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OTS: Quick Guide :: download personal config. files ::
   

This is a quick overview of the essential features of the Open Theme Standard for LiteStep. Everyone interested in OTS whether they are users or theme authors, should read through this.

If you are looking for information on installing OTS themes, please read the theme installation section. If you are making OTS themes please ensure that your themes meet the requirements listed in the theme creation section. Don't skip this section though - read this page first and then move on. : )

 

[X:\LiteStep\personal\*.rc]

In order to use OTS themes, there must be a 'personal' subfolder in the LiteStep directory containing four files:

- evars.rc
-
hotkey.rc
-
popup.rc
-
personal.rc

Evars.rc contains paths to common applications. Hotkey.rc contains hotkey settings. Popup.rc contains the configuration information for the default right-click popup menu. Personal.rc has three purposes:

1. it includes evars.rc, hotkey.rc, and popup.rc via LiteStep 'include' statements
2. it contains user defined universal module settings such as *VWMSticky, *CommandAlias, etc.
3. it contains fixed desktop click settings for two popup menus

An OTS compliant theme will include personal.rc in it's step.rc file. This allows user specified settings to be defined once in the personal files mentioned above, and thereafter be used across all OTS themes.

 

[X:\LiteStep\personal\popup.rc, X:\LiteStep\themes\theme-X\config\popuptheme.rc]

There are two popup menus available in OTS themes:

1. the normal right-click popup menu
2. an optional SHIFT left-click theme popup menu

In order to setup these popup menus, two things are needed:

A. the right-click and SHIFT left-click desktop actions need to be defined
B. the popup menus themselves have to be defined

A. desktop click actions

The desktop click actions are fixed and are set in LiteStepDir\personal\personal.rc in the following manner:

*Desktop RButton !Popup *Desktop LButton+SHIFT !PopupTheme *jDeskMButton2 [.none;!none;!Popup;!none] *jDeskMButton1 [SHIFT;!none;!PopupTheme;!none]

The first two lines set the right-click and SHIFT left-click actions for the core desktop module, while the last two do the same for jDesk. These lines in personal.rc will set the right-click desktop action to '!Popup', and the SHIFT left-click desktop action to '!PopupTheme'. The presence of these settings in personal.rc means that they cannot be used in themes, i.e. a theme should not define the right-click or SHIFT left-click desktop actions, or there may be conflicts.

B. popup menu definitions

All that is needed now is definitions for the popup menus. The right-click popup menu [!Popup] is defined in popup.rc, and the SHIFT left-click menu [!PopupTheme] is defined in popuptheme.rc, if the themer chooses to provide one. Not all themes will have a need for a SHIFT left-click popup menu.

The right-click menu [!Popup] is customized by the user according to their preferences, and cannot be modified by a theme in any way. The only requirements for the right-click menu [!Popup] are:

;it must begin with this line: *Popup !New !Popup . . . ;...and end with this one: *Popup ~New

Apart from those two lines, the contents of the right-click menu are entirely user defined.

The only requirements for the SHIFT left-click menu [!PopupTheme] are:

;it must begin with this line: *Popup "theme-X" !New !PopupTheme . . . ;...and end with this one: *Popup ~New

Apart from those two lines, the contents of the SHIFT left-click menu are entirely defined by the theme.

 

[X:\LiteStep\themes\theme-X\config\themevars.rc]

Any theme specific environment variables should defined in themevars.rc. This will allow users to quickly and easily customize certain theme settings. Evars might need to be defined for any number of reasons, e.g. setting the actions for a shortcut bar, defining the location of MP3 files, etc. Here's an example of what one might see in themevars.rc:

SCBAR1 "C:\Program Files\MegaShaft\subliminalmessages.exe" SCBAR2 "C:\Program Files\MegaShaft\sendmeyourmoney.exe" SCBAR3 "$FileManager$" MP3Dir "E:\mp3"

 

[X:\LiteStep\themes\theme-X\config\step.rc]

A theme's step.rc file must contain the following entries, except where noted otherwise:

ThemeName "theme-X" ThemeAuthor "Themer X" PersonalDir "$LiteStepDir$personal\" ThemeDir "$LiteStepDir$themes\theme-X\" ConfigDir "$ThemeDir$config\" ;if required ModulesDir "$ThemeDir$modules\" ;if required SoundsDir "$ThemeDir$sounds\" ;if required WallpaperDir "$ThemeDir$wallpaper\" ;if required MiscDir "$ThemeDir$misc\" ;if required ShortcutsDir "$LiteStepDir$shortcuts\" ;if required include "$PersonalDir$personal.rc" include "$ConfigDir$themevars.rc" ;if required include "$ConfigDir$popuptheme.rc" ;if required

 

[X:\LiteStep\themes\theme-X\modules.ini]

If a theme uses modules that store their settings in modules.ini, then it should be included in the root directory of a theme along with step.rc, LSTS files, and documentation for the theme. It is the user's responsibility to copy modules.ini to their LiteStep directory.