Creating and applying themes to conferences

This section describes how to create and edit your own themes, change the default theme, and how to apply a theme to a specific service or see which themes you are currently using.

Legacy style themes (identified as "version 1" themes) and new style themes (identified as "version 2" themes) can both be used on the same platform, with legacy style themes applied to some services and new style themes applied to other services if required. The way in which themes are uploaded to Pexip Infinity and applied to services is the same for both new and legacy style themes. The new style base theme is used by default if you have not applied any customized themes to your services. See New and legacy style themes for more information.

Creating a new theme

You can create a new theme by uploading a ZIP file containing the files or configuration settings you want to use instead of the default theme. The ZIP file does not need to contain the complete set of files or settings, just the files or settings that you want to use in place of, or as an extension to, those from the default theme.

We recommend using the Pexip branding portal (https://webapp2-branding.pexip.io/) to customize your themes. The portal provides an easy way to change the text, images, splash screen layouts and some of the settings that are used in themes, and it generates a ZIP file that you can upload via the Administrator interface. Note that you cannot change the audio files via the branding portal.

To create and upload a new theme:

  1. Obtain your theme ZIP file:

    • If you have used the Pexip branding portal to customize your theme:

      1. Build and download the theme (Splash Screens) from the branding portal.

        This creates an ivr.zip file.

    • If you are manually creating your own customized theme:

        1. Ensure that any new sound and image files and the themeconfig.json file meet the specified file requirements for themes.
        2. Save all of the files together in a new folder. You can name the folder whatever you like, but within the folder, each file must be saved with the same file name and extension as the default file being replaced. If you are adding extra background files or SVG icon files then you can use any suitable name for those additional files.
        3. Create a ZIP file of the new folder.
  2. Go to Services > Themes and select Add theme.
  3. In the Name field, enter the name of the new theme.
  4. In the Theme field, select Choose file and go to the ZIP file you have just downloaded/created.
  5. In the Services and Call Routing Rule sections, select the services (Virtual Meeting Rooms, Virtual Receptions, Call Routing Rules and so on) that will use this new theme.

    Note that if you have more than 10,000 services configured, you cannot select the associated services via this page. Instead you must use another method to assign the theme to a service, such as editing the individual service, using the configuration API, or by using the bulk VMR provisioning facility.

  6. Select Save.

    If any errors are reported when trying to upload your own manually-created ZIP file, such as "Invalid file in theme: themeconfig.json", you must fix the errors and then try to upload the ZIP file again. Any errors in the themeconfig.json are typically due to invalid JSON structures, such as missing commas between any key value pairs, or having a comma after the last key value pair in any object. Graphics file related errors are typically caused by incorrect image resolutions or using an invalid filename.

  7. Wait for the new theme to be replicated out to all Conferencing Nodes (typically after approximately one minute).

You can now test the theme by dialing one of the services to which it has been applied.

Setting the default theme

You can specify a theme to be used by default for all services that have not had a specific theme applied. The default theme does not need to contain a complete set of files or configuration settings, just those that you want to use in place of files from the Base theme. It can be either a legacy or new style theme. If you use the Pexip branding portal to create your theme, it will automatically include just the relevant settings and files.

If you do not select a default theme, the entire Base theme is used as the default. To change the default theme:

  1. Go to Platform > Global settings > Service configuration.
  2. From the Default theme drop-down, select the theme to use for services where no specific theme has been selected. If you have not already uploaded the theme you want to use, you can do so from here by clicking on the icon and following the instructions in creating a theme.
  3. Select Save.

Editing an existing theme

You can edit an existing theme by uploading a new ZIP file containing the new set of files. The ZIP file does not need to contain the complete set of files or settings, just the files or settings that you want to use in place of, or as an extension to, those from the default theme.

Note that when you upload a ZIP file for an existing theme, all of the previously uploaded files for that theme are deleted and replaced with files from the new ZIP file. This means that if you have an existing theme containing File A and you want to add File B to the theme, you need to upload a ZIP file containing both File A and File B. If you use the Pexip branding portal to edit and then rebuild your theme it will automatically include all of the relevant settings and files.

To modify an existing theme:

  1. If you originally used the Pexip branding portal to create your theme:

    1. Go to the branding portal https://webapp2-branding.pexip.io/.
    2. Select and then edit your existing theme as required.
    3. Build and download the updated theme from the branding portal as a new ZIP file.
  2. If you are manually customizing your theme:

    1. If you want to retain files from the existing theme, first download the current theme.
    2. Make your required changes to the theme files, ensuring that any new sound and image files and the themeconfig.json file meet the specified file requirements for themes.
    3. Save all of the new and modified files, along with any other existing files, together in a new folder. You can name the folder whatever you like, but within the folder, each file must be saved with the same file name and extension as the default file being replaced.
    4. Create a ZIP file of the new folder.
  3. Go to Services > Themes and select the theme you want to update.
  4. In the Theme field, select Choose file and go to the ZIP file you have just downloaded/created.
  5. Select Save.

    If any errors are reported when trying to upload your own manually-created ZIP file, such as "Invalid file in theme: themeconfig.json", you must fix the errors and then try to upload the ZIP file again. Any errors in the themeconfig.json are typically due to invalid JSON structures, such as missing commas between any key value pairs, or having a comma after the last key value pair in any object. Graphics file related errors are typically caused by incorrect image resolutions or using an invalid filename.

  6. Wait for the updated theme to be replicated out to all Conferencing Nodes (typically after approximately one minute).

You can now test the theme by dialing one of the services to which it has been applied.

Downloading an existing theme

You can download a theme to view the files it contains, or to manually edit it. To download a theme:

  1. Go to Services > Themes.
  2. Either:

    • Select Download Base theme to download a copy of the default set of files that are shipped with Pexip Infinity.
    • Select Download Legacy Base theme to download the base files that applied to legacy-style themes.
    • Select an existing theme and from the Change Theme page select Download theme to download a copy of the files that make up that customized theme.

A file with a .ZIP extension is downloaded.

Changing which themes are associated with which services

There are many ways in which you can change the theme that is associated with a service or Call Routing Rule. You can do this:

  • via the Themes page (go to Services > Themes, select the new theme you want to use, then select the services you want to apply it to) — you cannot use this method if you have more than 10,000 services configured
  • by editing the individual service (go to Services, select the service, then select the new theme from the Theme drop-down menu) or Call Routing Rule (Services > Call routing)
  • via the configuration API
  • by using the bulk VMR provisioning facility.

Viewing the themes currently in use

To find out which themes are currently in use in your deployment, go to Services > Themes. The Service count column shows you how many services each theme is associated with.

Themes are also shown on the overview page for each type of service (go to Services and then select the service). Here you can sort the list by Theme.