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HomeHomeUsing DNN Platf...Using DNN Platf...Skins, Themes, ...Skins, Themes, ...Skins.xml - why use it when skins.css seems to work?Skins.xml - why use it when skins.css seems to work?
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6/29/2006 1:41 PM
 
John Cornelison


Joined: 7/15/2005
Posts: 429

While I've created my own skin & spent hours reading the books and core doc on skinning, I only really clued in to the skin.xml file that some skins use yesterday. I have been looking for a high level explanation discussing why one would need/desire to use skin.xml when skin.css seems to work fine for everything I've tried to do so far.

Most of the forum posts on this seem to think everyone is born knowing how to use skin.xml, but I must be from another solar system! I've the Wrox and Packt books and done a lot of forum/DNN site browsing but haven't come across a simple explanation of this.

Anyone care to share their favorite links that discuss this?!

I was trying to figure out how to adjust the top level appearance of my SOLPARTMENU (I can adjust the background container color, the menu "button's" background color, and seemingly EVERY aspect of the submenus for my draft 4.0.2 site: www.vashon.biz, but the top level font & arrows I've not been able to adjust yet. This led me to explore the SolPartmenu's long list of attributes (in the DNN Skinning Guide) & made me realize I know how to adjust any "Default" with a CSS class (e.g., CSS class MainMenu_MenuItem), but not how to adjust "Attributes" without a "Default" (e.g., rootmenuitemcssclass). This lead me to the idea that I maybe need to (somehow) create a skin.xml file before I can create a CSS class to mess with the full richness of SolPartMenu, like rootmenuitemcssclass.

I've also partially intuited that settings from the XML file are lower in precidence than using the CSS file. Also perhaps that using the XML file is more efficient than CSS - (or maybe it that was just CSS is more efficient than HTML which I do understand).

Am I on the right track?!

- Stumped in Puget Sound

- John
www.VashonSoftware.com
 
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6/29/2006 5:39 PM
 
Wells Doty


Joined: 4/18/2006
Posts: 559

From what I can tell, there are certain attributes that you just can't control with CSS, such as the orientation of SOLPART and other modules. For the most part, I use CSS to control the appearance of my items, but there are times where I need to chance parameters only available through the CSS (ie. the seperator character for the [LINKS] token. However, I'm by no means a guru, this is simply what I've observed during my journies through developing sites using DNN.

SB

Wells Doty Jr
Online Content Development
 
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6/30/2006 3:04 AM
 
Gilbert Vanden Borre


www.stabiton.net
Joined: 3/18/2005
Posts: 403
Dear VashJuan

When you buy a good skin and containers then you don't need to know what the .xml-file does.
You can change the layout a little by changing the css-file of the skin/container or by changing the portal css-file.
When you want to write your own skins and containers then you must know how the uploading .xml file works.
You can configure your skin in pure html with tokens and you can set some properties of these tokens in your .xml file.
When you upload the .zip file then dnn write the necessary user control (ascx file) needed in asp.net 1.0 or asp.net 2.0.
If you write directly a user control with VS or Visual Web Developer 2005 for instance... then you can set directly the necessary properties of the dnn user controls that you use. 
Read the documentation. It's very good explained.
Vriendelijke groeten
Gilbert Vanden Borre
 
New Post
6/30/2006 8:01 PM
 
John Cornelison


Joined: 7/15/2005
Posts: 429

SilentBob, thanks, that makes sense that it just allows access to additional functionality, though I don't see why that functional could not have been exposed easily - but I've yet to write a module however...

gv, I've successfully written my own skin & container & don't use an XML file. But I use ASCX & CSS. If I'm reading you right, you imply that it is just the HTML skins that require the XML files.

I was asking where in the doc this is explained. In what I've read, I have not found any basic introduction to this, certainly not in the skinning doumentation.

Thanks for your replies!

 

- John
www.VashonSoftware.com
 
New Post
7/1/2006 1:34 AM
 
Gilbert Vanden Borre


www.stabiton.net
Joined: 3/18/2005
Posts: 403

Dear VashJuan

In the skinning documentation of version 3.2.2 you can find...
Page 27 Simple markup (notice the use of [TOKEN]s for skin objects and content panes as wel as the attribute specification for graphics files:
Page 29 The attributes file (skin.xml)

Page 37
An overview of Skin objects
The replacing Controls of the [TOKEN]s
for instance
[BANNER] ----> <dnn:Banner runat="server" id="dnnBanner">

Vriendelijke groeten
Gilbert Vanden Borre
 
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