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
This is a little app I developed mainly because I got tired of changing all my shortcut icons by hand every time I wanted to try something new.
It works by a folder of icons on your sdcard and matching them to installed applications by name. For example, Browser.png gets mapped to the Browser application.
This is more of a test version i'm looking fro people to find bugs and try other devices.
If you are having problems:
Please send me your log by using the button from the main menu.
Known Issues:
- Very long list of notifications.
Changes:
- 0.2:
You can now edit the title of each app.
I have included a test set of icons, Token Icons, original can be found here: http://brsev.deviantart.com/art/Token-128429570
Now this is cool. Gonna try it out. Only thing is certain apps I like to change the name of when I create shortcuts with BetterCut. Like changing XScope to Browser. I suppose I could do those one by one with BetterCut though.
Adding name changing would be pretty easy.
That would be awesome!
Will try this one for sure
Works really great. It's convenient. Only work involved is naming the icons which can easily be done from your computer before you put them on the sd card.
Updated, you can now set title titles of each shortcut.
going to try it, thanksssssssssss
When I tried it, the buttons of the app did not work properly.
I ran into a slight problem. While selecting the icon folder.
Drilled down to folder.
Hit select...nothing
Hit select...nothing
Hit select...nothing
Hmm
Hit back button...nothing
Hmm
Screen turns black, osmonitor looks maxed out.
After around 5 minutes, maybe more, go into osmonitor and kill auto shortcut.
droid x
Froyo
350+ apps
I have the Droid Incredible, when I get to step 2 "select shortcuts to create" and I tap on create button nothing happens. I could go back to step 2 but I can't do anything on step 2
I'll take a look and throw in some log output data to see if i can find the problem.
could we have some images to test? I want to try this but I have no worthy images to replace my current icons
I added a test set of icons on the original post.
Those of you that are having problems, can you give me your device names and android versions.
didnt work with me
i choose the folder
n' then it shows step2 but nothing listed under it
although i named the icons really easy names ( browser, facebook, phone ) !!!
nexus one cyanogenmodRC3 rom
Did you make sure to capitalize the names? Currently it is case sensitive, perhaps it would be best to ignore the case.
Works on my non-rooted ( ) Evo....anyway we could get more icon packs?
Awesome stuff man =)
I will try on both my HEro and my Magic.
Greenfieldan said:
Works on my non-rooted ( ) Evo....anyway we could get more icon packs?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I might package a couple, its easy enough, hopefully other forum members will package some as well.
jasonpeinko said:
Did you make sure to capitalize the names? Currently it is case sensitive, perhaps it would be best to ignore the case.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
still doesnt work !!
---
after many tries ,,
it only detects Shazam
don't know why
I have finally taken the time to try to get my icons the way I want them to look on this phone. I stopped developing my tweaking skills in the days of WinMo 6.5, but I decided to tinker with a framework-res.apk in one of Trailblazer's mods to swap out all the icons I wanted to change.
After sifting through many other themes mostly made for the Fascinate, I have repacked the file with the icons I wanted. I also blanked out the Ticker History button and the "No Data" button for the Weather on the Ticker. See Screenshot.
I am sure there is a better way to install this file, but I took the framework-res file out of Trailblazer's Touchwiz Accurate Theme, replaced all the icons I wanted in the file and then I copied it back into his .zip file. I was then able to flash the .zip file in Recovery. I am sure you can use Root Explorer or some sort of file manager program to replace the file, but I haven't had the best of luck replacing files that way so I went with what I knew would work.
I figured I would share my work in case anyone else has wanted a different look for their Continuum.
spearoid said:
I have finally taken the time to try to get my icons the way I want them to look on this phone. I stopped developing my tweaking skills in the days of WinMo 6.5, but I decided to tinker with a framework-res.apk in one of Trailblazer's mods to swap out all the icons I wanted to change.
After sifting through many other themes mostly made for the Fascinate, I have repacked the file with the icons I wanted. I also blanked out the Ticker History button and the "No Data" button for the Weather on the Ticker. See Screenshot.
I am sure there is a better way to install this file, but I took the framework-res file out of Trailblazer's Touchwiz Accurate Theme, replaced all the icons I wanted in the file and then I copied it back into his .zip file. I was then able to flash the .zip file in Recovery. I am sure you can use Root Explorer or some sort of file manager program to replace the file, but I haven't had the best of luck replacing files that way so I went with what I knew would work.
I figured I would share my work in case anyone else has wanted a different look for their Continuum.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome! I have one question for you though... You stated you "blanked out the Ticker History button and the "No Data" button for the Weather"... Are the blanked out so if your finger/hand/palm, what ever touches those areas, it doesn't open the damn address search (for weather) or the ticker history? If that is the case, I have been wanting something like this for a while, I just haven't had the time to dive into exploring this, and TrailBlazer seemed to have been working on it, so I figured I'd wait for him. Thanks dude!
I've been working on my batch so that it actually removes the buttons, like totally (not just blank images)... Finished it yesterday, just need someone to test it any volunteers? Lol
You can choose the clock color, softkey images, button remaps, hide/show history and/or weather icon.....
Sent from my SCH-I400 using xda premium
trailblazer101 said:
I've been working on my batch so that it actually removes the buttons, like totally (not just blank images)... Finished it yesterday, just need someone to test it any volunteers? Lol
You can choose the clock color, softkey images, button remaps, hide/show history and/or weather icon.....
Sent from my SCH-I400 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
im off early today and setting up a my rom kitchen... ill give her another try... in irc to boot
Spearoid, I tried using root explorer to replace the apk from blazers theme with the one you posted. No luck.
Blazer, I would be more than willing to volunteer to try your batch out.it includes all the things I want to change.
turboblue385 said:
Spearoid, I tried using root explorer to replace the apk from blazers theme with the one you posted. No luck.
Blazer, I would be more than willing to volunteer to try your batch out.it includes all the things I want to change.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I've had little luck doing file replacements on vital system files that way.
I took the .apk in the OP and overwrote that file in Trailblazer's Touchwiz Accurate theme .zip file.
I open Trailblazer's zip file with a program like WinRar....then browse to the system/framework folder...and drag and drop my new .apk into that folder....it overwrites...and I copy the zip file to my SD card and flash from recovery.
all is good from there
I wish I knew how to take files like these and put them in a new flashable zip file. I'd probably be more inclined to do more tweaking if I could
And Moon Shadow, they are just transparent png files. The buttons still function.
But I'm with you, I'd much rather have them be invisible AND non-functioning
Trailblazer, post up the link. Now that I have this thing working right, again, I'll beta
Looks great. Just got it working last night. I really like the blue. And three battery icon is bigger which makes it easier to see. Great work!
turboblue385 said:
Looks great. Just got it working last night. I really like the blue. And three battery icon is bigger which makes it easier to see. Great work!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sweet, I'm glad someone likes it!
The battery icon was my primary motivation for making the new file. The white text on green was almost impossible for me to see.
Return to Contents Page - doubleshot Developers Reference
----
Part 1: Custom Sense Lockring on the MT4GS - easy step-by-step.
Part 2: This thread.
Part 3: Edit Mode10 Files for the MT4GS - step-by-step
--------
This installment will cover working with .9.png files, their special handling requirements, and a little bit about what makes them so special.
This is a slightly more advanced guide, and I won't be over-exaggerating explanation of simple things like copy and paste that were covered in part 1.
Working with .9.png files is easy once you know what steps to take and have the tools set up on your computer - it's just time consuming and tedious. So let's take a look at what you need.
What you need:
1 - Android SDK installed
2 - Java JDK installed.
3 - Apk Manager 4.9
4 - 7-Zip installed and ready.
5 - Photoshop ( or equivalent - directions for photoshop ) installed and ready.
6 - A copy of HTCCamera.apk from the Sense ROM you are changing the graphic in.
* - Guide written for a Windows XP machine, please adjust accordingly if your environment is different.
--------
This is a lot of stuff to manage, but if we take our time and do it in order it'll be a piece of cake. ( ~Tasty! )
First thing is to install the Android SDK and Java JDK - both actions are outside of the scope of this guide but well documented all over XDA.
This guide will pick up assuming both the Android SDK and the Java JDK are installed.
This guide also assumes that Apk Manager is installed. Please see the Apk Manager 4.9 thread for the tool if you have trouble in this area.
Lastly, this guide assumes you have read my guide: Custom Sense Lockring on the MT4GS - easy step-by-step. as I won't be explaining how to do things again that were already covered there.
( ... and of course, that you have Photoshop installed and ready...or another graphics program of your choice - but instructions are for Photoshop. )
--------
Okay, we have everything installed, now we need to get our hands on one of those .9.png files so we can play with it.
Let's talk about them for a minute first. Those .9.png files are pretty special, because they are a stretchable graphic.
This means that Android can use the same graphic in many different places, and these different places can be different sizes.
These graphics have some special information attached to them, outside of the border of the graphic there are black lines and dots that tell Android how far and in which directions it can stretch the graphics.
An important thing to note here: These black lines and dots MUST BE black, and no other shade or color. If they are not perfectly black, it will not work.
If you simply extract the graphic from the .apk file with 7-Zip, edit it, and put it back in, your .apk file will break. The reason being is the extra information about how and where to stretch the graphic gets broken when you do this.
The only way to edit these files correctly is to de-compile the .apk, then edit the graphic, and then re-compile the .apk file.
The example we are going to use is from the HTCCamera.apk, and it is called 'scene_frame_pressed.9.png'. It is in the 'res' -> 'drawable-hdpi' folder in the .apk
--------
Preparation: Setup.
First things first, let's set ourselves up. Make a new folder on your desktop, and call it 'CameraEdit'
Next, get a copy of HTCCamera.apk and put it in this folder.
Now, find your apk_manager_4.9 folder, where you set up this tool, and open it.
You will see a handful of folders in here, but there are only two folders we will be working with:
1 - place-apk-here-for-modding
2 - projects
( There is a third, called 'keep', but it's not there yet. It will be generated later. )
Make a copy of your HTCCamera.apk file, and put it in the 'place-apk-here-for-modding' folder.
Okay, stop.
Now we have:
1 - A new folder on the desktop with a fresh copy of HTCCamera.apk in it. This is our final product when we are finished.
2 - A second copy of HTCCamera.apk in the 'place-apk-here-for-modding' folder in the apk manager tool.
So far, pretty simple.
--------
Part 1: De-compiling your apk.
Now that you have your .apk file in the 'place-apk-here-for-modding' folder, go into the apk_manager_4.9 folder and you will see an MS-DOS batch file called 'script'. Double left click this to open it up.
Now you see a cool green menu, with a lot of numbers and options - but don't worry i'm gonna walk you through it. Just make sure not to close this window until I tell you to - simply ignore it when you aren't using it.
First thing you have to do is type the number '22' and hit enter. This lets us select what .apk file we are going to work with.
The only option on the list is '1 - HTCCamera.apk'
Type the number 1, then press enter.
You now find yourself back at that main menu, and up in the top right corner of the window it will say 'Current-App: HTCCamera.apk |'
Now we are ready to decompile the apk file. Type the number 9 and press enter.
It will say 'decompiling apk' and when it is done you will see the main menu again, with a blinking cursor after 'Please make your decision' at the bottom.
Now, we can forget about this window for a little while. Don't close it, just ignore it.
You can find your de-compiled apk in the 'projects' folder.
--------
Part 2: Coloring.
Open up Photoshop, and once it's loaded go to File-> Open, and navigate to the 'projects' folder in the 'apk_manager_4.9' tool.
You will see a folder called 'HTCCamera.apk', go in here, then into the 'res' folder, and then into the 'drawable-hdpi' folder.
Once there, you will find 'scene_frame_pressed.9.png' - open this file into Photoshop.
Once you have this open, you will notice something you didn't see before - there are solid black lines on each of the four sides of the colored square of the graphic.
You do not want to touch, change, edit or in any way affect these black lines. To alter them even the slightest bit will make your whole .apk file broken - and we don't want that.
So what we are going to do is grab your 'Rectangle Marquee Tool' and select everything EXCEPT the black lines around the outside.
Once you have the whole picture selected, except the black lines, you will go up to the menu at the top of the Photoshop window and select 'Image'. From the drop-down list, select 'Adjustments' and then 'Hue/Saturation'
Now you have a dialog box for the Hue/Saturation control of the graphic.
The only thing we are going to change is the Hue, so make sure the 'Edit' box at the top of the window says 'Master' and then grab the Hue slider and drag it all the way to the right.
The text box above Hue should now say +180, and the color of the square has changed. ( If the color didn't change, make sure the 'preview' box is checked in the Hue/Saturation window )
Click on 'OK' and apply the change.
Save the file, and then close Photoshop.
--------
Pretty easy so far, right? not really that much to it - and we're almost done.
Next up we have to recompile the apk, and i'm going to make you take an extra step at the end of the process to reduce your chances of getting a bad apk from a compile error.
--------
Part 3: Re-compiling your apk.
Okay, find your apk manager window I told you not to close, and bring it back into focus.
You should see a blinking cursor at the bottom after 'Please make your decision'.
We are now going to type the number 11, and then press enter. This will tell it to compile the apk.
It will say 'Building Apk', and this part can take a little while - so just be patient.
When it is ready for you, the next thing it will say is:
Code:
Is this a system apk (y/n)
Type input:
You will type 'y' and press enter. Any apk that came from or goes into the /system/app folder on the device gets this answer.
Then it will say:
Code:
Aside from signatures, would you like to copy
over any additional files that you didn't modify
from the original apk in order to ensure the least
# of errors (y/n)
Type input:
You will again type 'y' and press enter.
A whole mess of text will shoot up in the window, and the very last line will be:
Code:
Press any key to continue...
Don't press anything yet, just ignore this program window for the moment.
Now, what you have to do is go back into the apk_manager_4.9 folder and you will find that 'keep' folder I mentioned before. It wasn't there until now, because it's a temporary folder the apk manager program is using to compile your apk with.
What you have to do is go into it, and delete any files you changed.
In this case it's easy, because we only changed one file.
Go into the 'keep' folder, then the 'res' folder, then the 'drawable-hdpi' folder, and find the 'scene_frame_pressed.9.png' file we edited.
Delete the 'scene_frame_pressed.9.png' file.
Now go back to the apk manager window, and press enter.
Let it do it's thing, and when it's done it'll be back at the main menu with a blinking cursor after 'Please make your decision:'
You can just hit the X in the top right corner to close the window, we're done with this wonderful tool now. ( yes - now you can finally close it. )
--------
Okay, now we have de-compiled, edited, and re-compiled our apk file - but we aren't done yet there are still some things to take care of.
Don't worry, it's almost done - and the hard part is over ( which wasn't really that hard, was it? )
--------
Part 4: Avoiding potential bugs.
Next, go into the 'place-apk-here-for-modding' folder in the apk_manager_4.9 folder.
You will see two .apk files:
1 - HTCCamera.apk
2 - unsignedHTCCamera.apk
The second one is the one you just edited, but you will notice the file size is much smaller then the original one.
Now, you could just copy the unsignedHTCCamera.apk into another folder, rename it deleting the 'unsigned' part at the beginning, and push it to your device.
We're going to add an extra step to the whole process to reduce the chances of a compile error and give you more chance for stability in the larger sense of your Android operating system.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Remember that folder on your desktop called 'CameraEdit' I had you make with a fresh copy of HTCCamera.apk in it? I want you to copy 'unsignedHTCCamera.apk' and paste it into this folder.
You now have two apk files in this folder, the fresh un-touched one, and the new one we did our work to.
So, use 7-Zip to extract the newly edited 'scene_frame_pressed.9.png' file from 'unsignedHTCCamera.apk' the way I taught you in Custom Sense Lockring on the MT4GS - easy step-by-step and drag it into the 'CameraEdit' folder.
You now have 3 files in this folder, the two .apk files and your newly edited .9.png graphic.
Simply add this graphic to the original HTCCamera.apk file with 7-Zip, and you can call this project done. All you have to do now is test it.
Install the new HTCCamera.apk file on your Android, take a picture, and then tap the thumbnail in the bottom corner that shows your new picture in the camera app.
It brings you to a screen where you see a full screen preview of the picture, so tap the screen and press 'grid view' from the options at the bottom.
When you see the grid of pictures, touch one and look at the color of the highlight that appears around the picture - this is what we changed.
Congratulations! You just edited your first .9.png file!
* - Don't forget to go back to the Apk Manager 4.9 thread and click thanks!
--------
Conclusion & Thoughts:
The reason we did that last step at the end is because we were only changing one small thing - there is no reason to risk the computer making a mistake while compiling the whole .apk file just to change one graphic.
By removing it from the newly compiled .apk, and placing it in the original one that you know works, you eliminate the potential for a lot of bugs and problems.
You don't have to take this extra step at the end, and could just use your re-compiled apk file - but if you've already put this much effort into it, wouldn't you want to minimize the risk of errors by taking an extra minute to do so?
Above and beyond editing a .9.png file, we have also learned how to de-compile, edit, and re-compile an .apk file for Android.
You can now de-compile an .apk file and change XML files or most anything else inside of it and re-compile a working .apk file.
Look for part 3 of this tutorial series that will teach you about .m10 files and how to work with them. Afterwards you will be able to work with all of the graphics (and most other files!) you come across in your Android system.
The only thing we changed in the graphic during the tutorial was the hue, because this isn't a guide on all the cool things you can do with Photoshop or a graphics program.
There are a lot of other creative things people can do with the graphics, and i'm looking forward to seeing what the rest of you come up with now that editing .9.png stretchable graphics is something the MT4GS community knows how to do.
Hope you all are as excited as I am!
Happy modding!
Question having read this:
A)Can I not just take the .9.png file we worked/saved in Part 2
B)Then by-pass Part 3
C)Then in Part 4 with 7-zip: use the .9.png file directly saved at Part 2 (without recompiling)?
Probably a silly question, but thought I'd ask before diving in.
Sent from my Bulletproof_Doubleshot using XDA App
dillalade said:
Question having read this:
A)Can I not just take the .9.png file we worked/saved in Part 2
B)Then by-pass Part 3
C)Then in Part 4 with 7-zip: use the .9.png file directly saved at Part 2 (without recompiling)?
Probably a silly question, but thought I'd ask before diving in.
Sent from my Bulletproof_Doubleshot using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, in order for it to work correctly you must perform step 3.
What happens is when you de-compile the app, it takes that system information and translates that into those black lines or dots around the outside of the graphic file.
When you re-compile the app, it turns those black lines or dots back into the machine code it translates into - the system doesn't see them as simple black lines or dots.
If you were to put the graphic back into the .apk file through 7-Zip without actually re-compiling it, the system would see those black lines and dots, not the machine code instructions they should be, and treat it like a regular graphic file.
It then would not be able to stretch it, try to fit it in whatever situation it was trying to use it in, and then you could get any number of results from nothing to a never-ending loop you have to battery pull and re-install the ROM to get past.
( and yea, I found out about that never ending loop first-hand, there was nothing I could do to make it stop, short of that drastic solution )
Basically what it boils down to is those markers around the border of the graphic are you writing machine code without actually typing it - the compile operation translates your dots and lines into the code for you, but only during compiling.
If it wasn't for that, you could just extract and replace them the same way you did in part 1 of the guide. 7-Zip is incapable of this operation, as awesome as it is for other stuff.
This is the same principle behind trying to use 7-Zip to pull an XML file from an .apk file - try it, and then open the XML file in notepad++ and see what you get - it won't be what you want.
That's a good question, and I wanted to go into more detail about that in the guide, but this one was already getting pretty long and I didn't want to make it too much to read through.
--------
Now, if you are not going to edit the graphic, then that's a totally different story - you can feel free to pull it out with 7-Zip and put it back in, or in another .apk file.
That's only if you don't change it at all though. If you want to edit the graphic you have to follow the steps outlined above.
Because we aren't changing it when I have you pull it from your re-compiled .apk and put it into the fresh one at the end of the guide, that's an acceptable action.
I think that might be the piece of information that was lacking that caused you to ask your question.
Nice write up bro! This would have been very useful to me about a year ago lol. I get questions about 9s all the time and now I have somewhere to send them! Keep up the great work bro!
Sent from my BluMagic CM7 Glacier using the Blu Premium App
Blue6IX said:
No, in order for it to work correctly you must perform step 3.
What happens is when you de-compile the app, it takes that system information and translates that into those black lines or dots around the outside of the graphic file.
When you re-compile the app, it turns those black lines or dots back into the machine code it translates into - the system doesn't see them as simple black lines or dots.
If you were to put the graphic back into the .apk file through 7-Zip without actually re-compiling it, the system would see those black lines and dots, not the machine code instructions they should be, and treat it like a regular graphic file.
It then would not be able to stretch it, try to fit it in whatever situation it was trying to use it in, and then you could get any number of results from nothing to a never-ending loop you have to battery pull and re-install the ROM to get past.
( and yea, I found out about that never ending loop first-hand, there was nothing I could do to make it stop, short of that drastic solution )
Basically what it boils down to is those markers around the border of the graphic are you writing machine code without actually typing it - the compile operation translates your dots and lines into the code for you, but only during compiling.
If it wasn't for that, you could just extract and replace them the same way you did in part 1 of the guide. 7-Zip is incapable of this operation, as awesome as it is for other stuff.
This is the same principle behind trying to use 7-Zip to pull an XML file from an .apk file - try it, and then open the XML file in notepad++ and see what you get - it won't be what you want.
That's a good question, and I wanted to go into more detail about that in the guide, but this one was already getting pretty long and I didn't want to make it too much to read through.
--------
Now, if you are not going to edit the graphic, then that's a totally different story - you can feel free to pull it out with 7-Zip and put it back in, or in another .apk file.
That's only if you don't change it at all though. If you want to edit the graphic you have to follow the steps outlined above.
Because we aren't changing it when I have you pull it from your re-compiled .apk and put it into the fresh one at the end of the guide, that's an acceptable action.
I think that might be the piece of information that was lacking that caused you to ask your question.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes... I can see clearly now Blue!
Great stuff.
I'm gonna do some lockrings, some theming over stock apps, then look to dive into building a theme... progress through naturally with your tutorials.
Thanks
Sent from my Bulletproof_Doubleshot using XDA App
Wow. I haven't seen that guide since I had the G1.
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.
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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...
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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.
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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.
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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?
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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.
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CM stands for CyanogenMod and consists of a more AOSP feel, unlike Samsung's TouchWiz. So it doesn't have the swipe to call feature; usually just tap the contact picture inside Messaging and it gives you the option to call. CM7 was their Gingerbread build. CM9 is their Ice Cream Sandwich build.
Basically CyanogenMod has created a replacement/aftermarket firmware to replace Google Android (AOSP). It's sort of different than just a custom ROM because a custom ROM is usually just built with one phone in mind (whichever one the developer owns). CM is a firmware built the same way, with the same features, for as many phones as they can support. So your specific phone still needs to be supported and have its own specific build, but once you have it on you phone, it will look and feel just like any HTC, Motorola, etc. that is also running CM.
So it's based off of Google Android (AOSP), it's completely self-contained as its own operating system (somewhat anyway).
We have an unofficial alpha of CM9 in the development section if you want to give it a shot! (Unofficial means it's not being built by or currently supported by the actual CyanogenMod team. Just a private individual is using their source code to make it work with our Skyrocket.) It works rather well and is like 99.5% a daily driver.
Wow, thank you for that information. Some of the fuzzy things are a little clearer now but not much. lol
What you said about replacing a png - I opened the ROM in 7Zip, clicked down to the Mms.apk. I right clicked and copied to desktop. I opened that in 7Zip and dragged and dropped the png into that. I changed the file extinsion to .zip and put in on my phone. When I tried to install it though CWM touch it just aborted.
I'm not 100% sure, but I edited the png in paint. I magnified it 800 times and could see a perfect rectangle inside of this other stuff. I only made the perfect rectangle black and saved. The one I'm doing is textfield_default_dark.9.png. I don't quite think I edited it wrong since it wouldn't even install. My editing wrong would make it FC or not show right?? I don't know how to troubleshoot.
In the meantime I'm going to check out some of your other suggestions. However I would LOVE to be able to fix what I want. Why make a black that's not black and can't be displayed right by the display because the pixels are just barely on?
Suggestions on my proceedure? I read somewhere earlier that there has to be some something done to the png for permission or something strange....
I checked out the dark themed Mms.apk you mentioned at the top. This is what it says.
This is not flashable. what you'll need to do is navigate to system--> app, rename your current mms.apk to something like "mms.apk.old" or "mms.apk.bak". Then paste the attached into the same folder. Reboot your phone and voila.
I lost root access and cannot get it back when I installed SKYICS. I'm running UCLD2. I haven't been able to put together what to do about this. I tried to install my original backup and it said CM5 mismatch or something. I do believe I need root access to navigate to the system folder because I can't find it?
yeah. you need root. you dont really need to "flash" in CWM. Just replace the original in the system. But you do need root. Reboot into recovery and flash superuser
I did that a few times and nothing. I gave up on rooting for a while then now I'm rooted. Titanium, when I opened it, asked for permission. It wouldn't do that yesterday. I'm just going to have to say okay I'm rooted.
I'm trying to find the system directory right now...
CodeRedDewd said:
I'm not 100% sure, but I edited the png in paint. I magnified it 800 times and could see a perfect rectangle inside of this other stuff. I only made the perfect rectangle black and saved. The one I'm doing is textfield_default_dark.9.png. I don't quite think I edited it wrong since it wouldn't even install. My editing wrong would make it FC or not show right?? I don't know how to troubleshoot.
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Yea so like I said, since it's a 9-patch file (*.9.png), I'm not sure if you can just edit the image and throw it back in there. I'm guessing that Paint only recognizes it as a *.png, and so saves it as such. 9-patch images need to be recompiled, as far as I know. So that might've screwed you up, even if you installed it right.
CodeRedDewd said:
What you said about replacing a png - I opened the ROM in 7Zip, clicked down to the Mms.apk. I right clicked and copied to desktop. I opened that in 7Zip and dragged and dropped the png into that. I changed the file extinsion to .zip and put in on my phone. When I tried to install it though CWM touch it just aborted.
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So about installing it. Everything above sounds like the correct process EXCEPT for changing the file extension. A CWM flashable zip isn't just any old zip file. It's has a certain structure to it and includes a script file that tells CWM exactly what to do with the information contained inside the zip. With a system apk, all you need to do is get the file on your phone somehow (microSD, USB cable, Dropbox, etc.), and then copy and paste it into the /system/app directory, afterwards setting its permissions to rw-r--r--. To do this, yes you will need root access. It shouldn't be that hard to just root again if you lost it somehow. Or judging by your last post, you may have successfully rooted again.
CodeRedDewd said:
I checked out the dark themed Mms.apk you mentioned at the top. This is what it says.
This is not flashable. what you'll need to do is navigate to system--> app, rename your current mms.apk to something like "mms.apk.old" or "mms.apk.bak". Then paste the attached into the same folder. Reboot your phone and voila.
I lost root access and cannot get it back when I installed SKYICS. I'm running UCLD2. I haven't been able to put together what to do about this. I tried to install my original backup and it said CM5 mismatch or something. I do believe I need root access to navigate to the system folder because I can't find it?
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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!
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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