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[REQ] Metamorph to remove 'phone' text from black droid launcher

I can't find the original post on this forum that contained the attachment, so I am attaching it here. I'm not sure what was changed in the file to get it to do it. Was hoping I could find more info from the person who made it... but I can't find the post.
Can anyone help with this, please?
Thanks!

That's weird. I just got a PM about an hour ago regarding the same question. When the "mods" thread got "cleaned up" much of the stuff went missing, unfortunately.
The phone text is cleared out in:
Rosie.apk\res\layout-port\button_bar.xml
Attached is a patched XML file that will clear the text out. You will still need to replace the applicable .png files with transparent ones, for example, if you want to remove the phone icon, etc.
Download <--- Right click to save the file, otherwise, it will attempt to load in your browser.

wow lol thats kinda funny

wtphoto said:
wow lol thats kinda funny
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know, right? Well, here you go .

JsChiSurf said:
That's weird. I just got a PM about an hour ago regarding the same question. When the "mods" thread got "cleaned up" much of the stuff went missing, unfortunately.
The phone text is cleared out in:
Rosie.apk\res\layout-port\button_bar.xml
Attached is a patched XML file that will clear the text out. You will still need to replace the applicable .png files with transparent ones, for example, if you want to remove the phone icon, etc.
Download <--- Right click to save the file, otherwise, it will attempt to load in your browser.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. That worked in removing the phone text, but it didn't center the phone icon on the button. Can you do that, too?

I can't seem to find the file that centers the phone image onto the middle button for the launcher. I've tried launcher.xml but no dice. bb_btn_middle.xml perhaps?
Also, could you provide some insight into what folders to edit? What is mdpi, land, port? Which folders get edited with our phone? I find myself constantly playing a guessing game with which folder the edits go into.
EDIT: Ok, it turns out it was the button_bar.xml file. Now that I knew that, I pulled it out of the zip in the first post and the phone icon is centered. Attached just the xml.

Jedis said:
I can't seem to find the file that centers the phone image onto the middle button for the launcher. I've tried launcher.xml but no dice. bb_btn_middle.xml perhaps?
Also, could you provide some insight into what folders to edit? What is mdpi, land, port? Which folders get edited with our phone? I find myself constantly playing a guessing game with which folder the edits go into.
EDIT: Ok, it turns out it was the button_bar.xml file. Now that I knew that, I pulled it out of the zip in the first post and the phone icon is centered. Attached just the xml.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The phone icon is in Rosie.apk res/drawable-normal-mdpi. Its called icon_p_phone_rest.png and icon_p_phone_on.png.

VinceOB said:
The phone icon is in Rosie.apk res/drawable-normal-mdpi. Its called icon_p_phone_rest.png and icon_p_phone_on.png.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't need to edit the actual png, it was just something in the xml file that centered the placement of it. It's all fixed.
My goal is all Metamorph's with the black droid launcher with phone text removed, all clear widgets (Digital Clock Widget, GenieWidget, pure calendar, pure music player, power control widget, etc). Genie, pure calendar/music is done. Digital Clock Widget is working, but tapping on it to edit the alarm is busted since the WorldClock was removed for the lockscreen...
I'm sick of remembering which files were editted in the apk files to achieve the mods... Metamorphing will make everything much easier, but it's a process to figure out which files were edited, since repacking the zipfiles usually modifies the 'modified date'.

[Lockscreen] LCARS Star Trek style Lockscreen (updated)

My first mod, the LCARS Lockscreen! Make your lockscreen resemble the panels on the Enterprise! Yay! Also included, the original files they replaced.
Ahem...
Anyway, here is a zip file of everything needed to make your own lcars lockscreen. It's a zip because apparently the cabs I had up here didn't work properly... Can't beat placing real files yourself, I guess. haha
-
Instructions:
First- Add files in the icons folder to windows\ directory in phone. Just the icons in the folder, not the full folder. Either use icons in the zip or install the icons cab file. Also, put the lcars.ttf font into the /windows folder.
Second- Add lcarswallpaper.png and LS_LockScene_480x800.cpr to windows\lockscreen.
Third, reset the phone and you're done!
I've also included the original files for what this mod changes in case you want to revert back.
-
I have no lockscreen mods, cookie's home tab lockscreen is set to the default lockscreen so it won't interfere, or anything aside from the memclock app as you can see on the top right of the screenshot so I can't guarantee it will work with any mods. Like I said, This is my first so I apologize if it doesn't work properly on your HD2. As far as mine goes, everything lines up perfectly.
Restart your phone and enjoy!
When you tap the slider to get your notifications, the calendar and clock disappear. I don't know how to keep them their the entire time. If anyone can help with that, I'd appreciate it. \
For people that have flashed their roms only, try either the cpr courtesy of SolShade posted here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=7153849&postcount=58
Or the updated cpr titled "LS_LockScene_480x800 FLASHED ROM.zip" at the bottom of this first post. This one contains minor tweaks to SolShade's working version, plus with my anastasia rom, there was a gap at the bottom that wasn't black, so everything was shuffled down accordingly to fix that.

While I havent tried it out, it looks cool.
Grats.
Now to make an interactive home tab with a captains chair perspective of the bridge.

Dear,
i have downloaded and installed 3 cab. but its not showing anything but only unlock button beside start button only...

Sorry, rasumia. I've posted the full files, not just cabs, so they should work a lot better for you. Guess quickcab doesn't want to play nice with me. Anyway, also has the original files for a manual uninstall also, so no risk of goofing with your lock screen again.

Not somethine I personally would have, but still a great job with putting it together!

thanks for your quick reply...
i have tried as you have mentioned in the Readme.txt but still same problem. only unlock button shows.
i use CHT 1.7.1 with editor...could it be causing this?
it could be better if there is a final cab so it would be all easier for everyone... thanks a lot!
i am personally star trek fan. it would be very nice if we can have a complete theme with icons slider and lock screen...
i know its too much to ask but its just my idea...

I would love a full manilla okudagram refit, but that would be a lot of work getting the layout right... I would almost like to do that, but someone else would have to program it.
I have cookie's home screen 1.70 enabled but all the custom lockscreen stuff disabled, only using the default lock at the default settings there. Your signature says you have a custom rom, maybe that could be a conflict? Looks like in the logs that they did do things to the lock screen. I wouldn't think it would be much different than what I did but who knows. I wish I knew more and could help better but I learned just with tweaking the lock settings. I have a friend that has an hd2 with the stock rom so I'll know soon if it works on his.

huh ?
want to use this but dont know how to replace files in windows DIR, system says cant replace ??????
D.

Works great.
Here on my german stock rom there is no Icon folder, just copy those files into windows folder, the rest as statet in first post, soft reset and there you are.
To copy the files I've used resco explorer
The only thing that doesn't work is the notification button for missed call. I can see it in taskbar but not instead of button comm1
Live long and prosper

jusD said:
want to use this but dont know how to replace files in windows DIR, system says cant replace ??????
D.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which files won't it replace? The icons? Try adding the lockscreen480x800.cpr file and wallpaper and restarting. If it changes the layout to match the wallpaper, then try the cab here to install the icons.
When I did this originally on my phone, I copied the files onto the storage card, then with the phone, copied and pasted the cpr file into the lockscreen folder. I hope any of this helps.

slackersink said:
My first mod, the LCARS Lockscreen! Make your lockscreen resemble the panels on the Enterprise! Yay! Also included, the original files they replaced.
Ahem...
Anyway, here is a zip file of everything needed to make your own lcars lockscreen. It's a zip because apparently the cabs I had up here didn't work properly... Can't beat placing real files yourself, I guess. haha
-
Instructions:
I've included a readme that says the same thing...
First- Add files in the icons folder to windows\ directory in phone. Just the icons in the folder, not the full folder.
Second- Add lcarswallpaper.png and LS_LockScene_480x800.cpr to windows\lockscreen.
Third, place the lcars.ttf font into windows\font. I saw instructions from here that said it could only be done by connecting your phone to the computer and adding it through activesync, but they could be mistaken.
Fourth, reset the phone and you're done!
I've also included the original files for what this mod changes in case you want to revert back.
-
I have no lockscreen mods or anything aside from the memclock app as you can see on the top right of the screenshot so I can't guarantee it will work with any mods. Like I said, This is my first so I apologize if it doesn't work properly on your HD2. As far as mine goes, everything lines up perfectly.
Restart your phone and enjoy!
When you tap the slider to get your notifications, the calendar and clock disappear. I don't know how to keep them their the entire time. If anyone can help with that, I'd appreciate it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, great job.
Where can I get LS_LockScene_480x800.cpr?
Thanks.

Working !
weightlifter that file is in the .zip file from the first post !
All good here the .cab file made the difference, thanx !
D.

Using windows active sync for replace wont work but using fileexplorer works...
for i couldnt make it work yet still trying...

use .cab
rasumia i used the .cab file for step 1 and then did the rest of the steps and it works for me !
good luck !
D.

ok let me try once again =)

Sorry no luck at all...may when it is completed i will give a try... thanks a lot anyway...

Very nice mate. I hope you can get the notifications showing all the time, like you said. Also, it would be better if the taskbar could be either removed or replaced with something else of equal functionality. It just seems a shame to have it not fullscreen.
Other than that though, very nice indeed!
Incidentally, I used total command to copy the files around and didn't use activesync to copy the font, and it works fine for me.

rasumia said:
Sorry no luck at all...may when it is completed i will give a try... thanks a lot anyway...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the same problem as you have. It might be caused by Cookies home tab or the editor.
johncmolyneux: How did you get it to work, how did you set up CHTEditor?

ZekeWolf said:
I have the same problem as you have. It might be caused by Cookies home tab or the editor.
johncmolyneux: How did you get it to work, how did you set up CHTEditor?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I turned off the CHT lockscreen and turned on the default lock screen (and then a soft reset, because that's what the editor does then). Then I just copied all the files into the relevant locations, as described in the 1st post.
I did copy all the files onto my storage card first and then used total commander to copy them onto the device, which meant that I could overwrite any existing files without windows moaning at me.
Incidentally, I do have both lockscreens working independantly. I turned the CHT lockscreen back on and that is now my default lockscreen (from the home tab menu, or from pressing the end button), but if I go to the start menu and lock from there then I get this lovely lockscreen
(I do then get the CHT one as well, when I unlock this one, so it's not perfect but at least I can see both of them working.)

hasn't worked for me, used the zip from the first post, when i lock the device i get the default unlock soft button and no lock screen atall

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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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
Click to expand...
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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!

[Q] App Icons

I would like to change the default icons on some of the ROMS that I use. I have looked through the files and folders on my phone from Root Explorer as well as using a PC to explore. I have found that on many roms I can find a few files that are named "icon_....". However the "artwork" for the icon that I see on my homescreen or app drawer are completely different. Is there a way to replace either manually replace or a ODIN or some other installer that will use any icon's that I would create and want to put into a rom of my choice.
Have I explained this good enough?
Icons such as the default MMS icon or phone icon, etc....

you can use a different launcher (go launcher for example) and use different theme icons. I usually mix and match from a couple different themes myself.
As for changing the icons without using a different launcher you can cook your own themes in UOT kitchen or dsixda, however they require more extensive knowledge of android

Thanks jigglynuts. I have used different launchers Go, ADW, TW, Honeycomb and others. I have also used UOT. I have had marginal success with UOT. There are a LOT of available options there as well. Here is the real question....I don't want to "steal" anyone's hard work. I really like the black icons that RaverX3X put into the unnamed ROM RC2. Is there a way of peeling those out of the ROM and putting them into a different ROM such as ICBINB? If this is a wicked taboo move, then I apologize. If it is cool, how can this be done?

hopefully Raver or another themer will chime in on exactly how that's done. I believe you need to go inside each .apk file and pull out the drawable folders and find which one has the icon inside it. Then you can extract the image, edit it, and put it back into the apk when you are done.
I'm sure that's an oversimplified version of how it's done though.

Please use the Q&A Forum for questions &
Read the Forum Rules Ref Posting
Moving to Q&A

mike-y said:
hopefully Raver or another themer will chime in on exactly how that's done. I believe you need to go inside each .apk file and pull out the drawable folders and find which one has the icon inside it. Then you can extract the image, edit it, and put it back into the apk when you are done.
I'm sure that's an oversimplified version of how it's done though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually it's pretty spot on... My dad themed his Rom by doing that and that's what he was telling me to do.. he also said that you can ether pull the .png files that you want to change... edit them and put them back. Or You can get icons from searching the internet and just make sure they are named exactly how the original is named. I just can't find the ROM I want lol...
Just for starter purposes I want Stock GB..
I'm currently running
GingerBread stock
Kernel: Blastoff-v2
Modem: KG4
My whole journey started with "Why can't I send long txts" Dad said to go to XDA and Root the phone. Blastoff gave me CWM and the Modem KG4 fixed the txting and gps issues... as well as took my signal back into 4g! I figure if I'm gonna keep messing with stuff... I want to do themes...

[Q] Background Colors - SMS, Conversation History...

I know this is probably petty, but for me it's sort of a big deal.
I like light characters on a black screen, especially at night. There are flashlight apps to turn the screen white because it's bright and at night I would prefer to have a black screen.
Is there a way to change the conversation history to black, and lso for the background behind the balloons in an SMS?
Is there a ROM that has an option for this?
Thanks for the help!

Go sms. Totally customizable. Backgrounds, fonts, font colors, etc
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk

Ends said:
Go sms. Totally customizable. Backgrounds, fonts, font colors, etc
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Handcent will let you do this too.
If you get GoSMS Pro, grab the Theme builder in the market as well. It will allow you to totally create your own theme.

liquidzoo said:
Handcent will let you do this too.
If you get GoSMS Pro, grab the Theme builder in the market as well. It will allow you to totally create your own theme.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I should have included that I've tried all those. Yes, they're good and very customizable. But I've not been able to get them to work seamlessly and to replace the stock messaging. One of those my keyboard does't display properly with and simple other things. Plus I really like how I can go to messages and slide to the right to call. That's the easiest way to call people. That's my favorite feature and no one else has that.
What's so hard about changing the stock messaging to black with white text? lol At one point there was a night mode that made the conversation history black, but not now.
One question... For example a lock screen. There are different ones to install. Is there a different messaging to install to replace stock that someone has added things to? I don't even know if it's possible to replace messaging or not. I don't really want to install another app... I've just not had the best luck with them having the right feel.

Firstly, are you on GB or ICS? And which ROM?
If GB, you could swap out the AT&T mms.apk with the Rogers version, as they use a dark charcoal background behind matte blue and yellow bubbles (was always my favorite). Or you could try the mms.apk that Sean used to include in his GB ROMs. It was basically stock, but came with 5 themes. If you're on NexusMod GB, somewhere in the thread R4INS posted a CM7 mms.apk which has a light and dark theme.
If you're on an AOSP ICS (which I know you're not since you mention swipe to call), you could try the inverted mms.apk, which is black. If you're on stock ICS, the only thing I can think of is to just decompile the apk and use Gimp to change the colors as you'd like them (which goes for any apk really), although I think the important images are *.9.png's which are tricky. Or since you like TouchWiz, see what the T-Mobile mms.apk from their leak looks like? And if it works? As I don't know the answer to either.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2

I'm running ICS that I just flashed. I put in SKYICS also.
Thank you for getting back to me. I'm new to this and starting to figure things out. I opened the mms.apk with WinRar and found most of what I want to change. I've not used Gimp. For colors I usually use Office Picture Manager. I'll have to check out Gimp. I'm starting to understand a little about the xdaAutoTool. I suppose I have to decompile the mms.apk , modify what I want, then recompile it, zip it all back up, then install it through CWM. I can't get the adaAutoTool to run because of the OCX thing and I don't know how to register the files. I wish I knew someone that could decompile the apk, let me change some of the .png files and recompile it for me. I want to change the editor box from this almost black to black beause it looks incredibly grainy at 1% gray or whatever it is. The hard thing for me would be figure out how to change the text color to white if I had to on the conversation list. I think I'll do as you suggested and look for another mms.apk.
You said I like TouchWiz... I'm not exactly sure what that even is. Isn't that something to do with the buttons and how they look at the bottom?
You mentioned the CM7 something. I'm not exactly sure what the CM is. I have CM5 and it said I have a mismatch when I tried to restore my original ROM that I backed up. it was 2.3.6 I think.
Thanks for the help and I'll be back. I'm going to look for another mms.apk...

CodeRedDewd said:
I'm running ICS that I just flashed. I put in SKYICS also.
...
I'm going to look for another mms.apk...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I may have just come across a solution for you. Did you see this post in the SkyICS thread?? I'd look into that one first before attempting any of the above.
---------- Post added at 05:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:43 PM ----------
CodeRedDewd said:
I'm new to this and starting to figure things out. I opened the mms.apk with WinRar and found most of what I want to change. I've not used Gimp. For colors I usually use Office Picture Manager. I'll have to check out Gimp. I'm starting to understand a little about the xdaAutoTool. I suppose I have to decompile the mms.apk , modify what I want, then recompile it, zip it all back up, then install it through CWM. I can't get the adaAutoTool to run because of the OCX thing and I don't know how to register the files. I wish I knew someone that could decompile the apk, let me change some of the .png files and recompile it for me. I want to change the editor box from this almost black to black beause it looks incredibly grainy at 1% gray or whatever it is. The hard thing for me would be figure out how to change the text color to white if I had to on the conversation list. I think I'll do as you suggested and look for another mms.apk.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now I'm no expert on this or anything and haven't done much research on it, so I don't know everything you're talking about. But when I manually swapped out battery icon images from framework-res.apk, I didn't do any unzipping, rezipping, decompiling, recompiling. All I had to do was *open* the archive with 7zip (NOT unzip). Delete the images in there I wanted to replace. Then drag and drop the new images into the archive. As long as they were the same names and I wasn't adding or removing any images, there was no need to change any of the XML files. And it all worked fine.
As I said though, if I recall (as I actually looked into trying to do this myself with the help of another guy -- I wanted to make the AT&T mms.apk look like the Rogers mms.apk) the background image and maybe the bubble images too are 9-patch files, which are the image_name.9.png files. They require a very special process for editing. So that might require a bit more work.
---------- Post added at 05:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:51 PM ----------
CodeRedDewd said:
You said I like TouchWiz... I'm not exactly sure what that even is. Isn't that something to do with the buttons and how they look at the bottom?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha something like that. TouchWiz is the graphical overlay (UI skin) Samsung puts on top of "vanilla" Android, or AOSP. Every manufacture does it. Motorola's is called MotoBlur. HTC's is called Sense. And so on. The Nexus line of phones is the only one to get stock, vanilla Android (AOSP). So it's the reason all android phones from the same manufacture look somewhat the same.
TouchWiz does consist of those buttons at the bottom and how they look (I assume you're talking about the docked apps - Phone, Contacts, Email, Apps). But it's also the system apps (Messaging, Email, Phone, Contacts, Settings, etc.) and how they look and act. The swipe right to call / swipe left to message is a feature of TouchWiz, which is why I said you liked TW because you like that feature.
---------- Post added at 06:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:58 PM ----------
CodeRedDewd said:
You mentioned the CM7 something. I'm not exactly sure what the CM is. I have CM5 and it said I have a mismatch when I tried to restore my original ROM that I backed up. it was 2.3.6 I think.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CM stands for CyanogenMod and consists of a more AOSP feel, unlike Samsung's TouchWiz. So it doesn't have the swipe to call feature; usually just tap the contact picture inside Messaging and it gives you the option to call. CM7 was their Gingerbread build. CM9 is their Ice Cream Sandwich build.
Basically CyanogenMod has created a replacement/aftermarket firmware to replace Google Android (AOSP). It's sort of different than just a custom ROM because a custom ROM is usually just built with one phone in mind (whichever one the developer owns). CM is a firmware built the same way, with the same features, for as many phones as they can support. So your specific phone still needs to be supported and have its own specific build, but once you have it on you phone, it will look and feel just like any HTC, Motorola, etc. that is also running CM.
So it's based off of Google Android (AOSP), it's completely self-contained as its own operating system (somewhat anyway).
We have an unofficial alpha of CM9 in the development section if you want to give it a shot! (Unofficial means it's not being built by or currently supported by the actual CyanogenMod team. Just a private individual is using their source code to make it work with our Skyrocket.) It works rather well and is like 99.5% a daily driver.

Wow, thank you for that information. Some of the fuzzy things are a little clearer now but not much. lol
What you said about replacing a png - I opened the ROM in 7Zip, clicked down to the Mms.apk. I right clicked and copied to desktop. I opened that in 7Zip and dragged and dropped the png into that. I changed the file extinsion to .zip and put in on my phone. When I tried to install it though CWM touch it just aborted.
I'm not 100% sure, but I edited the png in paint. I magnified it 800 times and could see a perfect rectangle inside of this other stuff. I only made the perfect rectangle black and saved. The one I'm doing is textfield_default_dark.9.png. I don't quite think I edited it wrong since it wouldn't even install. My editing wrong would make it FC or not show right?? I don't know how to troubleshoot.
In the meantime I'm going to check out some of your other suggestions. However I would LOVE to be able to fix what I want. Why make a black that's not black and can't be displayed right by the display because the pixels are just barely on?
Suggestions on my proceedure? I read somewhere earlier that there has to be some something done to the png for permission or something strange....
I checked out the dark themed Mms.apk you mentioned at the top. This is what it says.
This is not flashable. what you'll need to do is navigate to system--> app, rename your current mms.apk to something like "mms.apk.old" or "mms.apk.bak". Then paste the attached into the same folder. Reboot your phone and voila.
I lost root access and cannot get it back when I installed SKYICS. I'm running UCLD2. I haven't been able to put together what to do about this. I tried to install my original backup and it said CM5 mismatch or something. I do believe I need root access to navigate to the system folder because I can't find it?

yeah. you need root. you dont really need to "flash" in CWM. Just replace the original in the system. But you do need root. Reboot into recovery and flash superuser

I did that a few times and nothing. I gave up on rooting for a while then now I'm rooted. Titanium, when I opened it, asked for permission. It wouldn't do that yesterday. I'm just going to have to say okay I'm rooted.
I'm trying to find the system directory right now...

CodeRedDewd said:
I'm not 100% sure, but I edited the png in paint. I magnified it 800 times and could see a perfect rectangle inside of this other stuff. I only made the perfect rectangle black and saved. The one I'm doing is textfield_default_dark.9.png. I don't quite think I edited it wrong since it wouldn't even install. My editing wrong would make it FC or not show right?? I don't know how to troubleshoot.
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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