Hi. This thread will deal with the idea of reducing the size of a CM7 theme.
CM7 themes installed on SD card don't work properly ( say when phone is connected to PC for USB storage, phone may restart, or when phone is turned on theme on SD card is not applied properly.
This will allow you to install more themes, and save internal memory.
Disclaimer: I'm not responsible for any damage to your phone. Do it at your own risk
Make sure you have nandroid backup, although this process may not damage your phone
It is very easy, just follow these steps:
1) Download a CM7 theme (.apk file)
2) Double-Click on the .apk file, Windows will ask for program to open it. Select 'Use installed Programs' and then browse to your Winrar.exe, and click OK. So from now on you will be able to open any .apk file with Winrar
3) Once you open it, go one level up and extract the .apk'
4) Now close winrar, and go inside the extracted folders. Now you'll see many icons, for various apps, for theming.
5) Delete the icons of apps which you don't have on your phone and probably will not install in future.
6) Cut the theme Wallpapers and move them outside of the apk folder. Delete Wallpaper small images. Transfer the images to sd card and you can use them as normal images
7) Now make a zip of the extracted .apk theme folder, and transfer to your phone's SD card. Make sure you make a .zip and not .rar
8) OR just transfer the folder directly to your phone's SD card without zipping. Use Rootexplorer, long press on the folder, select 'zip this folder', and then Go to zip folder.
9) Now from either step 6 or step 7, long press the zip, and rename, now just change the extension from .zip to .apk
10) Install this .apk as any other .apk
11) Apply the theme. Go to manage applications, see the size of your theme, it will be 30% to 50% size of original .apk
12) So you have reduced the size of CM7 theme
Be Careful:
1) This method may not work on some .apk themes. If modified theme does not install, and is installed but doesn't work properly, it means you've deleted some system icons. Uninstall the theme. Modify again to make it working
2) If you have LDPI phone, you may not want HDPI icons, so you can delete entire 'drawable-hdpi' but only some theme will work. Some LDPI themes do require HDPI icons
3) I've uploaded one reduced size CM7 themes with wallpapes. Open them and see which icons I've deleted, so your can get some idea of how this method works.
Original Red_Remix theme is 8MB, the attached Red_Remix theme is only 4.5MB, 44% reduction
Thanks:
Big thanks to UpwardSpiral for his awesome themes. I used your themes just to demonstrate the idea of reducing the size of any CM7 theme. If you don't want me to use your theme for demonstration of the idea, then do let me know.
Here is the XDA thread for UpwardSpiral themes: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=11768348#post11768348
Download UpwardSpiral themes from Google Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=UpwardSpiral
A really nice idea...
But most (if not all) cm7 users have a sufficiently big sd partition...
Sent from my g-fit using xda premium
very nice. so I can use this method to create new theme, right?
crzfish said:
very nice. so I can use this method to create new theme, right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, you may be able to create new themes, as you wish.
Related
Well Im not great at directions so this is the best i can do.
Summary
There are 2 ways that I know to port a theme to your device.
1. Using the metamorph app if its a metamorph theme.
2. Using 7zip ect.. if its a flashable theme. (most common)
Metamorph Instructions
1. First things first is to download the theme that you want to port.
2. Your theme will be a zip file containing only image files from apk's
3. Put the zip file on your sd card
4. Make sure your device is set to 320x480 resolution or metamorph app will not work.
5. Open metamorph app and start a new project.
6. Locate your zip file and let all the apks load up.
7. Install each apk one at a time. Do not install any jar files as they will cause your phone not to boot.
8. Reboot and your Theme should be working on your phone.
Flashable Theme Porting Instructions
Its not that difficult, once you get the hang of how 7zip works it will be your best freind. Its just a process of dragging and dropping images from one apk to another all within 7zip.
What the metamorph app does is takes themed images and places them into the correct apks res\drawable folders in your system.
Knowing what metamorph does as an app, you can do this manually using 7zip.
1. Download the theme that you want to port. It will be a system folder with an app,framework, and font folder inside of it.
2. Open up that system folder with 7zip
3. Make a copy of the system folder of your current rom and open up that system with 7zip as well. You should now have 2 different 7zips open. Make sure to keep track of witch is witch.
4. Open up the app folder of the themed system and open up the first apk thats in there.
5. Go into the res\drawable folder in the apk in both your system and the themed system.
6. highlight and drag and drop only the images from that folder to the same folder in the other base apk. Make sure to NOT highlight any xmls.
7. Do the same for any images in any other drawable folders the are mdpi.
8. If there are only hdpi folders and no mdpi folders than you will have to convert those images to mdpi size before using them. If there are both, than only use the mdpi images.
9. When finished overwriting those images in that first apk, go back to the other apks in the app folder and do the same thing. You can do all of this from with in 7zip. No need to exit 7zip in this entire process.
10. Open up the themed framework folder and you will see a framework-res.apk file. Open up that file, you will see the same res\drawable folders.
11. Also open up the framework-res.apk from the base theme in the other 7zip as well. And overwrite the images just like the other apks making sure not to overwrite any xmls.
12. Back out of that back into the framework folder itself, if there is a services.jar in the theme than you will want to use overwrite that file as well.
13. Back out of the framework folder, If there is a fonts folder in the theme, You will want to overwrite those files as well.
14. Now you are done modifying your base theme with all the images from the theme.
15. You can now close the themed 7zip that you downloaded and leave open the 7zip containing you newly modified apks. Create a folder on your desktop called "system". Inside that, create a folder called "app", "framework", and "fonts"
16. Move only the modified apks that you replaced images in into the correct folders in your new system folder.
17. Make an androidupdate.tar with 7zip out of your new system folder and you are ready to flash it using nomorootfs method.
Tips:
Using the shift button to highlight mutiple images saves time.
Using the ctrl button to highlight images with xmls between them aaves time.
Switching views to have all images at the top and xmls at the bottom saves time.
If i forgot steps, I appologize.
Excellent guide.
The only thing I would mention is that most of the time services.jar is specific to a particular rom and as such may not work correctly with the target rom. As services.jar really only contains themed elements for the titlebar, you are better off using colorChanger's, apkTool or a hex editior to manually change the titlebar colors.
Also, in some cases (Like ProLauncher) the apk's must be signed. I prefer to use the test keys and this handy context menu here.
simple direct and effective. thanks again for all you do sir.
myn said:
Excellent guide.
The only thing I would mention is that most of the time services.jar is specific to a particular rom and as such may not work correctly with the target rom. As services.jar really only contains themed elements for the titlebar, you are better off using colorChanger's, apkTool or a hex editior to manually change the titlebar colors.
Also, in some cases (Like ProLauncher) the apk's must be signed. I prefer to use the test keys and this handy context menu here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the info man.
BTW, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MYN
Dzo Odex sample with standard theme
Thanks for this info. This will help a million. Could you also put light on how to odex it?
Eg: Dzo's odexed sample of donut has plastic theme, can it be changed to a standard android theme using the steps above and then odex it to create a androidinstall.tar?
Nice guide.
Thanks for making this.
Ill probably start trying to theme when i finish school in 2 weeks or so.
how to convert hdpi to mdpi
he can some one tell me how to port any theme to our hero.....
1. examine the theme to see where the differences are.
2. remove the res folder from all the apk and the framework-res.apk
3. remove everything from the res folder except the pngs
4. alter pngs to your liking.
5. copy over the res folder of your rom that you want to theme with your altered res folder.
6. package into an update zip
7. flash and test
A good way to see a road map is to take a known working theme and use that as an example. I dont use metamoph and this assumes the theme does not have any custom programming applied to it.
You'll also benefit from the apk builder that is floating around here some where as it has all the tools needed.
ASimmons said:
1. examine the theme to see where the differences are.
2. remove the res folder from all the apk and the framework-res.apk
3. remove everything from the res folder except the pngs
4. alter pngs to your liking.
5. copy over the res folder of your rom that you want to theme with your altered res folder.
6. package into an update zip
7. flash and test
A good way to see a road map is to take a known working theme and use that as an example. I dont use metamoph and this assumes the theme does not have any custom programming applied to it.
You'll also benefit from the apk builder that is floating around here some where as it has all the tools needed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool... I will be looking into it.... thank you for the info....
Sent from my HERO200 using XDA App
There is a script somewhere on xda that will pull and replace only the images found in the themed rom and the rom you want to theme. Do a search on here for theme batch script or something like that.
All mods are at the bottom of this post.
Here is a simple way to change system icons on your application drawer. I was looking for a guide to do this but I couldn't find any so I gave it a try and it worked. So I decided to post the method here for like minded people who wanted to change the system icons in their app drawer and not only on the homescreen.
I will show an example of changing the contacts icon. To change the icons of some other app you just have to pull the relevant apk. I know this looks long and tiresome but bear with me and the results will amaze you. After a few times it becomes really easyYou have to be rooted to do this
A couple of things to note
a. You can change icons in framework-res.apk, SystemUI.apk or any other apk this way too.
b. Please note that the icons you replace should be of the same dimensions.
c. The specific icons name inside the drawable_hdpi might change. Sometimes its icon.png. Sometimes its ic_launcher_XYZ. Just use your head and replace the correct png.
d. The files are located either in system/app or data/app depending on whether its a system file or a data file. System files have to be pushed. Data files have to be installed.
Changing Icons works for all ROMS
1. Download android-sdk from here http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html
2. Install all libraries.
3. Install jdk from here http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html
Make sure you download jdk and not just jre.
4. Download apk manager from here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=695701
5. extract apk manager inside platform-tools inside android-sdk folder. Should be something like this
C:/Android-sdk/windows/platform-tools/("extract apk manager here")
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6. Open cmd
7. Navigate to the platform-tools folder. (Simple DOS commands)
8. Do "adb pull /system/app/HtcContacts.apk" (-Do this without the quotes. If you want to change the icon for, lets say the camera, then instead of HtcContacts.apk, type HTCCamera.apk. To see all the system files just navigate to system/app on your phone using es file explorer or root explorer or any other file explorer you fancy. You can see all the system apks and you can pull anyone you want)
9. Ok so now the HtcContacts.apk should be in the platform-tools folder. Paste it into the folder "place apk here for modding".
10. Start script.bat (apk manager) from the platform-tools folder.
11. Choose option 22 to select a project
12. Choose the number of the project. In this case it would be 1.
13. Choose one again on the next screen. This will extract the apk to the projects folder.
14. Now get to the folder res/drawable-hdpi/ on your windows explorer.
15. Replace people.png with the icon of your choice. Please remember that your new icon has to be of 72x72 dimension and should have the same name. You can also replace other pngs like dialer and stuff.
(Next step is only for system files)
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16. Select option 3 on the apk manager cmd
17. Now select 8. This is a system apk and so we have to retain the system signature.
18. Enter the full path of the file ( system/app/HtcContacts.apk)
Follow these steps for data files
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19. Select 7.
20. Wait for install.
Here are my mods. Please note that I have not made these icons and tweaks. I have just put them all together in one place. If you want to give any credit then please follow the developers.
These are designed for sense based Roms. Please DO NOT try with any other rom. Just download and push to system/framework/framework-res.apk. Please note : This is for the older sense (sense 2.0) Do not try with newer sense.
To get transparency you have to use this file -- Transparency Hack -- through metamorph. I will make this into a flashable zip once I understand how to do that.
App icons are from Tenuis theme - Images
My framework-res
Screenshot - http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/9167/snap20110125163003.png
Download
System Icons Zip
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/18171691/Mms.apk
Hello,i just use Bettercut.apk available from market .
Marcdu81 said:
Hello,i just use Bettercut.apk available from market .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi I dont use bettercut but does it let you change the system icons in the app drawer. you know the drawer that comes up when you press the menu on the launcher???
Edit: OK i just tried bettercut. Using this you cannot change system icons in the app drawer. You are only changing icons on the homescreen, basically shortcuts. You could do that with launcherpro, desktop visualizer and 10 other apps.
CREDITS
CREDITS
MultiCulti for giving me the idea to get the services.jar for transparency
Icons from MIUI framework
Icons from Gingerbread aosp ROM
sopL87 for his guide
he_stheone64 for his awesome transparency hack
Ps. tell me if I have forgotten to credit anyone and I will add your name here. Thanks to all of the above for inspiring and helping.
Good work
Check this out too:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=10157000
Simple Java app to edit .apk files with a nice GUI
You're Just Awesome THNX man !
Nice guide
Ninjamorph lets you edit and change out images within apk files right on your phone. Its a free app on the market.
Still a very nice guide though!
thanks .. i was just looking to put up something which you could use to edit any apk on your phone .. the thing with ninjamorph is that it wasn't working for me. And plus I prefer to do it this way. Gives me more area.
EDIT: Anyone wants to see an MIUI framework on your sense?? I am thinking about getting the exact MIUI framework over to our sense based ROMs. As you can see in my framework I have already copied some of the elements. I am thinking about getting the power toggles and removing the current apps from the notification pulldown.
hi could u help me to change the battery icon plzzzz
i know about kitchen. any thing else i have some pic of a battery icon but dont know how to make one..... htc desire hd rom runny 3.37
Can't extract file
I tried to put option 22 where project start. Then I enter the project name as 1 and following another option 1 to extract files. However, the CMD just close by itself and I opened the project file and still empty inside. Please help!!
We've all seen/have/tried the Honeycomb Music Player apk. Now, for some of us, the cloud sync is working, and I'm suddenly really impressed by the player. But man, the widget it hideous. I know themers can't add album art support to the widget, but what about just matching it the honeycomb theme? The black with blue trim thing...
I've tried to ninjamorph, and I've a different way which used to work when theming the old widgetlocker, but every time the installation won't succeed. It seems that it's as simple as opening the files of the apk and changed "app_widget_bg", but it doens't work.
I attached the honeycomb dock that I wish to make the widget theme. I would just need to quickly add the trim all around it rather then just the edges, but, still, this would help so much.
Any help would greatly appreciated!
irish22022 said:
We've all seen/have/tried the Honeycomb Music Player apk. Now, for some of us, the cloud sync is working, and I'm suddenly really impressed by the player. But man, the widget it hideous. I know themers can't add album art support to the widget, but what about just matching it the honeycomb theme? The black with blue trim thing...
I've tried to ninjamorph, and I've a different way which used to work when theming the old widgetlocker, but every time the installation won't succeed. It seems that it's as simple as opening the files of the apk and changed "app_widget_bg", but it doens't work.
I attached the honeycomb dock that I wish to make the widget theme. I would just need to quickly add the trim all around it rather then just the edges, but, still, this would help so much.
Any help would greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All you have to do is edit /replace the pngs in the apk then resign it. That was why it didn't install, you didn't resign. To resign:
1) Download the attached zip
2) extract it and you should get folder called SignApk
3) rename your honeycomb musik player.apk to "app.apk" (after modifying it ofcourse)
4) put it into the SignAPK folder
5) run "sign.bat"
6) an apk called app-signed should have been created
You can then rename this app if you want (it wont make a difference) and install it normally.
If you modify the image in the APK and then push to /system/app/, no installation should be necessary, nor resigning.
hettbeans said:
If you modify the image in the APK and then push to /system/app/, no installation should be necessary, nor resigning.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Push meaning ADB? I don't know how use that monster yet. I'm on a mac, and I've found that apkmanager or really any desktop version of android is much more difficult to find and run on macs.
If I get the modded .apk onto my SD card, then move it using root explorer to system/app , what does that do? Will it just automatically appear in my app drawer without being installed?
joeshmoe08 said:
All you have to do is edit /replace the pngs in the apk then resign it. That was why it didn't install, you didn't resign. To resign:
1) Download the attached zip
2) extract it and you should get folder called SignApk
3) rename your honeycomb musik player.apk to "app.apk" (after modifying it ofcourse)
4) put it into the SignAPK folder
5) run "sign.bat"
6) an apk called app-signed should have been created
You can then rename this app if you want (it wont make a difference) and install it normally.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is this different then using zipsigner on the phone? I put the modded folder onto my SD card, zip it up, rename it .apk, sign it using zip signer ... still no good.
Do I do your method from my computer or my phone?
So I tried to do it via the attached the zip, and it didn't work. I couldn't even run sign.bat to begin with (on either my phone of my computer).
I also modded the image using ninjamorph then put it in my system/app - and nothing happened.
Surely theming a simple widget is easy enough. Does anyone on here know the easiest way?
So I've gone through most of this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=968613
These are my favorites. I know it's biased but I really took a lot of time to go through them all. If you have any suggestions or if I missed any other good ones let me know!
Download : http://www.mediafire.com/?si5mdc0fy34d6fv
INSTRUCTIONS:
In the initial .zip files there are the themes/zip files. (each zip is a single theme)
Manually copy the “Theme.wltheme.zip” file to your SD Card. The theme files should be placed in:
/sdcard/data/com.teslacoilsw.widgetlocker/themes
For example:
/sdcard/data/com.teslacoilsw.widgetlocker/themes/theultralinx.wltheme.zip
- The wallpaper: The issue is that the system can only have one wallpaper and it's shared globally. So WidgetLocker's custom
wallpapers are just images that WidgetLocker displays as a background. The best fix for this might be for WidgetLocker to let you select a file, using gallery or astro or whatever, and then have WidgetLocker do the cropping itself. This way it gets the actual image and can still crop it or scale it down (sanely) to avoid using so much memory, but can be done without banding. If you want to do it manually in the mean time and are rooted you can replace WidgetLocker's /data/data/com.teslacoilsw.widgetlocker/files/wallpaper.png with your own. Just make sure the resolution matches your phones. Then disable/reenable WidgetLocker to get it to reload.
- Installing a custom slider: Since WidgetLocker 2.0 custom themes are supported and come in the .wltheme.zip format. This means you can open it and your phone will prompt you to Install and Add the theme. The themes are saved on your SD card (/data/com.widgetlocker.teslacoilsw/themes). You can also copy the theme.wltheme.zip to the folder on your SD card. Naturally the theme will be unavailable once your SD card is mounted to a computer or something similar. It will return to normal once you unmount it again. You add the themes you've installed by longpressing the screen and choose Custom Slider. There you can do even further settings, like slide from right to left. If not you simply press "Add".
I only collected the themes. THE CREDIT GOES TO THE SKINNERS!!!
Some .zip files may contain the corresponding wallpaper. So you need to do an extra extraction for make the skin functional
Click to expand...
Click to collapse