Title say all , i have a Nexus 5 lolipop 5.1 and i want to full dim 0 my visor . Softkeys inclued.
Need help please.
If you want to dim the navigation bar (why would you need to?) you'll probably have to decompile SystemUI, modify the drawables then recompile, or use Xposed.
It's not necessary to decompile. As .apk is actually a .zip, you can simply change .png-s inside drawable folders.
But if you use 5.1 it will be much harder to change original SystemUI with yours, because of security changes in system partition.
zagorteney said:
It's not necessary to decompile. As .apk is actually a .zip, you can simply change .png-s inside drawable folders.
But if you use 5.1 it will be much harder to change original SystemUI with yours, because of security changes in system partition.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This one is tricky though since you have to make sure, not to damage the signature. Some PNG use a "special" format and need to be decompiled first --> modified --> recompiled --> injected again in the Framework.
Gorgtech said:
This one is tricky though since you have to make sure, not to damage the signature. Some PNG use a "special" format and need to be decompiled first --> modified --> recompiled --> injected again in the Framework.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wrote this many times: you DON'T need to decompile apps which came from factory image. And even .9.png-s can be simplycomment on this are changed. For example: We wish to change background of power widget. 1. Pull the Settings.apk from /data/priv-app. Copy to PC. Rename it to .zip (you don't need any extra tool for this) or use TotalCommander - you even don't need to rename .apk to .zip with it. We must look for appropriate image (appwidget_bg_holo.9.png in /res/drawable-xxhdpi-v4) inside. Make some regullary png in Photoshop in size and resolution of original one - you can free your imaginations about colors as you like. Now copy the name of original image and with paste rename your own. Put your renamed image into .zip (overwrite original one) and thats all philosophy.
This is possible just with apps from factory image and you will not brake any signature. This works for me since Xperia X10 until Nexus 5 with 5.0.2. On 5.1 biggest problem is (at least for me) that I don't know how to integrate updates of system apps into rom. But if you are on 5.0.2 or above, you can simply try. Just remember to backup first.
Regards, Zagor
P.S. Any further informations are welcome, but at least people try this first. And it's a little annoying to write this down over and over again.
Extracting and inserting pictures is not the problem but like I mentioned before, the "9" PNG. If you simply copy them, edit them and reinsert them again, it might turn out to be a mess and these pictures are not displayed the right way. I gave up theming stuff a long time ago since it´s not really worth the trouble anymore. At least if you use a legal Gfx tool ( since I have my doubts that most people own a real licensed version of Photoshop anyway ) like eg. GIMP, you might expect some trouble if you don´t decompile "9" PNGs first. At least I can tell that I had to go through the trouble while I still had my old Galaxy S3 in order to make them usable, the way I wanted them to be
I know the procedure, don´t worry
Gorgtech said:
Extracting and inserting pictures is not the problem but like I mentioned before, the "9" PNG. If you simply copy them, edit them and reinsert them again, it might turn out to be a mess and these pictures are not displayed the right way. I gave up theming stuff a long time ago since it´s not really worth the trouble anymore. At least if you use a legal Gfx tool ( since I have my doubts that most people own a real licensed version of Photoshop anyway ) like eg. GIMP, you might expect some trouble if you don´t decompile "9" PNGs first. At least I can tell that I had to go through the trouble while I still had my old Galaxy S3 in order to make them usable, the way I wanted them to be
I know the procedure, don´t worry
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I said: you must not copy and edit existing .9.png. You have to create a new one and just name it with the procedure as I wrote above. So you have to copy the name of .9.png and paste that in the name of your own image. Am I clear enough now?
Forgive me to say, but you don't know this. Sorry.
Best regards, Zagor
I guess you don´t read what I write ? If you want to color a existing image ( "9" ), it will be displayed faulty if you don´t proceed like I did. End of the story. You can replace it with another image you can rename but it won´t be displayed the right way in some circumstances. I´m out.
zagorteney said:
As I said: you must not copy and edit existing .9.png. You have to create a new one and just name it with the procedure as I wrote above. So you have to copy the name of .9.png and paste that in the name of your own image. Am I clear enough now?
Forgive me to say, but you don't know this. Sorry.
Best regards, Zagor
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gorgtech said:
I guess you don´t read what I write ? If you want to color a existing image ( "9" ), it will be displayed faulty if you don´t proceed like I did. End of the story. You can replace it with another image you can rename but it won´t be displayed the right way in some circumstances. I´m out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Out of what? Space?
I don't guess, I conclude: You don't read or understood what I wrote.
Back to topic: OP: If you want to change navbars buttons (those are ordinary .png-s) you can simply pull them off, modify them and put back into .apk as I already described. You don't need to decompile, compile, undercompile or hipercompile anything.
Regards from Jupiter (yes, I'm also out), Zagor
And the last and for all!
This has been done without superduperpuper compiling. Just pure windows and photoshop.
@Elluel, @Gorgtech and all of the other sceptics: Look at the navbars of attached screenshot and next time, please check the informations before you disagree with them.
Regards, Zagor
IMO @zagorteney is right as long as you do not unzip/extract the apk. If you check the .9.png with a zip viewer then you can see the black border of 1px. Modifying the icon/log/picture without touching the black borders should not create bugs.
Regarding the navbar buttons it's easier as explained above.
@Primokorn
I've changed almost all of Xperia S UI on that way, to looks more AOSP. But at the end I figured it out, that it's simplier if I get Nexus.
Just to notice you. The problem is because in photoshop you can't create .9.png-s. But if you create your own png and rename it with the mentioned method, there will be no problem with those images either. For example, you can try to change power widget background on this way.
zagorteney said:
@Primokorn
I've changed almost all of Xperia S UI on that way, to looks more AOSP. But at the end I figured it out, that it's simplier if I get Nexus.
Just to notice you. The problem is because in photoshop you can't create .9.png-s. But if you create your own png and rename it with the mentioned method, there will be no problem with those images either. For example, you can try to change power widget background on this way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually you can create .9.png files with Photoshop. I did it a lot of times.
Anyways all my modded apks have been decompiled/modified/recompiled because you cannot use this method for .xml files, can you? Moreover, theming files with a phone is a mess compared to a comfortable destop version of PS lol
@Primokorn
Yes, its true if we are talking about some serious theming. But OP just want to get little different nav buttons. So, I just want to say, that you don't need to change any .xml for that purpose, you don't need to decompile and recompile and you don't need to worry that you'll break signatures. As simple as that.
That's all folks.
zagorteney said:
@Primokorn
Yes, its true if we are talking about some serious theming. But OP just want to get little different nav buttons. So, I just want to say, that you don't need to change any .xml for that purpose, you don't need to decompile and recompile and you don't need to worry that you'll break signatures. As simple as that.
That's all folks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I know. Everything is clear on my side
Primokorn said:
Yes, I know. Everything is clear on my side
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
At least one who deserves all of those thanx.
zagorteney said:
At least one who deserves all of those thanx.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do not be rude. Nobody can know everything and it is one of the goals of XDA to learn every day. All recognized members deserve their status.
A app that do that easy and without so much work is nice , my know how on this stuffs are limited :crying: , im kitkat i use a app that does that without so many work , now i use another but just dim the visor the softkeys still are very white full light... :crying:
Primokorn said:
Do not be rude. Nobody can know everything and it is one of the goals of XDA to learn every day. All recognized members deserve their status.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem is that n00bs are mislead by recognized members who think that they know everything. At least they could check before post.
And no, I'm not rude. Rude are exactly those contributors.
Related
Just recently been into themes and knew how they work.
If I use some kind of batch image resizer to resize hdpi png's to mdpi, and put those resized in drawable-mdpi it would work.
Am I correct? I see no reason why it can't be as easy as that.
I resize them with GIMP. Don't know what you use but in theory have to work
well, i don't know any coding language.
Maybe someone could make a script to resize images??
it would be a pain in the a** to resize them one by one
There are many batch resize windows apps that will let you convert a complete folder full more at once..
just google it
Sent on the run from my Magic 32A
It will not work on many .9.PNG files unless you resize them from source. Sorry but I've tried it with my theme. .9.png files are not just normal png files. They are made to stretch and readjust depending on the orientation of your device (landscape versus portrait) and may have what is called 'guides' coded within the images to tell the OS how to display that graphic. If you were to edit that file in any way those guides are over written and it messes up your whole theme. So if you were to use a batch resizer you would probably experience a disgusting looking interface coupled with acore crashes. Unless of course you used the files from source and just created the app from the source code. But who knows you might get lucky and whatever app that you are trying to theme may not use those pesky .9.png files.
Binary100100 said:
It will not work on many .9.PNG files unless you resize them from source. Sorry but I've tried it with my theme. .9.png files are not just normal png files. They are made to stretch and readjust depending on the orientation of your device (landscape versus portrait) and may have what is called 'guides' coded within the images to tell the OS how to display that graphic. If you were to edit that file in any way those guides are over written and it messes up your whole theme. So if you were to use a batch resizer you would probably experience a disgusting looking interface coupled with acore crashes. Unless of course you used the files from source and just created the app from the source code. But who knows you might get lucky and whatever app that you are trying to theme may not use those pesky .9.png files.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for this Binary100100..
In a regular theme, about how many pngs are .9?
and what do you mean "created from source"?
MicroMina said:
Thank you for this Binary100100..
In a regular theme, about how many pngs are .9?
and what do you mean "created from source"?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
.9.png with guides? I have no clue. For an entire rom... I would say over a hundred easily. There are about a dozen of them just in the Dialer app itself. If you modify any one of them the whole thing get's messed up. It's very delicate. What do I mean create it from source? Download the source code from HTC website on a Linux machine and create the ENTIRE rom from scratch. It's not that hard actually once it's all set up. Before you do the "make" command you would do your xml edits, resizing, color edits, etc. You can tell what a .9.png file is because it has a line on the right of the image and a line on the bottom beneath it. It will have a black pixel at the top and one on the left. So you edit those files the way that you want it and then create the app or the entire rom. If you chose to create the entire rom then remove the parts from the rom that you don't want in your theme and then make an update-script file for your flashable theme. Nobody said that making a theme is fun or easy and in many cases the developers of the theme (like myself) do it just because they did it for their own device and chose to share their work. On average if you want to create an entire theme it will take you at least 30+ hours of work if you are already set up and knowledgable with Linux and image editing. That's how long it took me anyway.
Thank you for this very informative post.
I guess its not that easy after all. Maybe one day I could try it.
Thanks again.
MicroMina said:
Thank you for this very informative post.
I guess its not that easy after all. Maybe one day I could try it.
Thanks again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh it's plenty easy, it's just very time consuming to make a theme from scratch and since you can't take a 3kb file measuring 20 x 20 and turn it into 36 x 36 and turn it into a 5.4 kb file without losing resolution (thus defeating the purpose of being on a AMOLED HD display) even if you were to suceed it probably still won't look very good. Think of it like this. Take a standard 800 x 600 video for your non-high definition television. Sure it looks alright but what about if you displayed it on a 1080p television. Is the picture going to look any better? Not really because it's the quality of the video and not the television itself. Now, if you could enhance the video... it would make a huge improvement. But by simply resizing the images wouldn't really do anything for a HD screen (my theory anyway).
But if you build everything from the source code (that is such as Cyanogen's github) and edit all the images from scratch then you shouldn't have a problem. But it is VERY time consuming like I mentioned before. I loathe the idea of upgrading my phone now because that means that my current theme along with all of the work that I've done with it... will be obsolete until I can do it all over again from source. Ugh.
I really didn't like that wooden calendar and it's colors, so I changed it a little bit.
There is only one color that I couldn't find. (picture number 2)
Special Thanks to biopsin for helping me to build this,
and thanks to cheatman for looking in to it.
If you want to try it, just download the zip file and flash it via recovery.
Does anyone know why I can't change those colors?
Hey guy,
I'm sorry but I can't help you. But i like your app. Please don't give up!
odysseus84 said:
Hey guy,
I'm sorry but I can't help you. But i like your app. Please don't give up!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm trying, but I haven't found a way to edit that xml. I don't have any problem
with other xmls but this one... I don't know what's wrong.
Looks like some great work there mate. As for your odd xml file problem, I'm not sure there's much you can do. I've had problems like that with a couple of apk's and I've never found a reliable fix. Sorry
Decompile the apk using apktool or apkmanager .... n den edit the xml....n compile agn
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA Premium App
agc93 said:
Looks like some great work there mate. As for your odd xml file problem, I'm not sure there's much you can do. I've had problems like that with a couple of apk's and I've never found a reliable fix. Sorry
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I've had this problem before with a framework.
Thats a nice theme. The wooden calendar wasnt really bad, but your theme makes it really nice!
I realy like your theme. The contacts.apk and the phone.apk are "woody ugly" too. Would you theme theese apps too?
Can you post your said XML alone as an attachment (the already modified and original)? I'd like to take a look at it.
As some resources (files in the /res folder) are shared between apps through the framework, changing anything shared might result in an inconsistency and FC the app.
A workaround might be to completely decompile the framework as a dependency and modify it there. It would result in a more dramatic change, but it would cross over to other apps such as the contacts, dialer and calendar simultaneously.
PS: this also applies to the browser, email app, contacts and so on, depending on what you change.
cheatman said:
completely decompile the framework as a dependency and modify it there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
but How?
by using what software?
I face similar issue and tried with apktool and apkmanager with no hope.
Would u give me a hand?
odysseus84 said:
I realy like your theme. The contacts.apk and the phone.apk are "woody ugly" too. Would you theme theese apps too?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've already woked on both of them, you can find them in Themes and Apps section.
cheatman said:
Can you post your said XML alone as an attachment (the already modified and original)? I'd like to take a look at it.
As some resources (files in the /res folder) are shared between apps through the framework, changing anything shared might result in an inconsistency and FC the app.
A workaround might be to completely decompile the framework as a dependency and modify it there. It would result in a more dramatic change, but it would cross over to other apps such as the contacts, dialer and calendar simultaneously.
PS: this also applies to the browser, email app, contacts and so on, depending on what you change.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So there are lots of things that should be checked.
I uploded the xml here. There are 3 colors in this xml and I can't change any of
them. The xml is in layout folder and there is another xml with the same name in
layout-land folder. I've tried working on this one as well but the result is the
same as the other one.
Anyway, thanks for looking in to it, mate.
sohrab1985 said:
I've already woked on both of them, you can find them in Themes and Apps section.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, i know that. They are nice but they don't look as good as the calendar (cause blue). Maybe you can change the colours to a few dark colours like your calendar (it's perfect for Meizu's Dark Theme)
What ever is come... thanks for your work
Sent from my GT-P1000 using Tapatalk
odysseus84 said:
Yes, i know that. They are nice but they don't look as good as the calendar (cause blue). Maybe you can change the colours to a few dark colours like your calendar (it's perfect for Meizu's Dark Theme)
What ever is come... thanks for your work
Sent from my GT-P1000 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see what I can do.
Ok, in the XML I can see you have three variations of brown/orange. Judging by the colors, I suspect this is the default XML, before editing it.
The colors are #ffbe801d, #ffede3c2 and #ff503200. What values are you trying to set instead of these? What I mean is, how EXACTLY are you replacing the actual text in the XML:
#ffbe801d becomes: ???
#ffede3c2 becomes: ???
#ff503200 becomes: ???
This is important as the color representation is not the basic HEX code encountered in regular web dev (for example). It's a 16-bit hex representation with alpha. The first two elements (ff) stand for 100% opacity.
C.
cheatman said:
Ok, in the XML I can see you have three variations of brown/orange. Judging by the colors, I suspect this is the default XML, before editing it.
The colors are #ffbe801d, #ffede3c2 and #ff503200. What values are you trying to set instead of these? What I mean is, how EXACTLY are you replacing the actual text in the XML:
#ffbe801d becomes: ???
#ffede3c2 becomes: ???
#ff503200 becomes: ???
This is important as the color representation is not the basic HEX code encountered in regular web dev (for example). It's a 16-bit hex representation with alpha. The first two elements (ff) stand for 100% opacity.
C.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, that's right, this is the default xml.
I edit the xml same as other xmls which I edit without any problem, I just open
the xml in a text file and change the value I want to edit and then I save it and
after that I compile it with Apk Manager.
I just want to change them to something like gray, for example I want to change
#ffbe801d to #ff787878 and #ffede3c2 to #ffbcbcbc. It dosen't matter if they
are not exactly these colors, like I said before I just want to make them gray
For the third one, I don't think it changes those two colors that I want to change.
Btw, thanks for helping.
Well, I've looked into it and I can:
1. Fully Decompile the APK. It doesn't need any shared resources from external packages.
2. Edit the XMLs accordingly. I have also seen that you were very thorough in your theme creation process.
It's all good apparently, however, I am unable to recompile everything back. The APK tool reports some missing resources. For some reason, there is a dependency that is not satisfied, although the package decompiles correctly (I have never seen a similar package before).
I'll have to scour some Google documentation before I'll come up with a relevant result, so it may take a while. I'm not gonna let it fly, though. The entire process should be plain smooth and must be doable anyway.
Hi
I have no issues bulding the calendar. If u send me your edited files i can try build it for you..also chech if apktool is up to date, using older ver. will hand out errors..
Edit
Tested these colors
#ffbe801d becomes: ff6090bf
#ffede3c2 becomes: ff9198b1
#ff503200 becomes: ff001d50
ref. : http://www.color-hex.com/
and it builded ok
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA Premium App
cheatman said:
Well, I've looked into it and I can:
1. Fully Decompile the APK. It doesn't need any shared resources from external packages.
2. Edit the XMLs accordingly. I have also seen that you were very thorough in your theme creation process.
It's all good apparently, however, I am unable to recompile everything back. The APK tool reports some missing resources. For some reason, there is a dependency that is not satisfied, although the package decompiles correctly (I have never seen a similar package before).
I'll have to scour some Google documentation before I'll come up with a relevant result, so it may take a while. I'm not gonna let it fly, though. The entire process should be plain smooth and must be doable anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sorry for putting you throurgh all of this, it's not really a big deal, mate.
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.
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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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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?
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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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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?
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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
Hey Guys,
I wanna learn modding and developing Android. I'm new to XDA and don't know which path to take. Should I start by modding some .apks or should I use Android SDK to learn to develop apps. BTW, I use Linux (Xubuntu 1.04) and I'm familiar with the Command Line. I just want somebody to point me in the right direction.
Thank you...
JasonKZLY said:
I'm new to XDA and don't know which path to take.
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Hi.
Take which ever comes naturally, but you should have some idea before signing up as modding an apk or two is a bit different to developing a full app I would say. I would start by reading reading and reading some more.
Hmm...
XperienceD said:
Hi.
Take which ever comes naturally, but you should have some idea before signing up as modding an apk or two is a bit different to developing a full app I would say. I would start by reading reading and reading some more.
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Click to collapse
I found this thread by Cyanogen --- http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=667298. I decided to take his advice but I have another question, a bit stupid one perhaps, I was trying to edit my Android's Phone.apk. I was changing the colour of the numbers in the dialpad to blue, I used Gimp (Yes, I changed the mode to RGB) and edited the .png files in both drawable-hdpi-finger and drawable-mdpi-finger. I signed and zip-aligned the .apk, after putting it in my phone's system/app, changing permissions and rebooting. The Numbers in the dial-pad was still white in colour, I had also edited the unknow-caller png and that worked but the dialpad thingy didn't work. Any ideas???
JasonKZLY said:
I found this thread by Cyanogen
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A third path then. :silly:
JasonKZLY said:
The Numbers in the dial-pad was still white in colour, I had also edited the unknow-caller png and that worked but the dialpad thingy didn't work. Any ideas???
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It might not be an image but controlled by an xml, or the buttons you've changed aren't what's used by the Phone etc, for example the dialer buttons in my Phonebook to make a call aren't the same as when I'm on a call, as the ones used while I'm in a call are in another apk, which for me is SEMCPhone.apk, which you'll only find on SonyEricsson/Sony Phones.
Hi guys
I have edited my framework-res.apk (de and recompile with advanced_apktool and ticklemyandroid )for reducing the navbar height to 36 dip and i got this after booting my devices...
Image1
Image2
I have tried to change the theme and rebooted but the issue is not solved ...
Thanks for helping me
lordriguez said:
Hi guys
I have edited my framework-res.apk (de and recompile with advanced_apktool and ticklemyandroid )for reducing the navbar height to 36 dip and i got this after booting my devices...
Image1
Image2
I have tried to change the theme and rebooted but the issue is not solved ...
Thanks for helping me
Click to expand...
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i cant understand that language
arismelachrinos said:
i cant understand that language
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Sorry it's in french the first image is power off, reboot and so one, the second image is the message for safe reboot
You're referring to how the popup dialogs have that white around them, right?
I could be wrong, but from your screenshots, it looks as if the images that are used for the dialog box lost their transparency for some reason, so you're seeing white with the shadow over it, instead of the shadow over whatever is behind the dialog as it should look. Is the nav bar size the only thing you've modified? If so, then maybe APKTool and/or TickleMyAndroid is/are at fault. I believe APKTool compresses images before recompiling, so it might have saved those images incorrectly without transparency. I'm not sure how to make it handle images differently, though (I feel like there should be some parameters if you're using it through the command prompt and not with a GUI tool).
A good way to test my theory would be to start fresh, decompile your framework-res.apk and then just recompile it without modifying anything. Push it to your system and see if you still see this issue. If you do, then you know the tool is messing up the images somehow, but if not, then something you modified the first time is causing the problem. If it seems like APKTool is your culprit, then I would suggest first trying something like APK Multi-Tool. It's the only tool I use for modifying APKs and it never gives me any problems. Try it out and see if it produces the same results. If it still does, you can try the "Keep folder" option it has, which will copy over all the original files from the APK that you didn't modify exactly as they are, without touching them at all, to prevent errors.
neonixxx said:
You're referring to how the popup dialogs have that white around them, right?
I could be wrong, but from your screenshots, it looks as if the images that are used for the dialog box lost their transparency for some reason, so you're seeing white with the shadow over it, instead of the shadow over whatever is behind the dialog as it should look. Is the nav bar size the only thing you've modified? If so, then maybe APKTool and/or TickleMyAndroid is/are at fault. I believe APKTool compresses images before recompiling, so it might have saved those images incorrectly without transparency. I'm not sure how to make it handle images differently, though (I feel like there should be some parameters if you're using it through the command prompt and not with a GUI tool).
A good way to test my theory would be to start fresh, decompile your framework-res.apk and then just recompile it without modifying anything. Push it to your system and see if you still see this issue. If you do, then you know the tool is messing up the images somehow, but if not, then something you modified the first time is causing the problem. If it seems like APKTool is your culprit, then I would suggest first trying something like APK Multi-Tool. It's the only tool I use for modifying APKs and it never gives me any problems. Try it out and see if it produces the same results. If it still does, you can try the "Keep folder" option it has, which will copy over all the original files from the APK that you didn't modify exactly as they are, without touching them at all, to prevent errors.
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Thanks I will test it and and let you know!!!
By the way I solve the issue by changing the apktool_2.0.3 to apktool_2.0.1 on Advanced apktool the resources.arsc was way bigger with 2.0.3 and all is fine now!
lordriguez said:
Thanks I will test it and and let you know!!!
By the way I solve the issue by changing the apktool_2.0.3 to apktool_2.0.1 on Advanced apktool the resources.arsc was way bigger with 2.0.3 and all is fine now!
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Awesome! Sounds like it could have indeed been what I was saying, judging by the increased resources size, but I guess it doesn't really matter now unless you're curious Glad you got it working!
neonixxx said:
Awesome! Sounds like it could have indeed been what I was saying, judging by the increased resources size, but I guess it doesn't really matter now unless you're curious Glad you got it working!
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Yeah Curiousity is the mother of XDA :good::highfive:
Thanks for help buddy!