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Right away, forgive my ignorance on the subject, I'm sure I can spend 10-12 hours searching forums and figure it out or someone can take 2 min and just answer it.
Lets say one was to take an app from the market and unzip it into a folder to see what it's made out of. Let's also say that one has absolutely no clue about android, Linux or programming in general, just too much curiosity and a phone to play with. So that certain individual (and I will not admit that it was me, it was.... my friend) found .dex file inside and thought of editing it, nothing fancy, just replace some URLs with other URLs. Here the question: How would I (I mean... my friend) would edit .dex file? Notepad seems to do it but something tell me (I mean... my friend) that it's not the right way. How would I put that app back toghether into .apk format after I'm done with it (Agh, screw it, it's me, it's not my friend). I should also note that I'm not trying to do this for profit or trying to steal someone's app.
Any help is greatly appreciated
You my friend are a Grade A tard.
apk files are not unzipped.
Decompiled maybe?
topdnbass said:
You my friend are a Grade A tard.
apk files are not unzipped.
Decompiled maybe?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whatever you would like to call it. If it make you happy, I "decompilied" apk file using WinRAR to get a number of files including above mentioned .dex file.
Now that we have that figured out, how do I edit .dex file and repack everything else into .apk?
Thanks
First off, yes you can open the .apk file and see the other files but the files for the actual app are compiled. They arent editable. You would need the source to edit the app in any way.
As to the .dex file if you can open it with a text editor and change stuff all you are likely to do is break the app. As for putting it back together and getting it to install, good luck. You will probably need to get it resigned or something.
If you are wanting to learn how to make apps for android you should download the SDK. I believe there is a tutorial with some example apps that you can make out there somewhere also.
Dharkaron said:
First off, yes you can open the .apk file and see the other files but the files for the actual app are compiled. They arent editable. You would need the source to edit the app in any way.
As to the .dex file if you can open it with a text editor and change stuff all you are likely to do is break the app. As for putting it back together and getting it to install, good luck. You will probably need to get it resigned or something.
If you are wanting to learn how to make apps for android you should download the SDK. I believe there is a tutorial with some example apps that you can make out there somewhere also.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agh, now we are getting somewhere.
Just for the record: I do not want to make apps, I'd rather leave it to pros and pay few bucks for working app that has no bugs.
The app I am referring too is StreamFusion which is a streaming audio player. Initial install puts about 30 preloaded stations in the playlist, none of which are of any interest to me. I unzipped apk and found this .dex file (resources.dex? not at home, can't check) which contained URLs for default-loaded streams. All I want to do is replace them with URLs of my own so I don't have to search shoutcast,add my stations and delete defaults everytime I decide to wipe my phone. Sounds like such a simple task, yet there's no clear documentation on how to do something like that (at least for the non-dev crowd).
With that said, I don't want to change the way StreamFusion, they do give you an option to remove defaults manually (one by one!) and they do give you an option to add your own stations in the playlist. It just takes too long and I've done it a few too many times already.
I'll keep playing with it, let me know if anyone for sure knows how to do it, otherwise I'll report when I figure it out or when I get tired of it.
Sorry for being rude earlier, i was in a bad mood
If you mean StreamFurious all you need to do is long press the radio station and hit delete
topdnbass said:
You my friend are a Grade A tard.
apk files are not unzipped.
Decompiled maybe?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you actually tried renaming an .apk file to .zip and opening it? In short, apk is just like a jar. They're just zip files with specific metadata requirements.
“Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.” -Andy Rooney
borodin1 said:
edit .dex file? Notepad seems to do it but something tell me (I mean... my friend) that it's not the right way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
when in doubt .. HEX .. hex editing of a file can maintain its purest essence and prevent it from crashing .. provided of course that you edit the right parts .. i've done this thousands of times in computer games .. change one little thing and POOF! your scrawny little piss-ant becomes mighty hercules and you can slay the dragon - LOL - ok .. so maybe not so korny
borodin1 said:
With that said, I don't want to change the way StreamFusion, they do give you an option to remove defaults manually (one by one!) and they do give you an option to add your own stations in the playlist. It just takes too long and I've done it a few too many times already.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The defaults that are hard-coded into the apk are loaded on first run into a sqlite3 database. Sure you could edit the hard-coded defaults, but this would be an unclean solution. A better solution would be to backup the sqlite3 database to your computer and restore it with adb whenever you reinstall. You can also easily edit the database conveniently on your pc as well.
The location of the db is /data/data/com.streamfurious.android.free/databases/streamfurious.db
By the way, the SF defaults already include KQED, BBC WS and TWiT. What more could anyone possibly need
You can decompile apk class files from the dex file.
http://zeaster.blogspot.com/2007/11/how-to-decompile-dex-file-on-android_28.html
As for repacking it after the edit.....check this out this might help...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=503007
or ask strazzere
I want to make a thread for both those that are already Dev'in themes, and those that want to start, can trade info and techniques. For example:
(Program)
Photoshop Editor:
Then a description of a given process...
Etc.
I know that there are How To's, http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=471586 but I'd like a more direct, and detail orientated place to discuss the specifics. I've tried a few attempts myself and found that some programs work, some don't. Plus, since the prices of some of these programs are as high as $600, and the fact that there are thousands of web-based programs, it'd would be nice to see what works best for who, and how.
Hopefully, this will turn into a good resource, and we'll soon have a forum full of the most excellent themes.
MODS: Let me know if I'm outta bounds and I'll fix. This is my first time makin a thread so it ain't all that.
To Do:
*search and post Theme Developement info for Windows, Linux, and Mac
These are links to useful threads related to different parts of theme developement...
Key Files Chart:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=r_ua-t_U23ci5_oxwQ4mGrg
Creating your boot animation:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=527200
Progress circle style/color editing:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=540830
Editing .XML's:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=479019
How to use baksmali/smali:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=537779
General Theme Developement:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=467639
Using DrawPatch-9:
http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/tools/draw9patch.html
Signing made easy:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=473580
photoshop is my primary weapon of choice but I've also found that for minor edits like color changes touchups transparency changes and resizes photoscape and fotoflexer work pretty well especially when I'm at work and decide to mess around because I can't install photoshop on my work computer due to administrator locks I just downloaded photoscape and installed to the documents folder and fotoflexer is an online image editor and both are free
Okay... here is something very usefull...
You know those pesky indexed files right? they corrupt if you open them in photoshop?... I figured out how to remove the indexing... first you need to download and install Paint.NET off of the web... and then install(of course)... and then open any indexed file in Paint.NET... then save it... and it will be un-indexed... ... this will be very usefull for lots of people... cuz it is for me!
I like paint.Net myself. Its free and if you load the plugins available you can get a lot done quickly and easily.
Best tip is to make sure you save stuff in layers so that if you only need to edit part of an image you can.
Another tip is after you finish your edits you can expand the canvas on all sides by 1 pixel then use solid black for doing the .9 marks. Once done you can dump your files right into the latest eclipse and draw9 isn't even needed which saves a lot of time.
Also 7-zip is just amazing. You can use the file manager to move files between zip files and apk and even jar files without unpacking or packing over and over.
I agree with beagz 7zip is a must it makes it a hell of a lot easier when porting your themes for new builds another life saver is the android sdk lot s of useful information in there and eclipse for compiling .9 images which there are samples of in the android sdk to show you how to do the guides properly like beagz was talkin about in his previous post because if you mess one of those your phone can end up totally screwed
This is easy
Apps
.zip/.apk management: 7-zip (the most important part of theme development)
image manipulation: GIMP
Software
sign/resign files: Java JDK
.9.png editing: Eclipse to compile the apk
Pre-reqs
ADB working properly through the command prompt
Applications that make theming possible for Jonnybueno
I use Photoshop for images. Hue and Saturation(ctrl+u) is my best friend for changing the color of stuffs. For hex editing, I use HXD, outlined in this thread by Stericson: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=479019.
For signing, I use Stericson's Autosign.bat. If you don't know, you can double click on this to pull up the command prompt rather than launching the command line and then typing "autosign". Also, you can copy the file path by right clicking while holding the shift button on Vista.
And finally, for notification text, I use Ohsaka's colorChange.jar. Along with this really simple batch file.
White text:http://sharebee.com/b6b43290
Which is just one line(that I'm too lazy to type everytime I update)
Code:
java -jar colorChange.jar theme.zip ticker=FFFFFFFF clock=FFFFFFFF date=FFFFFFFF ongoing=FFFFFFFF latest=FFFFFFFF clear=FF000000 network=FFFFFFFF roam=FFFFFFFF
Resources
For viewing source to reference those xml files, I use these sites
Cyanogen source:http://github.com/cyanogen
Android reference (stock): http://developer.android.com/reference/android/R.attr.html
And then this website for finding just the right RGB codes: http://www.colorschemer.com/online.html
Tips
I've learned that it is totally possible to rotate .9.png files using windows without having to redraw them and that images don't have to be the original size. There is a limit to how big you can go... but i have no idea what that limit is.
Oh and for different colored(other than black) notification text for downloads, edit the only xml file in DownloadProvider.apk/res/layout. For example, 0800001C 000000FF becomes 0800001C FFFFFFFF. In case you're confused, whats happening is that you're changing an ARGB code (which is backwards, so you're looking at BGRA... see stericson's thread please) from black (000000FF) to white (FFFFFFFF).
Working from Linux (Ubuntu) I've found File Roller to work as nice and easy as 7zip in Windows for working with zip/jar/apk.
GIMP is my gfx editor of choice in both worlds. Glad I discovered you don't need draw9patch to put the .9 guides in - draw9patch is a pain to use!
In Windows I use XVI32 a hex editor, ghex in Linux.
testsign.jar is all you need to sign - very simple from command line in both Linux and Windows
/Mats
I use Adobe fireworks for image editing a little easier then photoshop and has styles for lazy ppl like me and winrar full version for managing the apk's and zips and png crush setup to right click and crush pngs for compression if your update is too big.
I know this thread has been dead for a while but I see new phones linking to it as a resource for themeing, so I wanted to let you know that I have compiled a huge amount of information into one guide, see http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=667951 for detalis
As a side note: you might want to note the fact that my tutorial for changing/creating boot animations is for pre-2.1 builds (unless someone really decides they want a pre-2.1 boot animation on their phone, of course). I havent got around to updating the boot animation tutorial for 2.1+, cause thats going to be a looooong post.
Every time I decompile an APK with apktool it screws up the order of drawables in public.xml, and it is really tedious to have to go line by line and reorder the file so that it compiles correctly. I'm not really sure why it does that, but I made a little site to easily fix it on the fly. Just paste the entire contents of your public.xml. No more reordering of the public.xml file is necessary because the site can reorder it for you by type/name and ID. After you reorder your results you can just click a copy button and it will copy it to your clipboard. The copied data is not perfect, you will probably have to do one or two find/replace's on it to get all the lines straightened out but the ordering will be done for you. Thought this might be of some use to themers that decompile a lot of apk's and run into this problem.
http://evanborden.com/main/reorder/
What are you decompiling? I've never had this problem.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA Premium App
I ran into a major issue last night.
This was REALLY pissing me off, you know one of those things that SHOULD be working but isn't. Whenever I view the decompiled apk (framework-res, and systemUI)
The files are decompiled everything looks correct, but when I open the image files in cs5 they look all blurry as hell. I have attached some screenshots. Make any sense to anyone?
Just curious why the images would show up that way once they were pulled into PS. Its not just that image, its all the images. Does anyone know how I can resolve this or even prevent it from happening?
Can I not use Photoshop CS5? Dreamweaver CS5 seems to handle the XML files like a pro.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Try without decompiling - its not needed just for replacing icons - use any zip program to open apks
cdesai said:
Try without decompiling - its not needed just for replacing icons - use any zip program to open apks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried that too. The first pic is the picture preview in the folder. It only happens when its open in PS. Very strange. I can open it in paint, and the the icon is normal (just loses the transparency, of course).
Open the img with paint.NET first, then save, then you can open it in photoshop.
I think this is an issue with the img being indexed in photoshop, something like that.
It's an indexing issue, ps dies not do it right. Open the images in either paint.net or the gimp. Switch the mode to rgb, save then you can open them fine in ps
What a pain in the ass. Opening them all in paint.net now, this might take me awhile. lol
I'm currently trying to modify the way the Vivid displays its network status indicators (the E, 4G, 4GLTE, etc.), and was hoping for a little help from somebody more experienced in the details than I. I'm aware of the methods to simply replace images by swapping PNG's in framework-res.apk and SystemUI.apk, but what I'm trying to do here is actually change the way it's displayed, so it'll show 3G/U or H like most other Android phones will. From the research I've done, I know this would involve some decompiling, which I've never done before. So my question is:
There seem to be two files that deal with the way Android displays network and signal status: SystemUI.apk and services.jar. (There's also services.odex, though I'm not sure how this fits in.) I've seen methods that decompile both, and I was wondering if anybody had any experience here to clarify which one I should focus on. (And additionally, isn't a .odex simply a variation on a .dex classes file, which would be contained inside a .jar anyway? So how does that fit in?)
You may ask why I want to do this! I'll tell you:
I've always found it midly annoying that to the Vivid a network is one of three things: EDGE, 4G, or LTE. What happened to GPRS, UMTS, or HSPA?
I know android reports at least the difference between UMTS & HSPA, thought I'm not sure about HSPA+, so it should be possible since most other phones do show it.
Now that I have a permanent root, I'd like to customize my phone to my liking
Several others have expressed an interest in making the network status icon actually work properly
I want to learn more about the nitty gritty details of how Android works, with the goal of getting more into ROM developement.
I can't find anybody else who's done it
Why not?
Thanks! Any help would be greatly appreciated!
PS - I know this is dev related, but I didn't make anything, and we don't have a Q&A, so I put it in general
if you deodex your /system then you dont have to worry about the .odex file at all.
i think it boils down to systemui.apk and the smali contained within.
if you dont know how to decompile, i suggest you learn how. start with some basic stuff, because editing smali is a pain in the ass.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=695701
http://apkmultitool.com/
learn how to use those tools. you will need them and you will also need to set up a few other things.
if you are on Windows, you need the JAVA JDK, and ADB SDK installed
it would help if you have Notepad++, as it is much better than any other notepad application on windows (IMO)
learn some smali/baksmali <this is the part i actually struggle with, i am still learning
ALSO, 7zip is the best archive tool on windows, bar none...
Pirateghost said:
if you deodex your /system then you dont have to worry about the .odex file at all.
i think it boils down to systemui.apk and the smali contained within.
if you dont know how to decompile, i suggest you learn how. start with some basic stuff, because editing smali is a pain in the ass.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=695701
http://apkmultitool.com/
learn how to use those tools. you will need them and you will also need to suet up a few other things.
if you are on Windows, you need the JAVA JDK, and ADB SDK installed
it would help if you have Notepad++, as it is much better than any other notepad application on windows (IMO)
learn some smali/baksmali <this is the part i actually struggle with, i am still learning
ALSO, 7zip is the best archive tool on windows, bar none...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, PG, thanks for the pointers! Understanding how to decompile the apk's is one of the main things I'm interested in learning, so I appreciate the links you provided, as I hadn't stumbled on them yet! And I agree about NP++, great program! I'll see what I can do playing with it, but if I have questions, may I pm you with them?
I will help out where I can.
Sent from my HTC PH39100