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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea so like I said, since it's a 9-patch file (*.9.png), I'm not sure if you can just edit the image and throw it back in there. I'm guessing that Paint only recognizes it as a *.png, and so saves it as such. 9-patch images need to be recompiled, as far as I know. So that might've screwed you up, even if you installed it right.
CodeRedDewd said:
What you said about replacing a png - I opened the ROM in 7Zip, clicked down to the Mms.apk. I right clicked and copied to desktop. I opened that in 7Zip and dragged and dropped the png into that. I changed the file extinsion to .zip and put in on my phone. When I tried to install it though CWM touch it just aborted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So about installing it. Everything above sounds like the correct process EXCEPT for changing the file extension. A CWM flashable zip isn't just any old zip file. It's has a certain structure to it and includes a script file that tells CWM exactly what to do with the information contained inside the zip. With a system apk, all you need to do is get the file on your phone somehow (microSD, USB cable, Dropbox, etc.), and then copy and paste it into the /system/app directory, afterwards setting its permissions to rw-r--r--. To do this, yes you will need root access. It shouldn't be that hard to just root again if you lost it somehow. Or judging by your last post, you may have successfully rooted again.
CodeRedDewd said:
I checked out the dark themed Mms.apk you mentioned at the top. This is what it says.
This is not flashable. what you'll need to do is navigate to system--> app, rename your current mms.apk to something like "mms.apk.old" or "mms.apk.bak". Then paste the attached into the same folder. Reboot your phone and voila.
I lost root access and cannot get it back when I installed SKYICS. I'm running UCLD2. I haven't been able to put together what to do about this. I tried to install my original backup and it said CM5 mismatch or something. I do believe I need root access to navigate to the system folder because I can't find it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which brings us back to this mms.apk. Definitely give this app another shot using the above method once you obtain root again. You will need an app such as Root Explorer, which can be downloaded from the Market.
As far as restoring your backup, the error you received was an MD5 checksum mismatch error. You can Google what MD5 means, and possible reasons why CWM gave you that error. I think it gives it to you sometimes when you rename a backup file and put a space in the file name.
I'll have to research that MD5 thing...
I got the Mms.apk copied to the right directory and my changes worked. I have to use something other than paint that allows me to keep white as the transparant color. This is pretty awesome... Maybe I'll post my result when I figure out what's going on. I'm thinking the text field is a box within a box. I got a black box with a very dark gray one in the middle... But it's progress! Thanks for your help!
CodeRedDewd said:
I'll have to research that MD5 thing...
I got the Mms.apk copied to the right directory and my changes worked. I have to use something other than paint that allows me to keep white as the transparant color. This is pretty awesome... Maybe I'll post my result when I figure out what's going on. I'm thinking the text field is a box within a box. I got a black box with a very dark gray one in the middle... But it's progress! Thanks for your help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's awesome man, good job! Wanna post a screenshot for me? A before and after if you have it?
But if you need something better than Paint, I'd look into Gimp. It's what most of the guys on here use. It's basically the Linux version of Photoshop. And being Linux, it's free and open source... and has been ported over to Windows. It works great for quick image editing. Just takes a bit of Googling to learn all the buttons haha.
I'm using Gimp because it keeps the transparant background. I had a big white box around my box from paint.
Update: When I used paint, it seemed things worked correctly besides the white box around the editor. The transparancy was lost. In Gimp, if I change 1 pixel I get a whole distorted image for the editor. In paint, I made the blue line gold and the box black. That looked great. Nothing seems to be working right with Gimp. Wait, in Paint I did notice one thing. The box was a true black, but with a lighter black, wide stripe in the middle from end to end, as if it was another png inserted into it. Hmmm... In Gimp it looks like nothing is getting inserted and the small image is stretching all the way across with the thin blue line getting super fat. I didn't jack the image up. I only changed one pixel to red in the middle of the black. I'm thinking there's more to this. Someone posted something about a decompiled image that had extra dots around the edge and one a one pixel line on two sides or something. I didn't break anything, because I put in an untouched png and it fixed things, so it's just the image.
Any ideas? I'm headed out to watch a movie, but I'm determined.
Look for a brush diameter or feathering option in Gimp and change it to the smallest one you have. I've had to do that in both Photoshop and Gimp before to get the apk changes I've made to look right and not have that outlining that you're referring to.
I understand what you mean, but this is different.The .9.png looks exactly the same when I edit it. I'm just making it darker. The .9.png files are made of 9 sections taht are stretched individually so the image is not distorted. In my case, Gimp is destroying that ability and the image is getting stretched the wrong way when displayed. For example, if you stretch a line along its lengt it still looks like the same line only longer, which is what they do. But if you stretch it across its width, it becomes this fat line, which is what is happening in my case.
I think you're editig just .png and not .9.png files?
CodeRedDewd said:
I understand what you mean, but this is different.The .9.png looks exactly the same when I edit it. I'm just making it darker. The .9.png files are made of 9 sections taht are stretched individually so the image is not distorted. In my case, Gimp is destroying that ability and the image is getting stretched the wrong way when displayed. For example, if you stretch a line along its lengt it still looks like the same line only longer, which is what they do. But if you stretch it across its width, it becomes this fat line, which is what is happening in my case.
I think you're editig just .png and not .9.png files?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you think some information in this tutorial could be of any help? There's also a video tutorial available.
Yes it's possible that would be very helpful. I found either that or another tutorial last night. It was interesting how the .9.png files are sectioned. I conda figured that out on my own, because it would have to be to get bigger and not distort fine lines. I'll have to find that tutorial itself, because that post you linked has no links in it. I went to a 9patch website or something that had all the stuff, but it got too deep pretty quickly. In the short time I studied it, I had no clue how to even begin to install and use the program.
What baffles me is how Paint didn't screw up the .9.png. It worked fine with my edits, only it had no transparency so there was a white border. It was able to scale fine to landscape and portrait. It looked great. I totally though I had it figured out. :/ Have you looked at how to do .9.png files?
CodeRedDewd said:
Yes it's possible that would be very helpful. I found either that or another tutorial last night. It was interesting how the .9.png files are sectioned. I conda figured that out on my own, because it would have to be to get bigger and not distort fine lines. I'll have to find that tutorial itself, because that post you linked has no links in it. I went to a 9patch website or something that had all the stuff, but it got too deep pretty quickly. In the short time I studied it, I had no clue how to even begin to install and use the program.
What baffles me is how Paint didn't screw up the .9.png. It worked fine with my edits, only it had no transparency so there was a white border. It was able to scale fine to landscape and portrait. It looked great. I totally though I had it figured out. :/ Have you looked at how to do .9.png files?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The tutorial is contained in the OP of that post I linked to. It contains links for all the tools you need and a short description of the process to follow. And then I think the video tutorial might just guide you through the OP of that first link.
But yea, that's really interesting how Paint worked so well. Did you happen to take any screenshots of the Paint-edited apk running on your phone?
And no, I actually have never looked into editing .9.png files. Didn't really even know how they worked until you explained them a little bit in one of the above posts.
I attached an image. I'm not sure if it's going to show up in the post as an image; we'll see.
There is a white box around what is suppose to be shown as the editor. In the center of the black box it's not true black as the black surrounding it that I changed in the .9.png. The center must be another image.
I'm thinking I'm just going to make the white black, find the other gray images the buttons are on and make that one black. Who needs transparancy when it's all black, which is what I want anyway. lol
I'm going to look into the 9patch some more... It just seems so complicated with how to install and get working. It would be nice to work with someone who is actively editing .9.png's to get me on track....
Do you have an interest in editing those png's? lol
Related
If this is the wrong section, let me know please.
I see a lot of themes or people SS's of their home screen and, the Start button at the top, i see a lot of people have custom names there, like in Laskar's theme and etc. i was wondering how it's possible to put a custom name there... Like... Susa instead of Start, or something along those lines
i would also like to see this possible
Well, i still don't know how to do it, but the new co0kies 1.7 has an option for it now, so all's well
Susasama said:
Well, i still don't know how to do it, but the new co0kies 1.7 has an option for it now, so all's well
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought it was only your service provider details that CHT would change, not the txt next to the start button?
I'm still after customizing the start txt if any one can help...
There's two ways that I know of..........
Either look here. Needs a bit of knowledge to do that, tried a few times but couldn't get the dll to re-sign correctly and gave up in the end.
Or.......the cheating option which I use.
Install the "No Start" patch attached (WWE only), no idea who wrote it originally so can't credit them, but it came off here somewhere.
Then in Photoshop add whatever you want to replace it with, this has the advantage that you can use whatever font/image/colour you want rather than just sticking to white text in your system font if you do it the proper way.
To align in Photoshop, take a screenshot to show your start icon with no text, then overlay it with some transparency onto your new wallpaper then you can see perfectly where you need to paste your new text/icon or whatever.
Hope this helps.
sniper-wolf said:
There's two ways that I know of..........
Either look here. Needs a bit of knowledge to do that, tried a few times but couldn't get the dll to re-sign correctly and gave up in the end.
Or.......the cheating option which I use.
Install the "No Start" patch attached (WWE only), no idea who wrote it originally so can't credit them, but it came off here somewhere.
Then in Photoshop add whatever you want to replace it with, this has the advantage that you can use whatever font/image/colour you want rather than just sticking to white text in your system font if you do it the proper way.
To align in Photoshop, take a screenshot to show your start icon with no text, then overlay it with some transparency onto your new wallpaper then you can see perfectly where you need to paste your new text/icon or whatever.
Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! Sneaky, but I like it! Will give it a go!
Must admit, I'm a bit surprised no one has come up with a editor yet
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'.
I just recently moved from iOS to Android, and I like it so far but it looks kind of... cheap. I'm talking about HTC Sense specifically, stock/AOSP Android is well design but albeit dull to some (although I don't agree, I prefer the minimalistic design). Some of it is okay while other parts don't make a whole lot of sense or just look plain amateur. Most of all, I think it's way over exaggerated. I hate looking at the browser bar and seeing a heavily glossed bevel with a near near flat text input and a inset button. Why would a button be even inset?
Anyway, I like some of Sense's additional features, and since Cyanogen isn't stable yet, I'd like to re-design Sense to be more subtle and just better designed. I'm a well established UI/UX designer but always have a lot of work on hand. So if someone who is knowledgeable with the graphic files that make up Sense (preferably in the new Froyo build) and is willing to identify and send the files (preferably in a zip of organized folders so I could just re-design and leave as is which could then be easily turned into a usable update file by someone), I'd get started ASAP.
The EVO is fine as is, but improving the appearance of Sense would go a long way in calming my OCD mind Attached is a quick example of how it would look like. It's the "to" contact bar in the HTC messaging app - the top is default, the bottom is my redesigned version.
My main beefs with the default graphic are:
a. It's too glossy making the outset depth of the bar appear high, problem is that a flat element (the text input box) is laid on top of it thus making it look weird and unnatural. Plus it makes it look like cheap plastic.
b. The button is inset. Why? Have you ever seen a inset button? Maybe once or twice. Looks more like a active selection than a button. the lighting is also off and just plain looks terrible.
c. The corners are rounded, but why? It looks out of place and loses fluidity with the rest of the layout. One thing I noticed is that HTC likes to throw in rounded corners in just about everything they can.
Like I said, this will be a very subtle theme but I think it will help make the stock Sense theme better. So if anyone wants to help identifying the files or knows a known resource (which I doubt since Froyo must have changed things a bit), just PM me.
I second this request. I wish I could help.
I totally agree with you in that the Sense theme needs to be more subtle.
I have always wondered why it has taken so long for someone to come up with this theme.
that would be nice
I like the idea!
Heres what I have so far.
In framework-res, I have included everything I think you will need. You'll have to let me know how much theming you intend to do. ie buttoms/selections (everything with a stock gloss?) or not.
I will continue to dig up more of what you need once I hear how deep you're looking to go. I included the taskbar icons because those will need to be changed to fit whatever the taskbar changes too so they will match. Obviously I have yet to include the signal ones along with 4g, as well as the individual app status bar notifications.
I'll wait to hear back before I progress much further.
Again, very nice looking.
Edit: Updated my post to add more.
I want to fix as much as possible. Anything you send, I'll theme. I'll commit to that.
But at the least, I want to redesign buttons and major UI elements like the example I showed. I definitely would like to redesign selections -- I'm not sure why they are "crystal-like", I much prefer a AOSP-like selection but of course in green for Sense.
I'll look through these and see what I'll do with them.
Award Tour said:
I want to fix as much as possible. Anything you send, I'll theme. I'll commit to that.
But at the least, I want to redesign buttons and major UI elements like the example I showed. I definitely would like to redesign selections -- I'm not sure why they are "crystal-like", I much prefer a AOSP-like selection but of course in green for Sense.
I'll look through these and see what I'll do with them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, don't know if I edited my post before or after this, but I added more to the framework-res folder with an updated zip. It now includes everything from there you should/could need from that particular file. See what you can do with those. I'm not 100% sure if any of the files used in froyo have changed (what gets used in those folders and what doesn't) so bare with me. But for the most part it shouldn't be that difficult to dig up the rest of the important stuff.
I just pulled it now so it should be the latest files.
I just pushed that sense folder to my work server, once something is in there, they get done. I'll update the folder as I get more items.
barnacles10 said:
Ok, don't know if I edited my post before or after this, but I added more to the framework-res folder with an updated zip. It now includes everything from there you should/could need from that particular file. See what you can do with those. I'm not 100% sure if any of the files used in froyo have changed (what gets used in those folders and what doesn't) so bare with me. But for the most part it shouldn't be that difficult to dig up the rest of the important stuff.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alright so this is what I'll do. I'll theme these current files and when I'm done I'll post some previews and then you or someone else who is willing can send a new batch of files. That way it can be done in waves and can be easily managed.
So I'll finish these and post back soon.
Award Tour said:
Alright so this is what I'll do. I'll theme these current files and when I'm done I'll post some previews and then you or someone else who is willing can send a new batch of files. That way it can be done in waves and can be easily managed.
So I'll finish these and post back soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, well this has totally got me pumped, so I went through and did more for you. I've included the other files out of ease, so what I have done is labeled all the folders which have new files (new from that one posted above) and added "contains new" at the end. Then within each folder i have created "new" folders for what I have added. That way you don't have to go through and figure out what you have done and whats been added.
This should keep you busy as I'm done for the night. This is a lot of the major stuff though. I will report back with anything else I find later on.
Award Tour, just curious, do you have experience with .9.png's?
Barnacles, I noticed you pulled stuff out of framework-res, did you toss him the stuff from com.htc.resouces.apk too?
nebenezer said:
OP, just curious, do you have experience with .9.png's?
Barnacles, I noticed you pulled stuff out of framework-res, did you toss him the stuff from com.htc.resouces.apk too?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah the second file I posted here has pretty much everything he needs to start. Most everything from resources, and framework as well as other stock apps
nebenezer said:
Award Tour, just curious, do you have experience with .9.png's?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not yet, but I understand them now I think. I noticed immediately that some of the files had to scale somehow and from your post just noticed that those files are the .9 files you speak of. I'll look into it but I'm just gonna assume that they have some sort of meta info in them for now. I'll work on those last so I can read up on the file format.
barnacles10 said:
Yeah the second file I posted here has pretty much everything he needs to start. Most everything from resources, and framework as well as other stock apps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome, sorry to interrupt, just wanted to make sure
Award Tour said:
Not yet, but I understand them now I think. I noticed immediately that some of the files had to scale somehow and from your post just noticed that those files are the .9 files you speak of. I'll look into it but I'm just gonna assume that they have some sort of meta info in them for now. I'll work on those last so I can read up on the file format.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah they have invisible guides that tell the OS where to stretch the image to suit whatever purpose it needs.
When you open, edit and re-save them the guides disappear so you'll have to redraw them. You will find plenty of info on .9's.
The search bar you did looks much better than Google's version, I'm sure this will end up being a pretty sweet theme
This is no small undertaking or I would jump in on it and help out.
There are tons of people here who are more talented and experienced than I but if you have any questions you're welcome to pm me.
Hey guys. I am up for the night and addicted to flashing **** so let me know if you need a beta tester.
Once you finish what's there feel free to send them back to me and I can throw em back where they need to go and make a morph for the changes to test them out.
ok so are those .zips flashable? any screens of what you have done? it looks nice on the first picture
magicalan said:
ok so are those .zips flashable? any screens of what you have done? it looks nice on the first picture
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I only spent like 20 minutes on it today during work but I should do a hour or so more later tonite.
I finished some of the status bar but I was disappointed to see that the background image for a notification item was missing. I still designed it but if anyone knows how I can throw it in sense (maybe a simple file with the right name? maybe check a AOSP build because it should be in there) let me know.
Here it is for those that are interested, I will probably refine it further but this is what I got so far:
The aim, if you haven't already noticed, is to combine stock AOSP Android with a Sense-like look.
Award Tour said:
I only spent like 20 minutes on it today during work but I should do a hour or so more later tonite.
I finished some of the status bar but I was disappointed to see that the background image for a notification item was missing. I still designed it but if anyone knows how I can throw it in sense (maybe a simple file with the right name? maybe check a AOSP build because it should be in there) let me know.
Here it is for those that are interested, I will probably refine it further but this is what I got so far:
The aim, if you haven't already noticed, is to combine stock AOSP Android with a Sense-like look.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks good! Ill look for the notification bg image for ya when I get home tonight.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
magicalan said:
ok so are those .zips flashable? any screens of what you have done? it looks nice on the first picture
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They are not flashable. Sorry for double posting but can't multiquote. They are simply folders. Had to zip them up to attach them is all
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Try to send me a new batch as well, I *think* I'll be done with this in a hour. If you can, send me the froyo ones.
So I can see that the stock jog dial images are in there... does anyone know the xml file which tells the phone to use the zz_moto files instead of the stock ones? I would like to
remove the moto files and make it use the default ones because I think moto's are ****in' UGLY!
NegativeOne said:
So I can see that the stock jog dial images are in there... does anyone know the xml file which tells the phone to use the zz_moto files instead of the stock ones? I would like to
remove the moto files and make it use the default ones because I think moto's are ****in' UGLY!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not too sure. This is just a shot in the dark which probably has no chance of working but..if you're backed up and/or have means of restoring to at least a stock build...do you think maybe just a simple name switch for the png's could work (ie rename the stock joggers to "zz_moto")? I know this has a good chance of failing but hey you never know...
Yeah - I thought about that. I bet it will work. I was just hoping to get rid of the excess images altogether, to keep in theme with deblurring my phone .
I guess i'll give it a shot Friday though. (Won't have time until then)
Hmm.. the jog dials were used for the rotary lockscreen... wonder can I modify the android.policy.jar to get that back...
That'd be cool, but I think we're talking about different ones.
I'm talking about the jog dials jog_tab_bar files.
Yeah.. I'm thinking of the jog_dial_*etc*
Renaming them to zz_moto should do the trick. Might want to open them up and verify size and position of the .9 pixels though.
about size and position... so basically I should overlay them and see if the black border things line up?
NegativeOne said:
about size and position... so basically I should overlay them and see if the black border things line up?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah, and just edit as needed. recompile, then throw it in the apk or use ninja.
upon actual inspection, it looks like the files aren't exactly the same (in which files there are, and what they mean semantically)
Grr.. I really hate the stupid moto sliders.
There's gotta be a way to modify the XML files to make the screen like stock.
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?