Animating a Nokia Cell Phone Theme with Carbide.ui - Packaging and distributing themes
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Carbide.ui provides the SIS_Package wizard for packaging and distributing themes. This is available by choosing the Create New Package option from the Tools menu. This option brings up the New Deployment Package window, which contains options for selecting the theme's target platform, name, Unique ID, and Author, Vendor and Copyright information. It also offers options for allowing or preventing copying of the theme, whether it should be protected by Digital Rights Management (DRM), and the color depth.
To the right of the windows is a tree view in which every modified theme element can be marked for inclusion or exclusion from the package, making it trivial to distribute different versions of the theme without having to create new projects to just add or remove specific items. Every modified element is included by default, so unless you don't want the package to contain all your changes, you can ignore this option and move on.
Clicking the Next button brings up options for the package's location and filename, and also for signing, which is a mechanism for verifying the source and validity of the theme to its eventual users. S60 Version 3 themes must be signed.
Carbide.ui also has a built-in transferring tool for moving a finished theme package to a cell phone. This has a simple file-browser layout in which you can locate the desired theme package file (it can be recognized by the .sis extension) and drag it across to your connected phone.
Conclusion
As can be seen from this series of articles, Carbide.ui provides a powerful framework within which customized themes for Symbian-based phones can be created. The application contains many additional features which there hasn't been room to discuss in detail in the series, but a little time spent working with the interface and reading the documentation will reveal an extensive array of additional capabilities.
With the rapid rise of the cell phone, the adoption of Symbian as a de-facto standard in the industry, and the increasing popularity of downloadable ring tones, wallpapers, application and many other cell phone customizations, there can be no doubt that the ability to create unique interface layouts for these devices is a powerful one. Carbide.ui brings this ability within the range of everyone, and Nokia is to be commended for having made the decision to make this software freely available. Frustration at not being able to make your phone look and act the way you want is a thing of the past.
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