Customize the chromebar

This procedure shows you how to change which application icons appear in the chromebar. It involves setting theme variables.

About this task

The chromebar sits along the top of the application interface. By default, it displays the Settings icon, the Close Application icon (unless implemented by the application as an action view), the Upload Status icon (when files are actively being uploaded), and Runtime Status icon (when the DVM is busy).

Note:

To have action views appear in the chromebar, instead of in a toolbar, menu, or action panel, use Genero presentation styles. See the Action views within GBC chrome in the Genero Business Development Language User Guide.

Figure: Chromebar with default icons


The icons that the chromebar displays depend on the setting of the gbc-ChromeBarWidget-visible-items theme variable. See options in Table 1.

Table 1. Options for gbc-ChromeBarWidget-visible-items
Option Description
"debug" Display the AUI debug tree.
"runInGDC" Create a shortcut to open the app in the GDC
"uploadStatus" Display the file upload status
"runtimeStatus" Display a progress bar when the DVM is busy
"proxyLog" Open the proxy logs
"VMLog" Open the DVM logs
"settings" Open the GBC settings dialog

The default value is "uploadStatus runtimeStatus settings".

Note: Debug Mode

Applications in debug mode always display the debug icon, in addition to those set by the theme variable. By clicking on the debug icon on the Chromebar, you can access the Debug page, which has tabs to view AUI tree, Proxy logs, and VM logs. When running in a browser, you will find the runInGDC icon (play button) at the far right of the top bar in the Debug page.

Before you begin

This procedure assumes you are comfortable updating theme parts and themes. For the basic principles behind themes and theme parts, see How customization works. For instructions about adding and modifying themes and theme parts, see Working with themes. For information about the underlying GBC infrastructure and its components, see Theme reference.

  1. Identify the theme part you plan to update. If you are creating a new theme part, prepare the directory.
  2. In the theme part, open the theme.scss.json file in a text editor.
  3. To specify the icons that display in the chromebar, edit the gbc-ChromeBarWidget-visible-items variable. For example:
    // in theme.scss.json
    {
      ...
      "gbc-ChromeBarWidget-visible-items": "VMLog runInGDC uploadStatus runtimeStatus settings",
      ...
    }

    In this example, the chromebar will display the default icons for VM logs, Run app in GDC, Upload Status, Runtime Status, and Settings.

  4. If you created a new theme part, add it to one or more themes.
  5. Save your changes and rebuild your customization using gbc build:
    $ gbc build --customization customization-project-dir
  6. Test that your changes work as expected.

    Open your application and view the chromebar.

    Note:

    You may not be able to view the Upload Status icon (which displays only when a file is being uploaded into your application) or the Runtime Status progress bar (which displays only when the GBC is waiting for a response from the server).

    Figure: Chromebar with customized icons


    Tip:

    You may need to use CTRL + F5 to clear the browser cache before you see your changes.

    If your tests do not behave as expected, ensure you are using your newly-built custom GBC. Depending on your development environment, you may need to package and deploy a custom GBC client. For information on which customization and theme you are using, see Selecting customizations and themes.