WARNING: skin format changing on the weekend!

[bobbydriver]

Sorry I misread that the skinbreaking changes were from 3.6 - but I see that it's a post 3.6 change that brought them in.

I've installed back to 3.6 stable build and it works fine again.

I had a go at hand editing my custom theme files according to the new guidelines but it still doesn't work so I've clearly missed something

Still wondering what the point of changing the code to break all custom skins was, so unless someone can point me in the direction of an automated tool to port old skins then my Rockbox will remain at 3.6 forever and my love affair with Rockbox is over as I just don't understand why the developers would do something so vandalistic

[funman]

Here is the automated tool.

You are egoist when thinking the intention was to break custom skins only.
The intention was to break all skins, including the default rockbox ones.

[mc2739]

Still wondering what the point of changing the code to break all custom skins was...

Sometimes, to move forward with new ideas or features, there comes a point where it is best to ditch the old and embrace the new, for example, analog vs. digital/HD TV.  This is one of those cases.

The developers involved with the change made every effort to make this as painless as possible.  The change was announced well ahead of when it happened.  It was timed to happen after a new release so that those people that use the release versions would not be immediately impacted.  The changes in syntax were documented prior to the change so that the theme developers could get an idea of what was coming.  A conversion tool was created to convert existing themes on the theme site to the new syntax.  The existing theme site was duplicated so that users could still get working themes for releases or daily builds prior to the change.

...my Rockbox will remain at 3.6 forever and my love affair with Rockbox is over...

While it is your prerogative to do so, you will be missing out on any bug fixes, code improvements and new features that may come along in the future.

The tool funman linked does a very good job of converting the themes from the old syntax to the new syntax, but you need to have a build environment set up in order to compile the code into an executable program.  If that is not an option for you, then ask here in the forum or in the #rockbox irc channel for help.  There are usually plenty of people willing to help, if you are willing to ask for the help.

[epithetless]

The tool funman linked does a very good job of converting the themes from the old syntax to the new syntax, but you need to have a build environment set up in order to compile the code into an executable program.  If that is not an option for you, then ask here in the forum or in the #rockbox irc channel for help.

In that case, would someone with a build environment already set up mind compiling and sharing an executable for Windows?

[JdGordon]

Still wondering what the point of changing the code to break all custom skins was, so unless someone can point me in the direction of an automated tool to port old skins then my Rockbox will remain at 3.6 forever and my love affair with Rockbox is over as I just don't understand why the developers would do something so vandalistic

DAMN! I almost had everyone convinced it was to make things better, but you saw right through that! BUGGER, oh well, I still got to have my fun.

[bobbydriver]

Thanks for the link to the c script - can you recommend a windows C compiler that will create an executable from it?

I downloaded lcc-win32 but it won't compile - throws lots of errors.

bear in mind it's been 20 years since I last compiled any C code...


EDIT

Don't worry - I'd not added the other two files into the project - I now have a compiled exe file. Will report back if it works


SECOND EDIT

It seemed like it ran OK but the new wps and sbs files are just full of this?!

ÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZ
ZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZ
ZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZ
ZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZ
ZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZ
ZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZ
ZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZ
ZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZ
ZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZ
ZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZ
ZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZ
ZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZ
ZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZ
ZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZ
ZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZ
ZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZ
ZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZZúÿZ

Did I do something obviously wrong?

[bluebrother]

Thanks for the link to the c script - can you recommend a windows C compiler that will create an executable from it?

C is not a scripting language.

I downloaded lcc-win32 but it won't compile - throws lots of errors.

Use gcc.

[bobbydriver]

OK - I can't make any sense of the GCC stuff

I'm not a developer, so unless anyone knows why the skinupdater executable I compiled is filling the "new" wps files with ÿZZúÿZZú then my rather straight forward question is this:

How does a non-technical person (ie someone who is not in a position to start setting up C dev environments) who has a custom skin easily convert his custom skin to run with the new versions of Rockbox?

[mc2739]

In that case, would someone with a build environment already set up mind compiling and sharing an executable for Windows?

Here you go: skinupdater executable and source (r26887)

The syntax is: skinupdater wps_name.wps wps_new_name.wps

Each of your .wps, .sbs and .fms files need to be updated.

[bobbydriver]

Many thanks for this MC2739

That works a treat in so far as it outputs the sbs and wps files in the new format

Doing a file diff on the skinupdated files and the ones that I manually updated according to the new spec showed up a couple of lines that I missed, so I was hopeful that this was the answer

However - when I load the new theme it still doesn't work (just displays the standard rockbox non-cover art mono theme instead)

Hmm- what can be wrong with my theme?

EDIT
Sorted it - I had renamed everything in the theme as v2 but not created a v2 sub-directory with the images in the WPS directory

d'oh! as they say

Many thanks to everyone who helped me out

[MajiKool Dragonâ„¢]

i noticed in converting my theme that %C has changed to %Cd.

[AsusFreak]

i noticed in converting my theme that %C has changed to %Cd.

Take a look at this:
http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/SkinBreakingChange

[lazybum]

In that case, would someone with a build environment already set up mind compiling and sharing an executable for Windows?

Here you go: skinupdater executable and source (r26887)

The syntax is: skinupdater wps_name.wps wps_new_name.wps

Each of your .wps, .sbs and .fms files need to be updated.

Hi if i want to use an old wps i just have to convert it using that tool right?
But it doesn't seem to be working 0.0. Ive renamed the images folder. Heres what the new wps looks like. Anyone knows what is the problem with it?

%wd
# Progress bar etc.
%V(0,1,-,8,1)%Vf(
%%pb)%Vb(pb.bmp)0%|0%|128%|6%|
%x(a,pbbackground.bmp,0,0)
%V(0,8,-,-,1)%Vf(
%%al%%pc%%ac%%?mp%<Stopped)%Vb(Playing)Paused%|FF%|Rewind>%ar%pt

# Track info
%V(0,17,-,-,1)%Vf(
%%s%%ac%%?it%<%%it)%Vb(Unknown Track%>
%%V)0|27|-|-|1|
%s%ac%?id<%id%|Unknown Album> %?iy<%(%iy%)%|>
%V(0,37,-,-,1)%Vf(
%%s%%ac%%?ia%<%%ia)%Vb(Unknown Artist%>

%# Playlist and codec info
%%V)0|47|-|-|1|
%alPL:%pp/%pe%?ps< %(S%)%|>%?mm<%| %(R%)%| %(R1%)%| %(R%)%| %(R%)> %arC:%fc %fb

# Battery and Volume
%V(0,56,-,-,1)%Vf(
%%alB:%%bl%%%% %%acV:%%pvdB%%arRG:%%?rg%<Off)%Vb(Track)Album|TShuffle|AShuffle|No tag>

Its for the clip+ btw, if it matters

[JdGordon]

run it again with the -m option... the clip is technically a mono display

[lazybum]

Sorry but may i know how do you do that?

EDIT: ok nvm got it. Thanks for the help! And for the tool!