Packaging iOS Themes

Once you’ve created a Theme, you can package it up to install and use with its Screenlet. Your Theme is a code library that you can package using CocoaPods.

Follow the steps below to package your Theme for use with CocoaPods. (Note that it’s important that you use the same names and identifiers described in these steps):

1. Create an empty Cocoa Touch Framework Xcode project.

   

   Figure 1: Choose *Cocoa Touch Framework* when creating a project for your Theme.

2. Name your project LiferayScreensThemeName, replacing Name with your Theme’s name. You can specify any name, but it’s a best practice to use your Theme’s Xcode name, capitalizing its first letter. The entire name becomes the Theme’s CocoaPods name.

3. Configure Liferay Screens for CocoaPods, using the steps described in Preparing iOS Projects for Liferay Screens.

4. Prepare your Theme’s classes and resources by making sure your classes compile successfully in Xcode and by explicitly specifying a valid module for the custom class–the grayed-out Current default value only suggests a module.

   

   Figure 2: This XIB file's custom class's module is NOT specified.

   In the following screenshot, the setting for the custom class is correct:

   

   Figure 3: The XIB file is bound to the custom class name, with the specified module.

5. In your project’s root folder, add a file named LiferayScreensTheme-Name.podspec (change Name to your Theme’s CocoaPods name–the value you used to replace Name in step 2). Note: you must start your the .podspec file’s name and the project’s name with LiferayScreens.

   Add the following content to the file:

   Pod::Spec.new do |s|
       s.name = 'LiferayScreensThemeName'
       s.version = '1.0'
       s.summary = 'Your theme description'
       s.source = {
           :git => 'https://your_repository_url.git',
           :tag => 'v1.0'
       }
   
       s.platform = :ios, '8.0'
       s.requires_arc = true
   
       s.source_files = 'Your/Relative/Folder/**/*.{h,m,swift}'
       s.resources = 'Your/Relative/Folder/**/*.{xib,png,plist,lproj}'
   
       s.dependency 'LiferayScreens'
   end
   

   Make the following substitutions in the .podspec file:

   • Replace Name in LiferayScreensThemeName, with your Theme’s CocoaPods name–the value you used to replace Name in step 2.
   • Replace your_repository_url with your repository’s URL.
   • Replace Your/Relative/Folder/ with the path to your source and resource files.

6. Commit your changes and push your project’s branch to your Git repository.

Your Theme is now available for other developers to pull from your Git repository. You can, alternatively, publish your Theme as a public Pod. For instructions, see the chapter Deploying a library in the official CocoaPods guide.

Developers can now use your Theme by adding the following line to their app’s Podfile; they must, of course, change Name to the Theme’s CocoaPods name and your_repository_url to your repository’s URL:

pod 'LiferayScreensThemeName', :git => 'https://your_repository_url.git'

Nice work! Now you know how to package and distribute Screenlet Themes with CocoaPods.

Related Topics

Using Themes in iOS Screenlets

Architecture of Liferay Screens for iOS

Creating iOS Themes

Creating iOS Screenlets

Preparing Android Projects for Liferay Screens