions in the ThemeStudio3.0 are for vertically oriented Displays!

Can anybody tell me how I can create a new Template with the needed resolution or where I can find a Template for download?

Thanx in advance!

Carsten

[czoth]

Doesn't anybody have an idea...?!

I thought there were a lot of people knowing ybout these things here in this Forum...

I can't believe no one can tell me a possibility to create a Theme for a device with a special resolution?

Cheers

Carsten

[czoth]

ok, I managed to change the Theme Studio xml configuration-files so that I am able to create a new theme with my desired resolution (w=320,h=240)...

...sis-file creation works also...

...but when I'm trying to install the sis on my E61 it says the file is damaged...!

Can anybody tell me what may be wrong...?

greetz

carsten

[teura666]

If you want you can send the theme to me in a PM I can have a look at it, and see if I can find what is wrong with the theme...

I´ll try to check it when I have time since I have to do it on my spare time ;-)

[asaerong]

ok, I managed to change the Theme Studio xml configuration-files so that I am able to create a new theme with my desired resolution (w=320,h=240)...

...sis-file creation works also...

...but when I'm trying to install the sis on my E61 it says the file is damaged...!

Can anybody tell me what may be wrong...?

greetz

carsten

Hi Czoth, could you tell me which xml file that you change? i saw one in BaseGraphics.xml but 320x240 "portrait" is already there...but the theme studio uses the landscape one..

[czoth]

OK folks - I finally made it!
After another few hours of reading threads and extreme "try-and-error"-evaluation I got my first own theme running on my E61!

So let me try to summarize:

1. Make the Theme Studio offering to create new themes with the resolution 320x240 (w/h)

Go to the dir "\data\config\phones\" in the Theme Studio Program Dir and open the XML file "BaseGraphics.xml"
Go to the "<layoutgroup>" tag.
There are two entries for each resolution - "portrait" and "landscape".
For some reason I couldn't figure out the Theme Studio doesn't care about the "landscape" layouts - just "portrait" layouts are considered when creating new themes... - ...but there IS already a layout available for the resolution 240x320(w/h) in "landscape" orientation, so everything you have to do is to add a new layout tag for the resolution 320x240(w/h) with orientation "portrait" and point to the previously mentioned "landscape" layout files.

Confused?

Ok, in other words - Just paste the following rows to the <layoutgroup> tag:

<layout height="240" width="320" orientation="portrait" >
<file name = "pql_av_qvga_lsc"/>
<file name = "pql_apps_qvga_lsc"/>
</layout>

If you now start the Theme Creator and select "Theme -> New!" you will be able to choose a resolution of 320x240 (w/h)!

OK.
2. When you finished designing your Theme you certainly want to deploy it to your device...

Choose "CHECKOUT" (Step 10) in the Theme Creator and if everything is allright click "continue".
Now fill in all the information requested for the Theme and select the components you want to deploy.

ATTENTION!!! - The Theme can't be deployed without a Certificate-/Key-Pair!!!

SOLUTION:
On the "Create SIS file"-dialog click the "Advanced"-Button on the lower left side - the "Advanced Settings" will pop up where you can paste the certificate information.

But where to get it...?!

No problem, there is a command-line tool called "makekeys.exe" in the ".\bin\" directory of the Theme Creator. Just open a DOS command-line, go to the dir and type the following command:

For example:
makekeys -cert -dname “CN=MyName OU=MyDepartment OR=MyCompany CO=DE” mykey.key mycert.cer

Replace the parameters "CN", "OU", "OR" by our own information.
You can also change the name of the certificate-/key-file - but not the ending!

Then press enter and follow the messages.

Now we can set the path to the certificate and to the key.

But what about the "Theme UID"???

This is another tricky thing, because there are constraints:

https://www.symbiansigned.com/app/page/uidfaq

With respect to this the only possible values for the Theme UID are

0xA0000000 - 0xAFFFFFFF

I didn't try, but better do NOT choose "DRM Protection"!

Click "OK"

On the "Create SIS file"-dialog select "Preview SIS" to immediately generate the SIS file that can be installed on the device - the click "OK".

Now the files should be generated and a dialog should appear offering the possibility to select a "Transfer"-Button.
By clicking it you get the possibility to choose where to save the theme files.


Before installing the Theme on your device...

...you should do the following (in this case for the E61):

Go to Tools|App Mgr, choose Options|Settings|Software Installation and change to "All" from "Signed Only".

Otherwise the device could refuse to install the Theme!

Now it should be possible to install the Theme without any problems!


I hope I could help you all with my little summary and that it will work as good as it does for me...!

greetz

Howy

[twodotone]

hi, czot.
thank you very much for writing this easy steps tutorial.
Yesterday it was the first time I tried creating a theme for my e61, and of course I got stopped at the certificate.
I was also wondering how to get the 320x240 resolution, and was already sure I had to dig around in the config files.
fortunately your guide comes in handy.
thank you for the efforts.

ciao.ubi

[farazkhan]

OK folks - I finally made it!
After another few hours of reading threads and extreme "try-and-error"-evaluation I got my first own theme running on my E61!

So let me try to summarize:

1. Make the Theme Studio offering to create new themes with the resolution 320x240 (w/h)

Go to the dir "\data\config\phones\" in the Theme Studio Program Dir and open the XML file "BaseGraphics.xml"
Go to the "<layoutgroup>" tag.
There are two entries for each resolution - "portrait" and "landscape".
For some reason I couldn't figure out the Theme Studio doesn't care about the "landscape" layouts - just "portrait" layouts are considered when creating new themes... - ...but there IS already a layout available for the resolution 240x320(w/h) in "landscape" orientation, so everything you have to do is to add a new layout tag for the resolution 320x240(w/h) with orientation "portrait" and point to the previously mentioned "landscape" layout files.

Confused?

Ok, in other words - Just paste the following rows to the <layoutgroup> tag:

<layout height="240" width="320" orientation="portrait" >
<file name = "pql_av_qvga_lsc"/>
<file name = "pql_apps_qvga_lsc"/>
</layout>

If you now start the Theme Creator and select "Theme -> New!" you will be able to choose a resolution of 320x240 (w/h)!

OK.
2. When you finished designing your Theme you certainly want to deploy it to your device...

Choose "CHECKOUT" (Step 10) in the Theme Creator and if everything is allright click "continue".
Now fill in all the information requested for the Theme and select the components you want to deploy.

ATTENTION!!! - The Theme can't be deployed without a Certificate-/Key-Pair!!!

SOLUTION:
On the "Create SIS file"-dialog click the "Advanced"-Button on the lower left side - the "Advanced Settings" will pop up where you can paste the certificate information.

But where to get it...?!

No problem, there is a command-line tool called "makekeys.exe" in the ".\bin\" directory of the Theme Creator. Just open a DOS command-line, go to the dir and type the following command:

For example:
makekeys -cert -dname “CN=MyName OU=MyDepartment OR=MyCompany CO=DE” mykey.key mycert.cer

Replace the parameters "CN", "OU", "OR" by our own information.
You can also change the name of the certificate-/key-file - but not the ending!

Then press enter and follow the messages.

Now we can set the path to the certificate and to the key.

But what about the "Theme UID"???

This is another tricky thing, because there are constraints:

https://www.symbiansigned.com/app/page/uidfaq

With respect to this the only possible values for the Theme UID are

0xA0000000 - 0xAFFFFFFF

I didn't try, but better do NOT choose "DRM Protection"!

Click "OK"

On the "Create SIS file"-dialog select "Preview SIS" to immediately generate the SIS file that can be installed on the device - the click "OK".

Now the files should be generated and a dialog should appear offering the possibility to select a "Transfer"-Button.
By clicking it you get the possibility to choose where to save the theme files.


Before installing the Theme on your device...

...you should do the following (in this case for the E61):

Go to Tools|App Mgr, choose Options|Settings|Software Installation and change to "All" from "Signed Only".

Otherwise the device could refuse to install the Theme!

Now it should be possible to install the Theme without any problems!


I hope I could help you all with my little summary and that it will work as good as it does for me...!

greetz

Howy

Hey man thanx alot for your help, I did xactly what you mentioned above. Every thing went fine Xcept 2 things.
1. While making my own themes there was no preview available for the entire work, even at the checkout there was no preview.
2. And when I installed the theme on my fone It refused to install & gave an error.

Help please. Thanks.

[czoth]

I just tested a simple Theme where I put only a background image...
...that worked.

But now I tried to change more items and recognized that some of the Areas and other parts of the Theme are not editable - they don't even show up in the Edit-Area when selecting them...!

Seems it is not that simple...

The thing is that I already spent much more time into this as I wanted to...!

I have lots of other work waiting, so I would really appreciate if anybody else could afford some time for going on investigating this topic...

...or in other words: "I opened the door - walking through it on your own you must...!"

Sorry, perhaps I'll have time to go on working on this in the future...!?

Good luck to all of you trying!

greetz

Howy

[farazkhan]

I just tested a simple Theme where I put only a background image...
...that worked.

But now I tried to change more items and recognized that some of the Areas and other parts of the Theme are not editable - they don't even show up in the Edit-Area when selecting them...!

Seems it is not that simple...

The thing is that I already spent much more time into this as I wanted to...!

I have lots of other work waiting, so I would really appreciate if anybody else could afford some time for going on investigating this topic...

...or in other words: "I opened the door - walking through it on your own you must...!"

Sorry, perhaps I'll have time to go on working on this in the future...!?

Good luck to all of you trying!

greetz

Howy

I really appreciate you effort, but perhaps you can tell me what mistake I am making I am even happy with just the wallpaper. But its not just working for me. Thanks.

[Mökö]

Hi,

Landscape Background:
You can also create a wallpaper to Nokia E61 without messing around with the tool resource files. Just use SVG-t

No, but seriously, the trick is to create a 320 x 320 bitmap and save that as a wallpaper. If the scaling is defined to be with aspect ratio the image will be cropped depending on the screen orientation of the phone.

1: Select an bitmap image for Active Bacground
2: From Layer effects select Scaling Mode Parameter as "WithAspectRatio"
3: Click ok and save the image as active background

Signing:
Due the Symbian OS the S60 Platfrom 3rd edition has this security feature that all .sis files needs to be signed - this then applies to Themes too.

You can create your own key and certificate just like czoth described (the same information can be found from the Release Note), but you don't need to define UID for the theme. These symbian applicaiton UID are something that you request from Symbian. You can leave the field empty and let the Theme Studio to define the UID automatically. In fact, if you are doing commercial themes you shouldn't come up with your own UID because it could confilct with some other theme or application that the user have/will purcase or install someday.

Now you should have a ready theme for Nokia E61.

-M

[farazkhan]

Hi,

Landscape Background:
You can also create a wallpaper to Nokia E61 without messing around with the tool resource files. Just use SVG-t

No, but seriously, the trick is to create a 320 x 320 bitmap and save that as a wallpaper. If the scaling is defined to be with aspect ratio the image will be cropped depending on the screen orientation of the phone.

1: Select an bitmap image for Active Bacground
2: From Layer effects select Scaling Mode Parameter as "WithAspectRatio"
3: Click ok and save the image as active background

Signing:
Due the Symbian OS the S60 Platfrom 3rd edition has this security feature that all .sis files needs to be signed - this then applies to Themes too.

You can create your own key and certificate just like czoth described (the same information can be found from the Release Note), but you don't need to define UID for the theme. These symbian applicaiton UID are something that you request from Symbian. You can leave the field empty and let the Theme Studio to define the UID automatically. In fact, if you are doing commercial themes you shouldn't come up with your own UID because it could confilct with some other theme or application that the user have/will purcase or install someday.

Now you should have a ready theme for Nokia E61.

-M

Watz a SVG-T???
And can you xplain this whole thing in a much simpler way..Thanks Man.

[antiplex]

@farazkhan:
i think "the whole thing" is already explained easy if you bother to read it again.
svg stands for scalable vector graphics and svg-t is a sort
of subset of svg with the 't' standing for tiny meaning that this is meant to be
used by mobile devices. to get more info about svg read here .

but i think mökö was only joking with that because vector != bitmap.

a short summary of how themes for the e61 can be created without having to
mess around with any templates and with having a non-destorted background
image:
use the theme studio and open up a new theme with 240x320 pix in size. then
drag an image with the size of 320x240 onto the active background rectangle in
theme studio from the browser tab on the right side.
now it's getting important: click on 'layers' in the category 'layer effects' in
the toolbox to bring up a box showing your actual layers. click on the tiny
arrow right of the mini-preview in that box so that a list of layer effects
appears beneath the mini-preview (probably only having 'Apply Graphics' in it)
and hit again the new tiny arrow right of 'Apply Graphics' so another box
shows up. there you have to select the scaling mode 'with aspect ratio'.
hit ok and after closing all the additionally opened boxed hit 'save' at the
bottom of the active background preview.
thats it.

if you can't checkout because you need some certificate and key you should
read one of the posts around this forum dealing with that or simply this thread
again.

cheers - antiplex

[farazkhan]

@farazkhan:
i think "the whole thing" is already explained easy if you bother to read it again.
svg stands for scalable vector graphics and svg-t is a sort
of subset of svg with the 't' standing for tiny meaning that this is meant to be
used by mobile devices. to get more info about svg read here .

but i think mökö was only joking with that because vector != bitmap.

a short summary of how themes for the e61 can be created without having to
mess around with any templates and with having a non-destorted background
image:
use the theme studio and open up a new theme with 240x320 pix in size. then
drag an image with the size of 320x240 onto the active background rectangle in
theme studio from the browser tab on the right side.
now it's getting important: click on 'layers' in the category 'layer effects' in
the toolbox to bring up a box showing your actual layers. click on the tiny
arrow right of the mini-preview in that box so that a list of layer effects
appears beneath the mini-preview (probably only having 'Apply Graphics' in it)
and hit again the new tiny arrow right of 'Apply Graphics' so another box
shows up. there you have to select the scaling mode 'with aspect ratio'.
hit ok and after closing all the additionally opened boxed hit 'save' at the
bottom of the active background preview.
thats it.

if you can't checkout because you need some certificate and key you should
read one of the posts around this forum dealing with that or simply this thread
again.

cheers - antiplex

Thanx Anti...I will try to work it.

[Conjar]

use the theme studio and open up a new theme with 240x320 pix in size

I cant...i can only opet 176x208 layout...there isnt any other rosolution i can chose in my theme studio so can someone pls help.