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.
Related
It's been a long minute since I posted one of these thingies. It's been like what, 6 months? Hehe I've been lagging on the new builds, sorry folks for not making a manilla release of my earlier work... my bad. The new kitchen ivanmmj put out is pretty chill and that's what I used to cook this bad boy up. As usual, it's RUU friendly.
20.18 MB RAM
36.95 MB storage
Build 28205... If anyone knows of a cleaner build, lemme know
Apps included
Xtask - mapped to the button that used to be the comm manager for easy task switching
Opera Mini 5 [not the beta] with Jbed
Nice for certain folks to get to crackin on TCPMP again, always loved that app and now it's leaner, meaner, and skinned hehe thanks bimbam69
Total Commander
Arcsoft MMS 5.2.8.45
XDA Shutdown
I decided to theme this bad boy fingerkb got upgraded to Swype, this one's pimpin Xpressyourcell's dusk blue skin scaled down to qvga, and for kicks n giggles I preloaded the dictionary with some basic swear words, so you can be cussing like a sailor right from the get go!
JWMD Icon Changer is also here as well, it has dZenkinZ icon set loaded on there, my bad for forgetting the start menu selection, that was from another theme.
I modified my shellres.96.dll file and ripped out the icons from tacchan23's dusk taskbar, and someone's android taskbar (I can't remember for the life of me it was a whiles ago), resized some and replaced just a couple.
This is also using DJ Cedric Blue Carbon titanium replacement, plus some of the icons were thrown into my shellres.96.dll
Oh yea... the start button is also a bit different, I don't like the M$ logo, what can I say?
I finally got how to proprely set a default theme upon cooking and this one is using lyapa's Azenisll theme. It's pretty sick in my book. I did some slight touching up on a couple of icons within it.
The lockscreen is skinned grzegorz10's dusk lock screen.
Still using the old school 8 button touch comm manager from my previous build, but I threw in some color, same dialer as before, nothing new there.
The boot screen does not lampoon the "president" of the United States any more. The welcomehead96 is filled with such evil I cannot describe it here but you can view the thumbnail below. I'll say it once and I'll say it again, Steve Jobs is a **** and the animated splash screen shows Apple what I think of their products. My bad for not being able to cite the artist offhand, but all credits go out to him/her.
All picture files were resized to the original size came from the kitchen and given the original file names, as were the icons in the shellres.96.dll to save on space and to alleviate any potential issues.
Feel free to download this from here: http://www.4shared.com/file/JanM4nbA/Gonz0_28205_RUU_Signed_0409.html
Thank You. Does this baby include the known wm6.5-issue "memory leak"?
This problem is really anoying... I am thinking about going back to 6.1
Paule666 said:
Thank You. Does this baby include the known wm6.5-issue "memory leak"?
This problem is really anoying... I am thinking about going back to 6.1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hehe memory leaks come pretty much standard with winmo, I don't think it's as bad as it could be... Oxios works great for cleaning up the memory leak... perhaps I should include it in the next one.
Glad to see you back.
So what was the motive to use 28205?
Tribulattifather said:
Glad to see you back.
So what was the motive to use 28205?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
eh... it was included with the kitchen, kinda out of touch with the latest build info so I'm not sure which ones are more stable, which build would u recommend?
Dr.Gonz0 said:
Oxios works great for cleaning up the memory leak...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, it doesn´t.
Paule666 said:
No, it doesn´t.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, it's not perfect but oh well. If anyone got any info to help plug up memory leaks hit me up in this thread or PM me.
I recommend using 28232.
Can you guide me to Splash Screens with any other images? Thanks!
djtrungkien said:
Can you guide me to Splash Screens with any other images? Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got JWMD Icon Changer cooked into this thing, u can find it under the "Apps" folder in the start menu... there's a little dealy that will allow you to change up
Flash method
Hello Gonz0
Can this ROM be flashed using the Flash Center? I'm new to all of this and I'm not going to try to act like I know what I'm doing. I flashed my phone (Wing) once and was totally surprised when it worked. I want to try it again. Let me know. Thanks.
hehe yea, go for it man, it'll work with flash center; go for it...
Haven't tried the SD method myself with it coz I've only got SDHC... (8 GB oh no!!!)
Only reason I haven't made any of those slim roms with sick amounts of extra space is coz of that. Lousy flash center and your f*&#[email protected] 50MB limitation. If only knew more on hex-editing.
My bad I'm ranting there but to answer your question; yes.
I tried to use the flash center, but it wouldn't work. Is there another way to flash this ROM. Remember, I don't know anything and will need some instruction. Thanks in advance.
Have you tried running it as an administrator?
If so; your next best bet would be to do a hard SPL on your phone, info on that can be found here:
http://thewingster.com/Documents/How to HardSPL (Wing-Herald).pdf
After you do that, you can just run the RUU flasher with the ROM in the same folder and u will be good... no more flash center
Sorry for the late responses. Are you referring to administrator on the pc? If so then yes. The phone, then I wouldn't have a clue. Let me know, thanks.
Yep, run as admin on ur pc... don't worry about the lag, don't think XDA isn't going anywhere anytime soon
Thanks - great ROM
Hi,
Thanks for this ROM. The wing has been stable so far since I moved to this ROM. The only thing I dislike about the ROM is the childish start-button (yes, I know you hate the Windows logo there). Any way to change it to some other icon?
Keep developing.... Us "wingers" depend on cooks like you to have a "current" phone... Thank you!
unfunda said:
Hi,
Thanks for this ROM. The wing has been stable so far since I moved to this ROM. The only thing I dislike about the ROM is the childish start-button (yes, I know you hate the Windows logo there). Any way to change it to some other icon?
Keep developing.... Us "wingers" depend on cooks like you to have a "current" phone... Thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hehe I feel yah the start button is a bit childish to some, now if you wanna change it here's the hoops youre going to have to jump through
grab your shellres.96.dll file from ur /windows folder and drop it on ur PC
I am going from pure memory here but you'll need to find an app to remove M$'s digital signature on the file B$. You'll want to head to the link below to grab the tools.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=432041
Once you have that, use a resource editor like reshack to crack open your .dll file, once in there just navigate the tree until you find the icon to replace. For the start button in particular you will want to ensure your image is 24x24 and in .ico format.
you can find reshack over here
http://www.angusj.com/resourcehacker/
Once you replace that image you'll want to re-sign the file. After that's done put the file back on ur fone; you may need to use total commander to drop the newly edited file back in your /windows folder.
Reboot and one of two things will happen, you'll have whatever siiiiiick icon you put wherevers, or your phone will catch fire... j/k hehe
Dr.Gonz0 said:
Reboot and one of two things will happen, you'll have whatever siiiiiick icon you put wherevers, or your phone will catch fire... j/k hehe
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the guidance. The "your phone will catch fire" part has me worried. Any way, it looks like a lot of hoops to jump through. I'll pass on this one. The smiley it is for now!
One more update, the dialer is a hit-and-miss thing. When you tap numbers, it is supposed to match contacts that has those letters, like "Ann" if you type "2-6-6". Sometimes it pulls up the contacts, and some other times no! Trying to replace the dialer. Took "TPC's Customized Black Mega Phone Canvas" dialer from forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=547959 - and after a few reboots.. it works! Had to remove my SD card to get it to boot the first time after installing the CAB.
unfunda said:
Thanks for the guidance. The "your phone will catch fire" part has me worried. Any way, it looks like a lot of hoops to jump through. I'll pass on this one. The smiley it is for now!
One more update, the dialer is a hit-and-miss thing. When you tap numbers, it is supposed to match contacts that has those letters, like "Ann" if you type "2-6-6". Sometimes it pulls up the contacts, and some other times no! Trying to replace the dialer. Took "TPC's Customized Black Mega Phone Canvas" dialer from forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=547959 - and after a few reboots.. it works! Had to remove my SD card to get it to boot the first time after installing the CAB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hehe NP on passing the info, I didn't pay for it so why should you? That Mega Phone Canvas dialer looks sick and I did kinda make my own skin for it, only reason why I didn't use that in my release was due to the lack of "landscape love". If anyone knows of a phone canvas that's landscape friendly let me know. Was just joking on the catching fire part, my bad on that. Although modifying system files can seem not for the squeamish although it's not as hard as you think... grab on and slam into it head first!
update: Dug deeper in that post and found something that is landscape friendly... I knew there was something like that out there SUHWEET! Good lookin out on the link unfunda, as for the contacts matter, my bad... I have a few more voodoo rituals to perform on this next ROM i'm working on... stay tuned ppl
I was browsing around and found this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=813162
and tried pushing and pulling the anim folder and all worked great, except everything!
the flip animations worked, but every app FC'ed.
so i basically only saw the flipping during the fc screens!
looks great, but doesn't work.
i have NO CLUE how to make it work.
what needs done to the files to get it to work?
and i MAY need the stock anim folder from our phone please!
by MAY i mean i do badly!
thanks!
:scooter:
Back when I was running Zen-ROM I was using Envynet's Elegant Envy theme, seen here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=768540
It had very similar animations to what I saw in the video...hopefully you can pull something from that.
i'm going to look into that.
thank you very much
Just wanted to say first time I pulled com.htc.resources.apk and pushed to that (made a backup before I modified) so after I pushed it nothing happened..
Then I pulled framework-res.apk and ploped the anim files in that.
Well now I get some really cool flip style transitions on my status bar up top, but no flip clock... Or is this what it's about? BTW, I got NO fc's on this either. If you want the framework-res.apk file, i'll post it.
Either way at least the flip style status bar will make a great addition to my roms
i could only get the ones from the dark to actually work.
all others wouldn't unzip.
so i'm giving them a go now.
i'll keep you posted.
sure, let me have what you got.
i'll toy around with them a little too.
thanks
so, the aria dark framework-res didn't work.
same thing.
force closes, but they flip!
by the way,
i'm using cm6 with adw launcher.
andro green theme.
i'm going to try LP instead of adw.
I believe envynet has did this before with his Envy Aria theme as I remember the flipping animations when i used that rom and his theme.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=768540
i tried those from Envy.
no avail.
still the same FC's as before.
rideascooter said:
sure, let me have what you got.
i'll toy around with them a little too.
thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's my framework-res.apk file:
http://www.mediafire.com/?1xdbf9w9308cwe2
All I did was pull the original from my phone, merge the anim directories with the file you provided and pushed back and voila! flips animations (between screens)
....
I just noticed you said your using cm6...
Well, I guess I better warn you.
I am using HTC Stock 2.1(base). And I am on Cellular South not Sprint, so definitely make a backup of your current framework-res.apk file before pushing this one.. dunno if it will work or not but hope so.
Thanks Hex:
Still gettting FC's.
i'm guessing it doesnt like AOSP.
i haven't had any luck with anything i've come across.
but they have ALL been from sense based roms. i think ....
i think i'm going to need some help on this.
anybody?!
Man this would be cool
it looks great,but ....
i can only see it on the FC screens!
Sounds to me like the xmls in that anim folder have settings pointing to various Sense related stuff (as I am finding out the hard way on my minimalist rom atm)
What you would need to do is decompile the xmls from cm6, and the xmls from the flipping anim folder and go through one by one merging just the flip code related to the animations and remove any sense related links... Which if I remember correctly are going to be addresses AND memory pages. This may prove to be quite tough to decipher.
Yeah I just think the .zip you found doesnt like aosp. I got it to work on my sense rom thanks to Hex. Now I like the animations.
Thanks man, always glad to help!
and how do i edit / decomplile these?
point me in the right direction, and i'm on it.
i want this to happen.
i'll probably hate it after a while, but i keep getting teased with the fc screens.
so for now, i want it!
what do i use to view xmls to edit them?
bump this up for a little help?
Shoot man, mah bad. I was meaning to help you.
#1 you need apktool:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=640592
This decompiles apks. I have never used it so... ymmv, but I have heard this is the best tool to do so.
Alternatively you can use xmlprint:http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=514412
This decompiles apks to text files, however it does it 1 by 1 and does not re-compile them into native bytecode, however at the same time since it's just one folder you may prefer this to apktool for decoding (but you still need apk tool to recompile them)
For CM6, instead of decompiling all of them, it may be better to just go grab the source for CM6. You can get that here:http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.php?title=Compile_CyanogenMod_for_Hero_CDMA
This wiki also gives a howto for compiling the code afterwards. The upside is you can tweak CM6 to your liking. The downside is... compiling the whole thing.
If you find a fast easy way of compiling just the files you need, you can just merge them with your current cm6 install.
DO A NANDROID FIRST SO IF YOU MESS IT UP YOU CAN GO BACK!!!!!
Hope this helps man!
EDIT 11/11/10: See Here for the official release thread.
EDIT 11/8/10: See Here for latest progress / update
Okay, wanted to give you guys a sneak peek of a port I just started working on this past weekend, for integrating the CyanogenMod Notification's panel power control widget into Sense based ROMs.
Short of the rotary lockscreen I originally ported back in the day, this has been one of the most intensive ports I've had to tackle, but it's getting close.
I've got the port to a point where it is mostly functionality (some buttons are not working yet, etc), but as you will see in the quick video demo, the formatting, etc, is all FUBAR'ed.
The formatting issues "should" be relatively easy to fix, my main focus to this point was to get things functional, then worry about pretty-ing it up, etc.
You can see in the video I currently have the widget set to the options for 'Lockscreen|Flashlight|GPS|Silent Mode', and you will see when I toggle the right 2, that the status bar updates accordingly to reflect the change in mode/status, based on the toggle. You can't really see, obviously, the flashlight come on, but it is working as well, in addition to the lockscreen on/off toggle.
Anyway, just a sneak peek. It may be that I never get it fully functional, and this ends up being nothing but a tease, but, I'm pretty persistent... .
Awesome. I just started working on this last week for Zen's ROM. It is a very daunting task. I got everything to show up, but wasn't able to get it functioning. Smali editing sucks. I've also been working on editing the recent apps icons in the notification menu from Zen's ROM (And Desire HD I think) and customizing them to be shortcuts that I use. The recent apps is useless and I'd love to have my shortcuts there instead.
I'll be watching this to see how you make out. I've slowed down on this since I'm waiting to get a new phone.
EDIT: GOOD LUCK!
signals23 said:
I got everything to show up, but wasn't able to get it functioning. Smali editing sucks.
I'll be watching this to see how you make out. I've slowed down on this since I'm waiting to get a new phone.
EDIT: GOOD LUCK!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. Yes, .smali editing sucks, especially this type, where you can't simply replace smali files and update resource ids, etc, as the two services.jar files are vastly different as it relates to the status bar, so it has been a complex merger of the two.
I'm close, but need a break! I'll probably re-visit this more over the coming weekend, when I have time to dig in. I have more hours invested in this from last weekend than I care to admit, and the wife wasn't very happy with me as a result...
wow js!!!! i really like this feature!!! hope you get it fully functional!!!
JsChiSurf said:
Thanks. Yes, .smali editing sucks, especially this type, where you can't simply replace smali files and update resource ids, etc, as the two services.jar files are vastly different as it relates to the status bar, so it has been a complex merger of the two.
I'm close, but need a break! I'll probably re-visit this more over the coming weekend, when I have time to dig in. I have more hours invested in this from last weekend than I care to admit, and the wife wasn't very happy with me as a result...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been there one too many times!
VERY cool. I would for sure use this. I'm almost surprised no one has thought of this...it's such a genius idea...for something so obvious haha
Greenfieldan said:
VERY cool. I would for sure use this. I'm almost surprised no one has thought of this...it's such a genius idea...for something so obvious haha
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd have to imagine others have thought of it, now pulling it off of is a different story . It is not a simple task.
I didn't know this existed in CM until I was working on porting a mod I made for hex editing the lockscreen/notification window banner text (carrier) on Sense based ROMs over to CM, which forced me to load CM for testing, then, EUREKA!
Almost wish I hadn't come across it
JsChiSurf said:
I'd have to imagine others have thought of it, now pulling it off of is a different story . It is not a simple task.
I didn't know this existed in CM until I was working on porting a mod I made for hex editing the lockscreen/notification window banner text (carrier) on Sense based ROMs over to CM, which forced me to load CM for testing, then, EUREKA!
Almost wish I hadn't come across it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LMAO!!!!!
10chars
I'm so glad you got an EVO JsChiSurf. This looks very promising! I was just pouring over the code changes in your rotary lockscreen port the other day to see if I could get it working on my EVO. Long story short, I crapped a brick and put that thought to rest.
nukedukem said:
I'm so glad you got an EVO JsChiSurf. This looks very promising! I was just pouring over the code changes in your rotary lockscreen port the other day to see if I could get it working on my EVO. Long story short, I crapped a brick and put that thought to rest.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. Yes, the problem with the Rotary lock is, on 2.1, HTC left most of the remnants in place, in 2.2, not so much, so it is going to take more work to pull off.
I think it is possible, but I haven't had the time or motivation to dig in. If someone else doesn't get to it first, it's on my list, but it's more fun to work on new stuff, rather than something I've already done before, so I'm less motivated to do it again .
This will be sweet. I loved it on my Samsung
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
bblanski said:
This will be sweet. I loved it on my Samsung
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. Made some more head way this evening, but still much more to tackle...
This reminds me, I went digging into Sense to get the Mail widget to work in LauncherPro. Boy, what a PIA. I got it to show up and insert, but it wouldn't work. I figure there has to be a way to make it independent. I bet I'd have a lot of time to work on it if I got divorced...
i'm soo glad you got an evo bro. This will be sweet.
This looks amazing. Can't wait to see how it turns out.
Awesome man! Thanks for doing this, it is such a nice feature on the Galaxy S and CM 6.1. I hope it works out
Progress Report
Okay guys, getting real close on this port of the CM Power Control Widget for Sense ROMs. The video below will show you how far along I've come with this port. I've pretty much got most of the cosmetics corrected, but still have a few of the widgets to get functional, most notably bluetooh and wifi (don't think it will be an issue, just need to time to dig in).
This port/mod, upon release, requires changes to services.jar, and framework-res.apk, and as such, if you are using custom themes, edits, etc, you'll probably want to wait and see / request for your ROM dev or themer to take this as a base / starting point to integrate into their ROM or theme, as there is simply no way to do it the other way around. There are just too many edits involved to try and do this any other way in order to retain your previous mods / edits.
You'll see in the video that I actually moved the widget bar below the sprint banner / clear button area, rather than the default above. I think it looks better, curious what you guys think.
Also, while CM allows you to turn on/off widget options via the menu/settings area, I don't plan on going that far, and may either just fix it to 6 most popular, or provide a file on your phone that you can manually modify to specify the widgets (up to 6), you want to use.
Looking for opinions, based on the list below, if I were to fix it to 6, hard coded, what 6 in the list of available widgets would be preferred. Available widgets are:
Airplane mode
Auto rotate
Bluetooth
Brightness
Flashlight *
GPS *
Lockscreen *
Mobile Data
Network mode
Sleep
Screen Timeout
Sound (mute) *
Sync
Wifi
*Included in the video demo below.
Some of these I haven't test and am not exactly sure what they do, lol.
Also, curious what you guys think about the addition of toast notifications when a button is pressed (on screen text confirmation / message) and/or haptic feedback when pressed.
That's it for now. Again, getting close to a release soon.
WOW!
This is huge buddy
Awesome job.
My vote goes for:
Bluetooth
Flashlight
GPS
Wifi
Airplane
Brightness
Awesome work btw
I vote
Wifi
Mobile Network
Sound
Bluetooth
Auto Rotate
Lockscreen
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.
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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?
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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.
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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
Hi
Our phone has curved corners, but the UI not as much roundy. Unfortunately, I'm not able to create nor a rom, neither any apps. I tried, but I feel like a dog who wanna learn to write. Therefore I did some examples with photo manipulation program for my desired look to match with the phone. As I always hide nav- and statusbar, for me it's even less matching, but I guess one could like the design with bars not hidden as well. I have done system UI changes, also some apps as examples. In the next few post I let you guys see them, and if any of you is able to build apps/rom, and share the same passion, please feel free to use them as an idea, I'd be glad to see them in real one day. I know that not everybody is a fan of rounded ui, but would be a nice option, if we could change anytime the radius globally, including apps. Also, this way other phone users could also match UI with different radius cornered phones.
All right, so I have no attach button in the app, not on the pc, so I uploaded a zip, all pics I organized in a folder, so it's even better, you can just swipe to see the difference, as I did put the original as well, just put your phone in full immersive mode while you watch. Also some status and navbar mods are included to taste, for those that don't hide them ever.
Some things, before you watch:
This is a prototype, I did not do it extremely well, so please exuse the imperfection.
This is a retouch of my recent ui (custom rom) for my style, I don't mean to criticise any creator.
I know the apps have nothing to do with the system, and I cannot wait that they all redesign them, only wanted to give a taste, how nice could be.
https://gofile.io/?c=cBpMPT
Edit
As soon as I uploaded, and answered to the only comment, the attach button has appeared, I'm able to upload
But I think that even easier with the other option, as here we can't swipe.
Deleted
Reserved3
Upload to Imgur
NateDev said:
Upload to Imgur
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I uploaded a zip, cus it's important to see pics as if they were your phone, with fullscreen, not sure if it's possible with a picture from web directly.
Can you upload it again the website says the file doesn't exist.
Thank you
TheProNoob said:
Can you upload it again the website says the file doesn't exist.
Thank you
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I'm not sure, but gonna have a look on pc if I still have them.
Anyway it was nothing major, just the same stuff, like aosp, but nicely rounded, that matches and doesn't cut any corner awfully as it does. Plus some others, but I'll have a look still, plus I'm working on the next verzion, just don't rush it, as pointless, only doing it when I'm bored.
Also, many stuff you can reach with substratum, that helps a bit to reach the goal.