Deploy Thmx theme as feature

deploy new v4 theme as feature

Creating a custom theme

• Goto C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\TEMPLATE\GLOBAL\Lists\themes
• Copy one of the OOTB themes into your working folder e.g. c:\work and rename it to MyTheme.thmx
• Open this file in Microsoft Theme Builder, name it appropriately, in this case 'MyTheme' and change the colors to suit your needs and save the file.

Creating a SharePoint Project

• Create an 'Empty SharePoint Project' called 'MyCustomTheme'
• In VS, right click on project > Add > New Item.. > Module , named 'ModuleMyTheme'
• Drag drop the .thmx file from the file system into the 'ModuleMyTheme' in VS
• Delete the sample.txt file from the module folder. The resultant VS solution explorer should as follows..

Modifying the elements.xml
The xml that is generated after the above steps is
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Elements xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
<Module Name="ModuleMyTheme">
<File Path="ModuleMyTheme\MyTheme.thmx" Url="ModuleMyTheme/MyTheme.thmx" />
</Module>
</Elements>
The source of the thmx file is represented by File > Path, which is the location from the feature folder.
The destination should be the theme folder under _catalogs i.e. '_catalogs/theme/MyTheme.thmx'. This has to be added as the URL attribute in module tag plus the URL attribute in the File tag. The final xml looks like the following..
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Elements xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
<Module Name="ModuleMyTheme" Url="_catalogs/theme">
<File Path="ModuleMyTheme\MyTheme.thmx" Url="MyTheme.thmx" />
</Module>
</Elements>
Time to deploy – right-click the project and select deploy.
Once deployed, navigate to the site > Site Actions > Site Settings > Look and Feel > Site Themes, you will find your custom theme deployed.

Download Code here

You may also be interested in the following..
Apply theme programmatically Sharepoint 2010 sample usage: if you wanted to apply the newly deployed theme using a feature reciever
THMX theme reference