I'm using a custom rom,and now that stock rom for my region is published,I want to extract language files (system and dictionaries+keyboards and fonts) from stock rom and inject them to the custom rom that I'm using,so any help is appreciated to find which files do I need to extract from stock rom.
Theoretically, however, reminds you that the app I am not alone but also the framework apk etc. .. must pay attention.. Help to get into a rom, and can for example extract the launcher or gps.conf or apk predefinit of the Rom and then copy them to root through esplorer in our folder system / app . -1.extract the file from system.rfs -2 and install magic iso and go to open the rfs .. app folder you will find the system app .. conf files in the etc etc for gps. APKTool is able to reverse engineer the binaries of Android applications. With it you can de-compile and get an apk files that make up the apk.
Beware though that being a compiled language java bytecode, executable in the case of the Android Dalvik machine, do not get the files. Class with the java code readable plaintext file but. Smali containing assembly code of the virtual machine (assembler / disassmbler smali) . Will be easier to understand and modify resource files in the directory / res, usually they are xml files and png images that you can modify and then recompile the apk...download Apk tool here: http://www.androidlab.it/wp-content/plugins/download-monitor/download.php?id=13 .. 1. Unpack the zip file you just downloaded and APKTool.zip command prompt / shell posizioniamoci within the directory APKtool 2. execute the following command:
apktool framework-if res.apk
we get the result back edge
I: Framework installed to: C: \ Users \ username \ apktool \ framework \ 1.apk. 3. Now we copy the apk in the same folder that we want to de-compile and impart the following command
apk apktool d-name-it-de-compilare.apk
upon completion of the directory APKtool find a folder with the same name of the app that we have de-populated.
We can now go take a look at the file and change where we see fit. 4. To translate the application should modify the files in / res / values-en, if the folder is not present we should create and copy into a folder other values-xx files arrays.xml strings.xml and then edit translating the texts into Italian. 5. after making the changes we should rebuild our apk with the following
apktool b-name-from-complete apk
in the directory with the same name of the app that we previously de-compiled find two new folders
dist / build / ..--- 6. in the / dist find our apk, remember that the resulting file has no signature, to sign our package we can use this. sign or unsign” i file Apk download here: http://goo.gl/9aWVM
not so understandable , but thx anyways.which files do I need to extract for samsung keyboard (AxT9IME) to work??
Re ad this guide: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1511730
---------- Post added at 07:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:02 PM ----------
Try this method- Make a backup of the applications that you want to move , the phone will put the apk 'in the path sd>backups>apps, from here you take them and bring them in another rom...
amir_s_m said:
not so understandable , but thx anyways.which files do I need to extract for samsung keyboard (AxT9IME) to work??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
my question exists!!
Hey people, I've just found it at O3D forums and I think I should share the information, as I don't have time for creating a good tutorial myself.
This way you can change colors for your own likes and make a lot kind of themes.
Before starting you should have your Apktool environment set up.
1. (only if you never saw APKTOOL in your life, otherwise, just jump it)
1· Download and install latest version of Java JDK
2· Download latest version of APK Multi-Tool as we'll be using it for un/packing APKs and push/pull them from/to our device.
3· Extract it anywhere you may like. If posible, in C:/ to avoid any kind of problems. Be sure to read README file before asking something about it.
4· Run Setup.bat, type 3 and press Enter. Close it.
5· Run Script.bat, type 0 and press Enter. Now let's type our framework's path.
6· /system/framework/framework-res.apk for basic framework file. This will be pulling it out from our phones.
7· Repeating Number 5, type /system/framework/lge-res.apk for LG's framework file.
8· Now move to X:\...\APK-Multi-Tool\place-apk-here-for-modding\ and copy both apks (framework-res + lge-res) and paste it at X:\...\APK-Multi-Tool\other\
9· Run Setup.bat again, type 2 and press Enter. Now both frameworks should be installed and we are ready to un/pack APKs from the version we're actually using (v30A/B/C/D...). Close it.
10· Back in Script.bat, type 0 again followed by Enter, then type the path of your desired APK. (/system/framework/xxxxxx.apk for frameworks & /system/app/xxxxxx.apk for apps). After pushing it, select it as your actual project.
11· Now type 9 followed by Enter. This will unpack our APK.
12· Now is the time for tunning anything you want to. Go to X:\...|APK-Multi-Tool\projects\xxxxxx.apk\ and you'll find there everything.
13· When it's done, let's re-pack it typing the option 11 followed by Enter. When repacking gets done, it will ask if you want to use any files from your original APK. Tell it Yes, otherwise your apk won't get signed.
14· When the extracting is done, move to X:\...|APK-Multi-Tool\keep\ and erase everything there BUT META-INF folder + AndroidManifest.xml. Now press anything at APK Multi-tool window and you'll get your APK ready to go.
15· Now type 8 to push it back to your phone and type the desired path. If it cames from /system/app/xxxxx.apk or /system/framework/xxxxx.apk.
If you get any error recompiling it, you should take a look at the log, typing 23 and fix it at the projects folder.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2.
potaturrias said:
When i maked this theme (my first theme) y used trial and error procedure.
The first step is replace or edit 9.png. pictures in drawable-hdpi folder located in framework-res.apk and lge-res.apk, you can do this quickly using this tools:
http://jgilfelt.github.com/android-actionbarstylegenerator (Check that the names of new pictures match with the old pictures)
http://android-holo-colors.com/
Many images have to edit them by hand
If you put more files than originally,for example switches in lge-res drawable-hdpi, you will get an error when try to compile.
The second step is replace xml files in drawable folder using xml files from zip file that you downloaded in the previous step.
If you don't get the desire result you have to edit styles.xml or drawable folder files or layout files to change backgrounds colors, text color,etc.
Remember there applications with lines in XML files that reference to framework or lge-res, for example:
android:textColor="@*android:color/transparent makes reference to transparent color defined in framework-res and
android:textColor="@com.lge.internal:color/transparent makes reference to transparent color defined in lge-res.
I hope that this mini guide help you, remember that you can make your theme based on this theme, will be easier i think.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks to @potaturrias!
[GUIDE + ROM] Rom Translation Tutorial + Minimoto 1.7 & MavROM 4.5 Italian Version
THIS GUIDE IS FOR PEOPLE THAT KNOW WHAT ARE DOING! DO NOT TELL ME THAT I BRICKED YOUR PHONE OR STUFF LIKE THAT, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE OF WHAT HAPPENS TO YOUR PHONE, BE CAREFUL!
Here are the Italian versions of Minimoto 1.7 and MavROM 4.5:
Minimoto 1.7
MavROM 4.5
(The MavROM has 2 files to flash: first the D3-MavROM-4.5.zip original file and then the MavROM-AOSPICSTheme.zip that contains the translation plus the ICS theme. If you want to translate another theme, or just the basic rom, you can extract the language files from the theme .zip following the guide!)
Every Droid 3 owner out of the English/Spanish area knows that every D3 ROM comes out with only two languages preloaded in it, right? well...if you know well english (or spanish!) maybe i have something for you!
Ok, i hope this guide could be helpful to everyone like me that wanted to find a non-english, non-spanish Gingerbread ROM for Droid 3.
After some studies, and a lot of searching too, i've found the best (i think) way to translate roms. Oh and this guide is good for every android phone out there! Let's start!
Part 1 - Download all the stuff! (plays Monkey Island music )
Our needs are very few, what you need with this is a lot of patience, and knowing some english could help.
- A rooted Droid 3 (or any other phone)
- The ROM you want to translate
- WinRAR / 7-Zip
- Notepad / Notepad++ (Highly recommended!!!) http://notepad-plus-plus.org/
- Java Development Kit www.java.com
- APK Manager/APK Multi-Tool, since now i will call them APKM and APKMT ( i used APK Manager, but multi-tool should be fine anyway) http://apkmultitool.com/?q=node/5
- Google Translator Toolkit http://translate.google.com/toolkit/
- Safestrap (optional, but very, very recommended)
- MoreLocale2 or another language changing program
Note 1: If APK Manager/Multi-Tool bother you with something about java not found do this: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_do_you_stop_the_error_%27java%27_is_not_recognized_as_an_internal_or_external_command_operable_program_or_batch_file
Note 2: In APKMT, the commands are a little different from APKM, e.g. in APKM the "set project" command is listed as 22 and in APKMT is listed as 24....the functions we'll use are the same, just read the description if you're not sure and you'll be fine
Ok, let's take the stuff out of the box!
Part 2 - The extraction point
Open the .zip containing your ROM's files with WinRAR / 7-Zip and extract the folder "system" somewhere (i recommend to create a folder for your translation project) once the process is done, we can basically do two things: Decompile the apps or decompile the frameworks, the process is the same, but you have to go really really REALLY careful with framework apks, or once you flashed the ROM what you've got is a translated BOOTLOOP. So be careful. With apps you can mostly screw a functionality up, like SMS or Phone, but nothing too messy.
Anyway you can solve the problem with a new flash with the corrected ROM, or the original, untranslated ROM.
Ok let's start with the frameworks: we've usually got 3 differents frameworks and those are
framework-res.apk
blur-res.apk
moto-res.apk
Those apks contain mainly everything written all around the phone, like pop-up messages, status bar, app permissions and a lot of other stuff.
We'll use framework-res.apk.
If there isn't, create a folder in the same folder where you have installed APKM/APKMT, called "place-apk-here-for-modding" without quotes, then copy inside it the framework-res.apk.
Now you have to open the Script.bat file, and once you get into the main window, digit 22 (APKM) or 24 (APKMT) and press enter to select the current project, now digit the number corresponding to the desired apk (it should be 1 if you have only framework-res.apk) and press enter. now digit 9 (APKM/APKMT) and enter and you'll decompile the apk. Now you should have a folder, inside the "projects" folder of APKM/APKMT named just as the decompiled apk. Inside it, you'll find a folder called "res" open it and you'll be right into the core of the translation:
Note: if you get an error after decompiling, try with option 10 (APKM/APKMT), and drag and drop the necessary framework over the prompt when APKM/APKMT ask, press a key, and if you get another error try with another framework (D3 has 3 of them) until you get the job done. If nothing works, probably there's a problem with the apk you want to decompile.
Note 2: You could need to have frameworks installed into folder C:\Users\YourPCUSername\apktool\framework. You can do this either with apktool via cmd or manually copying the 3 frameworks into this folder (create it if needed) and renaming them this way:
- framework-res.apk => 1.apk
- moto-res.apk => 2.apk
- blur-res.apk => 3.apk
Then you should be able to decompile 99% of apks with option 9.
You'll find a bunch of folder, but we are interested in the "values" ones, if you have to translate the app, you'll see something like this:
- values
- values-es
- values-es-rUS
the first folder contains the english files, the second contains the spanish files, and the third contains some other files for spanish variants.
Open the "values" folder and inside it there are some .xml files, we will always use only 3 of those at most:
- strings.xml (the file containing mainly all the text strings of the apk, if you find this, then you have to translate it, if not, just pass over this apk, it doesn't contain text)
- arrays.xml (the file that contains some text data for drop lists, you'll not find this often, but if you find it, translate it)
- plurals.xml (the file that contains plural words, this is very rare to find, but if you want to make good translations, then, translate!!)
Now get back to "res" and create a folder called "values-xx" where xx is your language code, for example i made a values-it folder, but you'll write values-fr, values-de, values-idunno etc.
You'll put here, all the XMLs we're gonna translate now!
Part 3 - Bring out the dictionary!
The game is getting harder, now you have to use your better weapon: Google Translation Toolkit. But first, let's look into XML!
Open the "strings.xml" file with Notepad++, and look at the records structure:
<string name="aerr_application">The application %1$s (process %2$s) has stopped unexpectedly. Please try again.</string>
You have to change ONLY and i repeat ONLY the text between "<string name="aerr_application">" and "</string>"!
Now some rules:
- See that "%1$s" weirdness? that is a jolly word that Android replace with a variable data, in other words DO NOT TOUCH IT! just imagine that you'll see there something like "The application *Temple Run* (process XYZ) has stopped etc. etc.
- If you have to put an apostrophe or some other weird character, always put quotes at the beginning and at the end of the string just like in the translated string down there, it's good to always put them, And GTT (Google Translator Toolkit) does that.
- If the string you have to translate looks like code stuff, probably you should leave it untranslated, something like:
<item>@string/resolutionSummaryWideScreenTV</item>
<item>MOTOCAMSETTING_REVIEW_TIME_4_SEC</item>
see? DON'T TOUCH IT! BAD TRANSLATOR! BAD!
This is the resulting, translated string:
<string name="aerr_application">"L'applicazione %1$s (processo %2$s ) si è fermato in modo imprevisto. Si prega di riprovare."</string>
Ok, now we can translate without detonating the phone, but framework-res has something like 1300 rows of text!
WHOA! let's use GTT!! http://translate.google.com/toolkit/
Once you are on the main screen of the tool, click on the red "Upload" button on the upper left, then in the page you found after, click on "Browse..." and select your file inside your PC.
Set all the stuff down there, like the name, the language and everything else, and click "Upload for translation"...here comes the magic...
The XML is translated! sort of...
You now have to look if GTT has done the work well...let's look into this page:
- You can see that now the entries are divided in boxes, you can click onto the left panes' boxes and edit the content.
- Play a little with the interface, you have to get familiar with it if you want to translate a ROM!
- Look to spaces and returns, GTT mess them, and you should correct the format.
- Text is coloured: i'll tell you what those fancy colours ACTUALLY mean
- Orange: this means you've edited the text into the box
- Red: text coloured in red came right out of Google Translate, and 70% of times, it will be gibberish, so look carefully into it, this will be the work where you'll spend more time.
- Blue: this is a sneaky bastard, it says that he found a "100% matching" translation in his database, but it has a 30% chance to be total nonsense, be careful with it.
- Green: this colour is fine, you probably have translated this in past, or someone did it for you, anyway, it will be 99% correct, if the past translation was correct.
- Brown: this happens rarely, usually where it founds a colon (the symbol ":" ok?? :angel: ) and for some reason, it goes random, usually you need a very little effort to correct it.
- Purple: THIS is a funny one. when purple comes out (usually with a wildcard character like "%1$s") the translator often goes TOTALLY random and write some idiocy. rewrite the text from scratch.
Once you've managed to translate everything, and if you're sure to have completed everything, click (if you want) on "Complete" in the upper right corner of the page, and then we need to download our work, to do that, click on "File" (upper left) and then "Download". Save the .xml file in your values-xx folder, and check one last time with Notepad++ the number of lines, the spaces and the format in general, at this point we're ready for the final part!
Part 4 - Repack everything!
Now the situation is this: you have the "project" folder containing all the decompiled apks folders, with the "values-xx" directory in it, we now have to recompile everything and put apks into the ROM. Let's see how:
- Open APKM/APKMT and select the project you want to recompile
- digit 11(APKM/APKMT)
- Look if you got errors, if yes, look into the log 20(APKM) or 23(APKMT) and see what the problem is, if you look carefully you will identify where is your error log, probably it's a messed tag, or something easy to resolve, correct the issue, and go ahead, restarting from digiting 11 (Compile)
- Press Y and enter
- Press Y and enter (yes, 2 times)
- Now wait for APKM/APKMT to stop spitting lines out and it'll tell you something. Read it, but the substance is: go in the APKM/APKMT folder, look for a "keep" directory, delete the "resource.arsc" file, get back on the APKM/APKMT prompt window, and press a key.
- Once everything is completed, you now have a file called unsignedframework-res.apk (or unsigned*nameoftheapkyouhavecompiled*.apk)
- The next, is the point i still didn't get, but it works...maybe XDA guys can explain better this...anyway, we now have to sign apks...i saw that this shouldn't be necessary, but otherwise i've got a lot of errors and force closes and stuff like that...soooo, at least for D3, sign it!
- We have 2 choice for signing...if you have only a few apks to decompile, you can just select the project and digit 12(APKM) or 13(APKMT) and sign it but if you have translated a whole ROM and you want to sign all the apks at once, create, if not exists, a folder called "place-apk-here-for-signing" and put all the unsigned apks there...you now have to digit 16(APKM) or 18(APKMT) and the apks will all be signed automatically.
- Rename the apks removing the "signed" part from the name.
We're now ready to pack the ROM: i usually create a "system" folder somewhere else that i will put directly into the ROM's zip, but you can do it by hand (boring). I'll show you my method for now:
- create a "system" directory
- inside it, create a "framework" and an "app" folder
- put into the framework one, all the frameworks (easy, huh?) and into the app directory, put all the other apks.
- open the ROM zip and drag and drop the system folder into the ROM in order to overwrite the existing one.
Our freshly translated ROM is ready to be flashed and brick or burn your phone! (ok, no, this is not true...maybe...)
Anyway, download the zip on your phone and flash it with the recovery you want.
I RECOMMEND TO DO THE FIRST TEST ON A SAFESTRAP, AND ONLY IF YOU'RE SURE THE ROM IS SAFE, INSTALL IT ONTO YOUR MAIN SLOT! I'VE WARNED YOU!
Part 5 - Polish your creation!
When the ROM is installed, and if it boot correctly, First install MoreLocale2 or other similar apps, and add, your language, with the correct ISO codes and look around to see if something is untranslated...if yes, go back, to APKM/APKMT and find the apk you need to modify, translate, repack, flash the ROM and again until you've got a perfectly translated ROM!
The tutorial is ended, i hope you liked it, and if you want to correct, critic, ask, or anything, just tell me!
Tips: If you want to avoid the MoreLocale stuff, you can edit the build.prop, into the folder "system" of the ROM you'll find this file, open it with Notepad++ and look for these lines:
ro.product.locale.language=xx
ro.product.locale.region=YY
You have to put here your ISO language code, but i noticed that on D3 it doesn't always works...so, try but i don't guarantee success.
If i remember something, i'll integrate the post
Coming Soon:
Screenshots!
Corrections!
Hi, people i saw that the guide hit 1,000 views and it's a lot of clicks! so i'd like to know if there is something that you would see in this guide, or if you need some more guides, maybe more D3 specific (or less specific! ) i spent a lot of time tweaking and tuning this phone and i can share what i've learned from it! If you want a custom translated rom, i could work on it, especially in Italian or French!
tl;dr -> Tell me what improvements you want to see!
Buongiorno FrankieDedo,
I have read your tutorial and try to translate the Framework res.apk from Minimoto 1.7 into German. (I am Greek just translate it for a German friend)
First i translated the three files (arrays.xml, plurals.xml, strings.xml), put the files into framework-res.apk\res\values-de, recompiled and signed everything without errors.
Then i edit the build.prop ro.product.locale.language = de and ro.product.locale.region = DE
Flashed the rom zip without problems.
After the initial setup i downloaded more local 2 and set it up to german, unfortunately the system itself is still in english (most of the apps are in german now)
Also I have decompiled your framework-res.apk but i cant find your italian values folder.
I've attached my decompiled framework-res.apk, maybe you can help me.
Thank you very much !
michalakis said:
Buongiorno FrankieDedo,
I have read your tutorial and try to translate the Framework res.apk from Minimoto 1.7 into German. (I am Greek just translate it for a German friend)
First i translated the three files (arrays.xml, plurals.xml, strings.xml), (...)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm looking into this, my framework lacks the Italian translation, you're right, i've uploaded a zip without it, i'll update that too soon.
I don't know why your framework shouldn't work, i give a look at it and it looks ok, it just have some text rows more than the english one, it could be the problem, but i don't think so... Anyway, can you tell me if when you factory reset the phone you see some texts in german and then they disappear?
Yes, at the start setup for 1 sec than it turns to English.
But after a factory reset booting without the SIM, the text at the start setup don't turn to German.
So with SIM the phone recognize the im in Germany and turns the text for 1 sec to German.
Must i change something else in the build.prop ?
I Started over again and with mavRom 4.5 now it works
michalakis said:
I Started over again and with mavRom 4.5 now it works
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i'm glad you've made it, maybe the problem with the other rom was some missing file or something missing in the decompiling/translation/compiling process... and thanks for letting me know that the minimoto zip doesn't have the translated! as soon as i get home, i'll upload a new file!
Fixed the Italian Minimoto, with translated framework.
FrankieDedo said:
Fixed the Italian Minimoto, with translated framework.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
is this guide valid only for these 2 roms or i can use it to translate any custom rom of any smartphone?? and another question: if in \system\framework there are framework-res.apk, lidroid-res.apk and twframework-res.apk and the other files are .jar, i must modify only these 3 apks?
thanks in advance for the answers!
Blade.94 said:
is this guide valid only for these 2 roms or i can use it to translate any custom rom of any smartphone?? and another question: if in \system\framework there are framework-res.apk, lidroid-res.apk and twframework-res.apk and the other files are .jar, i must modify only these 3 apks?
thanks in advance for the answers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry for my late answer, :angel: anyway:
I wrote this guide after messing around with Droid 3, but it is good more or less for every rom, so you can translate nearly everything with this method (i heard that for HTC phones things are a little more messy, but i might be wrong)
For the apks to translate: if you translate the frameworks alone you should have translated roughly a 75%-80% of the phone system, but another important apk is the "Settings" one... if you are a maniac like me you can decompile every system app and look for missing language folders...
I'm sure at 99% that you'll always have to touch ONLY apks, and not .jar or external .xml or whatever so, yes go along with your apks
Ciao!
FrankieDedo said:
Sorry for my late answer, :angel: anyway:
I wrote this guide after messing around with Droid 3, but it is good more or less for every rom, so you can translate nearly everything with this method (i heard that for HTC phones things are a little more messy, but i might be wrong)
For the apks to translate: if you translate the frameworks alone you should have translated roughly a 75%-80% of the phone system, but another important apk is the "Settings" one... if you are a maniac like me you can decompile every system app and look for missing language folders...
I'm sure at 99% that you'll always have to touch ONLY apks, and not .jar or external .xml or whatever so, yes go along with your apks
Ciao!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
grazie per la tua risposta! sei stato molto chiaro!
Hello Guyzzz.....This Is My First Theming Guide Fro Mt65XX Devices
In This Guide I Will Tell You How To Do The Following Things:-
##Making Settings Holo Light##
##Changing The Switch##
##Changing The Spinners##
Requirements:-
##APKTOOL##
##NOTEPAD++##
##Knowledge About Decompiling And Recompiling##
##Time,Patience And Most Important Of All............A Working Brain--------- ##
OK......So Lets Get Started.......
For Making Settings Holo Light
Decompile Settings.apk
Open Android Manifest.xml Using NotePad++
Search For This Line
Code:
<application android:hardwareAccelerated="true" android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher_settings" android:label="@string/settings_label" android:supportsRtl="true" android:taskAffinity="" android:theme="@android:style/Theme.Holo" android:uiOptions="splitActionBarWhenNarrow">
Change
Code:
android:theme="@android:style/Theme.Holo"
TO
Code:
android:theme="@android:style/Theme.Holo.Light"
Save And Exit Android Manifest.xml
Recompile Your Settins
Sign It Manually
MOVING ONNNN.......
For Changing The Switch
Decompile framework-res.apk
Download Any Switch Resource From Below
Copy The Items From The "res/drawable" Folder Of The Downloaded Folder And Replace Those Files In framework-res "res/drawable" Folder
Now Goto drawable-hdpi{depending on ur device}And Delete All The Switch Pngs Present There{NORMALLY THE NAME STARTS WITH "switch_...9.png"}
Thats IT.....Now Recompile And Sign framework-res
AGAIN......MOVING ONNNN.......
For Changing The Spinners
Decompile framework-res.apk
Download Any Of The Spinner Resources From The Second Post
Extract The File And Open the Folder
Copy All The Contents from The Drawable Folder And Paste It In Your Folder{You Will be Asked To Replace The Files....Just Do It}
Now Open The Downloaded Resource Folder And Copy All The PNG'S In The FOlder And Paste It In "drawable-hdpi" Folder Of Your framework-res{Replace All The Files.....IF ASKED!!}
Thats IT.....Now Recompile And Sign The APK
ENJOY.....-HIT THANKS IF YOU LIKE MY WORK!!
Chetan Lodha said:
Hello Guyzzz.....This Is My First Theming Guide Fro Mt65XX Devices
In This Guide I Will Tell You How To Do The Following Things:-
##Making Settings Holo Light##
##Changing The Switch##
##Changing The Spinners##
Requirements:-
##APKTOOL##
##NOTEPAD++##
##Knowledge About Decompiling And Recompiling##
##Time,Patience And Most Important Of All............A Working Brain--------- ##
OK......So Lets Get Started.......
For Making Settings Holo Light
Decompile Settings.apk
Open Android Manifest.xml Using NotePad++
Search For This Line
Code:
<application android:hardwareAccelerated="true" android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher_settings" android:label="@string/settings_label" android:supportsRtl="true" android:taskAffinity="" android:theme="@android:style/Theme.Holo" android:uiOptions="splitActionBarWhenNarrow">
Change
Code:
android:theme="@android:style/Theme.Holo"
TO
Code:
android:theme="@android:style/Theme.Holo.Light"
Save And Exit Android Manifest.xml
Recompile Your Settins
Sign It Manually
MOVING ONNNN.......
For Changing The Switch
Decompile framework-res.apk
Download Any Switch Resource From Below
Copy The Items From The "res/drawable" Folder Of The Downloaded Folder And Replace Those Files In framework-res "res/drawable" Folder
Now Goto drawable-hdpi{depending on ur device}And Delete All The Switch Pngs Present There{NORMALLY THE NAME STARTS WITH "switch_...9.png"}
Thats IT.....Now Recompile And Sign framework-res
AGAIN......MOVING ONNNN.......
For Changing The Spinners
Decompile framework-res.apk
Download Any Of The Spinner Resources From The Second Post
Extract The File And Open the Folder
Copy All The Contents from The Drawable Folder And Paste It In Your Folder{You Will be Asked To Replace The Files....Just Do It}
Now Open The Downloaded Resource Folder And Copy All The PNG'S In The FOlder And Paste It In "drawable-hdpi" Folder Of Your framework-res{Replace All The Files.....IF ASKED!!}
Thats IT.....Now Recompile And Sign The APK
ENJOY.....-HIT THANKS IF YOU LIKE MY WORK!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good Job Bro I Think It Will Be Hard But It's Easy Good Job :laugh:
lol... this is all so NOT easy.
you missed few important parts in between your Simple Guide.
But Catchy Topic Header...
Add more Basic But important Steps
Dude.. you missed a lot of things in that tutorial ! i Hope in futute you will add more Things in that tutorial !
dare2know said:
lol... this is all so NOT easy.
you missed few important parts in between your Simple Guide.
But Catchy Topic Header...
Add more Basic But important Steps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SDShukla said:
Dude.. you missed a lot of things in that tutorial ! i Hope in futute you will add more Things in that tutorial !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I Dont Think bro...bcoz i followed these steps and everything worked!!
@chetan ,
it was jUST A POINTER nothing to make u feel bad,
Screenshots?
download from below!?!?!?
There is no resources to download in the 2nd post !!!
Quick Intro :
Let me answer that question, an apk, first of all, is the format of Android apps, as .exe would be for Windows, apk means Android Package by the way.
But what’s the big deal?
Well an apk contain a lot of things into it.
When you open it as an archive, you might get those files:
AndroidManifest.xml
assets
res
META-INF
resources.arsc
classes.dex
AndroidManifest.xml is the file that contains the information about the app itself: the list of all activities, all permissions, the name of the app’s package, and the software/hardware requirements. To be able to read it, you’ll need to decompile the apk file.
Assets and res folders are meant for resources. Most often, you won’t see the assets folder because its usage is limited, (explanations here). We’ll focus on res since asset isn’t used so often.
META-INF contains CERT.RSA and CERT.SF (certificate) as well as MANIFEST.MF (a manifest)
Those files are the app signature, and META-INF is the folder that contains signature.
The resources.arsc file is the file holding most of the resources that were originally in the res folder. After compiling the code, Android Studio (or others software) compile resources into this file. You won’t be able to open it with an archive explorer. We’ll need to decompile the apk to get the resources back into the res folder.
And, finally, the classes.dex file contains the every smali files of the app. A smali file contains the java code for a specific part of the app. To be able to have the smali files (into the smali folder), you’ll have to baksmali your app.
Hopefully, apktool (a reverse engineering tool) does it for you.
Let’s decompile the apk using apktool (a popular tool used to decompile apps):
Once apktool is installed (see the apktool web page to know how to install), you’ll need to use the command prompt to decompile the apk:
Code:
java -jar apktool.jar d [name of the apk].apk
(I advise to create a folder and to put every file needed in it: the apk, the apktool.jar file, and the apktool script).
You’ll have an out folder, and when you browse it, you’ll have most of the time:
AndroidManifest.xml
original (a folder)
res (a folder)
smali (a folder)
The AndroidManifest.xml that you see here is the translated one.
In the “original” folder rest the META-INF folder and the original AndroidManifest.xml file (untranslated). As you can guess by its name, this folder contains unchanged original files.
The res folder is now full, because every resource from the resources.arsc file are now back into the res folder
Same for the smali folder, this folder contains every piece of code contained into the classes.dex file.
We will now focus on the res folder. Now that it’s complete, we can see those folders (it depends on your apk, but here is the list of the most common ones):
anim (other animation stuff, see the links at the end of the thread)
animator (animation properties)
color (color state list: in which condition this color is used for a particular element)
drawable (can be pictures or xml files, it contains a lot of things)
layout (contains the files that define the layouts of the app)
mipmap (icons for different screen densities)
values (xml files that contains values, that will be referenced in other xml files in other folders)
xml (every other unclassified xml files)
Those folders contain files that will be named following their resource ID.
So how does all of this work together?
Well, the java code written in the smali files will call resources with their IDs. This way, the app will show you the write thing at the right moment, following the code. The layouts are already described in the layout folder. What the code really do is analyzing the action of the end user and calling other resources in consequence.
For example, I’m using the XDA Labs app on my phone. I’m in my phone’s section, and I’m about to click on a thread to open it.
I clicked on the thread, so the code loaded the thread layout with every post in it, and other resources such as the little arrows at the top to jump to the end/beginning of the thread, the reply button, its color, … That’s how to work if I want to keep it simple.
I tried, in this guide, to simplify android app basic for beginners. Feel free to ask any question, I’ll be glad to answer.
If you want to go further into it, you can read a very complete guide about app basics by google (it’s a bit complicated to read, assuming you’re just starting to understand).
Here are the links:
https://developer.android.com/guide
If you have any question about that guide, you can also ask me (with the quote you didn’t understood).
Keep at mind that mastering app basics is really important if you ever want to theme/create an app. So, this guide and the google one is a good place to start.
Have fun reading
Hello Raiz,
I decompiled the apk of an androind app from playstore using dex jar and apktool however I can't find the scripts anywhere in the resulting files. Where should I look? Or is there something more that I have to do? I'm trying to edit something for personal use to make the game more enjoyable. I saw a .unity3D file in there so I presume it was made in unity if this helps.
Good tutorial about concepts of APK file. The details you share are so educational. Thanks for sharing