Import an existing theme
Veello Theme comes with many ready-to-use themes that can be easily imported into your Contao instance. You can import the themes even to the current website.
The import process will create a new website root in the site structure and import all necessary data. Thus, your existing website content will remain unaffected. This allows you to migrate the current site's content to the newly imported theme.
Veello Theme Importer installation
The purchase of Veello Theme automatically grants you access to Veello Theme Importer and the library of our themes. If you use the default Composer key, the Veello Theme Importer will be installed automatically.
If you create a custom Composer key, then in addition to Veello Theme, you have to select the Veello Theme Importer to be installed. Naturally, if you would like to install only the Veello Theme itself, you can enable only that package.
How to uninstall Veello Theme Importer?
After importing one of our themes, you may want to uninstall Veello Theme Importer. It may be dangerous to leave this tool away, especially if you create a website for the customer. You probably don't want the client to install new themes without your knowledge.
To remove this package, you must create a custom Composer key and select only the Veello Theme without the Veello Theme Importer. Then, download the artifact and upload it to your Contao Manager:
- if the Veello Theme Importer was installed using the same key, you could update the packages already;
- if the Veello Theme Importer was installed using a different key, remove that key's package first and only then update the packages.
Important note
Either way, we recommend that you perform a full database backup before uninstalling the Veello Theme Importer. Also, please keep attention to SQL queries in the Contao Install Tool – if you notice that some extension tables or columns are going to be dropped, it might be a sign of an error during uninstall process.
The only table that should be dropped during that process is tl_vee_imported_theme.
How to import a theme?
Watch this short video on importing an existing theme, or read our written instructions below the video.
First, you need to know which theme you would like to import. You can browse all available themes from the main view of the Veello Theme Importer backend module. Each theme has a scrollable preview image and a direct link to the online demo.
Once you have chosen the theme to import, please click the "Import theme" button.
You will be taken to a detailed view of the selected theme. Here you can check the theme details, including its current version, dependencies, release date, and release notes.
Theme dependencies
One of the essential things to consider is the theme dependencies. Often our themes rely on some 3rd party extensions, such as an extension for ajax form. If you import a theme without having those extensions installed, the data related to them will be lost. Thus, we recommend installing those extensions before importing a theme.
Hint
The Theme Importer will automatically check if the required dependencies are already installed in your system and display either a warning or a confirmation message.
Database backup
Before importing a new theme, it is recommended to do a full database backup. If the "mysqldump" command is available on your server, the Theme Importer will try to perform a backup automatically and display a confirmation message.
However, if the script cannot perform an automatic database backup, you will see a warning message. In that case, you should perform a full database backup using a tool of your choice (e.g., phpMyAdmin).
Having troubles?
If you experience any problems while importing a theme, please get in touch with us. The log entries in the Contao system log might also be helpful.
Theme import
Now that we have clarified all the essential things, you can start importing a theme. The import process consists of a few steps listed in a table. Once you click the "Import the theme" button, the process will start, and step-by-step, import the theme of your choice.
After a successful import, you should see all steps in green color and a button leading to the site structure.
How to remove an imported theme?
It may happen that you would like to remove an imported theme. You can easily do that by clicking a link in the info message in the main view of the Theme Importer backend module.
You should see a list of currently imported themes. Every imported theme can be removed by clicking a delete button next to it.
The removal process will delete the imported database records and the imported files. To confirm the removal of a theme, you will be prompted to enter its name. For example, if you would like to remove the "Starter One" theme, you should enter the "Starter One" value in the prompt alert.
Important note
Please be careful when deleting an imported theme. Removing a theme deletes all records, including associated pages, articles, content elements, and theme components. This operation is irreversible!
We recommend performing a full database backup (e.g., using phpMyAdmin) before removing a theme to avoid any unpleasant situations.
After removing a theme, you should see a confirmation message. The theme and all related data are now removed from your system.