Themes

Description

The Theming feature allows users to customize the colors, fonts, and icons used throughout the application. The active theme determines the Java Look and Feel, whether the theme should use light or dark defaults, and any custom colors, fonts, and icons that override the default values. Users can can easily switch between any of the built-in themes or any saved themes found in their home application directory

Users can also edit and create their own themes using the Theme Editor. Custom themes are stored in the user's <user settings>/themes directory. These theme files are simple text files that can easily be modified using any text editor. Also, users can share themes by exporting them to a file that can be given to other users who can them import them into their application.

NOTE: The <user settings> directory is platform/configuration specific. Its value can be found in the Ghidra Front End GUI, under Help -> Runtime Information -> Application Layout -> Settings Directory

Theme Chooser Dialog

The Theme Chooser allows users to switch themes.

 

The Theme Chooser dialog displays a list of all the known themes, both built-in and custom. Select the desired theme and press the "OK" button to have the application switch to that theme. Pressing the "Cancel" button will exit the dialog without changing the theme. You can also double click on a theme to switch to that theme and exit the dialog.

Theme Editor Dialog

The Theme Editor Dialog is the primary means for creating and editing themes.

 

The Theme Editor Dialog consists of a Look And Feel drop-down and a tabbed set of tables that display the values for every color property, font property, and icon property defined by either the Java look and feel or the application. The properties fall into one of the following groups

• Application Properties - these are application defined properties. They all start with either "color.", "font.", or "icon.", depending on whether the property is a color, font,or icon respectively.
• System Properties - these are well defined Look and Feel concepts such as various standard background and foreground colors, border color, and fonts. These all start with "system." and their values are mapped to specific values for each Java Look and Feel.
• Look and Feel Properties - these are the properties defined by the current Java Look and Feel. Ghidra prepends these properties with prefixes that start with either "laf.color.", "laf.font"., or "laf.icon." For example, if the Look and Feel defines a property called "Button.background", it would appear in Ghidra as "laf.color.Button.background".
• Look and Feel Palette Properties - All the color and fonts used by the Look and Feel properties are grouped into either system property values or auto-generated palette properties, so that groups of properties can be changed together.

See the Developer Documentation for more details on the property ID format and naming conventions.

Each table entry shows the property ID string, the current value, the theme value, and the default value. Most often, the three values are equal. If the theme value is different from the default value, that means that the active theme has overridden the default value for that property. If the current value is different from the theme value, that means the user has changed that value, but not yet saved the changes back to the theme.

Individual values can be changed by double-clicking the value in the ID or Current Value column. This will bring up an appropriate editor for changing the value. When editing a value, the change takes place immediately in the application so you can see the effect. When you leave the specific property editor, you have the choice of keeping the change or canceling and having it revert back to its previous value.

If any values have been changed, the Save button will become enabled, allowing you to save any changes you have made. (Pressing the Dismiss button will also give the the option to save.) When saving, if the current theme is a built-in theme, you will first have to supply a new theme name. If the current theme is a not a built-in theme, you will have the option to overwrite the existing theme or supplying a new name to save it as a new theme.

Theme Editor actions

•  Increment All Fonts - Increases all fonts in the system by one.
•  Decrement All Fonts - Decreases all fonts in the system by one.
•  Reload Theme - Restores all color, font, and icon values back to the original theme values.

Color Editor

When you double-click on a color value, the Edit Color dialog appears.

 

Any change you make in the editor is applied to the application immediately. If you press the OK button, the change will stay. If you press the Cancel button, the color will revert back to the original color.

Font Editor

When you double-click on a font value, the Edit Font dialog appears.

 

Any change you make in the editor is applied to the application immediately. If you press the OK button, the change will stay. If you press the Cancel button, the font will revert back to the original font.

Icon Editor

When you double-click on an Icon value, the Edit Icon dialog appears.

 

The Edit Icon dialog has a drop-down text field where you can find any existing icon on the classpath. If you want to choose an Icon from the file system, press the ... button and a File Chooser will appear, allowing you to pick an icon file from anywhere on the filesystem. Any change you make in the editor is applied to the application immediately. If you press the OK button, the change will stay. If you press the Cancel button, the icon will revert back to the original icon.

Theme Actions

Switching Themes

To change the current theme, invoke the EditThemeChange..." menu option from the main project window. This will bring up the Theme Chooser Dialog which allows you to pick a new theme.

Modifying Theme Values

All the colors, fonts, and icons that have been registered with the theme API can be modified using the Theme Editor Dialog. The Theme Editor Dialog can be invoked from the main application menu using the EditThemeConfigure" menu. Choose the tab for the appropriate type and double-click on the ID column or Current Value column of the item you want to change. An editor for that type will appear.

Creating New Themes

To create a new theme, invoke EditThemeNew..." menu option. This will bring up a new dialog where you can enter the new theme name and select another theme as a starting point. When the OK button is pressed, the Theme Editor Dialog will appear, allowing you to begin making changes to theme values.

Reseting Theme Values

To reset an individual value back to its original theme value, invoke the Theme Editor Dialog. Choose the tab for the appropriate type and right-click the one the row in the able you want to reset, then choose the Restore Value menu item from the popup menu.

Reseting All Theme Values

To reset all values back to the original values established by the current theme, invoke the Theme Editor Dialog. To activate this action, press the refresh button in the top right corner of the Theme Editor dialog.

Toggle Showing System Values

Toggles whether the given table shows system ID values (e.g, those starting with laf. or system.. By default these values are hidden.

Saving Themes

After making changes to one or more theme values, the Theme Editor Dialog's Save button will be enabled. Pressing the Save button will give the user the option of creating a new theme or overwriting the current them (if the current theme is not a built-in theme). Also, users will have the option of saving a theme if they dismiss the Theme Dialog while there are changes to one or more theme values.

Deleting Themes

Only custom non-built-in themes can be deleted. To delete a custom theme, invoke the EditTheme Delete... menu from the main application menu. This will bring up a dialog with a list of themes that can be deleted. Select the theme to delete and press the Ok button.

Exporting Themes

To export a theme so that it can be shared with others, invoke the Edit Theme Export.. menu from the main application window. You will first be asked if you want to export as a regular theme file or as a Zip file. The Zip file option is useful if the current theme has icon values that are not included with standard application. In that case, the Zip file will include those non-standard icon files.

Importing Themes

To import a theme, invoke the Edit Theme Import... menu from the main application menu. A file chooser dialog will appear allowing the user to choose a theme file to import. The selected file can be either a standard theme file or a Zip file containing the theme file and any non-standard icon files defined by that theme.

Theme Property Names

Theme Property Names (also referred to as IDs or keys) that are defined by the application use a common format to help make sorting and viewing properties more intuitive as to their use. See the Developer Documentation for more details on the property ID format and naming conventions.

Theme Files

Theme Files are used to store saved custom themes. They are simple text files and are stored in the user's home application directory under <user settings>/themes. The first three properties are always the theme name, the Look and Feel name, and whether the theme uses standard defaults or dark defaults. Finally, there is a list of overridden property "name = value" lines. The format is:

        name = [theme name]
        Look and Feel = [Look and Feel name]
        useDarkDefaults = [true or false]
        
        [theme id 1]= [color, icon, or font value]
        [theme id 2]= [color, icon, or font value]
        [theme id 3]= [color, icon, or font value]
        [theme id 4]= [color, icon, or font value]
        ...
	

Example:

        name = BigFontTheme
        Look and Feel = Nimbus
        useDarkDefaults = false
		
        color.bg = Black
        color.bg.foo = #012345
        font.button = dialog-PLAIN-14
        icon.refresh = images/reload3.png    
        color.bg.bar = color.bg.foo   
        [laf.color]Panel.background = silver
        [laf.color]TextArea.background = [laf.color]Panel.background
	

Each property line is expected to begin with either "color.", "font.", or "icon." Since java defined properties don't start with these prefixes, they will have "[laf.color]", "[laf.font]", or "[laf.icon]" prepended to their property name. These brackets are only used to aid in parsing this file. When the properties are used in Ghidra, the bracketed prefixes are removed.

Also, note that the values of these properties can reference other property names. If the right side of the assignment is a property name and not a value, then it must also use the bracketed prefix if the property name doesn't start with "color.", "font.", or "icon."

Specifying Theme Property Values

Specifying property values varies depending on whether it is a color, font, or icon. Fonts and icons also support specifying modifiers. For a complete description of how to specify these values, see the Developer Documentation.

Provided by: Theme Manager

Related Topics

• Theming Overview
• Theming Developer's Guide
• Theming Architecture