[Q] .9.png question - Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]

Hey guys, just getting into theming and got.a few questions. I've been around the block more than a few times with skining, designing and all. Use to own and run a rather large sized graphics forum and skined god knows how many skins for ipb and vb boards. So I thought to myself that theming my phone should not be any different, just minus the html and css.
Now for my questions
filename.9.png, I take it that these images are ones that are tiled, correct? And is the ".9.png" is something that the system sees and says, "ok this needs to tile this way" or is it an actual file extension? If so how does one handle them in photoshop?
Thanks in advanced
Posted by some phone named the Epic.

http://code.google.com/p/android-apktool/wiki/9PatchImages

Related

Basics on how to change themes

Sounds daft & I'm sure the infos here. I just want to change the theme on my GSM HTC Touch Pro. I know all the software & links are here on this site. It's just there's no 'this software is what you need & this is how you change your theme' info.
Thanks
LOL, ok, google free wm themes, download it and transfer the tsk file to your device. Then simply goto settings/today and select the theme you downloaded... no extra software needed.
try this site, it has THOUSANDS
http://www.portablethemes.com/
Just realised tho, you might be wanting to change you manila theme.... http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=470023 there are some themes on here
Thanks for the reply, what exactly in Manila & how do I use it. I've already seen lots of reference to it but don't actually know what it is.
I've uplodaed a few tsk & cab files & selected them in my today them menu but all I get are slight changes like different icon, I've manged to add a different wallpaper, but as soon as the touchflo starts, it's lost.
Getting there
Ta
halo1234 said:
Sounds daft & I'm sure the infos here. I just want to change the theme on my GSM HTC Touch Pro. I know all the software & links are here on this site. It's just there's no 'this software is what you need & this is how you change your theme' info.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh my goodness guys, the test is coming up and I don't know any of the answers. I know all the information to pass the test is in the books. But that would require me to actually read and study.
You guys have already read the books and studied. Can you just give me all the answers to the test, I really can't be bothered to actually read and study myself.
I'm sure the infos here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are right all the info is in the Touch Pro Forum.
I understand your point. However this is not an interest or hobby of mine. I'm just a guy who doesn't like how my screen phone looks. Once this is done I may never look at this again. In the 24 hours I have each day I have other things I have to do first & then all the hobbies & interests I have.
I had a look through the first 3-4 pages of this forum & then I tried a few searches. Found a few things, but not enough to fingure it all out.
I've ran out of time for this now really. I might try again when I get some spare time.
Thanks for your help.
search for Replacing/Changing TouchFLO3D skins/themes.
here's some basic help for you, halo (and some commentary)
denco7 said:
Oh my goodness guys, the test is coming up and I don't know any of the answers. I know all the information to pass the test is in the books. But that would require me to actually read and study.
You guys have already read the books and studied. Can you just give me all the answers to the test, I really can't be bothered to actually read and study myself.
You are right all the info is in the Touch Pro Forum.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is so right-on... and yet ... at the same time I respect the Original Poster's comment framing:
I understand your point. However this is not an interest or hobby of mine. I'm just a guy who doesn't like how my screen phone looks. Once this is done I may never look at this again. In the 24 hours I have each day I have other things I have to do first & then all the hobbies & interests I have.
I had a look through the first 3-4 pages of this forum & then I tried a few searches. Found a few things, but not enough to fingure it all out.
I've ran out of time for this now really. I might try again when I get some spare time.
Thanks for your help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And because i think it's valid to have people want to utilize great resources here at XDA, yet not have to immerse themselves totally into weeks of XDA Culture in order to do so, I hope this helps the Original Poster. (see Commentary further below my effort to help halo1234)
=================
halo1234: Some Overview Help. It may or may not help your specific request:
1. IF you are running a version of the "TouchFlo" interface as the primary finger-controllable navigation tool,
then here's what you need to know:
2. "Manila" is the name of the interface system that HTC (phone maker) introduced which allowed the bottom-of-the-screen left-to-right finger-slider navigation system. That term, Manila, is synonymous with "TouchFLO 2D" ... and it took days for me to finally "get" that linkage. Later, HTC introduced what they considered a "new & improved" navigation system called "TouchFLO 3D" ... but many people here at XDA consider that its added eye-candy and transition effects were no real added-value. Thus most people here prefer the "TouchFLO 2D" navigation theme.
The prior "favorite naivgation scheme" was called "HTC Home" -- and one can debate their personal preference. I consider TouchFLO 2D to be miles beyond "HTC Home" in terms of a user-friendly navigation system and interface.
3. How to modify a "TouchFLO 2D" interface: M2DC utility
This has actually been made super easy thanks to the work of an XDA-developer who created a customization tool called "M2DC" -- which stands for Manilla TouchFLO 2D Customizer. It consolidates about 100 controllable factors for modifying themes:
Background images, tab systems and icon systems, font colors and sizes and faces, many other things.
SEARCH here for "M2DC" and you will quickly find it. DOwnload it and install it. Once you have M2DC installed (AND YOU SHOULD DONATE GENEROUSLY TO THE SOFTWARE AUTHOR OF THIS GREAT UTILITY!), then it creates a THEME folder. And various designers of themes here at XDA have used the author's file-format which packs all the elements for a particular theme change into an .m2dt file (m2d theme)
4. Find some themes you like, prefer:
XDA user KidnamedAlbert has a consolidated thread here at XDA which does nothing except show people's themes they have created and have made available to you to download for installation onot your phone, IF you are running one of the "TouchFLO 2D" Roms. Here. People who design themes package them in one of two ways: (a) as an .m2dt file which can be dropped into the M2D2 "Themes" folder on your device... or (b) as a .zip file which has all the graphic pieces for that theme, along with an .xml file which composes all these elements into a theme. I suggest you use (a).
5. Launch the M2DC utility; find the theme file you just inserted into its theme folder. Then follow the wizards "next steps" of the M2DC utility. NOTE: it is highly recommended that you find the bottom tab of that utlitity called "Backup" or "Restore" (i cant recall which). There you can Backup all the custom settings and files you have adjusted, and M2DC saves them for later restoration.
6. Top-bar and bottom-bar of the screen:
These are, generally, separate elements from the whole "TouchFLO" or Manila theme. You can search for these separately on this site. Search for .tsk files .These control the color scheme and gradient-quality of the top and bottom bars on the screen. After you find ones you want to try, then the way you implement these is:
(a) copy, or place, the .tsk file(s) you want to try into the \Windows folder of your device. Use "File Explorer" for this, to show the directory structure of the files on your phone.
(b) then, to access and switch between those .tsk themes, go to: Start > Settings > Personal > and find the "Today" icon. "Today" is the setting you will be changing. You'll now see in the left-hand box on that page the names of all the .tsk files you just loaded into the Windows directory of your phone. Now you select the one you want to try, click "OK" at the top-right of the screen, and in a second or two, the top-bar and bottom-bar will change. If you like, keep it. if not, try another.
7. Now, all I ask from you is this:
Tell me: Did these instructions help you. Or not. It's okay if the answer is "they did not". I just want to know, so please reply either way. Thanks and good luck.
=================
My Commentary re the Complexity of This Site's information design:
The truth is, XDA comprises an incredible, 2nd-to-none, knowledge base and dedicated developer community, and yet, because of those 2 things, the site is so sprawling and dense that even with using SEARCH and reading Sticky Threads and following links to HOW-TO's, and Newbie Guides, it takes weeks sometimes, just to assemble and/or decode some basic answers. That's a sign that even with the flexible & powerful hierarchical structure of prob the best forum software out there (vBulletin), nevertheless, there is a baseline INFORMATION DESIGN PROBLEM here.
It's not an easy solve by any means. But just for the record, I am taking on that task, since my area of professional specialty is Information Architectire and Customer Usability.
/qs
he was talking about the Touch Pro.. that is not M2D.. but TF3D
for M2D i've written a guide in the guides thread in the Q&A section..
nir36 said:
he was talking about the Touch Pro.. that is not M2D.. but TF3D
for M2D i've written a guide in the guides thread in the Q&A section..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Excellent stuff you've assembled & written. I really value those kinds of guides. Thanks. So i guess the answer to my #7 will be: nope, sorry, i am not using M2D... hah hah, well i had a good time wasting my time writing it up!
No not a waste of time. I read through your post & becasue you spent some time & effort on my post & decided to try again. So 2, 4 & 6 were useful, plus a few other links. Evetually I found some easy .cab files that worked without a problem from the Rapheal section & it's all working fine now.
If you hadnt bothered to respond I wouldn't of had another go, so it was worth it for me! Your right this forum is by far the largest I've useds & with so many variants of product & methods it's easy to get lost. My issue was that I new what I needed, but didn't know why or how.
Thanks
Peter
halo1234 said:
No not a waste of time. I read through your post & becasue you spent some time & effort on my post & decided to try again. So 2, 4 & 6 were useful, plus a few other links. Evetually I found some easy .cab files that worked without a problem from the Rapheal section & it's all working fine now.
If you hadnt bothered to respond I wouldn't of had another go, so it was worth it for me! Your right this forum is by far the largest I've useds & with so many variants of product & methods it's easy to get lost. My issue was that I new what I needed, but didn't know why or how.
Thanks
Peter
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey I am really glad you got some value from it. And that you found a solution overall for your Raphael. I'll tell you the OTHER value from it: I hadn't even known of nir36's outstanding GUIDES til he referenced them here. So there are multiple outcomes from asking questions. And I could spot that in your case you weren't the more typical "I need this now, i don't have time to look, so could someone just email me the answer?" user who parachutes into XDA-Developers forum land and expects to be handheld for their specific request.
There's a continuum here of what new users ask for -- and thus I think it would be way more realistic for some veteran members here to sometimes see new user questions from the ground level of someone coming into this land of knowledge and, as you sort of said, not even knowing how to frame the question, since the density of information is sometimes impenetrable, and just frame it out for a new user, vs just the standard reply to read read read read read.
As an information designer, I have never ever understood the impulse of some early-adopter people who have had to dig dig dig and read read read to finally pioneer the understandings and piece-together solutions to complex questions, to then want others who follow to work as hard at it as they did. My philosophy is build a better gateway to the knowledge storage, vs chastising people for using the wrong entrance.
For sure it's a 2-way street, and there are hundreds-a-day justifiable reasons for frustrations from knowledge-holders seeing the level of laziness and entitlement coming from the OTHER end of the new user spectrum. They give human beings a bad name
P.S. -- people hate my philosophy comments on a tech-board. I know. I don't try to be verbose, but I know it drives some people batty. In which case, sorry !
hah, i actually like these.

[Q] Want to create a theme

I saw a startrek boot theme somewhere on this forum and came on a "dumb" idea to try to make a whole entire phone theme in this style. (there was something similar that a group of people made for old Pocket PC.-s), hope we can use some of that knowledge, (since Microsoft did not improved their user interface at all).
As we, (ordinary users of phones today), are not engineers that UI is booring, slow to manipulate, and pretty useles when it comes to this UI. From the other side, (assumingly that there are some people knowing how to do such things I'm asking for help onto how to start with it.
Interested ??
got ur answer

[Q] webkit app?

Hello good people of xda.
i have a question i‘ve been thinking about for a year now..
Is there an app-framework for android where i can put a folder with html files and/or an url
in, then set an icon, and it will make an webkit-type-of app?
I know there are alot of mobile frameworks, but i hate the fact that the url bar shows and that
the menu pops up. it makes it feel less appish...
if this don‘t exists, i got tons of sketches if anyone wants to help me

[Q] Want to make my first GoLauncher Theme...need some pointers

Ok, a quick resume: I am not a real programmer. I know a lot more about it than the average guy, but the closest I get to programming is script stuff. I am pretty fluent in HTML and CSS.
As I understand it, this isnt necessarily a requirement for making some apps. The one I want to make is relatively simple; I want to make a GoLauncher theme that I can upload to the market and that can be installed to a phone from there.
Can anyone give me a few tips on where to start? I have the content ready. I do have a developer ID and can publish stuff to the market. I just need to know how I go about constructing the APK itself and making GoLauncher recognize it.
Have a look at this - it may help.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1139757
I'm totally guessing here, but the themes are probably based on XML files and resources. If you've got experience reading and writing HTML then you've got at least a good start as you'll understand elements and nesting.
Good luck mate
Thank you.
My impression was that it is kinda like how ePub books are packaged...you put the content (all text files or images) into a folder, configure some text files and then ZIP it and rename the ZIP to .epub
When I did this with .epub books, I just used a template and changed elements of the template so I would not need to build it from scratch. I thought maybe I could do something similar with theme APKs?

[Q] Business App Template - Is it possible?

Hey guys,
I'm really new to this app development and would like to ask one of you experienced developers a question.
Basically I have recently been creating mobile websites from a set of css files which are just a basic template. The template files have individual files for some of the most common pages that a small business would need, google map, contact us with form, menu, opening hours and so on.
What happens is you simply upload the company logo and such into the images folder, update the css style sheet for colours, then simply edit one of the relevant pages e.g place the food items in the menu page.
When the whole set of files gets uploaded it creates a personalised functional business mobile website.
What I would like to know is, would it be possible to set something like this up for an android app? Whereby the user could simply change the details as above and then compile the apk file which will create the app?
Your input is much appreciated, also have any of you got any idea where I could get someone to code something like this?
Regards,
Stephen

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