RichFaces 3.3.1 will support new feature called "themes".
More information can be found in the following forum threads: http://www.jboss.org/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&t=152000 and http://www.jboss.org/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&t=151615&postdays=0&postorder=desc&start=0
Let's discuss how would developers create their own themes. We've decided that tooling support for new themes creation will be based on Maven. There are two different options.
1. Maven archetype
Common approach widely used in Maven.
a) Commands necessary to create new theme
mvn archetype:create
-DarchetypeGroupId=org.richfaces.cdk
-DarchetypeArtifactId=maven-archetype-theme
-DarchetypeVersion=RF-VERSION
-DartifactId=ARTIFACT-ID
-DgroupId=GROUP-ID
-Dversion=VERSION
Will create new project containing files for the single theme.
b) Pros: very easy to develop, will save time.
Cons: allows creation of
only single theme per project (.jar file). Second, third, etc. themes can be added to the project only by manually creating necessary files.
2. Maven archetype + CDK goal Common approach used in RichFaces CDK (currently, goals for components and Plug'n'Skins exist)
a) Commands necessary to create new theme
mvn archetype:create
-DarchetypeGroupId=org.richfaces.cdk
-DarchetypeArtifactId=maven-archetype-theme
-DarchetypeVersion=RF-VERSION
-DartifactId=ARTIFACT-ID
-DgroupId=GROUP-ID
-Dversion=VERSION
Will create project - can be skipped if project exists.
mvn cdk:add-theme -Dname=THEME_NAME
mvn cdk:add-theme -Dname=ANOTHER_THEME_NAME
...
Will add themes.
b) Pros: allows to add arbitrary number of themes to the project easily (themes can be even added to existing plug'n'skin projects)
Cons: we can reuse existing plug'n'skin archetype, but implementation of CDK goal requires more resources for development and testing.
