Chapter 4
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Creating custom layout themes 33
9. In FileMaker Pro Advanced, choose Layouts menu > New Layout/
Report
to use your theme.
Follow the instruction in the New Layout/Report assistant. The third
panel presents you with a list of themes to select from.
If your new themes don’t appear in the New Layout/Report assistant,
you might have made a syntax error. For information, see
“Checking
theme files for errors” on page 41.
Requirements for theme files
FileMaker Pro Advanced layout themes are described in an XML
document saved in text file format. Each text file must have the .fth
filename extension and reside in the Themes folder inside the
FileMaker
Pro Advanced application folder.
XML resembles HTML in many ways. However, unlike HTML, the
XML for layout themes must be well-formed and comply with the
required syntax. Omitting a required element or attribute, or
mismatching start and end tags will result in an unusable document
and FileMaker
Pro Advanced will be unable to parse the XML or
display the theme in the New Layout/Report assistant.
Minimum XML elements for themes
Every theme file must begin with an XML-document processing
instruction that declares it as an XML document using the XML
1.0
specification. In addition, an XML document for a layout theme must
contain the <FMTHEMES> and </FMTHEMES> start and end tags
for the file. This FMTHEMES root element can contain one or more
FMTHEME element.
Containing all of your themes (FMTHEME elements) in one file is
useful if you want to organize the way that themes appear in the New
Report/Layout assistant. The order that FMTHEME elements are
listed in the file determines the order in which the THEMENAME
values appear.
Note Values for the THEMENAME element can contain any
characters from the ASCII character set. However, if you’re using an
XML editor to write your themes or if you plan to use the themes on
different platforms, certain measures must be taken.
Names of custom themes appear as options in the New Layout/Report assistant
Minimum elements required for a theme file
