Documentation AEM as a Cloud Service User Guide

Use themes to style Core Components based Adaptive Forms

Last update: February 5, 2025

Applies to:
Experience Manager as a Cloud Service

CREATED FOR:

User
Developer

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You can create and apply themes to style an Adaptive Form. A theme contains styling details for the components and panels. Styles include properties such as background colors, state colors, transparency, alignment, and size. When you apply a theme, the specified style reflects on the corresponding components. A theme is managed independently without a reference to an Adaptive Form and can be reused across multiple Adaptive Forms.

In this article, we understand how to design custom looks for Core Component based Adaptive Forms using themes.

Available themes for styling Core Components

Forms as Cloud Service provides, the below listed themes for Core Components based Adaptive Forms:

Understanding the structure of the themes

A theme is a package that includes styling components such as CSS file, JavaScript files, and resources (like icons) that define the style of your Adaptive Forms. An Adaptive Form theme follows a specific organization, consisting of the following components:

src/theme.scss: This folder includes the CSS file that has a broad impact on the entire theme. It serves as a centralized location to define and manage the styling and behavior of your theme. By making edits to this file, you can make changes that are applied universally throughout the theme, influencing the appearance and functionality of both your Adaptive Forms and AEM Sites Pages.
src/site: This folder contains CSS files that are applied to an entire AEM Site’s page. These files consist of code and styles that affect the overall functionality and layout of your AEM Site’s page. Any modifications made here is reflected across all pages of your Site. [When to use it?]
src/components: The CSS files in this folder are designed for individual AEM core components. Each dedicated folder for a component includes a .scss file that styles that particular component within an Adaptive Form. For instance, the /src/components/accordion/_accordion.scss file contains style information for the Adaptive Forms Accordion component.
src/resources: This folder contains static files such as icons, logos, and fonts. These resources are used to enhance the visual elements and overall design of your theme.

Create a theme

Forms as Cloud Service provides, the below listed Adaptive Form styling themes for Core Components based Adaptive Forms.

You can customize any of these themes to create new theme.

Workflow of theme customization

Customize a theme

Customizing a theme refers to the process of modifying, styling and personalizing the appearance of a theme. When you customize a theme, you change its design elements, layout, colors, typography, and sometimes the underlying code. It lets you create a unique and tailored look for your website or application while maintaining the basic structure and functionality provided by the theme.

Prerequisites

Familiarize yourself with setting up a pipeline in Cloud Manager and having basic knowledge of how to set up a pipeline helps you efficiently manage and deploy your theme customizations.
Learn how to configure a user with the contributor role. Understanding how to configure a user with the contributor role lets you grant the necessary permissions for theme customization.
Install the latest release of Apache Maven. Apache Maven is a build automation tool commonly used for Java™ projects. Installing the latest release ensures you have the necessary dependencies for theme customization.
Install a plain text editor. For example, Microsoft® Visual Studio Code. Using a plain text editor such as Microsoft® Visual Studio Code provides a user-friendly environment for editing and modifying theme files.

Set up your environment

Enable Adaptive Forms Core Components for your local development and Cloud Service environment.
Configure a front-end deployment pipeline for your Cloud Service environment. Alternatively, you can configure the pipeline later, giving you the flexibility to prioritize testing and refining the theme before setting up the deployment pipeline.

After learning the pre-requisites and configuring the development environment, you are well prepared to start customizing or styling your theme according to your specific requirements.

Customize a theme

Customizing a theme is a multi-step process. To customize the theme, perform the steps in listed order:

Clone a theme
Set name of a theme
Customize a theme
Test a theme
Deploy a theme

The examples provided in the document are based on the Canvas theme, but it is important to note that you can clone any theme and customize it using the same instructions. These instructions are applicable to any theme, allowing you to modify themes according to your specific needs.

Let us start with a process to create a branded experience for your Core Component based Adaptive Forms using themes?

1. Clone a theme

To clone a theme for Core Components based Adaptive Forms, choose one of the following themes:

To clone a theme, perform the following instructions:

Open the command prompt or terminal window on your local development environment.
Run the git clone command to clone a theme.
git clone [Path of Git Repository of the theme]
Replace the [Path of the Git Repository of the theme] with the actual URL of the corresponding Git Repository of the theme

For example, to clone the Canvas theme, execute the following command:
git clone https://github.com/adobe/aem-forms-theme-canvas
After executing the command successfully, you have a local copy of the theme available on your machine in the aem-forms-theme-canvas folder.

2. Set name of a theme

Open the theme folder in your IDE. For example, to open the aem-forms-theme-canvas folder in Visual Studio Code editor.
Navigate to the aem-forms-theme-canvas folder.
Run the following command:
code .
The folder opens in the Visual Studio Code.
Open the package.json file for editing.
Set the values for the name and version attributes.
NOTE
The name attribute is used to uniquely identify the theme, and the specified name is displayed in the Style tab of the Form Creation Wizard.

You have the option to select a name for your theme according to your choice, for example, mytheme or customtheme. However, for this case, we have specified the name as aem-forms-wknd-theme.
Open the package-lock.json file for editing.
Set the values for the name and version attributes. Ensure that the values for the name and version attributes in the Package-lock.json file match those in the Package.json file.
(Optional) Open the ReadMe file for editing and update the name of the theme.
Save and close the files.

Considerations while setting the name of the theme

It is mandatory to remove the @aemforms from the theme name in Package.json file and Package-lock.json file. In case, you fail to remove @aemforms from your customized theme name, it results in the failure of the frontend pipeline during the theme deployment.
It is recommended to update the theme version in Package.json file and Package-lock.json file to accurately reflect changes and enhancements over time for your theme.
For the important information about the usage, installation instructions, and other relevant details, it is recommended to update the name of the theme in the ReadMe file.

3. Customize a theme

You can customize individual components or make theme level changes using global variables of a theme. Any changes made to global variables impact all the individual components. For example, you can use Global variables to change the border color of all the components of an Adaptive Form and a bright fill color to set CTA (Call to action) using button component:

Set theme level styles
Set component level styles

Set theme level styles

The variable.scss file contains the global variables of theme. By updating these variables, you can make style-related changes at the theme level. To apply theme-level styles, follow these steps:

Open the <your-theme-sources>/src/site/_variables.scss file for editing.
Change the value of any property. For example, the default error color is red. To change the error color from red to blue, change the color hex code of the $errorvariable. For example, $error: #196ee5.
Save and close the file.

Similarly, you can use the variable.scss file to set font family and type, theme and font colors, font size, theme spacing, error icon, theme border styles, and more variable that impact multiple Adaptive Form components.

Set component level styles

You can also change the font, color, size, and other CSS properties of a specific Adaptive Form core component. For example, button, checkbox, container, footer, and more. You can style a button or checkbox by editing the CSS file of the specific component to align it with your organization’s style. To customize a style of a component:

Open the file <your-theme-sources>/src/components/<component>/<component.scss> for editing. For example, to change the font color of the button component, open the <your-theme-sources>/src/components/button/button.scss, file.
Change the value of any as per your requirements. For example, to change the color of the button component on mouse hover to green, change the value of the color: $white property in the cmp-adaptiveform-button__widget:hover class to hex code #12B453 or any other shade of green. The final code looks like the following:
.cmp-adaptiveform-button__widget:hover { background: $dark-gray; color: #12B453; }
Save and close the file.

![NOTE]

When a style is defined both at the theme and component level, the style defined at the component level takes priority.

4. Test a customized theme

To preview and test the changes in the local environment and customize the theme according to the requirements for different AEM components, perform the following steps:

4.1 Configure a local environment for testing
4.2 Test the theme using the local environment

4.1. Configure a local environment for testing

Open the theme folder in your IDE. For example, open the aem-forms-theme-canvas folder in Visual Studio Code editor.
Rename the env_template file to .env file in the theme folder and add the following parameters:
* **AEM url** AEM_URL=https://[author-instance] * **AEM Adaptive form name** AEM_ADAPTIVE_FORM=Form_name * **AEM proxy port** AEM_PROXY_PORT=7000
For example, the URL of the form is http://localhost:4502/editor.html/content/forms/af/contactusform.html. So, the values of:
- AEM_URL = http://localhost:4502/
- AEM_ADAPTIVE_FORM = contactusform
Save the file.

4.2 Test the theme using a local environment

Navigate to the root of the theme folder. In this case, the theme folder name is aem-forms-theme-canvas.
Open the command prompt or terminal.
Run npm install to install the dependencies.
Run npm run live to preview the form with the updated theme in your local browser.
NOTE
If an error occurs during the execution of the npm run live command, execute the following commands prior npm run live command:
npm install parcel --save-dev

npm i @parcel/transformer-sass

This is a hot deployment. So, whenever you make any changes and save the _variables.scss and button.scss files, the server automatically picks the changes and previews the latest output. The line [Browsersync] File event [change] signifies that server has recognized the latest changes and it is deploying the changes at the local environment.

Proxy browsersync

Having followed the examples for styling an Adaptive Form (core components) at both the theme level and component level for theme customizations, the error messages of an Adaptive Form are changed to the blue color, while the label color for the button component changes to green upon hovering.

Previewing theme level style

Example: Error color set to blue

Previewing component level style

Example: Hover color set to green

Customizing a theme helps in designing the custom looks for Core Component based Adaptive Forms as per the organizational requirements.

Test the theme for forms hosted on a Cloud Service environment

You can also test the theme for the Adaptive Form hosted on your AEM Forms as a Cloud Service instance. To configure and set the local environment for the testing the themes with the Adaptive Forms hosted on the cloud instance, perform the following steps:

Open the theme folder in your IDE. For example, open the aem-forms-theme-canvas folder in Visual Studio Code editor.
Rename the env_template file to .env file and add the following parameters:
* **AEM url** AEM_URL=https://[author-instance] * **AEM Adaptive form name** AEM_ADAPTIVE_FORM=Form_name * **AEM proxy port** AEM_PROXY_PORT=7000
For example, the URL of the form at the cloud environment is https://author-XXXX.adobeaemcloud.com/editor.html/content/forms/af/contactusform.html. So, the values of:
- AEM_URL = https://author-XXXX-cmstg.adobeaemcloud.com/
- AEM_ADAPTIVE_FORM = contactusform
Save the file.
Create a local user.
NOTE
To create a local user:
Go to AEM Home > Tools > Security > Users .

Ensure that user is a member of the forms-users group.
Navigate to the root of the theme folder. In this case, the theme folder name is aem-forms-theme-canvas.
Run npm run live and you are redirected to a local browser.
Click SIGN IN LOCALLY (ADMIN TASKS ONLY) and login using the local user’s credentials.

You can preview the Adaptive Form with the latest changes. Once, you are satisfied with the modifications done in a theme folder, deploy the theme to your AEM Cloud Service environment using the front-end pipeline.

5. Deploy a theme

To deploy the theme to your Cloud Service environment using the front-end pipeline:

5.1 Create a repository for theme
5.2 Push the changes to the repository
5.3 Run the frontend pipeline

5.1 Create a repository for theme

You require a repository to deploy the theme. Log in to your AEM Cloud Manager repository and add new repository for your theme.

Create new repository for a theme by clicking the Repositories > Add Repository.
Specify the Repository Name in the Add Repository dialog box. For example, the name provided is custom-canvas-theme-repo.
Click Save.
Click Copy Repository URL to copy the URL of the repository.
NOTE
You can use single repository for multiple themes.

To deploy different themes, you have to create separate front-end pipelines.

For example, you can use same repository, as custom-canvas-theme-repo, for Canvas theme, WKND theme, and EASEL theme. However, to deploy the themes, you need to create separate front-end pipelines. Future customizations for a specific theme are deployed using the corresponding front-end pipeline.

5.2. Push the changes to the repository

Now, push the changes to the theme repository of your AEM Forms Cloud Service.

Navigate to the root of the theme folder. In this case, the theme folder name is aem-forms-theme-canvas.
Open the command prompt or terminal.

Run the following command in the listed order:

git remote add [alias-name-for-repository] [URL of repository]
git add .
git commit
git push [name-for-createdrepository]

For example:

git remote add canvascloudthemerepo https://git.cloudmanager.adobe.com/stage-aemformsdev/customcanvastheme/
git add .
git commit
git push canvascloudthemerepo

Changes committed

5.3 Run the frontend pipeline

The theme is deployed using the front-end pipeline. To deploy theme, perform the following steps:

Log in to your AEM Cloud Manager repository.
Click the Add button from the Pipelines section.
Select Add Non-Production Pipeline or Add Production Pipeline based on the Cloud Service environment. For example, here the Add Production Pipeline option is selected.
In the Add Production Pipeline dialog as part of the Configuration steps, specify the name for your pipeline. For example, the name of the pipeline is customcanvastheme.
Click Continue.
Select the Targeted Deployment > the Front-end code options, in
the Source Code steps.
Select the Repository and the Git Branch values that have your latest changes. For example, here the selected repository name is custom-canvas-theme-repo and the Git branch is main.
Select the Code Location as /, if your changes are present at the root folder.
Click Save.

After the pipeline setup is complete, the call-to-action card is updated.
Right-click the created pipeline.
Click Run .

Once the build is complete, the theme becomes available at the author instance for the use. It appears under the Style tab in the Adaptive Form creation wizard, while creating an Adaptive Form.

custom theme available under style tab

The customized theme helps in creating a branded experience for Core Component based Adaptive Forms.

Apply a theme to an Adaptive Form

Steps to apply a theme to an Adaptive Form are:

Log in to your AEM Forms author instance.
Select Adobe Experience Manager > Forms > Forms & Documents.
Click Create > Adaptive Forms. The wizard for creating Adaptive Form opens.
Select the core component template in the Source tab.
Select the theme in the Style tab.
Click Create.

Adaptive Form themes are used as part of an Adaptive Form template to define styling while creating an Adaptive Form.

Best practices

Avoiding assets from another theme

When you edit a theme, you can browse and add assets (such as images) from other themes. For example, you are editing the background of a page. For example, when you select Page > Background > Add > Image, you see a dialog that lets you browse and add images in other theme.

You can face issues with your current theme if an asset is added from another theme, and the other theme is moved or deleted. It is recommended that you avoid browsing and adding assets from other themes.
Changing container panel layout width

Changing container panel layout width is not recommended. When you specify width of a container panel, it becomes static and does not adapt to different displays.

Frequently asked questions

Q: Which customization takes priority when making customizations in a theme folder at both the global level and component level?

Ans: When customizations are made at both the global level and component level, the customization at the component level takes priority.

Use themes to style Core Components based Adaptive Forms

Available themes for styling Core Components

Understanding the structure of the themes

Create a theme

Customize a theme

Prerequisites

Set up your environment

Customize a theme

1. Clone a theme

2. Set name of a theme

3. Customize a theme

Set theme level styles

Set component level styles

4. Test a customized theme

4.1. Configure a local environment for testing

4.2 Test the theme using a local environment

Test the theme for forms hosted on a Cloud Service environment

5. Deploy a theme

5.1 Create a repository for theme

5.2. Push the changes to the repository

5.3 Run the frontend pipeline

Apply a theme to an Adaptive Form

Best practices

Frequently asked questions

See Also