Related
I would like to use this Widget again but simply cant stand for any background to it, as it doesn't then fit the rest of my simple no background widgets. I tried pulling the apk apart myself and editing the PNG files to be transparent but then I could not get the apk to install nor did pushing it to my device work at all.
If someone can tell me how to modify the apk or modify it for me, I'd be very appreciative.
I emailed the Dev of this and have not gotten a response about adding a transparent background option so that is why I am here now asking for help. Thanks.
http://www.appbrain.com/app/com.zedray.calllog
So you can see what Last Call looks like I have attached a screen, I believe it is an issue with editing the .9 file. I can't figure out how to do it correctly, ugh..
No one eh? Does anyone think it's just a matter of figuring out how to edit these .9 files and I should be ok no need to resign the package? I Wish the dev would help out here, I'd gladly throw em ten spot for just changing the image background.
I've added a transparent style to the Widget (was a little bit more complicated to implement in practice than it sounds).
For future reference, nine-patch files are altered by the Android build system during compilation making it more difficult for a third party to make the changes described. Hope it suits your home screen.
Alright, so we all love swype, and with the developers not wanting to share means you cannot load a theme'd apk file, this seems like the next best route, teach you how to make your own and gives the tools to make it easy!
I am not distributing Swype here, so plz don't ask, this is how to theme your current Swype set up.
Disclaimer: This is my first attempt at themes, and since im just offering my work for freeeee, don't give me crap if I overlook'd something just politely inform me and I'll do what I can. Also I only have my Droid X for testing so its kinda on you if your keyboard is not similar to mine for now. Also, im not even going to attempt to water mark this or put some symbol to show I made it since I'm giving you the files you could just remove it anyway plus they are annoying to look at, so plz just dont take credit for my work.
So first things first, to ensure this post is quick and to the point you will need to already have a few things up and running,
Currently I use keyboard manager so portrait orientation is Swype, and landscape is multi-touch since its too wide to be efficient with swype, therefore; I only created templates for portait swype so far, sorry.
ADB
WinRar(for exploring apk)
Adobe Illustrator version CS 1 and up (for editing templates)
Adobe Photoshop (for resizing keyboard images)
Side Note: Other programs will work, and other methods work, these are just tried and proven so your on your own or at least quite possibly beyond the realm of my help by using different editors.
Step 1:
ADB pull the Swype.apk file from system/app
Step 2:
Back up said Swype.apk file to ensure you can revert to stock
Step 3:
Open apk and extract "assets" folder to an easily accessible location with WinRar
Step 4:
Download 4 Illustrator Templates attatched
Step 5:
Edit templates as you see fit (font, size, color, button color, background color, GO CRAZY!)
Step 6:
From Illustrator export as .png file (make sure to keep the same file names!)
Step 7:
In Photoshop, resize images to same size as the stock ones in the folder /assets/keyboards, (480 x 320 for Droid X but you should check yours to make sure)
Step 8:
Place your newly made and sized .png files into the previously mentioned /assets/keyboards folder overwriting existing. You can make other changes here, I was focusing on the keyboards here because they are the most tedious to change but go ahead, Run Amok. "Amok Amok Amok Amok" yeahh line from the movie "Hocus Pocus" ANYWAY
Step 9:
re inject Assets folder into Swype.apk overwriting old, (i usually delete Assets, then inject to ensure overwrite)
Step 10:
ADB push back to phone and switch input method back to Swype
Step 11:
Show off your newly customized keyboard!
Step 12:
Post your .png files to help the community and show off what you did!
Alternate Lazy Way: Sit around wait for a cool keyboard to be posted and leach, simply inject someones .png files into your Swype.apk
Daves Dark Theme 1
Alright so here is the .png files for my first theme, just to get the ball rolling. Lets see what you got!
HOLY SHYTE I was planning to create AI files for this and Launcher Pro Icons, this will save some time
Any chance you have LP Icons in vector format too?
Dude.
Thanks for providing .AI files, what a great contribution! I was going to take the stock png's and photoshop them. This is much cleaner!
You don't have full-width .AI's laying around do you?
Morkai
sorry I just started making themes last night, so I don't have any Icon files lying around. Although, in the newer versions of Illustrator you can use "live trace" to make vector formats from raster images.
Jeftep
You're asking about the landscape aspect ratio keyboard right? Currently I didn't make it yet if I do landscape it will be for the stock multi-touch keyboard first then maybe id get around to swype. The keys are just too spaced out to be efficient to use with 1 finger.
And yes, thats exactly where I started too, "well lemme just see what I can do with photoshop.... awww screww it Fresh Start in illustrator"
So sorry thats a no to both questions, but come on, I just started.
SharkBaitDave said:
Morkai
sorry I just started making themes last night, so I don't have any Icon files lying around. Although, in the newer versions of Illustrator you can use "live trace" to make vector formats from raster images.
Jeftep
You're asking about the landscape aspect ratio keyboard right? Currently I didn't make it yet if I do landscape it will be for the stock multi-touch keyboard first then maybe id get around to swype. The keys are just too spaced out to be efficient to use with 1 finger.
And yes, thats exactly where I started too, "well lemme just see what I can do with photoshop.... awww screww it Fresh Start in illustrator"
So sorry thats a no to both questions, but come on, I just started.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you saying you can use one keyboard portrait and the other Landscape? Please say you are.. and do tell how!!
Morkai Almandragon said:
Are you saying you can use one keyboard portrait and the other Landscape? Please say you are.. and do tell how!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yepp! and its Amazing!!!
http://getandroidstuff.com/download-keyboard-manager-android-dual-keyboard-switch-portraitlandscape/
Batman Theme
Thinking about Batman Theme'ng out my phone, I'm not sure what the keyboard needs, but its not quite there yet...
SharkBaitDave said:
Alright, so we all love swype, and with the developers not wanting to share means you cannot load a theme'd apk file, .......
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
.......?
Ummm.. I have always shared how to theme with whom ever has asked.. plus all mine are simple to load... some swypes are custom to certain themes, and in those cases the dev's aren't going to spend time explaining how to do each part.
Not trying to bash, just stating a point.
As many know i have made quite a few swype themes(check sig), and many custom order for other devices who "technically" arent supposed to have swype.
If anyone needs help modding the tracer, or if you run into the "amp&" issue when playing with any other KB's i will be happy to help.
Good work btw, all the extra people theming makes more stuff avail, never anything wrong with that.
Swype C&D
Alright thats my fault, I meant the developers of Swype, not the XDA community.
http://www.xda-developers.com/announcements/xda-notice-swype/
this is what I was talking about with not really being able to share swype on the forum in an installable format. I was just trying to show a new way we can still all share themes while keeping the forum out of the firing range of C&D letters or worse.
While I'm certainly not claiming this to be a breakthrough in any means as its simply another way we can continue to share themes for this great app. I definitely agree there is a better way to install than this run around...
Have you modified the tracer for version 1.64.40.9380? I found a few forums that showed how to do it, but only in the newer versions and not droid X. Is libSwypecore.so different by Swype version? manufacturer?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=801770
Says to modify 5b410, 5b411, and 5b412 for Blue, Green, Red but it doesn't seem to change the color after I push it back to the phone. I got a newer version, but it was configured for 800x480 not our screen and repeadly threw errors.
Thanks
ahh, agreed. The creators are definitly unfriendly towards devs.
you are correct on the file to edit for the tracer. If you open up an unmodified .so file and search for the string "dda25bff" that is the hex color part. Since its in hex its backwards. The proper color code would be ffb52add. So say you wanted to make the color black = ff000000. You would type it in reverse 000000ff.
Only change that string and you should be good.
Tracer Edit worked like a charm, thanks.
Sketch theme
just found an new ADW theme and wanted a sketchey/hand drawn style KB
how do i complete step 4? where are the 4 Illustrator Templates attatched?
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?
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.
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CodeRedDewd said:
You mentioned the CM7 something. I'm not exactly sure what the CM is. I have CM5 and it said I have a mismatch when I tried to restore my original ROM that I backed up. it was 2.3.6 I think.
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CM stands for CyanogenMod and consists of a more AOSP feel, unlike Samsung's TouchWiz. So it doesn't have the swipe to call feature; usually just tap the contact picture inside Messaging and it gives you the option to call. CM7 was their Gingerbread build. CM9 is their Ice Cream Sandwich build.
Basically CyanogenMod has created a replacement/aftermarket firmware to replace Google Android (AOSP). It's sort of different than just a custom ROM because a custom ROM is usually just built with one phone in mind (whichever one the developer owns). CM is a firmware built the same way, with the same features, for as many phones as they can support. So your specific phone still needs to be supported and have its own specific build, but once you have it on you phone, it will look and feel just like any HTC, Motorola, etc. that is also running CM.
So it's based off of Google Android (AOSP), it's completely self-contained as its own operating system (somewhat anyway).
We have an unofficial alpha of CM9 in the development section if you want to give it a shot! (Unofficial means it's not being built by or currently supported by the actual CyanogenMod team. Just a private individual is using their source code to make it work with our Skyrocket.) It works rather well and is like 99.5% a daily driver.
Wow, thank you for that information. Some of the fuzzy things are a little clearer now but not much. lol
What you said about replacing a png - I opened the ROM in 7Zip, clicked down to the Mms.apk. I right clicked and copied to desktop. I opened that in 7Zip and dragged and dropped the png into that. I changed the file extinsion to .zip and put in on my phone. When I tried to install it though CWM touch it just aborted.
I'm not 100% sure, but I edited the png in paint. I magnified it 800 times and could see a perfect rectangle inside of this other stuff. I only made the perfect rectangle black and saved. The one I'm doing is textfield_default_dark.9.png. I don't quite think I edited it wrong since it wouldn't even install. My editing wrong would make it FC or not show right?? I don't know how to troubleshoot.
In the meantime I'm going to check out some of your other suggestions. However I would LOVE to be able to fix what I want. Why make a black that's not black and can't be displayed right by the display because the pixels are just barely on?
Suggestions on my proceedure? I read somewhere earlier that there has to be some something done to the png for permission or something strange....
I checked out the dark themed Mms.apk you mentioned at the top. This is what it says.
This is not flashable. what you'll need to do is navigate to system--> app, rename your current mms.apk to something like "mms.apk.old" or "mms.apk.bak". Then paste the attached into the same folder. Reboot your phone and voila.
I lost root access and cannot get it back when I installed SKYICS. I'm running UCLD2. I haven't been able to put together what to do about this. I tried to install my original backup and it said CM5 mismatch or something. I do believe I need root access to navigate to the system folder because I can't find it?
yeah. you need root. you dont really need to "flash" in CWM. Just replace the original in the system. But you do need root. Reboot into recovery and flash superuser
I did that a few times and nothing. I gave up on rooting for a while then now I'm rooted. Titanium, when I opened it, asked for permission. It wouldn't do that yesterday. I'm just going to have to say okay I'm rooted.
I'm trying to find the system directory right now...
CodeRedDewd said:
I'm not 100% sure, but I edited the png in paint. I magnified it 800 times and could see a perfect rectangle inside of this other stuff. I only made the perfect rectangle black and saved. The one I'm doing is textfield_default_dark.9.png. I don't quite think I edited it wrong since it wouldn't even install. My editing wrong would make it FC or not show right?? I don't know how to troubleshoot.
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Yea so like I said, since it's a 9-patch file (*.9.png), I'm not sure if you can just edit the image and throw it back in there. I'm guessing that Paint only recognizes it as a *.png, and so saves it as such. 9-patch images need to be recompiled, as far as I know. So that might've screwed you up, even if you installed it right.
CodeRedDewd said:
What you said about replacing a png - I opened the ROM in 7Zip, clicked down to the Mms.apk. I right clicked and copied to desktop. I opened that in 7Zip and dragged and dropped the png into that. I changed the file extinsion to .zip and put in on my phone. When I tried to install it though CWM touch it just aborted.
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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?
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Which brings us back to this mms.apk. Definitely give this app another shot using the above method once you obtain root again. You will need an app such as Root Explorer, which can be downloaded from the Market.
As far as restoring your backup, the error you received was an MD5 checksum mismatch error. You can Google what MD5 means, and possible reasons why CWM gave you that error. I think it gives it to you sometimes when you rename a backup file and put a space in the file name.
I'll have to research that MD5 thing...
I got the Mms.apk copied to the right directory and my changes worked. I have to use something other than paint that allows me to keep white as the transparant color. This is pretty awesome... Maybe I'll post my result when I figure out what's going on. I'm thinking the text field is a box within a box. I got a black box with a very dark gray one in the middle... But it's progress! Thanks for your help!
CodeRedDewd said:
I'll have to research that MD5 thing...
I got the Mms.apk copied to the right directory and my changes worked. I have to use something other than paint that allows me to keep white as the transparant color. This is pretty awesome... Maybe I'll post my result when I figure out what's going on. I'm thinking the text field is a box within a box. I got a black box with a very dark gray one in the middle... But it's progress! Thanks for your help!
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That's awesome man, good job! Wanna post a screenshot for me? A before and after if you have it?
But if you need something better than Paint, I'd look into Gimp. It's what most of the guys on here use. It's basically the Linux version of Photoshop. And being Linux, it's free and open source... and has been ported over to Windows. It works great for quick image editing. Just takes a bit of Googling to learn all the buttons haha.
I'm using Gimp because it keeps the transparant background. I had a big white box around my box from paint.
Update: When I used paint, it seemed things worked correctly besides the white box around the editor. The transparancy was lost. In Gimp, if I change 1 pixel I get a whole distorted image for the editor. In paint, I made the blue line gold and the box black. That looked great. Nothing seems to be working right with Gimp. Wait, in Paint I did notice one thing. The box was a true black, but with a lighter black, wide stripe in the middle from end to end, as if it was another png inserted into it. Hmmm... In Gimp it looks like nothing is getting inserted and the small image is stretching all the way across with the thin blue line getting super fat. I didn't jack the image up. I only changed one pixel to red in the middle of the black. I'm thinking there's more to this. Someone posted something about a decompiled image that had extra dots around the edge and one a one pixel line on two sides or something. I didn't break anything, because I put in an untouched png and it fixed things, so it's just the image.
Any ideas? I'm headed out to watch a movie, but I'm determined.
Look for a brush diameter or feathering option in Gimp and change it to the smallest one you have. I've had to do that in both Photoshop and Gimp before to get the apk changes I've made to look right and not have that outlining that you're referring to.
I understand what you mean, but this is different.The .9.png looks exactly the same when I edit it. I'm just making it darker. The .9.png files are made of 9 sections taht are stretched individually so the image is not distorted. In my case, Gimp is destroying that ability and the image is getting stretched the wrong way when displayed. For example, if you stretch a line along its lengt it still looks like the same line only longer, which is what they do. But if you stretch it across its width, it becomes this fat line, which is what is happening in my case.
I think you're editig just .png and not .9.png files?
CodeRedDewd said:
I understand what you mean, but this is different.The .9.png looks exactly the same when I edit it. I'm just making it darker. The .9.png files are made of 9 sections taht are stretched individually so the image is not distorted. In my case, Gimp is destroying that ability and the image is getting stretched the wrong way when displayed. For example, if you stretch a line along its lengt it still looks like the same line only longer, which is what they do. But if you stretch it across its width, it becomes this fat line, which is what is happening in my case.
I think you're editig just .png and not .9.png files?
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Do you think some information in this tutorial could be of any help? There's also a video tutorial available.
Yes it's possible that would be very helpful. I found either that or another tutorial last night. It was interesting how the .9.png files are sectioned. I conda figured that out on my own, because it would have to be to get bigger and not distort fine lines. I'll have to find that tutorial itself, because that post you linked has no links in it. I went to a 9patch website or something that had all the stuff, but it got too deep pretty quickly. In the short time I studied it, I had no clue how to even begin to install and use the program.
What baffles me is how Paint didn't screw up the .9.png. It worked fine with my edits, only it had no transparency so there was a white border. It was able to scale fine to landscape and portrait. It looked great. I totally though I had it figured out. :/ Have you looked at how to do .9.png files?
CodeRedDewd said:
Yes it's possible that would be very helpful. I found either that or another tutorial last night. It was interesting how the .9.png files are sectioned. I conda figured that out on my own, because it would have to be to get bigger and not distort fine lines. I'll have to find that tutorial itself, because that post you linked has no links in it. I went to a 9patch website or something that had all the stuff, but it got too deep pretty quickly. In the short time I studied it, I had no clue how to even begin to install and use the program.
What baffles me is how Paint didn't screw up the .9.png. It worked fine with my edits, only it had no transparency so there was a white border. It was able to scale fine to landscape and portrait. It looked great. I totally though I had it figured out. :/ Have you looked at how to do .9.png files?
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The tutorial is contained in the OP of that post I linked to. It contains links for all the tools you need and a short description of the process to follow. And then I think the video tutorial might just guide you through the OP of that first link.
But yea, that's really interesting how Paint worked so well. Did you happen to take any screenshots of the Paint-edited apk running on your phone?
And no, I actually have never looked into editing .9.png files. Didn't really even know how they worked until you explained them a little bit in one of the above posts.
I attached an image. I'm not sure if it's going to show up in the post as an image; we'll see.
There is a white box around what is suppose to be shown as the editor. In the center of the black box it's not true black as the black surrounding it that I changed in the .9.png. The center must be another image.
I'm thinking I'm just going to make the white black, find the other gray images the buttons are on and make that one black. Who needs transparancy when it's all black, which is what I want anyway. lol
I'm going to look into the 9patch some more... It just seems so complicated with how to install and get working. It would be nice to work with someone who is actively editing .9.png's to get me on track....
Do you have an interest in editing those png's? lol
Title say all , i have a Nexus 5 lolipop 5.1 and i want to full dim 0 my visor . Softkeys inclued.
Need help please.
If you want to dim the navigation bar (why would you need to?) you'll probably have to decompile SystemUI, modify the drawables then recompile, or use Xposed.
It's not necessary to decompile. As .apk is actually a .zip, you can simply change .png-s inside drawable folders.
But if you use 5.1 it will be much harder to change original SystemUI with yours, because of security changes in system partition.
zagorteney said:
It's not necessary to decompile. As .apk is actually a .zip, you can simply change .png-s inside drawable folders.
But if you use 5.1 it will be much harder to change original SystemUI with yours, because of security changes in system partition.
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This one is tricky though since you have to make sure, not to damage the signature. Some PNG use a "special" format and need to be decompiled first --> modified --> recompiled --> injected again in the Framework.
Gorgtech said:
This one is tricky though since you have to make sure, not to damage the signature. Some PNG use a "special" format and need to be decompiled first --> modified --> recompiled --> injected again in the Framework.
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I wrote this many times: you DON'T need to decompile apps which came from factory image. And even .9.png-s can be simplycomment on this are changed. For example: We wish to change background of power widget. 1. Pull the Settings.apk from /data/priv-app. Copy to PC. Rename it to .zip (you don't need any extra tool for this) or use TotalCommander - you even don't need to rename .apk to .zip with it. We must look for appropriate image (appwidget_bg_holo.9.png in /res/drawable-xxhdpi-v4) inside. Make some regullary png in Photoshop in size and resolution of original one - you can free your imaginations about colors as you like. Now copy the name of original image and with paste rename your own. Put your renamed image into .zip (overwrite original one) and thats all philosophy.
This is possible just with apps from factory image and you will not brake any signature. This works for me since Xperia X10 until Nexus 5 with 5.0.2. On 5.1 biggest problem is (at least for me) that I don't know how to integrate updates of system apps into rom. But if you are on 5.0.2 or above, you can simply try. Just remember to backup first.
Regards, Zagor
P.S. Any further informations are welcome, but at least people try this first. And it's a little annoying to write this down over and over again.
Extracting and inserting pictures is not the problem but like I mentioned before, the "9" PNG. If you simply copy them, edit them and reinsert them again, it might turn out to be a mess and these pictures are not displayed the right way. I gave up theming stuff a long time ago since it´s not really worth the trouble anymore. At least if you use a legal Gfx tool ( since I have my doubts that most people own a real licensed version of Photoshop anyway ) like eg. GIMP, you might expect some trouble if you don´t decompile "9" PNGs first. At least I can tell that I had to go through the trouble while I still had my old Galaxy S3 in order to make them usable, the way I wanted them to be
I know the procedure, don´t worry
Gorgtech said:
Extracting and inserting pictures is not the problem but like I mentioned before, the "9" PNG. If you simply copy them, edit them and reinsert them again, it might turn out to be a mess and these pictures are not displayed the right way. I gave up theming stuff a long time ago since it´s not really worth the trouble anymore. At least if you use a legal Gfx tool ( since I have my doubts that most people own a real licensed version of Photoshop anyway ) like eg. GIMP, you might expect some trouble if you don´t decompile "9" PNGs first. At least I can tell that I had to go through the trouble while I still had my old Galaxy S3 in order to make them usable, the way I wanted them to be
I know the procedure, don´t worry
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I said: you must not copy and edit existing .9.png. You have to create a new one and just name it with the procedure as I wrote above. So you have to copy the name of .9.png and paste that in the name of your own image. Am I clear enough now?
Forgive me to say, but you don't know this. Sorry.
Best regards, Zagor
I guess you don´t read what I write ? If you want to color a existing image ( "9" ), it will be displayed faulty if you don´t proceed like I did. End of the story. You can replace it with another image you can rename but it won´t be displayed the right way in some circumstances. I´m out.
zagorteney said:
As I said: you must not copy and edit existing .9.png. You have to create a new one and just name it with the procedure as I wrote above. So you have to copy the name of .9.png and paste that in the name of your own image. Am I clear enough now?
Forgive me to say, but you don't know this. Sorry.
Best regards, Zagor
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Click to collapse
Gorgtech said:
I guess you don´t read what I write ? If you want to color a existing image ( "9" ), it will be displayed faulty if you don´t proceed like I did. End of the story. You can replace it with another image you can rename but it won´t be displayed the right way in some circumstances. I´m out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Out of what? Space?
I don't guess, I conclude: You don't read or understood what I wrote.
Back to topic: OP: If you want to change navbars buttons (those are ordinary .png-s) you can simply pull them off, modify them and put back into .apk as I already described. You don't need to decompile, compile, undercompile or hipercompile anything.
Regards from Jupiter (yes, I'm also out), Zagor
And the last and for all!
This has been done without superduperpuper compiling. Just pure windows and photoshop.
@Elluel, @Gorgtech and all of the other sceptics: Look at the navbars of attached screenshot and next time, please check the informations before you disagree with them.
Regards, Zagor
IMO @zagorteney is right as long as you do not unzip/extract the apk. If you check the .9.png with a zip viewer then you can see the black border of 1px. Modifying the icon/log/picture without touching the black borders should not create bugs.
Regarding the navbar buttons it's easier as explained above.
@Primokorn
I've changed almost all of Xperia S UI on that way, to looks more AOSP. But at the end I figured it out, that it's simplier if I get Nexus.
Just to notice you. The problem is because in photoshop you can't create .9.png-s. But if you create your own png and rename it with the mentioned method, there will be no problem with those images either. For example, you can try to change power widget background on this way.
zagorteney said:
@Primokorn
I've changed almost all of Xperia S UI on that way, to looks more AOSP. But at the end I figured it out, that it's simplier if I get Nexus.
Just to notice you. The problem is because in photoshop you can't create .9.png-s. But if you create your own png and rename it with the mentioned method, there will be no problem with those images either. For example, you can try to change power widget background on this way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually you can create .9.png files with Photoshop. I did it a lot of times.
Anyways all my modded apks have been decompiled/modified/recompiled because you cannot use this method for .xml files, can you? Moreover, theming files with a phone is a mess compared to a comfortable destop version of PS lol
@Primokorn
Yes, its true if we are talking about some serious theming. But OP just want to get little different nav buttons. So, I just want to say, that you don't need to change any .xml for that purpose, you don't need to decompile and recompile and you don't need to worry that you'll break signatures. As simple as that.
That's all folks.
zagorteney said:
@Primokorn
Yes, its true if we are talking about some serious theming. But OP just want to get little different nav buttons. So, I just want to say, that you don't need to change any .xml for that purpose, you don't need to decompile and recompile and you don't need to worry that you'll break signatures. As simple as that.
That's all folks.
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Yes, I know. Everything is clear on my side
Primokorn said:
Yes, I know. Everything is clear on my side
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At least one who deserves all of those thanx.
zagorteney said:
At least one who deserves all of those thanx.
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Do not be rude. Nobody can know everything and it is one of the goals of XDA to learn every day. All recognized members deserve their status.
A app that do that easy and without so much work is nice , my know how on this stuffs are limited :crying: , im kitkat i use a app that does that without so many work , now i use another but just dim the visor the softkeys still are very white full light... :crying:
Primokorn said:
Do not be rude. Nobody can know everything and it is one of the goals of XDA to learn every day. All recognized members deserve their status.
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The problem is that n00bs are mislead by recognized members who think that they know everything. At least they could check before post.
And no, I'm not rude. Rude are exactly those contributors.