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First off, I know there was a thread on this that was located somewhere in the HTC Dream/G1 section, but I can't seem to find that thread ever since the big change xda went through...
Anyways, I've been trying to learn how to theme, I'm a beginner, and I wanna do this for education purposes. Can someone point me in the right direction to began with? (like a guide or what-not)
Currently I have the SDK starter kit from Google/developer.android.com. Are there any other guides, or anyone here willing to teach?
im a beginner too but to make a theme is not so difficult.. you must have only patience and a good know of photoshop (or the gimp if you use linux)..
then, just take an apk only for an example.. mm.. Launcher.apk!! rename it to Launcher.apk.zip and u will see several directory, one of this is res..
extract to desktop and you will see all the launcher images..
the only thing you have to do is replace them with your own images (same dimension and format, png..)
once you done that.. reopen Launcher.apk.zip and replace this your new images with the old one and finally rename again to Launcher.apk
do this with every apks and framework-res.apk too cos here there are a lot of images of android like the battery icon or smileys (the one of the sms's) and much more, also the top bar..)
then, if u use metamorph just follow this guide:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=591329
or if you want use the update.zip you must first read this
how to sign .zip: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=473580
if u use metamorph u must only copy the file u want to replace..
else if u want the update.zip u must copy every file into apks, then sign..
if into the zip file you want to add both app and framework and font too.. you must add a directory called " com ".. u can find this directory in any theme you download, its in the " meta-inf" directory
ok??? its not so difficult trust in me..
i found this link: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=467639 ..
...wrote in this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=468254
maybe it can help you more..
Thank's that's exactly what I'm looking for, I owe you big time
but what about the notification bar?
u can find notification bar into framework-res.apk under the drawable and drawable-land folders..
the name of images are staus_background.png then bottombar.png and maybe another one.. anyway, thanks to cloverdale you must read this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=606011
and download Black_Lite-v3.0.1 Full Theme.
here u can find the black notification bar (and many other thing..)
its a metamorph theme
I haven't tested it yet but it should work. make a nandroid backup before u apply this changes
alright, thanks for all the help, man
wow, great reply! so much for being a "beginner." i've been rooted and constantly looking around for new ways to mod my g1, and i still had NO clue how to theme or use metamorph. thanks!
dcheng11 said:
wow, great reply! so much for being a "beginner." i've been rooted and constantly looking around for new ways to mod my g1, and i still had NO clue how to theme or use metamorph. thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
im a beginner but i learn quickly.. i was in your same point some weeks ago..
if u want learn something about theming or else just follow the link i wrote before. i used them to improve my knowledge about themes..
if u still have trouble, download:
1. any themes u want
2. a theme that use metamorph (like Black_Lite-v3.0.1 Full Theme for example)
u will see the difference
to use metamorph is simply.. download it from the market and then copy the zip file or directory u want into the AndroidThemes folder on ur sdcard (u will see this folder after u install metamorph)..
next step will be open metamorph and select the one .thm file.. done
the only thing u hav to remember is make a nandroid backup cos if u dont like the new themes u can simply go back (without flash the rom again..)
all u hav to do guys is read more and do more practice
I remember when I had my myTouch, you could essentially pull the framework-res.apk file, modify it using a program like 7zip which keeps the file verified, then push it back to the phone.
It was nice and easy changing the graphics. Was wondering if anyone's tried this with their Slide so far? I know sometimes (only if done wrong) it could cos infinite boot = nandroid. Not sure I want to try it just yet, anyone out there doing any themeing so far? If so, how'd you do it?
android007 said:
I remember when I had my myTouch, you could essentially pull the framework-res.apk file, modify it using a program like 7zip which keeps the file verified, then push it back to the phone.
It was nice and easy changing the graphics. Was wondering if anyone's tried this with their Slide so far? I know sometimes (only if done wrong) it could cos infinite boot = nandroid. Not sure I want to try it just yet, anyone out there doing any themeing so far? If so, how'd you do it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there is a theme forum for this phone, please post this in there(there is also already a post in there full of people trying)
android007 said:
I remember when I had my myTouch, you could essentially pull the framework-res.apk file, modify it using a program like 7zip which keeps the file verified, then push it back to the phone.
It was nice and easy changing the graphics. Was wondering if anyone's tried this with their Slide so far? I know sometimes (only if done wrong) it could cos infinite boot = nandroid. Not sure I want to try it just yet, anyone out there doing any themeing so far? If so, how'd you do it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im working on one right now...i got the red slide but it has no red themes to speak of...the Fuzzy_Kittens one has a kindof a red theme to it, but all the selectors and highlights and button_press's are all still blue, and its UGLY. so im working on eradicating all the blue, in favor of red.
For the most part its the same as themeing for the G1. There's a LOT more apks in /system to make changes to, and ive found that theres TWO frameworks to take care of, the normal android framework-res.apk, and the also in /system/framework there is com.htc.resources.apk, which is apparently htc's version of framework-res. it contains all kinds of images called common_<whatever>.png and this is where i found the files that make up the default "Nest" theme. all the other themes that you can choose for the Slide are in .apk form and up until we had root i was modifying and installing the apk's to theme this puppy, but i could never find the .apk for the default theme...well thats why, the default theme is in com.htc.resources.apk, and its the default espresso theme, not a tmobile theme.
Im still working on my theme, its not ready yet, i just had yesterday to work on it, and ive made some progress, but i still have to get a generic 2.1 ROM to build so i can extract the xmls from it to inject into the ROM to change colors that are coded like progressbars, white backgrounds, etc. so whenever i get time for that ill be rollin...then i wanna try to get colorchange.jar to work on SlideMEROOT2 so i can change the clock and notif. text and stuff...alll in due time!
-BMFC
You have to de-odex the framework-res and the com.HTC.resources to theme
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Sent via the XDA Tapatalk App
thatguythatdid said:
You have to de-odex the framework-res and the com.HTC.resources to theme
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, but im afraid you're wrong...i didnt de-odex anything, and my theme is working fine...i can upload screenshots if you dont believe me.
-BMFC
bmfc187 said:
Sorry, but im afraid you're wrong...i didnt de-odex anything, and my theme is working fine...i can upload screenshots if you dont believe me.
-BMFC
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
even though you sound like a di*k. Good find I had been theming using de-odexed files but I'll give this a try.
Sorry, but im afraid you're wrong...i didnt de-odex anything, and my theme is working fine...i can upload screenshots if you dont believe me.
-BMFC
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Click to collapse
even though you sound like a di*k. Good find I had been theming using de-odexed files but I'll give this a try.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honestly you're kinda right, I do come off sounding like a **** a lot...sorry didn't mean for it to come out that way...
anyway yeah you can do it without deodexing, I'm just using winrar to extract the whole ROM to a folder, then I go into and extract all .apks using 7zip (winrar doesn't recognize .apk files, you hafta rename them to *.apk.zip, but 7zip works on .apks without renaming them at all). Then I just modify or replace whatever images then inject them into a copy of the ROM .zip and resign and reflash...works great for me!
-BMFC
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Sent from my ROOTED MyTouch3G Slide
I've decided to go ahead and make a tool mostly for themers to make their life of porting the endless amounts of pictures from rom to rom. Now, this doesn't mean users cant use this as well, but PLEASE make a nandroid before hand. It's in beta so don't expect it to be perfect. I have an auto updater with it as well so ill be updating it that way.
*** i had no idea there was a working theme porter on here untill after i made this. I tried i think 1.3 and it failed so i decided to make my own. I just came across the 1.0 posted last month.
WILL NOT PORT GAPPS IF ITS NOT IN THE STOCK ROM.
Im currently working on a fix for that, if you want gapps, throw them in the stock rom your self and then port it.
Notes:
This has only been tested on Motorola Droid.
Instructions:
1. Make a nandroid. I don't want to hear whining if it doesn't work and you lose everything. I'm also not responsible if this bricks your phone. Even if it does, you have recovery, then you have SBF.
2. Download, DO NOT simply just run if your using IE (Who uses IE anymore...?)
3. Select the theme as "Select Theme".
4. Select the STOCK rom you are running as "Select Stock Rom".
5. Hit port and sit back and watch.
Limitations:
Only supports Update.zip formats, for now. i may support Meta Morphs in the future.
Only moves .pngs to new rom, Meaning if the theme has custom .xmls in it, it WONT port.
Change log:
Code:
Version: 1.0:
Ability to port themes from one rom to another.
Progress bars on extracting / moving (Title of console window)
Output log on screen (Not great, will work on.)
Version 1.1:
Added Auto Updater.
Added some crash fixes.
Version 1.2:
Fixed bug where if theme has no themed /system/app's it would crash.
Version 1.5 (Initial Release):
Fixed Progress bar on extracting / moving to archive.
Implemented Suggestion/bug reporting system.
Some general bug fixes.
Added audio on port completion.
Version 1.5.1.0
Added options form.
-Change colors of output console.
-Save last used .zips (toggle)
-Play sound on port completion (toggle)
-Fade out on exit (toggle)
Download:
TheDeathly said:
Only moves .jpgs to new rom, Meaning if the theme has custom .xmls in it, it WONT port.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm so it will port the default wallpaper xD
Did you heard about MetaMorph? From your description I think it does exactly the same and more and it's some kind of standard in theming world.
Brut.all said:
Did you heard about MetaMorph? From your description I think it does exactly the same and more and it's some kind of standard in theming world.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've heard of people having lots of issues with metamorph over a standard update.zip, and at least in the moto droid community we use update.zip's over metamorph's especially since metamorph was buggy with Froyo for the longest time, I do not know if it still is or not.
C0mpu13rFr34k said:
Hmm so it will port the default wallpaper xD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oops, i meant it'll only port over .pngs. sorry for the typo lol
Hey cool, haven't tried it but does it work for porting eclair/froyo themes to cupcake/donut roms ? and vice-versa ? A lot has changed since the firmwares (including some .9 being changed to .png and vice versa). Checkout the last beta i posted, it had support for that, u cud prolly use most of the schemes.
@Brut, correct this is a lot like metamorph but metamorph is firmware dependant whereas this isnt/shudnt be. For eg, title_bar in pre eclair/froyo roms was a .png and now is a .9 png. Metamorph just inserts images and hence would cause problems. This only brings over files if they match and in some cases like my script renames them to match the firmware's naming convention (eg, pre-eclair/froyo didnt have mdpi,hdpi, just plain drawable). Hope that clears the air.
Also another thing that makes these have the upperhand to metamorph is the capability to take a dump of ur phone, put the dump of a rom u want to try and BAM ur theme is ported to that rom. Whereas with metamorph, id have to go out and look for the individual morphs that helped me accomplish the look/feel of my phone.
Daneshm90 said:
Hey cool, haven't tried it but does it work for porting eclair/froyo themes to cupcake/donut roms ? and vice-versa ? A lot has changed since the firmwares (including some .9 being changed to .png and vice versa). Checkout the last beta i posted, it had support for that, u cud prolly use most of the schemes.
@Brut, correct this is a lot like metamorph but metamorph is firmware dependant whereas this isnt/shudnt be. For eg, title_bar in pre eclair/froyo roms was a .png and now is a .9 png. Metamorph just inserts images and hence would cause problems. This only brings over files if they match and in some cases like my script renames them to match the firmware's naming convention (eg, pre-eclair/froyo didnt have mdpi,hdpi, just plain drawable). Hope that clears the air.
Also another thing that makes these have the upperhand to metamorph is the capability to take a dump of ur phone, put the dump of a rom u want to try and BAM ur theme is ported to that rom. Whereas with metamorph, id have to go out and look for the individual morphs that helped me accomplish the look/feel of my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, i actually have not had a chance to look at donut/eclair themes. My first Android phone was the moto droid so ive never done anything with a donut rom. i will make sure to take a look into that though. Ill go take a look at your latest beta now and see what i can come up with. thanks
Edit: i just took a look at your script and very nice work i have to say also, i may in the future decide to add support to 1.6 and lower to 2.0 +. it'll port most of it over as is except for the .9 and everything that does get ported over wont be resized properly as it does in yours. This should port eclair to froyo fine. ive actually ported over a mdpi to hdpi just fine with this so im assuming it works fine. in anycase thanks for the heads up.
Daneshm90 said:
@Brut, correct this is a lot like metamorph but metamorph is firmware dependant whereas this isnt/shudnt be. For eg, title_bar in pre eclair/froyo roms was a .png and now is a .9 png. Metamorph just inserts images and hence would cause problems. This only brings over files if they match and in some cases like my script renames them to match the firmware's naming convention (eg, pre-eclair/froyo didnt have mdpi,hdpi, just plain drawable). Hope that clears the air.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahh, ok, thanks for explanation.
But I don't understand, how such tool would work so it'll be flexible and reliable. I mean... it would need to guess what to do. Human could look at files and say: "Ohh, this file was moved here, so I should rename it to xxx.", but what about the computer? How it will know how to port themes to other platforms? Of course you could implement hooks for specific situations as porting between eclair and froyo. But what about custom frameworks from manufacturers? What about changes made by themers? I could add, rename, remove anything I want, so how this tool will know, what I did and how to port my changes to other systems?
Maybe I don't understand something.
Correct its definately not perfect and apks modified more than theming ie smali\xml edit will have to be left out.
Also user must select which firmware theme is and which rom is.
Still its a step up from metamorph imho. In the end the user must recognize a products limitation and react accordingly.
Sent from my GT-I9000M using XDA App
help please.. i get this error....
Error: Could not find file 'C:\Users\Jason\AppData\Local\Temp\Rar$EX00.444\port\new\META-INF'.
Whats next
What do I need to do when finished it says my ZIP file is the final folder but it is just a folder not ZIPPED please help this is too cool to not use.
Edubyah said:
What do I need to do when finished it says my ZIP file is the final folder but it is just a folder not ZIPPED please help this is too cool to not use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just go inside of the final folder and zip all the contents with a winzip, and make sure it zips as a zip file and not a zipx. after you're done you can use a program to sign your zip like RegawMOD Zip Signer v1.0.
The supplied zip file is not flashable for some reason - have had to manually add them to a ROM.
Going to test this out tomorrow. Any success stories?
I'm giving this a run, but I'm trying to port an hdpi theme to mdpi... will let you know the results. All in all, this is really nice work!!!
Unfortunately for me, the theme I wanted to port is giving me issues because it's a UI rather than a theme. I was trying to get DarkEdge on my Eris. I did want to say though that every thing worked beautifully and this is really an incredible resource for the android community.
From me to you on Cyanogentazz [insert latest version here] Eris
This works great now that it get that instant update! Thanks for the work!
Clicking the wiki just now gave me a 404 error and the sticky is a bit long and just a bit outdated in terms of the links.
What programs, apps, vids, etc do I need in order to make themes?
I have been flashing themes left and right and each have their goods and bads. The biggest bad is there doesn't seem to be a well done red theme which I would like to do. I have tried enamored but the notification icons kill it for me.
So again, are there any up to date tutorials on making themes? Thanks in advance for any help.
+1 to that
Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk
A quic and dirty how to
lovethyEVO said:
Clicking the wiki just now gave me a 404 error and the sticky is a bit long and just a bit outdated in terms of the links.
What programs, apps, vids, etc do I need in order to make themes?
I have been flashing themes left and right and each have their goods and bads. The biggest bad is there doesn't seem to be a well done red theme which I would like to do. I have tried enamored but the notification icons kill it for me.
So again, are there any up to date tutorials on making themes? Thanks in advance for any help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
shanesol said:
+1 to that
Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
heres the How to
An apk is really just a zip file... apk stands for android package (if i remember correctly). So treat it like a standard zip file.
Youll need a pint program to make changes I use gimp its free so get it here
TIP: Your first theme should really just be a mixing and matching of other themes to get use to the process.
TIP: d/l and look at other themes and see what the have done, using the same process below you can port and mash themes. To see what is themed go to the res/drawable-xxx folders and sorte the png's in there to newest at the top and you'll see what they have changed.
TIP: system/app/xxx.apk are where most apps that are themed are contained in these apks you'll find a res folder and in there you have a bunch of folders. you really on need to look in the drawable-xxx ones mdpi, no-dpi, land and so forth. these pngs make up the apps look and feel changing them will theme the app.
You'll need apk manager this will allow you to sign zips which makes them flashable. get that here
Now get your favorite Rom and make a folder. In that folder make 2 folders one called packed the other called packed. Take your rom and unzip it in the unpacked folder. and then take the original zip and move it to the packed folder.
Next go into the unpacked folder and nav to system/framework.framework-res.apk (this holds the bulk of the android png that make up all the stuff most people change to make a theme) take this apk and unzip it in this folder and then make a copy of the apk and move the copy to the packed folder.
Now when you want to make a change to the framework-res.apk use the unpacked as a reference. us the packed as the change dir, you do this by opening but not unzipping the apk you want to change and just dragging the files you are replacing into the apk, this will replace them. You might want to make a a 3rd folder sorta of a master copy if you ever mess up the packed roms. Remember that in all three of the dirs created you want to keep the dir structure the way you extracted it from the rom and theme.
Now that you have an altered framework-res.apk you can just push it to system/framework folder (i think) and reboot and your changes are in. I never do this since flashable is easier to manage I make a flashable.
A flashable is like a rom but allot smaller, so d/l one of my themes and take the zip file and place in in a folder next to the packed and unpacked folder call it something like staging. now unzip apk manager into the top dir next to 4 other folders you just made.
Now my theme zip can be renamed to whatever you want, your going to use it as a place holder for signing flashable zips. go into the theme zip and delete ever thing in the system folder except the framework folder then go into the frame work folder and delete everything, if you have apps your theming just make the system/app.
Your flashable zip folder should only have a a meta-inf folder and a system folder, the system folder should only have a framework and or app folders. Now drag your altered framework-res.apk into the flashable zip system/framework folder you just cleaned out.
Ok now you have to sign it, copy that flashable zip to the place-apk-here-for-signing folder, this should have shown up when you unzipped apk manager into the folder the also contains unpacked and packed folders.
Now click on the script.bat and you'll see a bunch of option you can do option 16 to sign your zip. it takes a second or two and the date should get updated on the flashable.zip file in the place-apk-here-for-signing folder.
Now you have your new them ready to install. if your changing something else find the apk and replace framework-res.apk in these instruction and it works the same. note that most app reside in system/app so you next to take that into account.
Keep the questions reasonable and I'll answer then.
Thanks simmons. For the most part I have been doing the open apk without extracting and replacing png files. The one thing that I cant seem to get is changing the battery icon...it never sticks. Anyways, do the themes always have to be signed? I know amon 1.8 can flash unsigned zips but do the themes have to be signed always? I will be taking my laptop to work tonight to practice what you outlined. Thanks again.
EDIT: I noticed some themes have com.htc.resources.apk alongside framework res and some have services.jar. What are these for?
No they don't have to be signed but people will complain cause most people don't have the eng spl, it all so protects you from flashing bad stuff. If your only changing the standard 5 battery icons thus method always works.
The services.jar usually room specific and changes things like lock screen behavior mixes These with other roms will cause boot loops be careful.
Sent from my HERO200 using XDA App
Simmons thanks for answering so far.
My last question is to theme the entire phone is it basically the resources, framework, and services.jar files that need to be edited? I understand the apps would be themed themselves and then just included as part of the zip file right?
lovethyEVO said:
Simmons thanks for answering so far.
My last question is to theme the entire phone is it basically the resources, framework, and services.jar files that need to be edited? I understand the apps would be themed themselves and then just included as part of the zip file right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well the service.jar is compiled and therefore can't necessarily be themed you can't hack it or mod it by decompling it or you can change it by compiling changes you made from source but for the sake of normal themes its not needed.
as for the resources I assume your referring to the resources.arsc which is basically a set of compiled xml files. In here it where you can change stuff like how many pngs are associated with the battery status icons (think of circle batter mod which has one icon per percentage instead of the 0 10 20 40 60 80 100 ? icons in the normal aosp rom) changing this can be done with the apk manage by decompiling the framework-res.zpk, making the change and compiling back. but I wouldn't recommend it to a beginner.
The problem with the above is you take the chance of the theme not be cross-rom compatible. For you normal theme all you need to change are the pngs in the res folder of the framework-apk, however somethings like the launcher or the dialer still reside in the app folder and have there own apk.
Oh and I have no question limit.
ASimmons said:
well the service.jar is compiled and therefore can't necessarily be themed you can't hack it or mod it by decompling it or you can change it by compiling changes you made from source but for the sake of normal themes its not needed.
as for the resources I assume your referring to the resources.arsc which is basically a set of compiled xml files. In here it where you can change stuff like how many pngs are associated with the battery status icons (think of circle batter mod which has one icon per percentage instead of the 0 10 20 40 60 80 100 ? icons in the normal aosp rom) changing this can be done with the apk manage by decompiling the framework-res.zpk, making the change and compiling back. but I wouldn't recommend it to a beginner.
The problem with the above is you take the chance of the theme not be cross-rom compatible. For you normal theme all you need to change are the pngs in the res folder of the framework-apk, however somethings like the launcher or the dialer still reside in the app folder and have there own apk.
Oh and I have no question limit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Simmons, thank you very much. Every answer you give is clearing things up more and more for me. I have decompiled a frameworkres before when I was trying to get the circle batt mod onto the odex stock rom so I am not too unawares there. What I want to do is theme the colors on anything and everything along with making the transparent windows such as when you confirm actions and the transparent notification pull down. Are these really accomplished with simply changing the pngs or do I have to edit the xml files? If I must edit the xml files, are there key files to edit or would editing one xml affect another?
lovethyEVO said:
Simmons, thank you very much. Every answer you give is clearing things up more and more for me. I have decompiled a frameworkres before when I was trying to get the circle batt mod onto the odex stock rom so I am not too unawares there. What I want to do is theme the colors on anything and everything along with making the transparent windows such as when you confirm actions and the transparent notification pull down. Are these really accomplished with simply changing the pngs or do I have to edit the xml files? If I must edit the xml files, are there key files to edit or would editing one xml affect another?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The xml files really just hold names for the pngs. So for example the pngs for the battery have there names store in the xml (cant remember off hand which one of the decompiled xml from the resource.arsc.. strings??) file and then as the value value next to that filename for what percent to show that specific png at.
But 95% of your theming only involves changing the png files. So to have a clear notification back ground look in the framework-res.apk/res/drawable-mdpi/status_bar_background.png or you want to change the button to unlock your phone framework-res.apk/res/ic_jog_dial_unlock.png or to change the status bar framework-res.apk/res/statusbar_background.9.png
TIP: if you see a png with 9 in the name like xxxx.9.png its basically a stretchable png where the side that you want stechable has a one pixel wide line running the length of the png as a border this tells android that the png should stretch that side until it fills the screen.
9 patch explanation
So aside from editing the xmls for the battery percent everything is just replacong pngs? Thats awesome.
When it comes to apps like the internet browser for example, where would I find the apk? I'm assuming theming the apps is just like themeing the phone in that I just replace the .pngs right? Again your answers are very much appreciated and definitely making things seem easier. Thanks.
Hiya all.
I'm a noob at this too and I want to change the icons of some of the apps installed on my phone and theme a couple of widgets that am using. I have two questions:
1) In the system/app folder of the phone almost all the apps have a xxx.apk and a xxx.odex file. In order to change the png files in the apk does something need to be done with the odex file too?
2) Can I change the png files in the apk files in data/app the way you described above?
Sorry if the questions are noobish
From my Galaxy S loonie-phone
lovethyEVO said:
So aside from editing the xmls for the battery percent everything is just replacong pngs? Thats awesome.
When it comes to apps like the internet browser for example, where would I find the apk? I'm assuming theming the apps is just like themeing the phone in that I just replace the .pngs right? Again your answers are very much appreciated and definitely making things seem easier. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To theme the browser you can alter the Browser.apk in the system/app and using the direction I posted it works the same way.
And if you make a theme pm me so I can check it out.
Fireloon said:
Hiya all.
I'm a noob at this too and I want to change the icons of some of the apps installed on my phone and theme a couple of widgets that am using. I have two questions:
1) In the system/app folder of the phone almost all the apps have a xxx.apk and a xxx.odex file. In order to change the png files in the apk does something need to be done with the odex file too?
2) Can I change the png files in the apk files in data/app the way you described above?
Sorry if the questions are noobish
From my Galaxy S loonie-phone
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1. My theming expertise is more with AOSP roms but its my understanding that you should be able to theme a sense rom in the same way by de-odexing a rom. And yes any and all apps are themable if it has a png files in it you can unpack it alter the png's and put them back in the original apk, which overwrites the original png's and resign it and then flash or reinstall it.
2. Yes you can. any and all apks can be themed in the manner I described. for odexed roms search the forum for de-odexing techniques.
Thx for the answer. I'll search about deodexing
From my Galaxy S loonie-phone
Thanks for all the great tips I just got finished porting a theme thanks to all the help!
shanesol said:
Thanks for all the great tips I just got finished porting a theme thanks to all the help!
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awesome pm some screenies or the op here I'd like to check it out.
ASimmons said:
awesome pm some screenies or the op here I'd like to check it out.
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It's a simple black/white matte theme called Invertnito. It was made for Sapphire but I like CM too much to give it up lol
ASimmons said:
awesome pm some screenies or the op here I'd like to check it out.
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Looking to have some sort of base by this weekend. I have just been mix/matching pngs I like from other themes as well as trying to make my own pngs and figuring out the transparency/borders effect. Taking my time but still want to come out with something for critique.
shanesol said:
It's a simple black/white matte theme called Invertnito. It was made for Sapphire but I like CM too much to give it up lol
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Nice Job.
lovethyEVO said:
Looking to have some sort of base by this weekend. I have just been mix/matching pngs I like from other themes as well as trying to make my own pngs and figuring out the transparency/borders effect. Taking my time but still want to come out with something for critique.
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Well I'm not much of a critiquer since most of the themeing stuff I've done doesn't go over so well around here (I dont like dark colors, black, dark blue blah blah) really its up to what you like, I made a couple of themes based on what I liked and left it at that. But I'll be glad to look at it and dont forget to make sure that if you use some elses stuff you give them there props in your ops and pm them a warning you going to use it, unless they specify different this is all you should need to do..
ASimmons said:
Nice Job.
Well I'm not much of a critiquer since most of the themeing stuff I've done doesn't go over so well around here (I dont like dark colors, black, dark blue blah blah) really its up to what you like, I made a couple of themes based on what I liked and left it at that. But I'll be glad to look at it and dont forget to make sure that if you use some elses stuff you give them there props in your ops and pm them a warning you going to use it, unless they specify different this is all you should need to do..
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Definately making note of whose work I use. Though it's kind of hard because my favorite notification icons I have seen in two diff themes and neither one of them mention who was the artist for them. But still keeping at it. And like you I dont care about dark colors unless its used to contrast the main theme color. I'm working on a red theme and there will be some parts that will have a darkish background to help the red border colors and/or text pop more. In time though. Your first post here was definitely a great shove in the right direction.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=737526
Heres a script that ports your themes from firmware to firmware, rom to rom.
How it works:
- Looks through app/framework folder for apks that exist in new/old rom
- Then extracts pngs from those apks
- Then deletes mismatching pngs
- Repacks old themes pngs into new rom
- Done
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Easy cheesy multi rom theme ports
Here we go! This is gonna be fun this weekend.
xtremekilla09 said:
Here we go! This is gonna be fun this weekend.
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lol... +1
Now I can port my themes for the whole world to share. Thanks for the find...and thanks for sharing.
sent using a phone.
Now what would really be nice would be if someone designed an .apk that did this on the phone(while adding the originals to a "theme-revert.zip" and the new theme to "theme.zip"). Then you just make one theme and post the link to the .apk.
The closest i ever found was zipthemer but it didnt work every time and thats no good.
If only someone could port the open source t-mobile theme choser to samsuck.
So this is it until someone who knows how to code jumps on that idea lol. Still glad it exists and that i bumped into it. And even more so that two of main people i had hoped would make use of it appear to be willing to do just that.
whiteguypl said:
And even more so that two of main people i had hoped would make use of it appear to be willing to do just that.
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You bet. If this works, there are so many things that can be done, oh man. It will rain themes, well at least for FireFly to start with.
Again, thanks for pointing this out.
xtremekilla09 said:
You bet. If this works, there are so many things that can be done, oh man. It will rain themes, well at least for FireFly to start with.
Again, thanks for pointing this out.
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From the limited testing ive done it seems to be working 100%. The only real potential problem im seeing (and the script might have a way to handel it) is porting a theme that uses drawable-hdpi to an apk that has both an hdpi AND hdpi-v4 folder in it. I would hope its defaulting hdpi to hdpi-v4. Lol... But i dont know.
Edit: and even that hope is based on the possible incorrect assumption that andriod will allways pull from the v4 folder given the choice? Anyone care to enlighten me?
whiteguypl said:
From the limited testing ive done it seems to be working 100%. The only real potential problem im seeing (and the script might have a way to handel it) is porting a theme that uses drawable-hdpi to an apk that has both an hdpi AND hdpi-v4 folder in it. I would hope its defaulting hdpi to hdpi-v4. Lol... But i dont know.
Edit: and even that hope is based on the possible incorrect assumption that andriod will allways pull from the v4 folder given the choice? Anyone care to enlighten me?
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I think it does. Isn't the non-v4 there for compatibility reasons with older os versions? I saw something like that a little while ago, in a theming guide
Herp derp Captivate XDA app.
Well after a lot of testing i can safely say that it does not know how to handle hdpi vs hdpi-v4. And since our rom maintainers have decided to mix and match at will without smoothing anything out this script will not work a large majority of the time, depending on what rom you are on.
Quickish fix is to go into the apk before using the script and renaming all the drawable folders to match both the "themed" and "to be themed" apks. Then after the processes you can go in and rename them back to there original names.
............. Im also assuming that if you kept the folder name changes the xml wouldnt know where to look for the images???? I know little to nothing about how android handels that, if someone would like to chime in please do.
Well I most definitely be playing with it this weekend. Thanks again for the info.
sent using a phone.
whiteguypl said:
Well after a lot of testing i can safely say that it does not know how to handle hdpi vs hdpi-v4. And since our rom maintainers have decided to mix and match at will without smoothing anything out this script will not work a large majority of the time, depending on what rom you are on.
Quickish fix is to go into the apk before using the script and renaming all the drawable folders to match both the "themed" and "to be themed" apks. Then after the processes you can go in and rename them back to there original names.
............. Im also assuming that if you kept the folder name changes the xml wouldnt know where to look for the images???? I know little to nothing about how android handels that, if someone would like to chime in please do.
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Maybe it could be tweaked.
Like after line 55(like roms) (and line 130 pre to post)
Code:
if EXIST "%~dp0old\%dcrt%\%%~nF\res\drawable-hdpi-v4" (rename "%~dp0old\%dcrt%\%%~nF\res\drawable-hdpi-v4" drawable-mdpi)
if EXIST "%~dp0old\%dcrt%\%%~nF\res\drawable-en-hdpi-v4" (rename "%~dp0old\%dcrt%\%%~nF\res\drawable-en-hdpi-v4" drawable-en-mdpi)
Line 240 seems to be for eclair. Most roms here are froyo.
It is possible. Daneshm90 knows his stuff and keeps it fairly simple. If you come up with something he would probably add it.
I will see what I can come up with.
Edit: Extracted file to C:\Theme-Porter_beta_3.
I added the above lines to to the script at lline 57 and 58.
Added files per directions. No errors. Changed files are dated 3/17. Untouched files still old date.
I may reflash soon to test it. Will follow up.
IamSonoma said:
Maybe it could be tweaked.
Like after line 55(like roms) (and line 130 pre to post)
Code:
if EXIST "%~dp0old\%dcrt%\%%~nF\res\drawable-hdpi-v4" (rename "%~dp0old\%dcrt%\%%~nF\res\drawable-hdpi-v4" drawable-mdpi)
if EXIST "%~dp0old\%dcrt%\%%~nF\res\drawable-en-hdpi-v4" (rename "%~dp0old\%dcrt%\%%~nF\res\drawable-en-hdpi-v4" drawable-en-mdpi)
Line 240 seems to be for eclair. Most roms here are froyo.
It is possible. Daneshm90 knows his stuff and keeps it fairly simple. If you come up with something he would probably add it.
I will see what I can come up with.
Edit: Extracted file to C:\Theme-Porter_beta_3.
I added the above lines to to the script at lline 57 and 58.
Added files per directions. No errors. Changed files are dated 3/17. Untouched files still old date.
I may reflash soon to test it. Will follow up.
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Looks like that would take it one step closer. The main problem would still exist with those changes. It wont take images from a drawable-hdpi folder and migrate them to a drawable-hdpi-v4 folder. I posted in the op and asked if there might be a way for him to add an option to force the images into the other directory. I would assume it would be similar to part of what the script does to handle hdpi to mdpi conversions.