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I am looking to replace the upper icons in WM 6.0 with custom ones, the question is are they in the rom (if so cannot edit, right?) or are they in wm somewhere?
I've been slowly going through the system and have not found them yet, any suggestions on where to start?
I have some fantabulous advice on where to start my American amigo.
FIrst, the files SHOULD be editable, they are simply image files under the \Windows directory. I'm pretty sure they all have different names and are not grouped together, but they should be easy to spot (I imagine they will end in a picture format extension IE .bmp .gif etc.
BUT, it is important to note that, like most Windows Operating Systems, the OS doesn't trust you. Therefore, the files are hidden!
If you just have the normal Explorer, I don't know if it has an "unhide system files" choice.
I personally would go download and install Total Commander, Resco Explorer etc, one of which does have that choice.
After that, search that folder and you will find them.
PS I am not rambling, I have actually seen them in there
Cheers!
Thank you for the good start.
I had a feeling they had to be in the \windows\ or \windows\system folder.
Now the auduous task of finding, editing and replacing them, I always hated this part, since my patients is minimal at best.
Thanks again for the quick tip, I'll try to post a screenshot when I get them done.
1xrtt.bmp
1xRTT_sync_PPC.bmp
1xRTT_connect_PPC.bmp
3G.bmp
3G_connect_PPC.bmp
3G_sync_PPC.bmp
battery.bmp
battery_alert.bmp
batteryCharging.bmp
batteryNone.bmp
bluetooth.bmp
callonhold.bmp
datacall.bmp
dataconnection.2bp
EDGE.bmp
EDGE_connect_PPC.bmp
EDGE_sync_PPC.bmp
EVDO.bmp
EVDO_connect_PPC.bmp
EVDO_sync_PPC.bmp
gprs.bmp
gprs_connect.bmp
gprs_sync_PPC.bmp
gprs_connectPPC.bmp
input_kboard.bmp
missedcall.bmp
MissingSIM.bmp
newemailsms.bmp
newIM.bmp
No_Signal.bmp
pen.2bp
radio_lost_signal.bmp
radio_no_service.bmp
radioconnected.bmp
radioOff.bmp
ringerOff.bmp
roaming.bmp
signal.bmp
syncherror.bmp
sysvol.bmp
voicecall.bmp
VOiceCall_icon.bmp
voicemail.bmp
volume.bmp
WiFi_datacall.bmp
WIFI_on.bmp
Wirelessonoff.2bp
NOTE: 90% of these are the logos for the top bar. One or two relate to the input logo at the bottom bar (IE Keyboard and Pen, I believe it is the Input_Kboard and Pen files). One or two others relate to the image you see when you click the sound icon in the top bar and it gives you two sound parameters to adjust, each with a logo at the top. Use your judgement and eyes to decide which is which. Most you will have seen already.
I don't know if this list is complete, I may have missed some. If you find any others in your searches, let us know and I will add them to this list. I needed to make this list anyway as I am trying to cook a ROM for Himalaya and need to know what I can remove. (For example, Himalaya's don't have EDGE or 3G, so straight away there are eight or so logos that can be removed).
Also note that other programs have access to the top bar and may add their own icons, as Messenger (which does not come installed in our roms) did. Perhaps it is only Microsoft programs that can add their own icons, who knows.
PS Good luck, look forward to the screen shots.
PPS Some of the logos I have never seen appear, but I have been in situations where they should appear (IE No SIM card, but the NoSim image never appeared). I find it interesting that while half follow a naming convention, others don't (IE 1xRTT_connect_PPC.bmp and gprs_connect.bmp without the _PPC). I wonder if this has anything to do with it not working.
(Rant over)
Were you ever able to change the battery icons? I was trying the same bmps but they do not change even with a soft reset for me, even tho the file is changed in the directory to my customed one it still remains as the default. Any tips tricks or ideas? My thought is a dll but I'm relatively new to this and am very unsure. Thanks for the tips and hope to hear you have done it or at least figured out a possible way.
I can help you to find the icons
There are include as ressource in DLL and we can replace it
The only icon I can find is the Signal Strength Icon
Any idea ? Do you replace it ?
Sebastien
Loving my Fuze so far! Used the process to hard reset and remove the bloatware....not quite ready to take the plunge with a cooked ROM just yet...
On the home screen above the clock there is a bar that just lists the AT&T logo in the upper right. Nothing else. And because of it I have to scroll on my home screen to see everything.
How the heck do I get rid of this useless waste of real estate?
Interesting, I didn't even notice this but true, what a waste of space! I'm hoping for something like HCC, Home Screen Customizer coming back for Fuze, that was one great app!
You arent kidding! I'm a little bummed, my Tilt had more usable home screen space
hope some1 can find a way.
Two ways to do it:
1) go to http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=2796868&posted=1#post2796868 and aply the original TF3D theme. It will also change your orange to green in the theme though
2) use the diamond TF3D configuration tool and go you tabs and remove 'unknown'
choice 1 -Don't care for change of color
choice 2 - Diamond config tool did not remove the AT&T logo -
Any other suggestions or ideas?
sorry- i didn't read the top post well enough. What I did is get rid of the AT&T tab which I hate. If you look at the other screens of TF3D there is always something on top- the first one should probably list Home but I guess it's true- we could all live without them all entirely...
Unzip and copy this file into the windows directory. Let me know if this works.
Thanks
slicric said:
Unzip and copy this file into the windows directory. Let me know if this works.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That file already exists in the windows directory. Thus, no change. Still looking at the "AT&T" gray bar across the top of the screen.
I certainly appreciate you trying to help -
I removed the bar using the customizer but I think that qt&t is reading it from the operator name which may never be able to get read of unless someone really customizer tf3d.
FYI - That's not AT&T's doing. Look at all the unlocked TF3D screenshots. It's the line that lists what screen you are looking at or the carrier if it's the home screen. It's in all the cooked ROMs as well since it's part of the basic functionality.
prubin said:
That file already exists in the windows directory. Thus, no change. Still looking at the "AT&T" gray bar across the top of the screen.
I certainly appreciate you trying to help -
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First close TF3D, then extract file into windows directory, over writing existing file. Start TF3D again. Logo should be gone. Worked for me.
I am losing my touch with this Touch (Fuze) -
Could not overwrite - got error message that basically said that file is write protected and I do not have permission.
Tried to delete the original and then replace - again receive denials.
I have tried to, using a registry editor, make changes to the file (make it able to be read; edit it; rename it;, etc) without any success. All attempts have been rejected.
Perhaps I could trouble you as to how to either overwrite or delete and replace.
Thanks
prubin said:
I am losing my touch with this Touch (Fuze) -
Could not overwrite - got error message that basically said that file is write protected and I do not have permission.
Tried to delete the original and then replace - again receive denials.
I have tried to, using a registry editor, make changes to the file (make it able to be read; edit it; rename it;, etc) without any success. All attempts have been rejected.
Perhaps I could trouble you as to how to either overwrite or delete and replace.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Copy the file to somewhere else on the phone, maybe like a temp directory.
Then use TotalCommander to copy the file into windows directory.
Thats it.
Zaiaku said:
Copy the file to somewhere else on the phone, maybe like a temp directory.
Then use TotalCommander to copy the file into windows directory.
Thats it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks - finally successful in removing the AT&T logo - however, the gray bar remains -
I certainly appreciate the efforts that you folks have gone to.
If we could move the date up to the empty space, that would be good.
Am I the only one that has both the date and AT&T on that line?
I wouldn't want to get rid of it, because it would mean getting rid of the date.
I'm using a sprint flip-clock, but I don't recall how it looked in stock form.
Standard factory ROM.
I think what you are wanting to get rid of is what I've seen on here referred to as the top "curtain". Do a search on that. I've seen it mentioned somewhere, but I couldn't find it off the bat.
This removes the curtain: http://www.ppcmobility.com/forums/showthread.php?t=261
Haven't tried it so I don't know if it does the trick
I just recently moved from iOS to Android, and I like it so far but it looks kind of... cheap. I'm talking about HTC Sense specifically, stock/AOSP Android is well design but albeit dull to some (although I don't agree, I prefer the minimalistic design). Some of it is okay while other parts don't make a whole lot of sense or just look plain amateur. Most of all, I think it's way over exaggerated. I hate looking at the browser bar and seeing a heavily glossed bevel with a near near flat text input and a inset button. Why would a button be even inset?
Anyway, I like some of Sense's additional features, and since Cyanogen isn't stable yet, I'd like to re-design Sense to be more subtle and just better designed. I'm a well established UI/UX designer but always have a lot of work on hand. So if someone who is knowledgeable with the graphic files that make up Sense (preferably in the new Froyo build) and is willing to identify and send the files (preferably in a zip of organized folders so I could just re-design and leave as is which could then be easily turned into a usable update file by someone), I'd get started ASAP.
The EVO is fine as is, but improving the appearance of Sense would go a long way in calming my OCD mind Attached is a quick example of how it would look like. It's the "to" contact bar in the HTC messaging app - the top is default, the bottom is my redesigned version.
My main beefs with the default graphic are:
a. It's too glossy making the outset depth of the bar appear high, problem is that a flat element (the text input box) is laid on top of it thus making it look weird and unnatural. Plus it makes it look like cheap plastic.
b. The button is inset. Why? Have you ever seen a inset button? Maybe once or twice. Looks more like a active selection than a button. the lighting is also off and just plain looks terrible.
c. The corners are rounded, but why? It looks out of place and loses fluidity with the rest of the layout. One thing I noticed is that HTC likes to throw in rounded corners in just about everything they can.
Like I said, this will be a very subtle theme but I think it will help make the stock Sense theme better. So if anyone wants to help identifying the files or knows a known resource (which I doubt since Froyo must have changed things a bit), just PM me.
I second this request. I wish I could help.
I totally agree with you in that the Sense theme needs to be more subtle.
I have always wondered why it has taken so long for someone to come up with this theme.
that would be nice
I like the idea!
Heres what I have so far.
In framework-res, I have included everything I think you will need. You'll have to let me know how much theming you intend to do. ie buttoms/selections (everything with a stock gloss?) or not.
I will continue to dig up more of what you need once I hear how deep you're looking to go. I included the taskbar icons because those will need to be changed to fit whatever the taskbar changes too so they will match. Obviously I have yet to include the signal ones along with 4g, as well as the individual app status bar notifications.
I'll wait to hear back before I progress much further.
Again, very nice looking.
Edit: Updated my post to add more.
I want to fix as much as possible. Anything you send, I'll theme. I'll commit to that.
But at the least, I want to redesign buttons and major UI elements like the example I showed. I definitely would like to redesign selections -- I'm not sure why they are "crystal-like", I much prefer a AOSP-like selection but of course in green for Sense.
I'll look through these and see what I'll do with them.
Award Tour said:
I want to fix as much as possible. Anything you send, I'll theme. I'll commit to that.
But at the least, I want to redesign buttons and major UI elements like the example I showed. I definitely would like to redesign selections -- I'm not sure why they are "crystal-like", I much prefer a AOSP-like selection but of course in green for Sense.
I'll look through these and see what I'll do with them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, don't know if I edited my post before or after this, but I added more to the framework-res folder with an updated zip. It now includes everything from there you should/could need from that particular file. See what you can do with those. I'm not 100% sure if any of the files used in froyo have changed (what gets used in those folders and what doesn't) so bare with me. But for the most part it shouldn't be that difficult to dig up the rest of the important stuff.
I just pulled it now so it should be the latest files.
I just pushed that sense folder to my work server, once something is in there, they get done. I'll update the folder as I get more items.
barnacles10 said:
Ok, don't know if I edited my post before or after this, but I added more to the framework-res folder with an updated zip. It now includes everything from there you should/could need from that particular file. See what you can do with those. I'm not 100% sure if any of the files used in froyo have changed (what gets used in those folders and what doesn't) so bare with me. But for the most part it shouldn't be that difficult to dig up the rest of the important stuff.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alright so this is what I'll do. I'll theme these current files and when I'm done I'll post some previews and then you or someone else who is willing can send a new batch of files. That way it can be done in waves and can be easily managed.
So I'll finish these and post back soon.
Award Tour said:
Alright so this is what I'll do. I'll theme these current files and when I'm done I'll post some previews and then you or someone else who is willing can send a new batch of files. That way it can be done in waves and can be easily managed.
So I'll finish these and post back soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, well this has totally got me pumped, so I went through and did more for you. I've included the other files out of ease, so what I have done is labeled all the folders which have new files (new from that one posted above) and added "contains new" at the end. Then within each folder i have created "new" folders for what I have added. That way you don't have to go through and figure out what you have done and whats been added.
This should keep you busy as I'm done for the night. This is a lot of the major stuff though. I will report back with anything else I find later on.
Award Tour, just curious, do you have experience with .9.png's?
Barnacles, I noticed you pulled stuff out of framework-res, did you toss him the stuff from com.htc.resouces.apk too?
nebenezer said:
OP, just curious, do you have experience with .9.png's?
Barnacles, I noticed you pulled stuff out of framework-res, did you toss him the stuff from com.htc.resouces.apk too?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah the second file I posted here has pretty much everything he needs to start. Most everything from resources, and framework as well as other stock apps
nebenezer said:
Award Tour, just curious, do you have experience with .9.png's?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not yet, but I understand them now I think. I noticed immediately that some of the files had to scale somehow and from your post just noticed that those files are the .9 files you speak of. I'll look into it but I'm just gonna assume that they have some sort of meta info in them for now. I'll work on those last so I can read up on the file format.
barnacles10 said:
Yeah the second file I posted here has pretty much everything he needs to start. Most everything from resources, and framework as well as other stock apps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome, sorry to interrupt, just wanted to make sure
Award Tour said:
Not yet, but I understand them now I think. I noticed immediately that some of the files had to scale somehow and from your post just noticed that those files are the .9 files you speak of. I'll look into it but I'm just gonna assume that they have some sort of meta info in them for now. I'll work on those last so I can read up on the file format.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah they have invisible guides that tell the OS where to stretch the image to suit whatever purpose it needs.
When you open, edit and re-save them the guides disappear so you'll have to redraw them. You will find plenty of info on .9's.
The search bar you did looks much better than Google's version, I'm sure this will end up being a pretty sweet theme
This is no small undertaking or I would jump in on it and help out.
There are tons of people here who are more talented and experienced than I but if you have any questions you're welcome to pm me.
Hey guys. I am up for the night and addicted to flashing **** so let me know if you need a beta tester.
Once you finish what's there feel free to send them back to me and I can throw em back where they need to go and make a morph for the changes to test them out.
ok so are those .zips flashable? any screens of what you have done? it looks nice on the first picture
magicalan said:
ok so are those .zips flashable? any screens of what you have done? it looks nice on the first picture
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I only spent like 20 minutes on it today during work but I should do a hour or so more later tonite.
I finished some of the status bar but I was disappointed to see that the background image for a notification item was missing. I still designed it but if anyone knows how I can throw it in sense (maybe a simple file with the right name? maybe check a AOSP build because it should be in there) let me know.
Here it is for those that are interested, I will probably refine it further but this is what I got so far:
The aim, if you haven't already noticed, is to combine stock AOSP Android with a Sense-like look.
Award Tour said:
I only spent like 20 minutes on it today during work but I should do a hour or so more later tonite.
I finished some of the status bar but I was disappointed to see that the background image for a notification item was missing. I still designed it but if anyone knows how I can throw it in sense (maybe a simple file with the right name? maybe check a AOSP build because it should be in there) let me know.
Here it is for those that are interested, I will probably refine it further but this is what I got so far:
The aim, if you haven't already noticed, is to combine stock AOSP Android with a Sense-like look.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks good! Ill look for the notification bg image for ya when I get home tonight.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
magicalan said:
ok so are those .zips flashable? any screens of what you have done? it looks nice on the first picture
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They are not flashable. Sorry for double posting but can't multiquote. They are simply folders. Had to zip them up to attach them is all
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Try to send me a new batch as well, I *think* I'll be done with this in a hour. If you can, send me the froyo ones.
Alright, so we all love swype, and with the developers not wanting to share means you cannot load a theme'd apk file, this seems like the next best route, teach you how to make your own and gives the tools to make it easy!
I am not distributing Swype here, so plz don't ask, this is how to theme your current Swype set up.
Disclaimer: This is my first attempt at themes, and since im just offering my work for freeeee, don't give me crap if I overlook'd something just politely inform me and I'll do what I can. Also I only have my Droid X for testing so its kinda on you if your keyboard is not similar to mine for now. Also, im not even going to attempt to water mark this or put some symbol to show I made it since I'm giving you the files you could just remove it anyway plus they are annoying to look at, so plz just dont take credit for my work.
So first things first, to ensure this post is quick and to the point you will need to already have a few things up and running,
Currently I use keyboard manager so portrait orientation is Swype, and landscape is multi-touch since its too wide to be efficient with swype, therefore; I only created templates for portait swype so far, sorry.
ADB
WinRar(for exploring apk)
Adobe Illustrator version CS 1 and up (for editing templates)
Adobe Photoshop (for resizing keyboard images)
Side Note: Other programs will work, and other methods work, these are just tried and proven so your on your own or at least quite possibly beyond the realm of my help by using different editors.
Step 1:
ADB pull the Swype.apk file from system/app
Step 2:
Back up said Swype.apk file to ensure you can revert to stock
Step 3:
Open apk and extract "assets" folder to an easily accessible location with WinRar
Step 4:
Download 4 Illustrator Templates attatched
Step 5:
Edit templates as you see fit (font, size, color, button color, background color, GO CRAZY!)
Step 6:
From Illustrator export as .png file (make sure to keep the same file names!)
Step 7:
In Photoshop, resize images to same size as the stock ones in the folder /assets/keyboards, (480 x 320 for Droid X but you should check yours to make sure)
Step 8:
Place your newly made and sized .png files into the previously mentioned /assets/keyboards folder overwriting existing. You can make other changes here, I was focusing on the keyboards here because they are the most tedious to change but go ahead, Run Amok. "Amok Amok Amok Amok" yeahh line from the movie "Hocus Pocus" ANYWAY
Step 9:
re inject Assets folder into Swype.apk overwriting old, (i usually delete Assets, then inject to ensure overwrite)
Step 10:
ADB push back to phone and switch input method back to Swype
Step 11:
Show off your newly customized keyboard!
Step 12:
Post your .png files to help the community and show off what you did!
Alternate Lazy Way: Sit around wait for a cool keyboard to be posted and leach, simply inject someones .png files into your Swype.apk
Daves Dark Theme 1
Alright so here is the .png files for my first theme, just to get the ball rolling. Lets see what you got!
HOLY SHYTE I was planning to create AI files for this and Launcher Pro Icons, this will save some time
Any chance you have LP Icons in vector format too?
Dude.
Thanks for providing .AI files, what a great contribution! I was going to take the stock png's and photoshop them. This is much cleaner!
You don't have full-width .AI's laying around do you?
Morkai
sorry I just started making themes last night, so I don't have any Icon files lying around. Although, in the newer versions of Illustrator you can use "live trace" to make vector formats from raster images.
Jeftep
You're asking about the landscape aspect ratio keyboard right? Currently I didn't make it yet if I do landscape it will be for the stock multi-touch keyboard first then maybe id get around to swype. The keys are just too spaced out to be efficient to use with 1 finger.
And yes, thats exactly where I started too, "well lemme just see what I can do with photoshop.... awww screww it Fresh Start in illustrator"
So sorry thats a no to both questions, but come on, I just started.
SharkBaitDave said:
Morkai
sorry I just started making themes last night, so I don't have any Icon files lying around. Although, in the newer versions of Illustrator you can use "live trace" to make vector formats from raster images.
Jeftep
You're asking about the landscape aspect ratio keyboard right? Currently I didn't make it yet if I do landscape it will be for the stock multi-touch keyboard first then maybe id get around to swype. The keys are just too spaced out to be efficient to use with 1 finger.
And yes, thats exactly where I started too, "well lemme just see what I can do with photoshop.... awww screww it Fresh Start in illustrator"
So sorry thats a no to both questions, but come on, I just started.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you saying you can use one keyboard portrait and the other Landscape? Please say you are.. and do tell how!!
Morkai Almandragon said:
Are you saying you can use one keyboard portrait and the other Landscape? Please say you are.. and do tell how!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yepp! and its Amazing!!!
http://getandroidstuff.com/download-keyboard-manager-android-dual-keyboard-switch-portraitlandscape/
Batman Theme
Thinking about Batman Theme'ng out my phone, I'm not sure what the keyboard needs, but its not quite there yet...
SharkBaitDave said:
Alright, so we all love swype, and with the developers not wanting to share means you cannot load a theme'd apk file, .......
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
.......?
Ummm.. I have always shared how to theme with whom ever has asked.. plus all mine are simple to load... some swypes are custom to certain themes, and in those cases the dev's aren't going to spend time explaining how to do each part.
Not trying to bash, just stating a point.
As many know i have made quite a few swype themes(check sig), and many custom order for other devices who "technically" arent supposed to have swype.
If anyone needs help modding the tracer, or if you run into the "amp&" issue when playing with any other KB's i will be happy to help.
Good work btw, all the extra people theming makes more stuff avail, never anything wrong with that.
Swype C&D
Alright thats my fault, I meant the developers of Swype, not the XDA community.
http://www.xda-developers.com/announcements/xda-notice-swype/
this is what I was talking about with not really being able to share swype on the forum in an installable format. I was just trying to show a new way we can still all share themes while keeping the forum out of the firing range of C&D letters or worse.
While I'm certainly not claiming this to be a breakthrough in any means as its simply another way we can continue to share themes for this great app. I definitely agree there is a better way to install than this run around...
Have you modified the tracer for version 1.64.40.9380? I found a few forums that showed how to do it, but only in the newer versions and not droid X. Is libSwypecore.so different by Swype version? manufacturer?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=801770
Says to modify 5b410, 5b411, and 5b412 for Blue, Green, Red but it doesn't seem to change the color after I push it back to the phone. I got a newer version, but it was configured for 800x480 not our screen and repeadly threw errors.
Thanks
ahh, agreed. The creators are definitly unfriendly towards devs.
you are correct on the file to edit for the tracer. If you open up an unmodified .so file and search for the string "dda25bff" that is the hex color part. Since its in hex its backwards. The proper color code would be ffb52add. So say you wanted to make the color black = ff000000. You would type it in reverse 000000ff.
Only change that string and you should be good.
Tracer Edit worked like a charm, thanks.
Sketch theme
just found an new ADW theme and wanted a sketchey/hand drawn style KB
how do i complete step 4? where are the 4 Illustrator Templates attatched?
I know this is probably petty, but for me it's sort of a big deal.
I like light characters on a black screen, especially at night. There are flashlight apps to turn the screen white because it's bright and at night I would prefer to have a black screen.
Is there a way to change the conversation history to black, and lso for the background behind the balloons in an SMS?
Is there a ROM that has an option for this?
Thanks for the help!
Go sms. Totally customizable. Backgrounds, fonts, font colors, etc
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk
Ends said:
Go sms. Totally customizable. Backgrounds, fonts, font colors, etc
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Handcent will let you do this too.
If you get GoSMS Pro, grab the Theme builder in the market as well. It will allow you to totally create your own theme.
liquidzoo said:
Handcent will let you do this too.
If you get GoSMS Pro, grab the Theme builder in the market as well. It will allow you to totally create your own theme.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I should have included that I've tried all those. Yes, they're good and very customizable. But I've not been able to get them to work seamlessly and to replace the stock messaging. One of those my keyboard does't display properly with and simple other things. Plus I really like how I can go to messages and slide to the right to call. That's the easiest way to call people. That's my favorite feature and no one else has that.
What's so hard about changing the stock messaging to black with white text? lol At one point there was a night mode that made the conversation history black, but not now.
One question... For example a lock screen. There are different ones to install. Is there a different messaging to install to replace stock that someone has added things to? I don't even know if it's possible to replace messaging or not. I don't really want to install another app... I've just not had the best luck with them having the right feel.
Firstly, are you on GB or ICS? And which ROM?
If GB, you could swap out the AT&T mms.apk with the Rogers version, as they use a dark charcoal background behind matte blue and yellow bubbles (was always my favorite). Or you could try the mms.apk that Sean used to include in his GB ROMs. It was basically stock, but came with 5 themes. If you're on NexusMod GB, somewhere in the thread R4INS posted a CM7 mms.apk which has a light and dark theme.
If you're on an AOSP ICS (which I know you're not since you mention swipe to call), you could try the inverted mms.apk, which is black. If you're on stock ICS, the only thing I can think of is to just decompile the apk and use Gimp to change the colors as you'd like them (which goes for any apk really), although I think the important images are *.9.png's which are tricky. Or since you like TouchWiz, see what the T-Mobile mms.apk from their leak looks like? And if it works? As I don't know the answer to either.
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I'm running ICS that I just flashed. I put in SKYICS also.
Thank you for getting back to me. I'm new to this and starting to figure things out. I opened the mms.apk with WinRar and found most of what I want to change. I've not used Gimp. For colors I usually use Office Picture Manager. I'll have to check out Gimp. I'm starting to understand a little about the xdaAutoTool. I suppose I have to decompile the mms.apk , modify what I want, then recompile it, zip it all back up, then install it through CWM. I can't get the adaAutoTool to run because of the OCX thing and I don't know how to register the files. I wish I knew someone that could decompile the apk, let me change some of the .png files and recompile it for me. I want to change the editor box from this almost black to black beause it looks incredibly grainy at 1% gray or whatever it is. The hard thing for me would be figure out how to change the text color to white if I had to on the conversation list. I think I'll do as you suggested and look for another mms.apk.
You said I like TouchWiz... I'm not exactly sure what that even is. Isn't that something to do with the buttons and how they look at the bottom?
You mentioned the CM7 something. I'm not exactly sure what the CM is. I have CM5 and it said I have a mismatch when I tried to restore my original ROM that I backed up. it was 2.3.6 I think.
Thanks for the help and I'll be back. I'm going to look for another mms.apk...
CodeRedDewd said:
I'm running ICS that I just flashed. I put in SKYICS also.
...
I'm going to look for another mms.apk...
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I think I may have just come across a solution for you. Did you see this post in the SkyICS thread?? I'd look into that one first before attempting any of the above.
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CodeRedDewd said:
I'm new to this and starting to figure things out. I opened the mms.apk with WinRar and found most of what I want to change. I've not used Gimp. For colors I usually use Office Picture Manager. I'll have to check out Gimp. I'm starting to understand a little about the xdaAutoTool. I suppose I have to decompile the mms.apk , modify what I want, then recompile it, zip it all back up, then install it through CWM. I can't get the adaAutoTool to run because of the OCX thing and I don't know how to register the files. I wish I knew someone that could decompile the apk, let me change some of the .png files and recompile it for me. I want to change the editor box from this almost black to black beause it looks incredibly grainy at 1% gray or whatever it is. The hard thing for me would be figure out how to change the text color to white if I had to on the conversation list. I think I'll do as you suggested and look for another mms.apk.
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Click to collapse
Now I'm no expert on this or anything and haven't done much research on it, so I don't know everything you're talking about. But when I manually swapped out battery icon images from framework-res.apk, I didn't do any unzipping, rezipping, decompiling, recompiling. All I had to do was *open* the archive with 7zip (NOT unzip). Delete the images in there I wanted to replace. Then drag and drop the new images into the archive. As long as they were the same names and I wasn't adding or removing any images, there was no need to change any of the XML files. And it all worked fine.
As I said though, if I recall (as I actually looked into trying to do this myself with the help of another guy -- I wanted to make the AT&T mms.apk look like the Rogers mms.apk) the background image and maybe the bubble images too are 9-patch files, which are the image_name.9.png files. They require a very special process for editing. So that might require a bit more work.
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CodeRedDewd said:
You said I like TouchWiz... I'm not exactly sure what that even is. Isn't that something to do with the buttons and how they look at the bottom?
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Haha something like that. TouchWiz is the graphical overlay (UI skin) Samsung puts on top of "vanilla" Android, or AOSP. Every manufacture does it. Motorola's is called MotoBlur. HTC's is called Sense. And so on. The Nexus line of phones is the only one to get stock, vanilla Android (AOSP). So it's the reason all android phones from the same manufacture look somewhat the same.
TouchWiz does consist of those buttons at the bottom and how they look (I assume you're talking about the docked apps - Phone, Contacts, Email, Apps). But it's also the system apps (Messaging, Email, Phone, Contacts, Settings, etc.) and how they look and act. The swipe right to call / swipe left to message is a feature of TouchWiz, which is why I said you liked TW because you like that feature.
---------- Post added at 06:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:58 PM ----------
CodeRedDewd said:
You mentioned the CM7 something. I'm not exactly sure what the CM is. I have CM5 and it said I have a mismatch when I tried to restore my original ROM that I backed up. it was 2.3.6 I think.
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CM stands for CyanogenMod and consists of a more AOSP feel, unlike Samsung's TouchWiz. So it doesn't have the swipe to call feature; usually just tap the contact picture inside Messaging and it gives you the option to call. CM7 was their Gingerbread build. CM9 is their Ice Cream Sandwich build.
Basically CyanogenMod has created a replacement/aftermarket firmware to replace Google Android (AOSP). It's sort of different than just a custom ROM because a custom ROM is usually just built with one phone in mind (whichever one the developer owns). CM is a firmware built the same way, with the same features, for as many phones as they can support. So your specific phone still needs to be supported and have its own specific build, but once you have it on you phone, it will look and feel just like any HTC, Motorola, etc. that is also running CM.
So it's based off of Google Android (AOSP), it's completely self-contained as its own operating system (somewhat anyway).
We have an unofficial alpha of CM9 in the development section if you want to give it a shot! (Unofficial means it's not being built by or currently supported by the actual CyanogenMod team. Just a private individual is using their source code to make it work with our Skyrocket.) It works rather well and is like 99.5% a daily driver.
Wow, thank you for that information. Some of the fuzzy things are a little clearer now but not much. lol
What you said about replacing a png - I opened the ROM in 7Zip, clicked down to the Mms.apk. I right clicked and copied to desktop. I opened that in 7Zip and dragged and dropped the png into that. I changed the file extinsion to .zip and put in on my phone. When I tried to install it though CWM touch it just aborted.
I'm not 100% sure, but I edited the png in paint. I magnified it 800 times and could see a perfect rectangle inside of this other stuff. I only made the perfect rectangle black and saved. The one I'm doing is textfield_default_dark.9.png. I don't quite think I edited it wrong since it wouldn't even install. My editing wrong would make it FC or not show right?? I don't know how to troubleshoot.
In the meantime I'm going to check out some of your other suggestions. However I would LOVE to be able to fix what I want. Why make a black that's not black and can't be displayed right by the display because the pixels are just barely on?
Suggestions on my proceedure? I read somewhere earlier that there has to be some something done to the png for permission or something strange....
I checked out the dark themed Mms.apk you mentioned at the top. This is what it says.
This is not flashable. what you'll need to do is navigate to system--> app, rename your current mms.apk to something like "mms.apk.old" or "mms.apk.bak". Then paste the attached into the same folder. Reboot your phone and voila.
I lost root access and cannot get it back when I installed SKYICS. I'm running UCLD2. I haven't been able to put together what to do about this. I tried to install my original backup and it said CM5 mismatch or something. I do believe I need root access to navigate to the system folder because I can't find it?
yeah. you need root. you dont really need to "flash" in CWM. Just replace the original in the system. But you do need root. Reboot into recovery and flash superuser
I did that a few times and nothing. I gave up on rooting for a while then now I'm rooted. Titanium, when I opened it, asked for permission. It wouldn't do that yesterday. I'm just going to have to say okay I'm rooted.
I'm trying to find the system directory right now...
CodeRedDewd said:
I'm not 100% sure, but I edited the png in paint. I magnified it 800 times and could see a perfect rectangle inside of this other stuff. I only made the perfect rectangle black and saved. The one I'm doing is textfield_default_dark.9.png. I don't quite think I edited it wrong since it wouldn't even install. My editing wrong would make it FC or not show right?? I don't know how to troubleshoot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea so like I said, since it's a 9-patch file (*.9.png), I'm not sure if you can just edit the image and throw it back in there. I'm guessing that Paint only recognizes it as a *.png, and so saves it as such. 9-patch images need to be recompiled, as far as I know. So that might've screwed you up, even if you installed it right.
CodeRedDewd said:
What you said about replacing a png - I opened the ROM in 7Zip, clicked down to the Mms.apk. I right clicked and copied to desktop. I opened that in 7Zip and dragged and dropped the png into that. I changed the file extinsion to .zip and put in on my phone. When I tried to install it though CWM touch it just aborted.
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Click to collapse
So about installing it. Everything above sounds like the correct process EXCEPT for changing the file extension. A CWM flashable zip isn't just any old zip file. It's has a certain structure to it and includes a script file that tells CWM exactly what to do with the information contained inside the zip. With a system apk, all you need to do is get the file on your phone somehow (microSD, USB cable, Dropbox, etc.), and then copy and paste it into the /system/app directory, afterwards setting its permissions to rw-r--r--. To do this, yes you will need root access. It shouldn't be that hard to just root again if you lost it somehow. Or judging by your last post, you may have successfully rooted again.
CodeRedDewd said:
I checked out the dark themed Mms.apk you mentioned at the top. This is what it says.
This is not flashable. what you'll need to do is navigate to system--> app, rename your current mms.apk to something like "mms.apk.old" or "mms.apk.bak". Then paste the attached into the same folder. Reboot your phone and voila.
I lost root access and cannot get it back when I installed SKYICS. I'm running UCLD2. I haven't been able to put together what to do about this. I tried to install my original backup and it said CM5 mismatch or something. I do believe I need root access to navigate to the system folder because I can't find it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which brings us back to this mms.apk. Definitely give this app another shot using the above method once you obtain root again. You will need an app such as Root Explorer, which can be downloaded from the Market.
As far as restoring your backup, the error you received was an MD5 checksum mismatch error. You can Google what MD5 means, and possible reasons why CWM gave you that error. I think it gives it to you sometimes when you rename a backup file and put a space in the file name.
I'll have to research that MD5 thing...
I got the Mms.apk copied to the right directory and my changes worked. I have to use something other than paint that allows me to keep white as the transparant color. This is pretty awesome... Maybe I'll post my result when I figure out what's going on. I'm thinking the text field is a box within a box. I got a black box with a very dark gray one in the middle... But it's progress! Thanks for your help!
CodeRedDewd said:
I'll have to research that MD5 thing...
I got the Mms.apk copied to the right directory and my changes worked. I have to use something other than paint that allows me to keep white as the transparant color. This is pretty awesome... Maybe I'll post my result when I figure out what's going on. I'm thinking the text field is a box within a box. I got a black box with a very dark gray one in the middle... But it's progress! Thanks for your help!
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Click to collapse
That's awesome man, good job! Wanna post a screenshot for me? A before and after if you have it?
But if you need something better than Paint, I'd look into Gimp. It's what most of the guys on here use. It's basically the Linux version of Photoshop. And being Linux, it's free and open source... and has been ported over to Windows. It works great for quick image editing. Just takes a bit of Googling to learn all the buttons haha.
I'm using Gimp because it keeps the transparant background. I had a big white box around my box from paint.
Update: When I used paint, it seemed things worked correctly besides the white box around the editor. The transparancy was lost. In Gimp, if I change 1 pixel I get a whole distorted image for the editor. In paint, I made the blue line gold and the box black. That looked great. Nothing seems to be working right with Gimp. Wait, in Paint I did notice one thing. The box was a true black, but with a lighter black, wide stripe in the middle from end to end, as if it was another png inserted into it. Hmmm... In Gimp it looks like nothing is getting inserted and the small image is stretching all the way across with the thin blue line getting super fat. I didn't jack the image up. I only changed one pixel to red in the middle of the black. I'm thinking there's more to this. Someone posted something about a decompiled image that had extra dots around the edge and one a one pixel line on two sides or something. I didn't break anything, because I put in an untouched png and it fixed things, so it's just the image.
Any ideas? I'm headed out to watch a movie, but I'm determined.
Look for a brush diameter or feathering option in Gimp and change it to the smallest one you have. I've had to do that in both Photoshop and Gimp before to get the apk changes I've made to look right and not have that outlining that you're referring to.
I understand what you mean, but this is different.The .9.png looks exactly the same when I edit it. I'm just making it darker. The .9.png files are made of 9 sections taht are stretched individually so the image is not distorted. In my case, Gimp is destroying that ability and the image is getting stretched the wrong way when displayed. For example, if you stretch a line along its lengt it still looks like the same line only longer, which is what they do. But if you stretch it across its width, it becomes this fat line, which is what is happening in my case.
I think you're editig just .png and not .9.png files?
CodeRedDewd said:
I understand what you mean, but this is different.The .9.png looks exactly the same when I edit it. I'm just making it darker. The .9.png files are made of 9 sections taht are stretched individually so the image is not distorted. In my case, Gimp is destroying that ability and the image is getting stretched the wrong way when displayed. For example, if you stretch a line along its lengt it still looks like the same line only longer, which is what they do. But if you stretch it across its width, it becomes this fat line, which is what is happening in my case.
I think you're editig just .png and not .9.png files?
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Do you think some information in this tutorial could be of any help? There's also a video tutorial available.
Yes it's possible that would be very helpful. I found either that or another tutorial last night. It was interesting how the .9.png files are sectioned. I conda figured that out on my own, because it would have to be to get bigger and not distort fine lines. I'll have to find that tutorial itself, because that post you linked has no links in it. I went to a 9patch website or something that had all the stuff, but it got too deep pretty quickly. In the short time I studied it, I had no clue how to even begin to install and use the program.
What baffles me is how Paint didn't screw up the .9.png. It worked fine with my edits, only it had no transparency so there was a white border. It was able to scale fine to landscape and portrait. It looked great. I totally though I had it figured out. :/ Have you looked at how to do .9.png files?
CodeRedDewd said:
Yes it's possible that would be very helpful. I found either that or another tutorial last night. It was interesting how the .9.png files are sectioned. I conda figured that out on my own, because it would have to be to get bigger and not distort fine lines. I'll have to find that tutorial itself, because that post you linked has no links in it. I went to a 9patch website or something that had all the stuff, but it got too deep pretty quickly. In the short time I studied it, I had no clue how to even begin to install and use the program.
What baffles me is how Paint didn't screw up the .9.png. It worked fine with my edits, only it had no transparency so there was a white border. It was able to scale fine to landscape and portrait. It looked great. I totally though I had it figured out. :/ Have you looked at how to do .9.png files?
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The tutorial is contained in the OP of that post I linked to. It contains links for all the tools you need and a short description of the process to follow. And then I think the video tutorial might just guide you through the OP of that first link.
But yea, that's really interesting how Paint worked so well. Did you happen to take any screenshots of the Paint-edited apk running on your phone?
And no, I actually have never looked into editing .9.png files. Didn't really even know how they worked until you explained them a little bit in one of the above posts.
I attached an image. I'm not sure if it's going to show up in the post as an image; we'll see.
There is a white box around what is suppose to be shown as the editor. In the center of the black box it's not true black as the black surrounding it that I changed in the .9.png. The center must be another image.
I'm thinking I'm just going to make the white black, find the other gray images the buttons are on and make that one black. Who needs transparancy when it's all black, which is what I want anyway. lol
I'm going to look into the 9patch some more... It just seems so complicated with how to install and get working. It would be nice to work with someone who is actively editing .9.png's to get me on track....
Do you have an interest in editing those png's? lol