[XPERIA X1 Themes and Apps] rotastrain:
Hey people,

Many people were pm'ing me n asking me to write tutorials on how to edit manila files n write lua.

As its a very less known topic im one of the few people who knows how to write it and edit it.

I will try to explain the basics first n then the advanced stuff

WHAT WE DO

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To be frank

manila editing is complicated.Not cause its hard but cause it need a lot of imagination

UnLike other languages that uses graphics like flash or vb or whatever lua and manila editing DOES NOT give you a visual workspace

You have to image what you write in real time and so it needs a lot of trial /error

THE BASICS

What we need

1>m9editor

the files we want to work on

1>As the basics i would like to explain how the background for all tabs mod was made

1.we have a file called 5c9aa261_manila.

for me this is the most important file that a developer needs

in manila this is a file that controls backgrounds

1>For example it runs on every tab and executes its functions on every tab

It is the shadow of tf3d

So anything that you want in the background in every tab or u want to be seen in every tab u put here

So by common sense the slider and the background are in this file

Now what we do for the bgfor all mod

STEP 1

1>Make a png file size 512 X 512

Manila cant take a image of any size.Therea re fixed sizes.i personally always use the size 512 X 512

So now we have a image named lets say sample.png

STEP 2

copy the file 5c9aa261_manila from the windoes folder and open it in m9editor

doubl click it

NOw the hard part ;)

the structure of a manila file was something that took me loads of thinking to figure out

a basic structure

Group (named whatever)

--FIle in group(top most layer)--this is what is seen right on top

--File in group(second layer)--this is what is seen underneath the upper file

and so on a and so forth

LUA

lua files are action script that are recognised by the tf3d

usually lua files are either of two types

1>binaries(damn its just a name nothing more)

using the search button you can search for "binary"

click on it and you will see code in it underneath

2>files that we ad..they always end in .lua ..so using search search for ".lua" and you will find it

Lua is scanned through by tf3d when u start it the first time

lua is usually at the top of the file

so for example lets write a little lua

money=function()
rotastrainsdonations=whatpeopledonated
if rotastrainsdonations>200$ then
title.String="rotastrainsrich"
else
title.String="need smore donations"
end
end
slider.onPress:money

this is seen by tf3d

whenever you will press the slider this function will be called

and it will display what the function does!!

So when u move around in the file you will see groups and files in them..

if you understand this much its enough to make whatever the hell u want

ok now getting back to what we want to do

Step 3

Searching for the existing background

images are always .qtc files

So search for ".qtc"

you will come to a file called "backgroundlevel1..blahblahblah.qtc"

now that we found it we need to place the file we want on top of it..so thats its seen in right on top and in every tab

so how to make a file that we want?heres secret no1

1>copy any qtc file thats existing by right clicking its entry ..for example the file now is "backgroundlevel1..blahblahblah.qtc"

right click copy

now right click on the entry again

click paste below

so now we have two entries of the same name

Group

--backgroundlevel1..blahblahblah.qtc

--backgroundlevel1..blahblahblah.qtc

change the top entries name

---change this name to whatever you want--for example firstbg

so now we have two entries

--firstbg.qtc

--backgroundlevel1..blahblahblah.qtc

now click ok

move your mouse over the entry

a small popup will appear

with a name like gftfgrh455_manila

thats the name of your file

Write it down somewhere

Click save

owerwrite

Step 4

now we need a qtc file to put ur image in

just take any _manila file from the windeos foler which is a image file

For example the file that i have used in my panoramic background mod

i will attach that here

paste it in the same place as the 5c9aa261_manila file

open it in m9editor

right click it

save as png

open the png file

paste your image in

save

open m9editor

right click the qtc file

load from png

rename the file to what we got earlier "gftfgrh455_manila"

done

Now paste both these files in ur widows folder

and walla

bgforall tabs in a second

This is a basic thing to do

Next step will be to integrate images with lua..

!!

Cheers

Rotastrain