Database Develop

help modifing system/framework/framework-res.apk

Hi Everyone
I hope this is the right place for this posting.
I pulled system/framework/framework-res.apk from my phone. I was trying to find the launcher button images that my rom (Aloyuis) uses (turns out the images aren't in this particular apk nore are they in htc.com.resource) Any ways, I didn't like the direction the battery indicator was pointing in on the status bar so I rotated all the images. I then zipped the file back up keeping the name (framework-res.apk) and then pushed it back to phone (adb push <path to file on computer> /system/framework/framework-res.apk)
No problems occurred pushing the file to the phone. I then issued the reboot command from the sdk. The phone rebooted but I could not get past the HTC load screen. Any ideas on why this is and what I am doing wrong?

Don't re zip it. Use 7 zip, pull out the files you want to modify, while leaving the apk intact, modify, then use 7 zip to open (right click on the apk, go to 7 zip then open), navigate to the applicable res folder, drag and drop your modified files on top of the stock ones. Then push your modified apk. As for the launcher, look in system/app for launcher.apk (or he might be using adw)
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danaff37 said:
Don't re zip it. Use 7 zip, pull out the files you want to modify, while leaving the apk intact, modify, then use 7 zip to open (right click on the apk, go to 7 zip then open), navigate to the applicable res folder, drag and drop your modified files on top of the stock ones. Then push your modified apk. As for the launcher, look in system/app for launcher.apk (or he might be using adw)
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dana I really want to thank you for your reply to my post. Since you were so awesome to help me out the first time maybe you can help me out a second time. I am not entirely sure what happened. I was able to modify the png files I wanted to and push the package back to the phone. All the changes were present last night. They were also present again this morning when I turned my phone on. Though here is the confusing part. I went to check my phone and something seemed different, after looking at my status bar more closely all the changes I made were gone. The battery indicatore had gone back to its original right facing image with a blue level metter. Do you know what could have caused this? Should I pull the package again to see of the png files reverted back some how (not sure how since I replaced them so not sure where they came from) and if so push the changes back?

BTW if its the sense launcher then the png's u want r in htcresources /Res/mdpi port. Also some r in Rosie app. If Modding the files open up app. Copy and paste Res file out to a place u can work on it. Mod the files. Drag and drop back into app. Either push files back to phone via adb or create a folder. Name it update inside folder create another folder...call it system. In that make another folder. Name it app the put the app or apps in there that u modded. Now back in update folder itself...go find a theme or mod someone else did and open it up with 7zip. Take the Meta file out of it and put it into the update folder. Zip up update folder via 7zip. Next find app on forum via a search called avabox. Dl it. If in a zip take out of zip. Open it. In there is a file called auto sign. Drag the update zip into the auto sign folder. Click on sign. Put new signed zip onto SF card(u can rename file now if u want). Go into recovery and flash the file. Reboot. LOL really it isn't hard

you may have to repush the file, then reboot to recovery and clear dalvik cache. It's reloading images from the cache

[GUIDE] How to make mymode themes

Well I haven't had much time lately to make themes but I figured i got enough time to explain how. This is how i do it in windows 7.
1) First thing i assume that you already have androidsdk on the root of your C drive. Lets go ahead and add it to your system path. If it's not called androidsdk go ahead and change it to that. Now open up your startmenu, right click computer, click properties, then click advanced system settings, in the advance system settings select environment variables. In the second box down look for path select it and choose edit. copy and paste this
Code:
;C:\androidsdk\tools
in there. Click okay.
2) download the jre and jdk from here and install them. Now you need to add them to your system path so copy paste this
Code:
;C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre6\bin;C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jdk1.6.0_20\bin
to your system path just like you did in the first step.
3) Download apk manager from here. Now run it and when it says clean out all current projects click yes. Now thats ready to go.
4) Download an image editing program. I use gimp. Also if you don't have it 7-zip
your all set to go now so lets start over with the numbers
1) choose a mymode apk and extract it with 7-zip. Open up the res folder select a png that you want to change and change it with the image editor you chose.
2) when you've changed the images you want open up the original apk as an archive with 7zip. Then place the res folder of the modified unzipped apk into the archive and close the archive.
3) Now open up apk manager and place the mymode apk into the place here for signing folder click script batch choose no then type 15.
4) Now put the newly signed apk into your androidsdk/tools folder and close apk manager.
5) open command prompt and type this
Code:
cd\
cd androidsdk/tools
adb install whatever.apk
I'll update this with pics a more thorough guide.
Thanks to everyone that made this easy

reserved for themes to come

Thanks been waiting for a thread like this.

thanks, if i ever get any free-time between jobs and kid and fiancee i will look into this a little more

This is an awesome guide! I messed around with theming mytouch/g1 back when I had one.. so this will be great to make some themes for the slide..
One question though.. let's say you pull the nest theme.. theme it and re install it.. will it just override the nest theme or in the theme listing will it appear as a new theme and still allow you to have the original theme?
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using XDA App

ryanolson7 said:
One question though.. let's say you pull the nest theme.. theme it and re install it.. will it just override the nest theme or in the theme listing will it appear as a new theme and still allow you to have the original theme?
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using XDA App
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The nest theme is in the framework, its not an .apk like the rest, its built into the system. The rest of the mymodes themes are .apks and if you edit those they will override the stock "nest" theme. The only way it will show up different in the theme chooser is if you edit the preview snapshot to be a preview of your theme. If you wanna keep the original theme, the nest theme is it and you should edit a different theme .apk...
-BMFC
Sent from my ROOTED MyTouch3G Slide

Okay so I got the next three days off and I already got two mymode themes pretty much done well their done but I just learned of a way to change the name so they are there own standalone apk instead of using another apk name. I've been using puppypride (which by the way isn't puppies those are full grown dogs) and switching out the pngs and you couldn't have the regular puppypride now you can have both

hope you don't mind but I did a mod of your themes and took out the bubbles since some people always create threads about it

Help with following guide
I am a newb at this so please don't attack me if I am doing something wrong. I have been struggling with following the guide posted to make mymode themes. I have successfully got up to the step of signing the apk file. I modified the files in the free_kick.apk. When I try to use APK Manager 4.8 and using the directions given the file just gets erased and nothing happens. My log file just shows errors. Any help with a more detailed directions one what to do in APK manager as I am trying different things and not getting anywhere. I use the option 15 like told in the guide. I can send my modified apk file to anyone if they can get this to work and get it installed that would be appreciated so much. I hope I can figure this out my own but thought I would try get help from the forums. Thanks in advance.

impimms said:
I am a newb at this so please don't attack me if I am doing something wrong. I have been struggling with following the guide posted to make mymode themes. I have successfully got up to the step of signing the apk file. I modified the files in the free_kick.apk. When I try to use APK Manager 4.8 and using the directions given the file just gets erased and nothing happens. My log file just shows errors. Any help with a more detailed directions one what to do in APK manager as I am trying different things and not getting anywhere. I use the option 15 like told in the guide. I can send my modified apk file to anyone if they can get this to work and get it installed that would be appreciated so much. I hope I can figure this out my own but thought I would try get help from the forums. Thanks in advance.
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Click to collapse
Actually the guide needs to be fixed a little because i'm guessing your getting compiling errors when using apk manager? But the best way to do this is to open up the mymode theme (using 7zip) as an archive delete meta-inf folder then replace the pngs with ones of your choice as long as they are the same scale. Then resign. and install

totally lost
I've followed these directions to a T and when it comes to using the apk manager i am getting nothing, please help

You guys that are having trouble with apk manager...its honestly not necessary to use Apk Manager for this. Mymodes themes are system .apks and shouldn't be re-signed. What you need to do is forget about apk manager (for now) and drop the UNsigned .apk into the ROM update you are using, and resign the whole ROM using the autosign tool created by jesusfreke. Or just adbpush the .apk. but don't resign the .apk.
Here's the link for the autosign tool to sign ROM updates. its in the THIRD POST and its auto-sign .zip, NOT the signing.zip in the first post. you can put it anywhere you want and you just drop (a copy of) your ROM update in the autosign folder, rename it update.zip, then run the sign.bat to sign. it will create another file, update-signed.zip. you shouldnt need to wipe when flashing the same ROM over itself, but i cant guarantee this is true for all ROMs.
you can also make an update that will only flash the .apk to /system/app, and nothing else will be changed. basically just make a copy of the update for the ROM youre using, then delete everything but the /system directory from the zip. then go into that /system directory and delete everything but the /app directory, then go into it and delete all the .apks and odex file or whatevers in there. ALL OF IT. when you are finished you should have an update with nothing in it but a /system/app directory. you put your modded .apk in there in /system/app, and thats it for that.
then you must edit the update script and remove MOST of its contents so that it only does what you want it to. THIS IS IMPORTANT! Go here to learn how to create an update script. what youll need is way simpler than the examples, youll want it to look basically like this...
Code:
assert compatible_with("0.2") == "true"
show_progress 0.1 0
copy_dir PACKAGE:system SYSTEM:
show_progress 0.1 10
this update script will copy ANYTHING in the /system directory to /system on your device, regardless of subdirectories. that means anything in /system will go in /system, anything in /system/app will go to /system/app, etc. but since you only have one .apk in there it wont mess with anything but what you put in there. this way, you have a NOWIPE update for...well, whatever you want to put in it.
so you just drop the new shortened update-script in /META-INF/com/google/android/
and then use the autosign tool to resign your new update then flash away! This also takes less time cus its only flashing one file instead of flashing a whole ROM just to replace that one file...
hope this helps...
-BMFC
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using XDA App

So you cannot do this on t-mobile's rom which is 2.1 right now? I'm leery of rooting in case they ever release froyo

Tbrewer80 said:
So you cannot do this on t-mobile's rom which is 2.1 right now? I'm leery of rooting in case they ever release froyo
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Click to collapse
I'm having issues with this as well... After I do the whole signing apk thing, it installs fine, but when I go to MyModes, the preview is black and when I select it, the MyModes app force closes. I don't get it.

"Application not installed" - frustrating error

Mods please delete. I figured out my errors and all is well.
If anyone is having trouble with this as I was, please refer to these instructions. I'm sorry, I forget who posted them but credit to whoever you are. Big help.
1. Transfer the apk from your phone to your computer. It's probably in a place like data/app or data/data or the like
2. Open the apk with 7zip. Do not extract the whole thing, just open it. Inside you'll see a folder called "res"; transfer that somewhere on your computer.
3. Inside the res folder you'll see a bunch of folders. The images you want to edit are usually in a folder labeled "drawable", but you may have to look elsewhere
4. Find the background image you want to edit. It might be labeled widget_bg or something helpful like that.
5. Edit it how you want. In the case of transparency, you want to delete the background and make it entirely transparent. Save it in the same format and do not change the name. (Note- if your file has .9.png in it, you have to open your edited version using draw9xpatch or whatever in the Android SDK and save it through that as well)
6. Drag the res folder with your modified images back into the archive, using 7zip. You might want to use a duplicate of the apk, just to have the original on hand in case something goes wrong.
8. Place the modified apk into the place-apk-here-for-modding folder in the APK Manager folder
9. Open up script.bat. Select your project using option 22.
10. Do the following things- Extract APK (1), Zip APK (3), zip as regular apk (2), sign apk (4)
At this point you should have a signed version of the apk in the place-apk-here-for-modding folder. You can transfer it to your phone now and install it. Or install it directly onto your phone through apk manager if you have ADB enabled.
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Thanks!

Wait a minute, you click on the application from your file manager, opening it in your App Manager, and it says Application not Installed?
That makes no sense at all. The only time I've encountered that is when I've tried using an app that was stored on my SD card, which wasn't put in. That app was on my homescreen too.

I'll have the .apk on my SD card somewhere and I'll try to install in through a file explorer with the error message above.
I tried installing through Dropbox, but that also gets me the error message. I've uninstalled all applications of the same name because that's what you're supposed to do. It's weird, I know. I'm trying to work through it right now.

see OP
10char

Same problem
Hello gentlemen, i have some problem with installing "slide it keyboard" and others applications. The messages is: application not installed. I tried everything, but nothing works... Please help me.
HTC desire 2.2 froyo

[Guide] Simple guide to theming ANY ROM

A lot of people have asked in various threads lately about getting this theme on x rom, or can someone port this theme for me, etc. It really isn't that hard. It actually is pretty much a simple matter of copying and pasting. This will work on any ROM, and it only takes a few minutes, easy enough for an amateur to do it.
1. First, download the ROM that has the theme that you want on your current ROM.
2. Extract framework-res.apk from /system/framework and rename it to framework-res-old.zip and then right click it, and click extract all. Just extract them to currentdirectory\framework-res-old, which should be the default option anyway.
3. Take your current ROM, and extract framework-res.apk from /system/framework, and repeat step 2 except name it framework-res-new.zip.
4. Browse to the framework-res-old\res folder and select all of the folders starting with "drawable", such as "drawable-mdpi"
5. Browse to the framework-res-new\res folder and paste those folders, it should prompt you to merge and replace files and all that jazz, just click yes and do for the next x conflicts. It will copy and replace all of the image files.
6. Go back to the root of your framework-res-new folder, highlight all of the contents, right click, Send to > Compressed (zipped) archive
7. Windows will re-zip framework-res-new. When it finishes, rename the new zip file to framework-res.apk and push it to /system/framework. If you haven't gotten s-off on your phone, you have to do this while in clockwork recovery (make sure you mount /system in the partitions menu, or if you are s-off and booted, type adb shell mount -o rw,remount /system if it gives you memory errors)
For other operating systems, the steps are similar. If you use a linux distro, I'm going to assume you are smart enough to figure out the compression tools and menu items to unzip and rezip the apk files.
NOTE: You don't actually have to change the extensions to .zip, in fact, you won't be able to unless you unchecked hide known file extensions in the windows folder options in control panel. I just thought it would be easier. If you don't want to unhide extensions, just use a tool like 7-zip or winrar to open and extract the APK. In simple terms, all you are doing is replacing the res folder of your new framework-res.apk with the one from the theme you want. Not very hard.
ANOTHER Note: Sense roms are a bit more difficult to theme, since all of the HTC apps are themed from images in com.htc.resources.apk in /system/framework. But if you are on a sense ROM, you probably can just use a MyModes theme. If you do however choose to try this on a sense ROM, it will only theme user and non-HTC apps. This guide will technically work for any ROM but it works best for AOSP based ROMs, like CyanogenMod or ArayrayMod. The only thing is that if there is a change in the color of text, then you have to decompile both framework-res APKs and copy styles.xml from the old one to your new one and recompile it. APKtool or APK Manager both work great for that.
DO A NANDROID BACKUP BEFORE PUSHING THE NEW FRAMEWORK! Sometimes you can get boot loops from screwing with other files in framework-res, or if it is not signed properly. But you shouldn't get boot loops as long as you stay away from XMLs.

how do i extract an apk? it shows up as an apk and when i click extract it does nothing

Sometimes pushing new frameworks cause boot loops fyi..

Happened to me twice :/
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using XDA App

purple1 said:
how do i extract an apk? it shows up as an apk and when i click extract it does nothing
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Did you try renaming it to framework-res.zip rather than .apk? If you have 7-zip or winrar you can also right click, open with, and choose 7-zip or winrar from the choose default program option.
arayray said:
Sometimes pushing new frameworks cause boot loops fyi..
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Click to collapse
Only if you screw with the non-drawable folders. If you leave the XMLs intact and only change the images it boots fine. The boot loops are caused by incompatible or conflicting XML files, which happens when you just push a random framework-res from another ROM, you have to just move the images over.

I use apkmanager for linux and its immensely helpful. Also you can loop one even without modifying the xmls. Least I have that's why the most important part of theming is knowing how to backup/restore or flash sbf or w/e.

Only if you screw with the non-drawable folders. If you leave the XMLs intact and only change the images it boots fine. The boot loops are caused by incompatible or conflicting XML files, which happens when you just push a random framework-res from another ROM, you have to just move the images over.
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I think you should state that in the OP

Added a note at the bottom, thanks

APK files and swype keyboard

OK.. so I want to change the keyboard colors on my phone and I've been reading for a while on apk files and just want to make sure I have it right
I took the original swype apk (after backing up a copy) and changed it to a zip file and unzipped. Went into where the keyboard png files live and changed the color of the text to my liking.
I took the original backed up swype.apk and used the apk package manager to decompress it (files were in projects folder). I copied over my keyboard pngs over the originals and then use apk manager to package it back up I'm pretty sure but
1. Is swype a system app?? Apk manager warns about keeping the signature or not
2. Does my new swype apk have to have the same name?? I now have a unsignedswype.apk file in my "place-apk-here-for modding" folder probably because I chose that
Was planning on using sideload wonder machine to put it on the phone, just wanted to make sure I had everything correct before screwing something up royally

I've played around a bit with Swype themes. MetaMorph is an easy way to apply your theme. I've also had no problems with copying my Swype.apk from /system/App, opening it with Astro, deleting the files I changed, and pasting in the replacements. Then I just overwrite the original apk with mine using Root Explorer.
Let me know if you need any more help, can also show you how to hex edit the lib to change the trail color (mine is green).
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA App