enigma-bbs/docs/art/themes.md

layout	title
page	Themes

Themes

ENiGMA½ comes with an advanced theming system allowing system operators to highly customize the look and feel of their boards. A given installation can have as many themes as you like for your users to choose from.

General Information

Themes live in art/themes/. Each theme (and thus it's theme ID) is a directory within the themes directory. The theme itself is simply a collection of art files, and a theme.hjson file that further defines layout, colors & formatting, etc. ENiGMA½ comes with a default theme by Luciano Ayres of Blocktronics called Mystery Skull. This theme is in art/themes/luciano_blocktronics, and thus it's theme ID is luciano_blocktronics.

Art

Of course one of the most basic elements of BBS theming is art. ENiGMA½ uses a fallback system for art selection by default (you may override this in a menu.hjson entry if desired). When a menu entry calls for a piece of art, the following search is made:

1. If a direct or relative path is supplied, look there first.
2. In the users current theme directory.
3. In the system default theme directory.
4. In the art/general directory.

TL;DR: In general, to theme a piece of art, create a version of it in your themes directory.

:information: Remember that by default, the system will allow for randomly selecting art (in one of the directories mentioned above) by numbering it: FOO1.ANS, FOO2.ANS, etc.!

Theme Sections

Themes are some important sections to be aware of:

Config Item	Description
info	This section describes the theme.
customization	The beef!

Info Block

The info configuration block describes the theme itself.

Item	Required	Description
name	👍	Name of the theme. Be creative!
author	👍	Author of the theme/artwork.
group	👎	Group/affils of author.
enabled	👎	Boolean of enabled state. If set to false, this theme will not be available to your users. If a user currently has this theme selected, the system default will be selected for them at next login.

Customization Block

The customization block in is itself broken up into major parts:

Item	Description
defaults	Default values to use when this theme is active. These values override system defaults, but can still be overridden themselves in specific areas of your theme.
menus	The bulk of what you theme in the system will be here. Any menu (that is, anything you find in menu.hjson) can be tweaked.
prompts	Similar to menus, this file themes prompts found in prompts.hjson.

Defaults

Item	Description
passwordChar	Character to display in password fields
dateFormat	Sets the moment.js style short and/or long format for dates.
timeFormat	Sets the moment.js style short and/or long format for times.
dateTimeFormat	Sets the moment.js style short and/or long format for date/time combinations.

Example:

defaults: {
  dateTimeFormat: {
    short:  MMM Do h:mm a
  }
}

Menus Block

Each key in the menus block matches up with a key found in your menu.hjson. For example, consider a matrix menu defined in menu.hjson. In addition to perhaps providing a MATRIX.ANS in your themes directory, you can also theme other parts of the menu via a matrix entry in theme.hjson.

Major areas to override/theme:

• config: Override and/or provide additional theme information over that found in the menu.hjson's entry. Common entries here are for further overriding date/time formats, and custom range info formats (<someFormName>InfoFormat<num>). See Entry Formatting in MCI Codes and Custom Range Info Formatting below.
• mci: Set per-MCI code properties such as height, width, text styles, etc. See MCI Codes for a more information.

Two formats for mci blocks are allowed:

• Verbose where a form ID(s) are supplied.
• Shorthand if only a single/first form is needed.

Example: Verbose mci with form IDs:

newUserFeedbackToSysOp: {
  0: {
    mci: {
      TL1: { width: 19, textOverflow: "..." }
      ET2: { width: 19, textOverflow: "..." }
      ET3: { width: 19, textOverflow: "..." }
    }
  }
  1: {
    mci: {
      MT1: { height: 14 }
    }
  }
}

Example: Shorthand mci format:

matrix: {
  mci: {
    VM1: {
      itemFormat: "|03{text}"
      focusItemFormat: "|11{text!styleFirstLower}"
    }
  }
}

Custom Range Info Formatting

Many modules support "custom range" MCI items. These are MCI codes that are left to the user to define using a format object specific to the module. For example, consider the msg_area_list module: This module sets MCI codes 10+ (%TL10, %TL11, etc.) as "custom range". When theming you can place these MCI codes in your artwork then define the format in theme.hjson:

messageAreaChangeCurrentArea: {
  config: {
    areaListInfoFormat10: "|15{name}|07: |03{desc}"
  }
}

Creating Your Own

⚠️ IMPORTANT! It is recommended you don't make any customisations to the included `luciano_blocktronics' theme. Create your own and make changes to that instead:

1. Copy /art/themes/luciano_blocktronics to art/themes/your_board_theme
2. Update the info block at the top of the theme.hjson file:

    info: {
        name: Awesome Theme
        author: Cool Artist
        group: Sick Group
        enabled: true
    }

3. If desired, you may make this the default system theme in config.hjson via theme.default. theme.preLogin may be set if you want this theme used for pre-authenticated users. Both of these values also accept * if you want the system to radomly pick.

  theme: {
    default: your_board_theme
    preLogin: *
  }