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Replacing Icons in framework-res.apk

I've been opening up framework-res.apk as a zip file and changing around icons for my status bar with other themes. I just replaced the signal bars icons and the 3G icons, repackaged the framework into a zip file, and applied it via rom manager. No Icon change. I've been able to replace several before, any ideas why it wouldn't work now? I reopened the file and verified the icons had been changed.

The icons you are looking for are in com.htc.resources.apk
If you have something specifically you want changed I can tell you where it is located and what the filename is. I am building some theme tutorial videos because I had a hard time finding all of this information. I want to make it easier for others. I remember all the way back in June when I got frustrated finding what files went where. I am making a list to help others out, let me know what you are looking for.

[email protected] said:
The icons you are looking for are in com.htc.resources.apk
If you have something specifically you want changed I can tell you where it is located and what the filename is. I am building some theme tutorial videos because I had a hard time finding all of this information. I want to make it easier for others. I remember all the way back in June when I got frustrated finding what files went where. I am making a list to help others out, let me know what you are looking for.
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Subscribed!
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App

subscribed as well, a video with some info would be great. I am definitely no developer, but not afraid to mess around a bit. I was also interested in making similar changes as OP.
In fact I am using Jerick's smooth sense mod with white letter mod by squintz, and a couple of the icons were coming up out of order. I was not cool enough to be able to repair the info that points to an icon so I found the icons in framework-res.apk and changed the names of them so that I would get the correct icon in status bar. But obvously that is not the correct fix. However this is where the icons OP is talking about. So if I can make a name change to a png can't you also replace that png. I believe that the apk has to be signed correctly after manipulating?
Anyways any basic info about doing such would be greatly appreciated

spjoneser said:
subscribed as well, a video with some info would be great. I am definitely no developer, but not afraid to mess around a bit. I was also interested in making similar changes as OP.
In fact I am using Jerick's smooth sense mod with white letter mod by squintz, and a couple of the icons were coming up out of order. I was not cool enough to be able to repair the info that points to an icon so I found the icons in framework-res.apk and changed the names of them so that I would get the correct icon in status bar. But obvously that is not the correct fix. However this is where the icons OP is talking about. So if I can make a name change to a png can't you also replace that png. I believe that the apk has to be signed correctly after manipulating?
Anyways any basic info about doing such would be greatly appreciated
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Click to collapse
You don't need to resign the apk unless you completely extract it. Then good luck trying to get a system apk to work. Just open the archive and replace needed imgs then update the archive and you're done. All depends on what os your using. Linux makes it easy to edit apks without extracting. In win you have to rename to .zip then do line I said then rename back to .apk
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App

Which files specifically are the signal meter? I just want to change those ones back to the stock icons.

jskolm said:
Which files specifically are the signal meter? I just want to change those ones back to the stock icons.
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I can tell you later (i dont have the dump on hand) but the signal meter pngs are located in com.htc.resources.apk under /res/drawlablehdpi/ thay have a name like sys_status_cdma1 or something like that. I think if you get that far the images might jump out at you. If you want the exact ones I can tell you when I get back from work.

[email protected] said:
I can tell you later (i dont have the dump on hand) but the signal meter pngs are located in com.htc.resources.apk under /res/drawlablehdpi/ thay have a name like sys_status_cdma1 or something like that. I think if you get that far the images might jump out at you. If you want the exact ones I can tell you when I get back from work.
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Found them. Thanks for the direction. I was looking through the folders and I couldn't find them, because they are transparent backgrounds, so the white on white blended right in. I changed out the signals for the ones I wanted and everything looks like its working now.
Thanks for your help!

how to mod your battery for percentage?

im running steelh and i have the blue epic style battery. how can i get the battery percentage into that without using different icons? i tired the online kitchen but my phone is stuck in a bootloop.

anybody? the kitchen just gives me errors.

ive used the online kitchen before with no issues, but id like to know how to this manually.
Sent from my panty-dropper.

ericwgarza1 said:
ive used the online kitchen before with no issues, but id like to know how to this manually.
Sent from my panty-dropper.
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i cannot get it to work no matter what i do. can any dev help out here? i want the blue epic style battery with percentage. aside from the png's what files do you need to get this working on a sense rom? all of this hassle is making me want to go back to cm6, at least on that we can use the settings to accomplish alot of things we cannot on sense roms.

can you add the battery percentage mod into a rom that doesn't by default come with it? i heard about needing a modded services.jar file? or do i have to go with a different rom here for what i need? the online kitchen will simply not work for me.

The battery mods are accomplished by editing xmls and pngs in framework-res.apk

SteelH said:
The battery mods are accomplished by editing xmls and pngs in framework-res.apk
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i have the png's but i have no clue how to mod xml files. im pretty good at Frankensteining themes together but for the life of me i cannot get this to work.

A couple of things: are you using a deodexed or odexed rom? Are you trying to add the circle battery to your existing theme or are you just trying to add the battery period?
I made a "dummy" flash file a while back that "prepped" odex roms before flashing the battery percentage mods.
You can also decompile the framework you want and transfer over the pngs and xmls for the battery mod into your existing framework.
Decompiling would be the best route as you would have to recompile it with the new xmls added to the resource list.
I would/could help but I won't flash anything on my evo right now since I currently have it hooked up to debug an app. Just send me the framework file from your phone and the battery mod you want and I can take a look at them and hopefully recompile it for you.

lovethyEVO said:
A couple of things: are you using a deodexed or odexed rom? Are you trying to add the circle battery to your existing theme or are you just trying to add the battery period?
I made a "dummy" flash file a while back that "prepped" odex roms before flashing the battery percentage mods.
You can also decompile the framework you want and transfer over the pngs and xmls for the battery mod into your existing framework.
Decompiling would be the best route as you would have to recompile it with the new xmls added to the resource list.
I would/could help but I won't flash anything on my evo right now since I currently have it hooked up to debug an app. Just send me the framework file from your phone and the battery mod you want and I can take a look at them and hopefully recompile it for you.
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Click to collapse
its the steelh deodexed rom. i have alot of themes going on and i do not want to loose them. i just want the battery with the percentage in it. ive attached what you may need, thank you.

I'll take a look at them now.
Give me some time.

lovethyEVO said:
I'll take a look at them now.
Give me some time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for taking the time!

Found a clue about the problem.
The online kitchen I believe has a disclaimer about .9pngs in the framework.
Basically if some .9s are not edited correctly it can cause an error in the decompile/compile process.
The framework you gave me throws an error when trying to compile. I have seen this error many times before and it always results in the changed files (xml and pngs) not being inserted into the newly compiled framework.
I decompiled/compiled three times, same error and the changed files were not inserted into the compiled apk.
Your problem lies in the framework and the tools ability to properly process the .9s.
Also, the epic zip you gave me does not have any xml files to tell the framework what png to display and it has 80 more pngs for the battery charge animation.
This is not something I want to spend more time on right now but the info I'm giving will hopefully get you in the right direction.

I think the two .xmls that needs to be edited are:
stat_sys_battery.xml
stat_sys_battery_charge.xml
Decompile a framework-res that already has the mod included and you should get an idea of what to do.
Someoneplease let me know if I'm wrong. Thanks!

ericwgarza1 said:
I think the two .xmls that needs to be edited are:
stat_sys_battery.xml
stat_sys_battery_charge.xml
Decompile a framework-res that already has the mod included and you should get an idea of what to do.
Someoneplease let me know if I'm wrong. Thanks!
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There are actually 3 xmls needed for the battery mod.
The op stated he has a theme going and he doesn't want to lose it. The only way to incorporate the battery mod and keep his theme is to add the battery to his existing framework.
As I explained above, .9s are special pngs and if they are not edited correctly will cause the decompile/compile tool to throw an error. Themers will edit .9s and although they will show properly on the phone the tool used to decompile/compile the apks will notice if the .9s are incorrect.
What the online kitchen does and what I did manually are the same thing and more than likely with the same tools. The epic pngs the op supplied did not have any xmls and so im surprised the online kitchen was able to produce an apk.
If I spent more time on it I could probably figure it out but I am already occupied with another time consuming task.

What is the other .xml named?
I'd like to personally (for learning purposes) add the battery percentage to a stock framework-res.apk manually. Thanks!

Try this. I give no guarantees at all since I manually inserted the xmls and pngs. Also since there are 80 more pngs for the charge animation there's no way of telling how it will look.

lovethyEVO said:
There are actually 3 xmls needed for the battery mod.
The op stated he has a theme going and he doesn't want to lose it. The only way to incorporate the battery mod and keep his theme is to add the battery to his existing framework.
As I explained above, .9s are special pngs and if they are not edited correctly will cause the decompile/compile tool to throw an error. Themers will edit .9s and although they will show properly on the phone the tool used to decompile/compile the apks will notice if the .9s are incorrect.
What the online kitchen does and what I did manually are the same thing and more than likely with the same tools. The epic pngs the op supplied did not have any xmls and so im surprised the online kitchen was able to produce an apk.
If I spent more time on it I could probably figure it out but I am already occupied with another time consuming task.
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Good explanation thank you. I think I have the similar problem I unzipped my framework and changed my battery and it worked. The only problem is I can only use the six charging animations. A little research last night and I realized I needed to edit the xml. Decompiling my framework would not work and I think your explanation helps me understand why.

ericwgarza1 said:
What is the other .xml named?
I'd like to personally (for learning purposes) add the battery percentage to a stock framework-res.apk manually. Thanks!
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Click to collapse
maybe public.xml

[Q] Problems Recompiling Protips.apk

I've been a long time reader and I've learned quite a bit today on Android and its applications. I've been trying to recompile a modified Protips.apk and have it successfully run on my D1. I've been unsuccessful, and would like some pointers on where to looks next.
I'm intrigued by the modified Home Screen Tips widget as seen on Cyanogen and BuglessBeast. I figured I could do it too since it seems rather simple.
I pulled Protips.apk from my D1, archived it somewhere else, and ran apktools to decompile the app. I found that in: res/values/arrays.xml there's all the code I need to start changing text. I wanted to do something basic like Hello World as a test, so I slightly changed the first item to read Hello World! on the first line. So I edited the .xml file and considered the job done.
I recompiled my modified contents using apktools, and pushed the apk to my phone. It didn't show up in the widgets menu, so I figured I needed to sign the thing.
First I tried copying the META-INF data from the original APK into the new one, and though the you could apply the widget to the homescreen, it'd error. "Problem loading widget." Next I took the original manifest and popped it into the new APK. Same thing.
I thought I could try singing the modded APK myself. After recompiling I ran the APK through Auto-Sign. It still errors.
Someone mentioned that if you're modifying XML files, the resources.arsc file should be removed "prior to recompiling." I'm lost at this point, since when you decompile with apktools, you don't have access to that resource. If you remove it from the final apk, the app doesn't show up in the widgets menu.
I'm trying to figure out where I'm going wrong. Surely it has to be something rather simple.
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Resolved
Decided to give Apk Manager a try. Decompiled the APK, edited the arrays.xml file, Compiled (deleting resources.arsc where instructed in the keep folder), signed the app, then pushed it to my phone. It works. I'll attempt the process using apktools again now that I have a working mod.

derik001 said:
I've been a long time reader and I've learned quite a bit today on Android and its applications. I've been trying to recompile a modified Protips.apk and have it successfully run on my D1. I've been unsuccessful, and would like some pointers on where to looks next.
I'm intrigued by the modified Home Screen Tips widget as seen on Cyanogen and BuglessBeast. I figured I could do it too since it seems rather simple.
I pulled Protips.apk from my D1, archived it somewhere else, and ran apktools to decompile the app. I found that in: res/values/arrays.xml there's all the code I need to start changing text. I wanted to do something basic like Hello World as a test, so I slightly changed the first item to read Hello World! on the first line. So I edited the .xml file and considered the job done.
I recompiled my modified contents using apktools, and pushed the apk to my phone. It didn't show up in the widgets menu, so I figured I needed to sign the thing.
First I tried copying the META-INF data from the original APK into the new one, and though the you could apply the widget to the homescreen, it'd error. "Problem loading widget." Next I took the original manifest and popped it into the new APK. Same thing.
I thought I could try singing the modded APK myself. After recompiling I ran the APK through Auto-Sign. It still errors.
Someone mentioned that if you're modifying XML files, the resources.arsc file should be removed "prior to recompiling." I'm lost at this point, since when you decompile with apktools, you don't have access to that resource. If you remove it from the final apk, the app doesn't show up in the widgets menu.
I'm trying to figure out where I'm going wrong. Surely it has to be something rather simple.
------------------
Resolved
Decided to give Apk Manager a try. Decompiled the APK, edited the arrays.xml file, Compiled (deleting resources.arsc where instructed in the keep folder), signed the app, then pushed it to my phone. It works. I'll attempt the process using apktools again now that I have a working mod.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Using apktool you must sign after other wise it won't install... I had issues using it to do a status bar mod.. Wondering if I can just sign it using that apkmanager and have it work... I used a kitchen to sign mine and it didn't sign right...

[HOW TO] Animated Status Bar Pulldown for GB Roms

I saw this in an article on droid-life: Here
Original Thread: Animated status bar pulldown for GB roms
Hope this could help some devs/themers get this going for us EVO users
The Author of this is: Alastrionia
Youtube Demo
MODS: If this should not be here, please remove, and my sincere apologizes.
Animated status bar pulldown for GB roms
First off this should work with all GB based roms that use systemui.apk
there may be subtle differences but the basics should be the same all around.
after much trial and error and ripping what little hair I have left out
success was mine and it's time to share this with everyone
and it's so simple that you'll love how fast you can integrate this into ROM's / themes / whatever your heart desires
1. take your systemui.apk and decompile it
2. navigate to layout folder
3. grab "status_bar_tracking.xml" and open it up in your editor
(now for the fun)
4. to the first line - "com.android.systemui.statusbar.TrackingView" add this ""android:background="@drawable/...anim.xml""
<com.android.systemui.statusbar.TrackingView android:background="@drawable/...anim.xml...>
5. after saving that, navigate back into the drawable folder and add your animation.xml file there
5a. next navigate into the drawable/hdpi folder and add your animated images
6. also in the drawable/hdpi folder find and open up the shade_bg.png with your editor and make it 100% transparent
7. now it's time to recompile your apk , following all the usual directions with that
8. enjoy your newly created systemui.apk with a pretty animated background. new and fresh and unlike anything before
that's it. done deal. it's super easy and fast and breathes life into true customization.
I used the stat_sys_upload.xml from the framework-res.apk as my base
all I had to do was change the timing and change the image names.
also you'll notice above - don't copy it word for word on the xml.
I did the "..." meaning whatever you decide to name your file.
I'll try to throw up a video shortly of my success with this so everyone can see it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

You lost me at "decompile"

SantinoInc said:
You lost me at "decompile"
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I think by that he means to open the systemui.apk
I used 7zip to open a cm7 nightly just now and it's located in the system/app folder. Inside the .apk theres:
res (folder)
AndroidManifest.xml
classes.dex
resources.arsc
Inside the res folder:
anim (folder)
drawable (folder)
drawable-hdpi (folder)
layout (folder)
xml (folder)
Hopefully some themers can get some pretty nice/cool things done with this.

No you would have to decompile the apk with a apk decompiler..Unzipping it will not work.Thats just for replacing images.

1 Aw3s0m3 M0d!!

i'll help people if they're having trouble. probably won't do this personally.
and yeah, to see .xml files correctly, you need an apk decompiler.

Nice find! Will definitely try this.

forgive me if im not reading this right.... is this for aosp of sense?

What will they think of next

Evolutionmods said:
forgive me if im not reading this right.... is this for aosp of sense?
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I believe this is for AOSP but reading through the entire thread someone says "this also works on the com.htc.resources.apk for sense ROMs."

Subbed and Definitely Interested!

More demos with different animations are starting to appear. This is looking really awesome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gf7lFsAkxFA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vte37qjSiEc

Oh yeah. I got big plans for this one. Cant wait to get some time to sit down and code it. It really is as simple as stated.

It's not just for gingerbread. I shot this with my crappy 5 year old digicam.

Another demo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAHoKJ2N0Xw
Has anyone given this a go on the EVO yet??

Yeah, I got it working...Needs some tweaking. I tried it with a 24 frame boot animation.. very laggy. I suspect that a 8-15 frame animation would do well

blassilando said:
Another demo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAHoKJ2N0Xw
Has anyone given this a go on the EVO yet??
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Click to collapse
The vid I posted above yours is on an evo.

Would either of you mind posting your xml so i could use it as a reference? Not totally clear on that part of it. Thanks.
http://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTEyOTE1MzA3OQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEKsfTiaif0
Ill gladly be a testbot for anyone working on this for our evos

would be nice to get a zip we can flash. so everyone including us noobs can get this mod.
thanks for the info great job

[Script] [Updated] Framework Utility for Gingerbread

Do you love creating icons and mods but just can't get them on your new Gingerbread update? This script is for you.
It's a modded Framework script that has been in the community for quite some time. I updated it to work with the SystemUi.apk found in Gingerbread.
allows you to modify your status bar icons (Does not modify the battery icon, That is still located in framework-res.apk)
Instructions in the zip file Enjoy!
Note: Don't try to flash this zip. Extract it to you PC okay?
NEW VERSION: Works with all of the EVO Gingerbread Frameworks now
This allows applying full customization including Battery Mods

Will this allow me to enable transparent notification tray background?
I've been having trouble getting that to work on 2.3

Provided you have your xml files and png's edited properly. It should work
This tool simply provides a quick interface to decompile/Recompile/Install changes to the SystemUI.apk

townsenk said:
Provided you have your xml files and png's edited properly. It should work
This tool simply provides a quick interface to decompile/Recompile/Install changes to the SystemUI.apk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is this for Windows or ubuntu?

Evolutionmods said:
Is this for Windows or ubuntu?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Windows...

The readme file say this needs clockworkmod rec, anyone test it with amon ra?

Hmm, could this be used to actually remove some of the Sense icons? Namely the useless alarm icon (which shows up even if you have an alarm for 5 days from today) and the Location Services reticle icon?
Many ROMs remove the latter, I actually followed a guide to using smali for removing the alarm icon on my current Froyo ROM but I guess they changed the location of all that stuff on GB... I haven't really taken a look at it to see if I could figure out the new locations on my own, not much time to tinker lately, if the script can automate that task it'd be awesome...

You'd still have to edit the xml's or make transparent icons. I would assume that what you need is in the decompiled layout directory. I could be wrong. I wanted people to be able to take an existing mod and apply it to their phone without having to memorize multiple command lines. Any xml editing at this point is strictly manual
Ultimately yes I want the script to have the ability to install preedited "mod packs" to simplify the process of applying common mods. Where a user would select the desired mods ala-carte and the script would combine them and compile a new framework

I believe I did it thru an xml edit last time since a transparent icon would just leave a blank space, erich I've never had. But yea, seems I'll just have to dig in and figure out the equivalent directory in GB... Might just wait until I upgrade to the EVO 3D.