Related
First of all, major thanks to JsChiSurf for his amazing work on this port!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=877003
This is a separate thread for themes of this mod.
I've always wanted a clean, slick looking shade on the notifications pull down and thanks to JsChiSurf, it's pretty easy to theme it.
Here are two that I made today. I haven't gotten around to skinning the buttons yet though.
Try these, static images don't do them justice, it's neat seeing the way they move. For more details on flashing these, please refer for JsChiSurf's thread above. These already contain the updated 2.1.1 services jar.
After zipping, you can use this:
http://circle.glx.nl/
to restore your battery %. Thanks chogardjr!
PCS_v2.1.1 Brushed_Metal_Grate_Small_Circular_Light
PCS_v2.1.1 Brushed_Metal_Grate_Small_Circular_Dark
PCS_v2.1.1 Brushed Metal Grate Small Circular Dark Industrialized
PCS_v2.1.1 Brushed_Metal_Grate_Small_Dark_Industrialized_Android
PCS_v2.1.1 Brushed_Metal_Grate_Small_Dark_Industrialized_Android_v2
PCS_v2.1.1 Brushed_Metal_Grate_Small_Light_Industrialized_Android_v2
Neo3D said:
First of all, major thanks to JsChiSurf for his amazing work on this port!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=877003
This is a separate thread for themes of this mod.
I've always wanted a clean, slick looking shade on the notifications pull down and thanks to JsChiSurf, it's pretty easy to theme it.
Here are two that I made today. I haven't gotten around to skinning the buttons yet though.
Try these, static images don't do them justice, it's neat seeing the way they move. For more details on flashing these, please refer for JsChiSurf's thread above. These contain the 2.1.1 services jar.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wrong section to post this in, however, nice MOD.
Hi. How do i go about installing this mod please?
Jason Black said:
Hi. How do i go about installing this mod please?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
jschisurf has intructions in his thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=877003
since he originally ported this, it's best to refer back to his thread.
oh, i already included his latest 2.1.1 services jar, so there's no need to flash twice.
SteelH said:
Wrong section to post this in, however, nice MOD.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry Thanks for moving it to the correct section!
Using with Myn rom
I think the brushed metal version looks great and want to install, but would that change myn's black notification menu power control back to white or just add the metal screen drop down. I like the black notification menu power control over the white version.
Thanks
terence74 said:
I think the brushed metal version looks great and want to install, but would that change myn's black notification menu power control back to white or just add the metal screen drop down. I like the black notification menu power control over the white version.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm, honestly, I'm still new at this, so I don't know. Can you make a Nandroid image, then flash it and let everyone know?
terence74 said:
I think the brushed metal version looks great and want to install, but would that change myn's black notification menu power control back to white or just add the metal screen drop down. I like the black notification menu power control over the white version.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, it will.
This is all very easy. If you have done this much then you can do it all. I have faith in you.
chogardjr said:
This is all very easy. If you have done this much then you can do it all. I have faith in you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is it just a matter of replacing the PNG's?
What PNG optimization do you recommend?
Also, how do you change the color of the fonts? I tried to look at the xml files but they open up as strange characters in any text editor I use (Notepad++, notepad, etc)
I also noticed that I lost my battery % after flash jschisurf's mod?
Thanks for your faith! The hardest part is knowing where all the PNG's are that need to be replaced!
Replacing png's is the noob way to do it. But is is the best place to start. You need to find apktool and learn how to use it. This will solve most of your problems with xml's. You also need a program called xml editor. This is my starters list. Here is a link you might learn a lot from.
http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/tools/index.html
As far as learning which png's, most are in the drawable-hdpi folder. Stay away from .9.png files untill your ready for them. Apktool will let you know when you make a mistake and where the mistake is to fix. Search youtube and do a lot of reading in this forum. It seems like a lot but after a while you will start to understand how the OS works and manages the files. Happy Themeing!
Neo3D said:
Is it just a matter of replacing the PNG's?
What PNG optimization do you recommend?
Also, how do you change the color of the fonts? I tried to look at the xml files but they open up as strange characters in any text editor I use (Notepad++, notepad, etc)
I also noticed that I lost my battery % after flash jschisurf's mod?
Thanks for your faith! The hardest part is knowing where all the PNG's are that need to be replaced!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Neo3D said:
I also noticed that I lost my battery % after flash jschisurf's mod?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go to the sticky where the rom wiki is and at the bottom of that page you will find kitchens. One is for changing battery icons. That one is the easy fix to getting the icons you want into the his mod. But if you must know more, there are 3 xml files in the drawable folder that needs to be replaced to work with more png files than his stock ones. All I can say is APKTOOL and 7ZIP is the bread and butter.
Thanks for the awesome tips and info!
I found the .png for the toggle switches (stat_power_background.9.png) and yea, it must be some kind of special PNG cuz I measured it out to be 80x75 but rendered incorrectly.
Sweet, looking forward to learning more about Android!
BTW, just finished looking over that Android page and is this the APKTool you're referring to?
Android Asset Packaging Tool
Thats one of them. Here is a post made by a guy who compiled them all together for anyone who wants them. Use just the tools and use that link I gave to learn about them. APKTOOL is something made by someone here on xda but I can't find his link.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=882742&highlight=apktool
Neo3D said:
Thanks for the awesome tips and info!
I found the .png for the toggle switches (stat_power_background.9.png) and yea, it must be some kind of special PNG cuz I measured it out to be 80x75 but rendered incorrectly.
Sweet, looking forward to learning more about Android!
BTW, just finished looking over that Android page and is this the APKTool you're referring to?
Android Asset Packaging Tool
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found the website: FWI use v1.3.1 as v1.3.2 has bugs
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...8j1-bcnOf1Rz8k9fA&sig2=4MkcxzG_ROaqAr4-tWwlGw
As stated, just changing the .png's is the starting way of theming. Just make sure you do a nandroid backup before you go around messing with anything.
When you get comfortable with that, the next step is to look into XML. XML is generally easy to learn but can be complicated at parts. I don't really know of a good starting guide to XML for android but I'll post one if I see it.
NinePatches (*.9.png) aren't as complicated as people think. Once you get the concept of it, they are actually pretty easy. I'm creating a guide for it when I have time. But the basic concept is:
The NinePatch tool ads a 1px border to an image.
The new border can be colored black (except the 4 corners).
The left and top borders defines the stretchable area.
The right and bottom borders defines where content is allowed.
Like I said, I'm making a guide to it which will explain it better and have pictures.
chogardjr said:
Thats one of them. Here is a post made by a guy who compiled them all together for anyone who wants them. Use just the tools and use that link I gave to learn about them. APKTOOL is something made by someone here on xda but I can't find his link.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=882742&highlight=apktool
I found the website: FWI use v1.3.1 as v1.3.2 has bugs
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...8j1-bcnOf1Rz8k9fA&sig2=4MkcxzG_ROaqAr4-tWwlGw
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok sounds good, thanks!
Skullmonkey said:
As stated, just changing the .png's is the starting way of theming. Just make sure you do a nandroid backup before you go around messing with anything.
When you get comfortable with that, the next step is to look into XML. XML is generally easy to learn but can be complicated at parts. I don't really know of a good starting guide to XML for android but I'll post one if I see it.
NinePatches (*.9.png) aren't as complicated as people think. Once you get the concept of it, they are actually pretty easy. I'm creating a guide for it when I have time. But the basic concept is:
The NinePatch tool ads a 1px border to an image.
The new border can be colored black (except the 4 corners).
The left and top borders defines the stretchable area.
The right and bottom borders defines where content is allowed.
Like I said, I'm making a guide to it which will explain it better and have pictures.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried the 9patch app and it's pretty easy to use (I have experience with Illustrator and Flash). However, when I replace the original 9path file w/the new one, it shows the 1 px border on my android. Also, it seems to scale it wrong. I attached an example of what I'm talking about. I measured the bkg of the power toggles to be 80x75, but on the Android, it shrinks the graphic and you can see the 1 pixel border?
Looking forward to that guide!
Neo3D said:
I tried the 9patch app and it's pretty easy to use (I have experience with Illustrator and Flash). However, when I replace the original 9path file w/the new one, it shows the 1 px border on my android. Also, it seems to scale it wrong. I attached an example of what I'm talking about. I measured the bkg of the power toggles to be 80x75, but on the Android, it shrinks the graphic and you can see the 1 pixel border?
Looking forward to that guide!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
are you talking about the background of the icons or the entire power area?
the background of the icons look fine to me even zoomed in.
if your trying to make the entire power area be the caution image, then there is an xml edit involved in res/layout-hdpi-v4/status_bar_expanded.xml. ill give you the exact change you need if you cant figure it out.
just keep in mind that ninepatch will only stretch images, not repeat.
Skullmonkey said:
are you talking about the background of the icons or the entire power area?
the background of the icons look fine to me even zoomed in.
if your trying to make the entire power area be the caution image, then there is an xml edit involved in res/layout-hdpi-v4/status_bar_expanded.xml. ill give you the exact change you need if you cant figure it out.
just keep in mind that ninepatch will only stretch images, not repeat.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ahh ok, i wasn't sure how the background of that area worked. so there's a background png and a background png for each widget?
i found this png: stat_power_background.9.png
which other one is for the background of the entire thing?
about the extra 1 pixel showing, you can see on the sides of the background a black vertical line. on 9patch png's, is the 1 px border that defines the 9patch actually supposed to show? i think there might be something wrong with my 9patch png's.
also, if you look at the screen cap again, there's horizontal white space above and below the toggle widget bkg graphics. is there a way to make them larger so they cover the white space? seems like android likes to shrink them to that size (in the screen cap) no matter how tall the image is.
Neo3D said:
ahh ok, i wasn't sure how the background of that area worked. so there's a background png and a background png for each widget?
i found this png: stat_power_background.9.png
which other one is for the background of the entire thing?
about the extra 1 pixel showing, you can see on the sides of the background a black vertical line. on 9patch png's, is the 1 px border that defines the 9patch actually supposed to show? i think there might be something wrong with my 9patch png's.
also, if you look at the screen cap again, there's horizontal white space above and below the toggle widget bkg graphics. is there a way to make them larger so they cover the white space? seems like android likes to shrink them to that size (in the screen cap) no matter how tall the image is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well theres a solid color using a ARGB hex (for the background of the power control area) and a png for each icon background by default. you can set it up so there is an image for each.
the stat_power_background.9.png controls each icon (as you may have guessed already)
i'm not sure why the power control area isnt a solid color.
when in the ninepatch editor, you are supposed to see the black extra pixel but when you load it on your phone, they should dissappear. i honestly dont see them in the ss you provided.
can you send me the framework-res.apk you are working on so i can see if everything is set up correctly?
Alright, I am going to try and make this guide as easy to follow as possible for the 1000x people who requested it, lol...
Before starting there is a few things you are going to need/should have:
apk manager...
text editor...
General Idea with How to Work a Computer/Follow Directions
Since we are going to be editing xml's, you have to use apk manager... Hopefully you have some basic knowledge with this "program", since it takes a little getting used to.. If not though, i will try and make this as painless as possible
First, open up apk manager and decompile (9) the framework-res.apk of your choosing.. You can unzip my gingerbread theme and use that framework-res, or any other one that you can find
Now, go to the projects folder, and navigate to "framework-res.apk\res\layout".. This is where, as the name implies, all the layouts for the ticker are placed... They are in xml format, so you can easily use notepad or such...
The XML that we are looking for in order to change the color is "standbymode.xml". Open it up in your text editor... Don't be intimidated, i know it looks confusing lol.. We are only messing with a little part...
Navigate down to the 13th line, aka "<TextView android:textSize="@dimen/time.text.size"... This is where the phone gets its information about the size, font, and color for the Time!
Scroll through that line until you come across android:textColor="blah"... As you can guess the Hex Value within the quotes is the color the clock is! Right now it is ffeaff00, but we can very easily change that
All you have to do now is by googling "Hex value for purple" or whatever color you want, find the hex value that you want to use The code should be exactly six letters/numbers, no more and no less... Now, copy that hex value, and replace the old code from "ff" on! Do not erase those first two letters, because that is telling the phone what transparency value to use, and we would like to keep it fully visible
Easy Enough, right? The hard part is now done!
All we have to do now is recompile the apk, which can be tricky if you don't know what your doing..
P.S if you know how to do this, you are done! I would still scan over these steps though, just to make sure you are doing it right
To compile in apk manager, just type 11! if you get a compile error, then you did something wrong That shouldn't happen though, this is a relatively easy mod....
Wait a while until you get a "Is this a system apk?" message... type "y".... then type y again for the next message... Now do what it says!
Don't forget to delete the "resources.arsc" file, and the "standbymode.xml" file!
Now you are done!! Just replace that framework using whatever method you use, Whether that be with adb when the phone is in recovery, or by replacing the new modified apk with the original within a zip file already made by me
If you make your own, don't be stingy.. Upload it to XDA or whatever, and share it with the community I will put it up on the front page, and give you the credit Make sure though you share with me what kind of framework-res.apk it is, and where you got as in, if you got it from my gingerbread package, or from my stock 2.2 Accurate theme, or Reboot Options, or any other option
fantastic guide! thank you for this!
but im just wondering one thing, why dont you have a donate button for all the hard work you have been giving to the continuum community? hmmm
Trail, is there any code we can get to that's worth modding that's in Java? If so, I can start doing some development.
Sent from my SCH-I400 using XDA App
http://www.mediafire.com/?ajjo09hwxejqsl0
I added my own outlined orange softkeys, and and orange ticker color.
and a few things to the lockscreen text for the lulz
Also I failed to mention that it's based on your accurate gingerbread theme.
Thank you Jakeschweinz for sharing with the community I shall put this in the main mod Thread, and make it easy for everyone to find it And i'll be sure to let you have all the credit
Thanks again!
just a quick link to help you guys out with color
http://html-color-codes.info/
and here's my baby blue clock color
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/30842475/framework-res.apk
6FCAF5 <---- if anybody wants to know the color code for it,
And thanks again Trailblazer for this Guide.
You tricky bugger you figured it out without me lol..
Nice job!
So I'm kinda new to doing this, and I saw the upload that someone has on there for mediafire, and I was wondering, do you just download that, or do you put it in the .apk manager and change it?
This guide is very soon going to be outdated
Sent from my SCH-I400 using xda premium
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.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2
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...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
---------- Post added at 05:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:43 PM ----------
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.
Click to expand...
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.
---------- Post added at 05:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:51 PM ----------
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?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
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!
Click to expand...
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?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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
Hey Guys,
I wanna learn modding and developing Android. I'm new to XDA and don't know which path to take. Should I start by modding some .apks or should I use Android SDK to learn to develop apps. BTW, I use Linux (Xubuntu 1.04) and I'm familiar with the Command Line. I just want somebody to point me in the right direction.
Thank you...
JasonKZLY said:
I'm new to XDA and don't know which path to take.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi.
Take which ever comes naturally, but you should have some idea before signing up as modding an apk or two is a bit different to developing a full app I would say. I would start by reading reading and reading some more.
Hmm...
XperienceD said:
Hi.
Take which ever comes naturally, but you should have some idea before signing up as modding an apk or two is a bit different to developing a full app I would say. I would start by reading reading and reading some more.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found this thread by Cyanogen --- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=667298. I decided to take his advice but I have another question, a bit stupid one perhaps, I was trying to edit my Android's Phone.apk. I was changing the colour of the numbers in the dialpad to blue, I used Gimp (Yes, I changed the mode to RGB) and edited the .png files in both drawable-hdpi-finger and drawable-mdpi-finger. I signed and zip-aligned the .apk, after putting it in my phone's system/app, changing permissions and rebooting. The Numbers in the dial-pad was still white in colour, I had also edited the unknow-caller png and that worked but the dialpad thingy didn't work. Any ideas???
JasonKZLY said:
I found this thread by Cyanogen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A third path then. :silly:
JasonKZLY said:
The Numbers in the dial-pad was still white in colour, I had also edited the unknow-caller png and that worked but the dialpad thingy didn't work. Any ideas???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It might not be an image but controlled by an xml, or the buttons you've changed aren't what's used by the Phone etc, for example the dialer buttons in my Phonebook to make a call aren't the same as when I'm on a call, as the ones used while I'm in a call are in another apk, which for me is SEMCPhone.apk, which you'll only find on SonyEricsson/Sony Phones.
Hi,
I know how to create an Action and assign a Tap or Double-Tap action to change an image, but if I am using a digital watch face and want to tap to change the color of the time display (as opposed to a background image), how would I go about doing that?
For example, if my default digital watch face shows the time digits in red, how can I set an action to change it to orange upon the Tap Action, then yellow, then green, etc.?
Thanks in advance!
-Swooperz
Swooperz said:
Hi,
I know how to create an Action and assign a Tap or Double-Tap action to change an image, but if I am using a digital watch face and want to tap to change the color of the time display (as opposed to a background image), how would I go about doing that?
For example, if my default digital watch face shows the time digits in red, how can I set an action to change it to orange upon the Tap Action, then yellow, then green, etc.?
Thanks in advance!
-Swooperz
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are a ton of watch faces out there that change their font color when you tap on the time digits. Surely someone knows how to create this effect in GWD. Alternatively, is there a way to view the xml from purchased or downloaded watch faces on my watch? Just to view the code for that action?
Thanks in advance!!
i was curious about the same thing.
so what i did was copied the .wgt file of a face that had that feature as it was being sent to my watch. root is needed to intercept the transfer from phone to watch.
renamed to .zip, unzipped and looked through the files.
its hard to explain but there is no special coding in the xml for this. it is basically using layers and a transparent png as a font.
i have never shared a gwd file so not sure if you can but i am willing to do a very basic time face and send it to you, if you would like. i will include all files so you can see what is happening.
let me know.
Hi Stealo,
That sounds awesome. I would love to see how this is done. I'd root my Note 8 but I don't think the Verizon Note 8 can be rooted safely. Anyone correct me if that is not right.
Anyway - yes, please do share whatever you find, Stealo, and let me know how I can help.
Cheers,
Swoop
Swooperz said:
Hi Stealo,
That sounds awesome. I would love to see how this is done. I'd root my Note 8 but I don't think the Verizon Note 8 can be rooted safely. Anyone correct me if that is not right.
Anyway - yes, please do share whatever you find, Stealo, and let me know how I can help.
Cheers,
Swoop
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok cool. i will try and get it done tonight, and post.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Ok, so i started writing a "how to" and it got way out of control, :silly:.
I cant take any credit for this, all i did was pull apart someone elses work and learn from it. The attached is my work but built in the same way as the other person did it. I hope this doesnt upset anyone. I will never share the original persons work.
I have attached all the files you need for this to work including my gwd file & tpk file. Im not sure if you will be able to import it into your GWD but give it ago. if not start a new face and rebuild it from the resources.
At any point you get stuck let me know and i will help you out.
Hi Stealo,
Thanks for posting this! Things have been crazy busy here and I have not yet had a chance to sit down and dig into this but I look forward to seeing what cool trickery lies in the scripts, etc.
Thanks again,
Swoop
Swooperz said:
Hi Stealo,
Thanks for posting this! Things have been crazy busy here and I have not yet had a chance to sit down and dig into this but I look forward to seeing what cool trickery lies in the scripts, etc.
Thanks again,
Swoop
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hey swooperz,
nothing is scripted for this to work.
just layer composition and thats it.
if you need a hand or any explaining let me know.
stealo said:
hey swooperz,
nothing is scripted for this to work.
just layer composition and thats it.
if you need a hand or any explaining let me know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Everything worked like a charm! I got one error about the TPK needing to be rebuilt when trying to deploy to my watch (unsure of the issue), but I chose only version 3 and it worked perfectly. Maybe my watch needs to have OS 4? I have a Samsung Gear S3 Frontier.
Anywho - now I am going to learn how bitmap fonts work and how to convert a TTF font that I own, to a bitmap font. :good:
This is awesome! Thanks again for helping me get over this hurdle. It was a big one for me. :laugh:
Swooperz said:
Everything worked like a charm! I got one error about the TPK needing to be rebuilt when trying to deploy to my watch (unsure of the issue), but I chose only version 3 and it worked perfectly. Maybe my watch needs to have OS 4? I have a Samsung Gear S3 Frontier.
Anywho - now I am going to learn how bitmap fonts work and how to convert a TTF font that I own, to a bitmap font. :good:
This is awesome! Thanks again for helping me get over this hurdle. It was a big one for me. :laugh:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i am using gwd 1.6.1 i think which lets you build for os 4.0 and lower.
the font in the example was the fortnite font.
very simple task but very boring to make, but you will only need to do once for each digit 0-9.
are you familiar with adobe illustrator or photoshop?
simply make the canvas the size you need with the same colour or pattern of the face, type a single number, adjust its size so it just fits height and width, cut it out so the number is transparent, save it as a png to preserve the transparency.
much more to it but like i said let me know if you get stuck.
regarding the background cut to make, i think i made it 200px wide and 80px high.
so that means you can fit 4 digits at 50px wide X 80px high, which is important for making the font.
stealo said:
i am using gwd 1.6.1 i think which lets you build for os 4.0 and lower.
the font in the example was the fortnite font.
very simple task but very boring to make, but you will only need to do once for each digit 0-9.
are you familiar with adobe illustrator or photoshop?
simply make the canvas the size you need with the same colour or pattern of the face, type a single number, adjust its size so it just fits height and width, cut it out so the number is transparent, save it as a png to preserve the transparency.
much more to it but like i said let me know if you get stuck.
regarding the background cut to make, i think i made it 200px wide and 80px high.
so that means you can fit 4 digits at 50px wide X 80px high, which is important for making the font.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Makes sense. I have Photoshop so will upgrade GWD and open the files up in Photoshop to have a look. Thanks again!
I got the set-up working with my own bitmap font and clickable button to change the colors - the caveat now is when a single digit shows up - the mask layer shows up from underneath the single digit, since it gets centered, and the mask is only half the width (one digit's width as opposed to two digit widths).
See my picture of both cases (still need to work out anti-aliasing artifacts).
Any ideas on how to work around that, yet still only use single digit hours?
EDIT: Just to be clear: my background is black, so other than the digits, there should be no purple color coming through as shown for the single digit of one.
Thanks,
Swoop
Swooperz said:
I got the set-up working with my own bitmap font and clickable button to change the colors - the caveat now is when a single digit shows up - the mask layer shows up from underneath the single digit, since it gets centered, and the mask is only half the width (one digit's width as opposed to two digit widths).
See my picture of both cases (still need to work out anti-aliasing artifacts).
Any ideas on how to work around that, yet still only use single digit hours?
EDIT: Just to be clear: my background is black, so other than the digits, there should be no purple color coming through as shown for the single digit of one.
Thanks,
Swoop
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hey swoop,
good to see you making progress.
just off the top of my head
at the the bottom of the screen is a time line. so you could make 2 backgrounds and have 1 apear between the hours of 1 to 9 and the other from 10 to 12.
read about the conditional lines,
https://developer.samsung.com/galaxy-watch/design/watch-designer/gear-watch-dev
to fix the auto centering maybe align your text to the right so a single digit will snap right when changing.
i use only 24hr time, not sure why but always have. if i get time i will try it out and see.
regarding artifacts, i generally use illustrator, which produces cleaner images. if you dont have illustrator you can dowload a free alternative called inkscape, i think, or an online vector converter.
i always make an image twice as large if possible then clean it up and scale it down. im still learning also, so what i do may not be right but it works for me.
in the mean time let me know if what i said is right.
Thanks, Stealo.
I have Adobe CS 6 with Illustrator, so will try that next as well as start working on a timeline-based position of the background. Great idea! That way, I can leave the single digits centered (I hope), which looks better in my design.
Cheers!
is It possible to change with double tap, one object's color that moves ? (such as the second hand)
stealo said:
i was curious about the same thing.
so what i did was copied the .wgt file of a face that had that feature as it was being sent to my watch. root is needed to intercept the transfer from phone to watch.
renamed to .zip, unzipped and looked through the files.
its hard to explain but there is no special coding in the xml for this. it is basically using layers and a transparent png as a font.
i have never shared a gwd file so not sure if you can but i am willing to do a very basic time face and send it to you, if you would like. i will include all files so you can see what is happening.
let me know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just found this thread.. may i ask you how did you intercept the transfer from phone to watch?
i have phone rooted, do i need root also on gear?
i'd like to do this to study some of watchfaces i bought, so i could learn to make them.
thanks in advance ^^
up @stealo
erghetto said:
up @stealo
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hey sorry, dont use xda as much anymore.
You need to have a rooted device (phone/tablet) first, and a good file explorer, no root needed on watch at all. i cant give specifics as i dont use the devices anymore, i can try and point you in the right direction though.
what i did was monitor a folder in the WEAR app root directory on my phone, when i downloaded an app from the store it would store it on my phone for maybe ten seconds, then transfer to my watch.
Using your file explorer you can copy it and paste it to a new location before the transfer ends.
Rename it .zip, extract, learn and explore.
Like i said i am not 100% if it is still possible as i no longer use both devices. Please dont steal anybodies work though.
Good luck.
stealo said:
hey sorry, dont use xda as much anymore.
You need to have a rooted device (phone/tablet) first, and a good file explorer, no root needed on watch at all. i cant give specifics as i dont use the devices anymore, i can try and point you in the right direction though.
what i did was monitor a folder in the WEAR app root directory on my phone, when i downloaded an app from the store it would store it on my phone for maybe ten seconds, then transfer to my watch.
Using your file explorer you can copy it and paste it to a new location before the transfer ends.
Rename it .zip, extract, learn and explore.
Like i said i am not 100% if it is still possible as i no longer use both devices. Please dont steal anybodies work though.
Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the info. I have root on my s8 so i could try, but wear app folder is a bit generic. Without knowing the folder's name i wouldn't know where to look.
Thanks again
erghetto said:
Thanks for the info. I have root on my s8 so i could try, but wear app folder is a bit generic. Without knowing the folder's name i wouldn't know where to look.
Thanks again
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hey, sent you a pm.
mimmog said:
is It possible to change with double tap, one object's color that moves ? (such as the second hand)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I want to know the same thing. Basically I want to to double tap on say 3 o'clock area and have hour hand change images/color. How is this possible? Yes, you can change background defining itself as a buton and add "change image" action but how can you change other layer images by double tapping on another layer?