Changing the appearance of the site by using themes

You can change the appearance of the IBM® Rational® Asset Manager web application by creating custom cascading style sheets and providing custom images.

Before you begin

If you modified the default files to customize your theme for a previous release of Rational Asset Manager, before you update to version 7.5.3.1, download the current theme. The current theme is overwritten during an update with the default theme for the version. After you complete the Rational Asset Manager update to the server, reapply the theme to a test installation to identify issues from previous versions.

About this task

A repository administrator can download an archive that contains the images and cascading style sheets that define the web application appearance. After these files are customized, the repository administrator uploads updated archive to implement the change.

Procedure

  1. Log in to the web client as a repository administrator.
  2. Click Administration.
  3. In the Repository Administration sidebar, click Tools.
  4. On the Tools page, find the Manage Themes section.
  5. Click Download Current Theme.
  6. Save the currentTheme.zip archive to your local computer. This archive file contains cascading style sheets (CSS), JavaServer Pages (JSP), and image files.
  7. Extract the archive. Maintain the folder structure.
  8. Create one or more CSS files and save them in the theme/custom/css directory.
  9. Review the default style sheets that were installed with Rational Asset Manager. For any styles you would like to change, copy the style rules into your CSS file and edit the styles. The changes you make in your new CSS files override the style rules in the default style sheets.
    Important: Do not modify the default style sheets in the theme archive file. These style sheets change from release to release and are overwritten when Rational Asset Manager is upgraded.
  10. Add your custom style sheets to theme/custom/cssIncludes.jspf as links. Example:

    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="${pageContext.request.contextPath}/${applicationScope.themePath}/custom/css/jkeEnterprises.css" />

  11. Create an images folder in the custom directory and save image files used in your theme within it. Example: theme/custom/images-jke-enterprises
  12. Create an archive that contains the updated files. You can customize the name of the archive, but the folder named "theme" must be the root folder of the archive. These files must be included in the theme archive in addition to the customized CSS files you created, even if no changes were made:
    • theme/custom/header.jspf: contains the logo image, the name of the logged in user, and the Log in, Log out, Help, and Extensions links
    • theme/custom/cssIncludes.jspf: contains the <link> tags to your custom CSS files.
    • theme/custom/homeContent.jspf: contains the content area of the home page
    • theme/custom/jspHeader.jspf: contains additional banner details
    • theme/custom/requestAccess.jspf: This file is displayed below the sign-in form on the sign-in page. In the default theme, nothing is in this fragment; however, you might want to add links, such as "Forgot password" or "Register," which are common for web applications.
    • theme/custom/requestAccessForm.jspf: This file is displayed on the home page, below the sign-in form. In the default theme, nothing is in this fragment; however, you might want to add links, such as "Forgot password" or "Register," which are common for web applications.
    • theme/custom/css/advanced.css: advanced CSS for sizing and positioning
    • theme/custom/css/basic.css: basic CSS for images, backgrounds, font styles
    • theme/custom/css/hideRightColumn.css: CSS for pages that do not have a right column
    • theme/custom/css/pageLayout.css: CSS for the general page layout
    • theme/custom/css/showLeftColumn.css: CSS for pages that have a left column
  13. On the Tools page, in the Manage Theme section, click Browse.
  14. Locate the updated archive.
  15. Click Upload.

Results

The new theme is applied. If you do not see the changes, click the refresh or reload button on the browser. You might also have to clear the cache for your web browser. You do not need to restart the web application. To verify that the theme was applied correctly, view several pages of the web application. If you see unexpected results, modify the custom CSS files and upload the theme again.

What to do next

Save a copy of your theme archive. If you must restore the original theme, click Restore the default theme.

If the web application is redeployed or upgraded to a new version, the default theme is applied and you must upload the custom theme.


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