frankiejr

Okay.

I know they say it can't be done...but nothing's impossible!

What I'd like to do is to clone the "X" theme, and just change the header graphic. But I can't figure out how to upload the theme once I've changed it.

I downloaded the X theme through WHM, opened it, changed the pic....but whenever I try upload the theme, I get an error message saying:

Sorry.. thats not a cpanel theme tarball (logout.html is missing)! I'm pretty sure it's because I haven't figured out how to build a tarball yet. Does anyone know of a step I'm missing, or possibly some software to create a .tar file on a WinXP PC? Or any possible way to build a new theme from an "X" clone?

Thanks!
Frankie Benevides
http://www.ninevoltplus.com/

Kayla

frankiejr

Thanks, Kayla! I'd actually already read that message before I posted, but I was pretty sure all that was about shared hosting. I'm on a dedicated server and was hoping to have a bit more control over things. Also, BlueLagoon isn't available on my server.

I could solve my problem if I could only learn how to make a valid theme tarball to upload to my server. Can anyone help me out with that?

Thanks,
Frankie Benevides
http://www.ninevoltplus.com/

Travis

if i was you i'd just look at downloads.com for one

__________________
"A lot of people are waiting for Martin Luther King or Mahatma Gandhi to come back -- but they are gone. We are it. It is up to us. It is up to you."
— Marian Wright Edelman

frankiejr

I just learned how to build tarballs by logging in via SSH, but doing it that way still didn't fix the problem. I'm sure it's something simple I'm overlooking. I'll try more later on today.

fwwebs5

Long way about it, but it works.

Clone the x theme to something like xold, so you have a backup and if necessary you can clone the xold to x to fix it.

Using SSH do the following:

cd /usr/local/cpanel/base/frontend/x/branding (this is the cpanel x theme image directory)
cp -r * /home/yourusername/newdirectory (copy the entire directory to a new directory that you have ftp access to)

Using your FTP client do the following:
download the entire directory or the files that you want to update or replace.

Once you have what you like you can then reverse the above process and your header is done.

Or you could:
cd /usr/local/cpanel/base/frontend/x/stdheader.html
cp ./stdheader.html /home/yourusername/newdirectory

and modify the html for your own logo.

Here's the problem: Everytime cpanel updates itself it's going to replace the x theme. So you'll need to disable auto updates or repeat this process.

__________________
Fw Web Solutions
http://fwwebs.com

patrickb

http://www.cpanel.net/docs/whm/index.html

They have a section about themeing WHM and Cpanel there. It's not very thorough but gives you a little more information about how to do it.

__________________
Patrick

Warnings: The program(s) might crash unexpectedly or behave otherwise strangely. (But of course, so do many commercial programs on Windows.) --www.gimp.org

frankiejr

I managed to successfully change the "x" theme. I'll put the steps I followed below in case anyone else wants to do the same thing I did. <b>Note:</b>I'm pretty sure this will only work with dedicated servers...correct me if I'm wrong, please.

First of all, the only change I really wanted to make was the header graphic in the theme. The way it was built didn't allow for the graphic to be changed by branding. Here's an example of what to do to create a theme called "foo".

I'm not so good at writing instructions, so please let me know if something I've written isn't very clear.

Also, as a disclaimer, I take no responsibility for anything that happens if something bad happens...proceed at your own risk!

Example: Creating a theme called "foo"

1. In the WHM menu, go to the themes section. Select "Download a cPanel Themeball"
2. Right-click "x", select "Save Target As"
3. Unzip the saved file
4. Find the folder called "x" that the theme files are all stored in, and rename it "foo"
5. Edit the .gif file named "cpaneltop.gif"
6. Open the file "stdheader.html" in your HTML editor
7. On line 53, you will see this line of code:
   
   
   Code:

   <td align="left" width="725" nowrap><img src="/frontend/x/cpaneltop.gif"></td>

   and change it to this:
   
   
   Code:

   <td align="left" width="725" nowrap><img src="/frontend/foo/cpaneltop.gif"></td>

8. Save the file
9. Upload the entire directory "foo" to your site
10. SSH into your server (I use Putty to do this)
11. Navigate to the directory that contains the folder <b>foo</b> you just uploaded (don't go into foo)
12. Use this command to create a tarball of the directory:
    
    
    Code:

    tar zcf foo.tar.gz foo

13. Go back into your FTP program and right next to the foo directory you should have your theme tarball (named "foo.tar.gz"). Download this file.
14. In WHM, select "Install a New cPanel Theme" in the Themes menu
15. Click "Browse" and navigate to your saved theme tarball on your hard drive. Click "Upload"
16. In WHM, select "List Installed cPanel Themes" in the Themes menu
17. Your new theme titled foo should be listed.

My own theme is just a simple image change, nothing more. Now that I know it's possible to mod, I plan on making a few more changes including a site menu, links to my support pages, contact info, etc.


Hope that helps someone, some day!

Frankie Benevides
http://www.ninevoltplus.com/

Travis

good job!

__________________
"A lot of people are waiting for Martin Luther King or Mahatma Gandhi to come back -- but they are gone. We are it. It is up to us. It is up to you."
— Marian Wright Edelman