Creating a theme for WSS and error: A theme with the name "ThemeID 1011" and version already exists on the server.

on August 28, 2006

This article relate on the creation of a new theme for WSS.

If you follow the instruction in the SDK you may end the process with the error message:

A theme with the name “ThemeID 1011″ and version already exists on the server.

I will first provide the correct steps and related information to create a new theme. Afterward, I will provide “the tip” that will fix the whole mess.

Create a custom theme

All of the themes available for use on a SharePoint server are stored beneath a single folder (one subfolder per theme):

C:Program FilesCommon FilesMicrosoft Sharedweb server extensions60TEMPLATETHEMES

Here are the basic steps to create a new theme called “IXIS":

First, make a working copy of the new theme.
Pick one of the folders containing a theme in the directory listed above, and make a copy of it in directory listed above. For example, copy the WATER folder to the IXIS folder. Note: the folder name must be all caps.
You can modify the files you copied as a starting point for your theme.

Second, modify the files that hook your theme to the list of available themes.
In your theme’s folder, rename the WATER.INF file to the MIST.INF. This name should match your folder name exactly.

Edit the INF file to set the DisplayName of your theme. You can have spaces. No ” are required when you have spaces.

[info]
title=IxisTheme

Finally, the list of available themes is defined in this file:
C:Program FilesCommon FilesMicrosoft Sharedweb server extensions60TEMPLATELAYOUTS1033SPTHEMES.XML

Edit this XML file and insert a new section for your custom theme, in the position in the list you want your entry to appear. Note: the list is not automatically alphabetized.

Code:

<Templates>
<TemplateID>IXIS</TemplateID>
<DisplayName>IxisTheme</DisplayName>
<Description>Description</Description>
<Thumbnail>../images/ixisimage.png</Thumbnail>
<Preview>../images/ixisimage.gif</Preview>

</Templates>

a) The TemplateID must match your folder name, but should be all lower case.
b) The DisplayName should match the title you set in the MIST.INF file. At least, that’s the convention the canned themes follow.
c) The Preview image is a 300h x 180w pixel gif, and is used by the Apply a Theme function in the Admin tool. It’s unclear to me whether/when the PNG version is used.

Third, apply the theme to your SharePoint site.
1. On the top link bar, click Site Settings.
2. In the Manage This Web section, click Apply theme to site.
3. Choose the name of your new theme, and click Apply.

Finally, implement and test your changes
Now you can navigate to your SharePoint site to view the effects of your
changes to the theme.

You still have the same exact error? Here is “the tip":
When you apply a theme, it is copied into the WSS Site. When you had all your failures, the “Bad theme” had been copied to “subwebfolder” _theme. It is Cached. Even if you iisreset, this cache will not be cleared. So you need to clear this folder and reapply the working theme. then it should work!

Here is some more info:

a)From a XP client computer, create a new Network Shortcut and enter UNC adress like \urlsubsite.

b)Look for _Theme folder. This is a virtual folder. You suposed to have a subfolder with the name of your folder theme. If so, go with your browser to change theme for “no theme".

c)Delete the virtual folder under _Theme and go back to your browser to apply
your problematic theme.

It works fine for me. Remember, UNC will work if WebClient service on client computer is up and on XP.

Note: I forgot to mention that, if you are modifying your theme from the global Theme location, you’ll need to apply another theme and than, reapply your modified theme before you can visualise your modifications.
Again, because the template is duplicated to the WSS Site Directory. Reapplying the theme will overwite the theme in the WSS directory.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this post! I ws stumbling around with this 1011 error for a couple hours. I had the theme working before, but then after I duped my LAYOUTS directory and adjusted the _layouts VD pointer I started getting this error...thought it was somehow related to having it defined in the 2 SPTHEMES.xml files, but it turned out to just be the caching!

Browsed to \\serverName\_themes and deleted the theme folders.

ShareThis