Allow Custom Login Background

[gerit1a]

Allow using a custom login background that can be selected through the theming app before applying the theme.

Could we replace this in core/css/core/_server.scss:
background-image: none !important;

With this:
background-image: url(/index.php/apps/theming/loginbackground) !important;

[gerit1a]

I originally submitted a pull request, but I wasn't sure if I should or how I should do so? If the pull request is okay, maybe you can reopen and commit?

[mwalbeck]

there were no problems with your pull request so no worries there. I do have one question, how would one change the background while using a custom theme? because I can't seem to recall/find a way to interact with the theming app while using a custom theme.

[gerit1a]

There is no true way, per say. You can just disable the theme in the server config, access the theming app, then re enable the theme. You can also manually edit the background and logo in the nextcloud data/appdata/theming/images.

Also after looking into the theming app's code, it looks like there may be a way to disable the check on a custom theme. This would allow us to use the app to change the background/logo even with a custom theme. I'll look into it.

[gerit1a]

Okay in apps/theming/lib/Settings/Admin.php on line 62 change it from this:
if ($theme !== '') { $themable = false; $errorMessage = $this->l->t('You are already using a custom theme'); }
to
/*if ($theme !== '') { $themable = false; $errorMessage = $this->l->t('You are already using a custom theme'); }*/

This might make the file integrity check fail though...
EDIT:
Looks like doing this will allow the theme app to function, however changing anything with it will remove the theme from the config.

EDIT 2:
Apparently it doesn't remove the theme from the config. It just refreshes it without the theme enabled. Refreshing the page gets the theme back. I think its this line of code at apps/theming/js/settings-admin.js line 65. Haven't figured out how to change it just yet though.

[mwalbeck]

I do like the idea, but other than the fact that changing the background is a little wonky, I've noticed that the theming app is creating some inconsistencies with icons for custom themes. More specifically the icons for folders and files in the files app.

I'm going to start recommending people disable the theming app as long as there are inconsistencies in the icons used, and look into why that is. As well as looking into a way to change the background without disabling the theme first.

These changes should preferably be done upstream.

Nonetheless, I do intend to merge your pull request after I get a better understanding for what is required for the above. It should be merged before the NC 12 code is moved to master.

If you find anything interesting regarding the above please let me know.

[gerit1a]

What inconsistencies are there with the folders? Are they not supposed to be blue?

[mwalbeck]

Yes, but sometimes they show up as purple instead which is the folder icon from the example theme that comes with NC. It is also noted in the NC docs that you should disable the theming app when using a custom theme.

[mwalbeck]

How about this, we change the background-image url to

url("../../background") !important;

then to change the background you place a file named background (no extension) in the root of the nextcloud-breeze-dark folder. That way we don't need the theming app at all for this to work.

[gerit1a]

I'm unable to reproduce the purple folders. Can you tell me what you did to get that? I see that the theming app should be disabled but it seems to work fine except for this purple folder problem?

The only disadvantage to that solution is that the background would get overwritten with every update, and it is not as simple as just changing it through the web app.

BTW Is there a way to autoupdate the theme? Through git I'm supposing?

[gerit1a]

Also is there a reason for the double .. /?

Should is just be
url("../background") !important;

I'm not terribly experienced in this field but it's just from the code I have seen.

[mwalbeck]

It is linked to which icons are cached in the data/appdata_* folder. Either the default NC icons or the example theme icons are cached there, and when using the theming app is utilizes whichever icons are cached. If you disable it the icons are taken straight from the theme you are using. I don't know the specific details as to which icons are cached.

If you use git to pull the latest updates then it's not an issue, git will only replace the background file if one is included in the git repo itself.

Yes, the reason for the double "../" is because the css file is in "/core/css" and the image is located in "/" so the we need to move two directories up to get to the image file.

the background-image rule should be

background-image: url("../../background") !important;

and if you could also add background to the .gitignore file, on a new line, in your pull request then git wont care about the file at all and will just leave it be.

[mwalbeck]

and here is an example of the purple folders when the theming app is enabled

[gerit1a]

It appears that the folders changing colors is a result of changing the "color" option in the theming app. If you click it and select reset to default or 0082C9, the folders turn back to blue. I would actually consider the ability to change folder colors an advantage?

[gerit1a]

So it appears that the icons are actually generated from the color selector in the theming app. Changing the color value will cause it to refresh all of these icons with the new specified color.

It is also probably possible to disable this functionality in the theming app, however like you said, it would preferably be better upstream. I don't see that happening, however, since this functionality is specific to this theme.

[mwalbeck]

Interesting, you are partially correct. You can change the colours of the folders but the change to purple has happen on multiple fresh installs. Every time a new NC version comes out I download the zip from their website and use that for development, and it happens more or less every time. Also having the theming app enabled also means that some of the icons for the different file types are taken from the default theme instead of the custom theme.

I agree that the ability to change folder colours when using a custom theme is good, just not the way you can do it now. I know there are some interesting changes coming in NC 13 which might make the implementation of these things easier, some it's something I plan to look at in the future.