hiya,

i am left with a non working installation of jre 1.4.1_01 on mac os x 10.2.8 and a non updateable version of mrj (macintosh runtime for java) older than 1.4 for mac os 9, so i wondered, if i could do my theme for my k500i manually.


i was able to unpack the blue_theme thm file, which was a substantial overhaul of ever aspect of the phone (opposed to only changing the standby picture). i'm not touching copyright here, for i plan to replace every image and name with another. so i'm using this thm file only for syntax and understanding.
i understand the syntax of the xml file. i'll post it for verifying:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<Sony_Ericsson_theme version="3.0">
<Background Color="0x000000"/>
<Background_image Source="double+AF8-background.jpg"/>
<Desktop Color="0x808080"/>
<Desktop_image Source="desktop2.jpg"/>
<Desktop_title_text Color="0x1fe028"/>
<Highlight_text Color="0x79bcff"/>
<Highlight Color="0xcecece"/>
<Highlight_image Source="double+AF8-highlight.gif"/>
<Highlight_small_image Source="tab-title+AF8-highlight+AF8-small.gif"/>
<Popup_text Color="0xc0c0c0"/>
<Popup Color="0x000000"/>
<Popup_frame Color="0x000000"/>
<Popup_highlight_text Color="0x0080ff"/>
<Popup_highlight Color="0x000000"/>
<Popup_highlight_image Source="popup+AF8-highlight.gif"/>
<Popup_scrollbar_background Color="0xffffff"/>
<Popup_scrollbar_slider Color="0x053096"/>
<Popup_title_text Color="0x0080ff"/>
<Popup_title Color="0x000000"/>
<Popup_title_image Source="popup+AF8-title.gif"/>
<Scrollbar_background Color="0xffffff"/>
<Scrollbar_slider Color="0x053096"/>
<Softkeys_text Color="0x0080ff"/>
<Softkeys Color="0xffffff"/>
<Softkeys_image Source="desktop+AF8-softkey.jpg"/>
<Standby_image Source="standby.jpg"/>
<Standby_operatorname_text Color="0xffffff"/>
<Standby_operatorname_outline Color="0x0000ff"/>
<Standby_softkey_image Source="standby+AF8-softkey.jpg"/>
<Standby_statusbar_image Source="standby+AF8-statusbar2.jpg"/>
<Standby_time Color="0xffffff"/>
<Standby_time_outline Color="0x0000ff"/>
<Statusbar_image Source="desktop+AF8-statusbar2.jpg"/>
<Tab_text Color="0x0080ff"/>
<Tab Color="0x000000"/>
<Tab_image Source="tab-title+AF8-tab.jpg"/>
<Tab_selected_image Source="tab-title+AF8-tab+AF8-selected.gif"/>
<Tab_unselected_image Source="tab-title+AF8-tab+AF8-unselected.jpg"/>
<Text Color="0xeeeeee"/>
<Title_image Source="double+AF8-title2.jpg"/>
<Title_small_image Source="single+AF8-title+AF8-small.jpg"/>
<Title_text Color="0xeeeeee"/>
<Title Color="0xc0c0c0"/>
<Wapbrowser_underline Color="0x0000ff"/>
<Wapbrowser_tableborder Color="0x0000ff"/>
</Sony_Ericsson_theme>

there are certain names for layout parts on the phone as well as colors for certain elements. ok.
every image you want to use has to be in the same folder with the name that you choose in the xml file.


still i wasn't able to create a working theme file.

what file type does the .thm file have to be in the end. .zip or .rar?
i already tried to unpack the blue_theme.thm file and repack it as .rar or .zip and upload it to the phone, but i end up with a unreadable or damaged .thm file (says my phone).


i think i'm lost... could someone walk me through?

any ideas greatly appreciated!
cheers,
dual

Okidoki I'll give it a shot.

You got the .xml file, good start. Aside from the images, which you need to enter in it, the .xml file describes colours of text items, text outlines and backgrounds. these colours need to be far enough apart to NOT conflict with eachother. In other words, can't have a white background and white text....... because then you wouldn't be able to READ the text and the phone will reject the theme because of it. Now you need to remember that the phone does NOT know what colour your image is, so set the background to the same colour as yuor dominant colour on the image. Then a contrasting colour for the text. Colours are defined in '0x-hex code'. (you can do a google search for colour hex codes, I know there is a page out there) For example white in hex code is (I think!) FFFFFF, then your colour in your .xml file would read 0xFFFFFF

Once you're done writing the .xml file you'd do best to save the .xml and all your image files in one folder. You need to archive the lot as a .tar archive. I use zipzag to do this but I suspect winRAR would do the job as well.

Once archived, you need to rename your theme from 'theme.tar' to 'theme.thm'

A .thm file is a .tar archive with a different extension. For renaming you need to have file extensions visible on your PC. If you don't know how to do that gimma a shout!

Good luck and let me know if you need more assistance, or visual help or anything.

Dont forget about the triple A overhead manifold sprocket???????????????????????????????????????????

@elton: whut?

@Vlammetje: thanks for your help

i managed to unpack and repack (encode, recode for the forums search engine) a theme and it remains intact for use on my phone. so i guess i can start making my theme.
just wanted to clear that up before i get nuts while looking for mistakes in my xml or images (whereas the error is in the encoding of the tar file). went nuts anyway...

so for any other mac user who ends up in this thread trying to create a .thm file manually with mac os 9.2.2:
h**p://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macos/7834

its the versiontracker link site for suntar which is the tool i used to create a valid archive.
(no luck with stuffit deluxe 6.0, droptar 7.0.3, mactar 4.2.1, macrar 2.5.1. been there, found out it didn't work). but maybe you have luck with a newer version. i had to find out the hard way.

be sure to read the suntar's read me to get the drift. if versiontrackers link is dead, check google. did i just say that?? stating the oblivious...

another hint: use any .thm file you like and which has substantial changes to your phones face as a template, to learn your way through. i would write a tutorial, but i have no time.

maybe someone else already has a document in which the default names for all of the sek500i's elements are explained. plz post

i'll report when i finish a good theme (or run into another problem ).

dual


ps: i wish i would find the typos before i post replies....

@elton - haha!! That's exactly what I was thinking...