Liferay 7 Eclipse IDE: how to create a simple theme?

[Oliver Bayer, modificado 7 Anos atrás.]

I'm working with Liferay since v5.2.3 and even in v6.1 it was really easy building a custom theme by using the SDK and Eclipse IDE. Now I'm struggling at creating a custom theme for Liferay 7-GA3 and using Liferay IDE.

• download and install JDK 8
• download and extract Eclipse Neon JEE
• download and extract Liferay 7-GA3 Tomcat bundle
• install Liferay IDE 3.0.1....-ga2 by using the following url: http://releases.liferay.com/tools/ide/latest/stable/
• create a new runtime environment and Liferay v7 server
• create a new plugin project, maven based, plugin-type theme

I can't select any Liferay 7 version in the "Create New Maven Profile". If I use 6.2.5 the theme creation works but afterwards I'm getting the following exception at build time.

Any help is appreciated.

Regards Oli

[David H Nebinger, modificado 7 Anos atrás.]

Maven support is not ready for themes. The new themes are built using modern tools that typical front end folks use.

Front end developers are not java developers and had no use for the Liferay IDE, maven, etc. Their toolset is quite different and, hearing their cries, Liferay adapted to allow front end developers to use the tools they were most familiar with.

It sounds like you're more like me, more of a cross functional developer doing front end and back end. The maven tools may be coming, but they're certainly not ready yet. If you're like me, you're going to have to bite the bullet and give the new tools a try and learn them enough to get the job done.

[Oliver Bayer, modificado 7 Anos atrás.]

Hi David,

thanks for the feedback. You're right. I'm more of a back end java guy doing front end jobs too than the other way round . I'm not really familiar with these tools atm, heard the names, saw the usage at Devcon but nothing further.

After reading Gregory's blog which states that the new IDE supports Liferay 7 and seeing that GA3 is out I thought it's a good time to start digging into the new features of v7. But seeing that not even the most simple plugin type (themes aren't such a complex thing as e.g. OSGi) is supported is a bit .... hm .... disappointing. I don't like the idea of having to install multiple external tools (NodeJS, Yeoman, Ruby-Sass ...) but rather prefering a nice clean Eclipse integration/support .

Oli

[David H Nebinger, modificado 7 Anos atrás.]

So all plugins except for themes are still supported by the Liferay IDE.

Themes, however, now use a different toolset is all. And the new toolset works and, with a little practice, I think you'll find that it's not that hard to use. I sat through a session yesterday at the LSNA on customizing Lexicon (themes), and with "gulp watch" running you can basically edit theme files in the theme project (the Liferay theme guys seem to favor using Sublime for the editing) and the changes will be reflected when you refresh the browser page.

Say what you want about Eclipse, but the advantages of using the new tools will come through pretty quickly.

The other plugins in the IDE are definitely supported. Use the New -> Liferay Module Project to start an OSGi-based project, not the Liferay Plugin Project template. It gets a little confusing since the IDE still supports the older versions of Liferay at the same time as Liferay 7. The old project types won't work for pure LR7 development and the new types won't work for legacy Liferays.

Perhaps we could talk Greg into separating into two different perspectives, one for Legacy and one for LR7. That way the menus would have to include both types?

What do you think, Oliver?

[Oliver Bayer, modificado 7 Anos atrás.]

I know I should find some time to get used to the new tools - it's not that I'm not willing to learn new technologies. Nontheless an Eclipse theme support would be great - old tools (maven etc) or new tools, it doesn't matter .

I used OSGi just as an example of a more complex extension than themes. I always start with themes because doing it this way you can show the "stakeholders" how Liferay could look like. They don't care if it's a hook or OSGi or sth else - they want to see it, proof of concept like .

I really like your idea of separating the development tools of Liferay 6 and 7 into two different Eclipse perspectives (if I got you right). This way it should be easier to distinguish which tools to use for which Liferay version. Maybe you can trigger Gregory with this feature request (and maybe trigger theme support in any way too ). Thanks in advance.

[David H Nebinger, modificado 7 Anos atrás.]

I pinged Greg on the idea, but I'm sure he's going to need a bug to actually get work done on it. Want to open that one, Oliver?

Oliver Bayer:

I know I should find some time to get used to the new tools - it's not that I'm not willing to learn new technologies. Nontheless an Eclipse theme support would be great - old tools (maven etc) or new tools, it doesn't matter .

I was in this same boat too. The time you invest will be worth it, the new tools are easier to use, and if you're like me you find learning new things to be fun...

[Gregory Amerson, modificado 7 Anos atrás.]

Oliver Bayer:

I know I should find some time to get used to the new tools - it's not that I'm not willing to learn new technologies. Nontheless an Eclipse theme support would be great - old tools (maven etc) or new tools, it doesn't matter .

I used OSGi just as an example of a more complex extension than themes. I always start with themes because doing it this way you can show the "stakeholders" how Liferay could look like. They don't care if it's a hook or OSGi or sth else - they want to see it, proof of concept like .

I really like your idea of separating the development tools of Liferay 6 and 7 into two different Eclipse perspectives (if I got you right). This way it should be easier to distinguish which tools to use for which Liferay version. Maybe you can trigger Gregory with this feature request (and maybe trigger theme support in any way too ). Thanks in advance.

Hey Oliver,

We just released new Milestone version of Liferay IDE 3.1 and it comes with support for building themes with maven. It works quite well actually because we have better Eclipse/Maven integration in the new theme.builder maven plugin. (I will blog about this shortly). FOr now you can see my blog post for details on how to install the new release. Once you have it installed you can do this:

1) File New Project... > Liferay > Liferay Module Project
2) select 'maven-module'
3) select 'theme' for project template

Now you can add your theme customizations to src/main/webapp, drag-n-drop to deploy the theme to Liferay 7 server. Good luck! Post back here for any problems you run into!

[venky yuvan, modificado 6 Anos atrás.]

Creating theme in liferay 7