Related
First - Let me start by saying I did a search of black notification bar and didn't really find anything specific to the vibrant. Actually I did find when using the search but still confused. Initially I was just uing the auto fill pop up for information.
Second - Instead of posting in Q&A, I figured it would be better posted here since it's a theme/app. Moderator please move if appropriate. Thanks.
Third - This is strictly for Stock JL5 deodexed.
With that out of the way...
The black/sort of transparent bar is driving me crazy. I'd like for the notification bar to be just straight black. Initially, I was running NeroV3.0 and liked how the notification bar was completely black. But, I just wasn't digging the gingerbread theme. So, I borrowed some of Sombonix's pngs and just copied them to my framework. That was a completely disaster. Man, am I glad I made backups.
Can any of you themer gurus help me out?
what's the name of the png file that is the notification bar? I am on my way home as we speak so I can help as much as I can from there.
I thought this is all I would have to replace but was I sorely mistaken.
statusbar_background.9.png
I am by no means a themer, but I have modified my notification bar, basically all I did was find the notification bar I wanted and used adb push to copy over the framework-res.apk from the desired source to system\framework whilst in cwm.
What all PNGs should I be modifying? There's so many in there that has to do with status bar that I'm getting lost. Also, although I'm running launcherpro, do I need to modify both the framework and twframework?
Yes there's three folder u should be looking at. One is ib the framework-res.apk. the other two are In the twframework.apk. there's 2 seperate folders u need to look into.. I believe one is hdpi, the other might be hdpi-4.. u must change all status bar png. Although I could be wrong because different roms place their png in diffrent folders.. and have a different set up...
Thanks for the tip. Looks like I'll be doing a lot of stare and compare tonight.
Yeay! I did it. Thanks for everyones help with your suggestions. Here is what I ended up doing.
1. Copied my framework and twframework from my phone on to my PC.
2. As a test, took this status bar from here: http://www.devsforandroid.com/forum/index.php?threads/axura-skins-and-themes.39/ (Thanks junkdruggler and Master).
3. Did a search of *status*.
4. Copied *status* to the appropriate places on my framework and twframework.
5. Created a zip.
6. Flashed zip via CWM.
I think one problem is I tried just copying the framework and twframework over and the OS doesn't like me doing that while it's running.
Working on adding battery % to status bar. I got the drawings done, I am just unsure of how to repackage framework-res and load it onto my phone without damage.
Below is the apk with battery%. The edited files are in /res/drawable-hdpi with the name stat_sys_battery....
http://rapidshare.com/files/451781222/framework-res.apk
Does the apk have to be odex'ed to run on a non-deodexed system? I am new to this but want to start theming so hopefully someone can help me out.
The way it has worked formne in the past is to.open not extract the original apk using 7zip. Then delete the old images for thebattery that are in the original apk. Then paste the edited files into the original apk that is open in 7zip. Then close 7zip. 7zip will process the files then close. Now paste the edited apk to ur phone and reboot. That's all there is to it.
hmm interesting, is there any risk of bricking the phone in doing so? Thats my only concern. My phone is only rooted, not deodex'ed.
As long as u make a back up of ur original framework apk then the worst that sill happen is that it goes into a boot loop. This can then be undone. So no. No way of permanently bricking your phone.
ok thanks, I tried pushing from adb but got read-only failure. I can't figure out to adb in recovery to do push. That is if thats the right method.
U need to have root. That is why u can't write to the system partition. Once u have root u will b fine.
I do have root. I got it to work but I saved the backgrounds of the pictures as blank so there is just a black square filling up background! lol I can't figure out how to take a screenshot of it as when I have it connected to the comp the charging symbol is popping up.
Scared myself for a moment, soft bricked my phone trying to push back the original framework-res.apk and it dg's fix method didn't work the first 2 times. I'm done playing for the night. First self mod!
there is a gauge battery widget in the market place that i downloaded. it has the battery % in the status bar. and when you select your status bar it will also give you your temperature and voltage.
what's the app called?
veuro said:
what's the app called?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i use Battery Indicator Pro, they have the same feature and looks pretty good
Please make icons of the battery with percentages ranging from 1 to 100 percent. I will then use these icons to create a battery percentage mod that shows the percentages in 1% increments. Then post them to rapidshare. I would appreciate it greatly if you could do this. Tnx.
battery gauge widget is the one i use
ionstorm3 said:
Please make icons of the battery with percentages ranging from 1 to 100 percent. I will then use these icons to create a battery percentage mod that shows the percentages in 1% increments. Then post them to rapidshare. I would appreciate it greatly if you could do this. Tnx.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2 things:
I thought, though I haven't checked recently, that it was hardware problem that wouldn't allow for 1% increments. Though circle battery widget estimates that.
How do I make it so the battery icons have the same background as the taskbar?
riotburn said:
2 things:
I thought, though I haven't checked recently, that it was hardware problem that wouldn't allow for 1% increments. Though circle battery widget estimates that.
How do I make it so the battery icons have the same background as the taskbar?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The first thing, it's not hardware, it's software. Motorola uses the 10% increments to actually save battery life because it doesn't need to refresh as often to display the battery percentage.
The second thing, I don't know.
live4nyy said:
The first thing, it's not hardware, it's software. Motorola uses the 10% increments to actually save battery life because it doesn't need to refresh as often to display the battery percentage.
The second thing, I don't know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hmmm I have to figure out the background then because when I compress it, it saves with a black background. But when I use the take the original image from the phone and pull it into gimp, its only icon and no background.
I think it mightve been because I didn't compress it save the alpha.
Question, Do you guys want the battery % in the battery icon itself or sitting above it?
Also the icon for the color indicator of the icon is only 50pixels long thus the actual bar itself will only go down by 2%, so would you want icons with a 2% increment or prefer 1%
riotburn said:
I think it mightve been because I didn't compress it save the alpha.
Question, Do you guys want the battery % in the battery icon itself or sitting above it?
Also the icon for the color indicator of the icon is only 50pixels long thus the actual bar itself will only go down by 2%, so would you want icons with a 2% increment or prefer 1%
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would be happy with 5% increments
Let us know how it goes, I would like to try it out.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA Premium App
Very interested in this as well - I want that stupid battery icon on the right side to go away because I'm stuck using Battery Indicator Pro to tell me what's going on and taking up even more space after the AT&T text on the notification bar! Even still, the thing only tells me in increments of 10 - how hard would it be to use the source code from the Circle Battery Widget to display the CORRECT percentages (yes yes, I know they are estimated, but that thing WORKS, let me tell you....) in the space where the stock battery icon is on the right side of the notification bar?
As I have never been happy with the connectivity icons of neither stock Atrix nor Gingerbread, I have created my own. I put them here to share. Note that these only look good with a black taskbar and greenish icons there... I.e., the best idea is to use GingerBlur in the first place.
Note: The icons are now included in the 1% battery mod available here.
The differences here are not huge (due also to the size of the icons themselves):
Bigger, more legible font
Arrows are not shown when there is no data traffic
Arrows are bigger than stock gingerblur
Fancy looking 3G, where the 3 is slightly smaller than the G
In order to use these icons, there are two ways. The second one kind of assumes that you know what you are doing, so if you don't - use the first one.
If you have not yet flashed GingerBlur (you can also do this when you have already flashed, it is a bit redundant though and will take quite long)
Download GingerBlur (from the dev section)
Download the attached zip
Extract the attached zip
Open framework-res.apk with a zip tool without unzipping it
For GingerBlur 1.1 and up: it is easiest to extract framework-res.apk from gingerblur-1-X.zip, and open the apk from there. Push the modified apk back into the zip archive, and you should be good to go.
Drag and drop the icons from the attached zip file in the right folder (where the same files are located)
Close the zip tool
Install GingerBlur
If you have already flashed GingerBlur
Pull framework-res.apk
Download and extract the attached zip
Open framework-res.apk in a zip tool (no unzipping!)
Drag and drop new icons where they belong inside the apk
push the apk to a temporary folder on the phone
copy the apk from the temp folder to /system/framework/
reboot phone
The icons look like this:
View attachment 554162
In a phone screen, they'd look like this:
View attachment 554163
There is a 1%
It looks great, thanks!
With https://market.android.com/details?id=ccc71.bmw and the "Defy compatible" mode enabled it is possible to display the battery in 1% steps.
Maybe you can incorporate that feature!?
MaluNoPeleke said:
It looks great, thanks!
With https://market.android.com/details?id=ccc71.bmw and the "Defy compatible" mode enabled it is possible to display the battery in 1% steps.
Maybe you can incorporate that feature!?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad you like it!
Yeah, I have that app installed... it does not 'activate' anything, afaik. The single percentages can be grabbed from a pipe, basically, or estimated from voltage, but that does not mean the right-hand battery icon will get updated.
I have an idea though,that I will try out on Thursday (no time today and tomorrow, sorry).
Okay, no problem.
I will be watching this thread, maybe you can post your results here
I am working on the battery mod to display 1% natively in the status bar. I am making good headway in figuring it out, expect it in the next couple of days!
Ok, a little setback on the 1% battery mod. Ok, talking to myself here
Anyhow, will start a separate thread on this, as I am a bit stuck currently.
I hope that you can make it work with the new update (1.5.57)
How can I get the GingerBlur notification bar (plus your icons when I replace them) without installing GingerBlur? Do I just replace my framework-res.apk? (I have backed up)
LayzeeEyez said:
How can I get the GingerBlur notification bar (plus your icons when I replace them) without installing GingerBlur? Do I just replace my framework-res.apk? (I have backed up)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have not really tried doing that... but you should be able to roughly follow the steps here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=536271
Note that:
- With 7zip, there is no need to rename the apk. Just open, but don't unzip it. Drag and drop files in.
- As GingerBlur already has the files you need, there is no need to create them
- You need to figure out which are the icons you need to copy. Obviously, the post above just talks about the statusbar itself; you also need to copy some icons (for cell signal, wifi signal, etc.). Where it gets a bit fiddly is that there are some things to watch out for. One, icons may not have the same number of levels - e.g, cell signal has five levels in motoblur, but only four levels in gingerblur. Two, I am still not sure whether icon sizes are hard coded; in which case, changing files like this may not work. And three, when I played around with battery icons (this included changing a binary xml file, though!), I managed to make my battery icon disappear completely, which is something you should be prepared for.
Bottom line? In your worst case scenario, be prepared to flash the 1.2.6 SBF if you mess up. If you want to be on the safe side, just install GingerBlur - much less hassle
Much harder than the copy and paste method I had in mind lol
Yeah I'll install gingerblur when its out for 1.5.7
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
Just a note: The icons are now included in the 1% battery mod here.
Hey there everyone, I am wanting to edit my framework to get a better looking notification bar. I have an android phone called SH7218U, I am rooted with all Gapps.
If you look this up phone on Google, you will see that the notification bar and icons are very similar to stock Android 2.2 ( I am running 2.2.1). The only difference is that the signal bar is located to the left of the bar as well as some icons getting set there as well. You can really see this here: http://www.itechnews.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Sharp-SH7218U-Clamshell-Android-Phone.jpg
When going into root explorer and checking out system/framework I am see the familiar framework-res.apk file, but I also see an apk file called dianxinos-res.apk. It seesm to be able to mess with framework and change the UI and other things, both of these files need to be edited. This is just a guess though since I have been able to find a post on a Chinese forum that gives a new notification bar (the only difference being the battery icon replaced with a numerical battery representation and the (when bar is pulled down) shortcut to the useless built-in task killer is gone. Inside of the package to this new framework I get both framework and dianxinos files so it seems I would have to replace both of the old files with the new ones.
As you can see in the above image there are virtual android buttons on the bottom of the screen as well, for when you want to use the phone normally. I do not think that the dianxinos-res.apk is linked to the virtual buttons as exploring system/media/pics contain.bmp images of the virtual buttons and I have confirmation by another SH7218U user that editing these images will directly effect how they are displayed.
I was just wondering anyone know how to edit the framework when there are two files corresponding to this. I don't know much about editing the framework but even so I am quick to learn but figured I would just ask around before I do anything. Worst comes to worst, like a bootloop for instance, I have a system.img for my phone so flashing that with fastboot will get my phone working again.
Anyway, Ive uploaded both files in case anyone would like to look at them. I am trying to go for a gingerbread-esque notification bar with blue instead of green possibly.
If anyone thinks this thread would get better hits elsewhere I would appreciate any input.
Hi Guys,
Before I begin, I'd like to shoutout to all the great devs here in XDA who regularly updates us with their mods while living their own busy lives.
I'm using a ST15i on stock ICS and managed to customize it by reading around. I've rooted my phone from GB to ICS and flashed custom zips to add or modify certain functions and changed how it looks to give it a different feel and to better suit my taste. I've reached a point where I can't modify it anymore due to lack of knowledge and training. And now I'm here.
Can anyone point me on how to change the transparency of the status bar, change the battery icon of my choice on my ST15i running on stock ICS? Also, can you help me in reverting to the stock icon fron "No available network"? All the info I found didn't help me. Tried the kitched but that didn't work for me either. I'd rather learn how rather than be spoonfed.
This is my first time posting here, so go easy on me.
Thanks!
I don't think a transparent statusbar is possible in ICS. In earlier versions, it was just a case of making the statusbar background itself transparent.
But Google have made it harder to do with later versions.
To change the battery icon, you just need to change the png files in one of the drawable folders in either framework-res.apk or SystemUI.apk. With the Mini on ICS, it's most likely drawable-mdpi in SystemUI.apk.
If you want to change how the icon works, going from changing every 10% to every 1% for example, then you need to decompile the app and edit some xml.
It's a little long-winded, but it's simple enough and I'm always happy to help. The battery icon mod was the first one I found out how to do and I spent months trying to figure it out. Literally.
It's worth checking out Tickle My Android from the link in my signature. It can do the battery mod for you, if you want it to, and can handle all the decompiling and recompiling as well actually taking apps off your phone to begin with.
Not sure what you meant about reverting icons..is it possible you can provide a screenshot of what you want to change?
Ticklefish said:
I don't think a transparent statusbar is possible in ICS. In earlier versions, it was just a case of making the statusbar background itself transparent.
But Google have made it harder to do with later versions.
To change the battery icon, you just need to change the png files in one of the drawable folders in either framework-res.apk or SystemUI.apk. With the Mini on ICS, it's most likely drawable-mdpi in SystemUI.apk.
If you want to change how the icon works, going from changing every 10% to every 1% for example, then you need to decompile the app and edit some xml.
It's a little long-winded, but it's simple enough and I'm always happy to help. The battery icon mod was the first one I found out how to do and I spent months trying to figure it out. Literally.
It's worth checking out Tickle My Android from the link in my signature. It can do the battery mod for you, if you want it to, and can handle all the decompiling and recompiling as well actually taking apps off your phone to begin with.
Not sure what you meant about reverting icons..is it possible you can provide a screenshot of what you want to change?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey there, Ticklefish! Thank you for taking the time to reply. You're one of my favorite devs here in xda.
Could you take a quick peek at this? There's an update on his notification toggle for a transparent status bar so I got me thinking whether this was possible or not. As for the battery, I'll still have to search for the battery icon I'm fancying about or I might have to create it from scratch. Sorry, I forgot to mention this but I tried to use your tool. I just didn't know how the battery icons would look like that's why I chickened out at the last moment. Instead I used it to create a zip to flash a stock SystemUI.apk to remove the Notification Toggles which I had extracted from an earlier CWM backup (Can't find an uninstaller. I figured all I needed was stock to remove it). Great tool, by the way.
I can't post any screenshots at the moment since I haven't been able to add that feature to my Mini yet. So I'll try my best to explain what I meant about reverting the network icon. If you would notice whenever you lose the network signal an icon appears on the notification bar? Well mine used to be color grey and had a yellow exclamation point beside it. Now it's all red. This might not be an issue for some but it's pretty hard on the eyes. I'd like to have the old one back.
Just to give you an idea, I'd like to improve my Mini's functionality and aesthetics while keeping it as close to stock as possible. So far I've managed to:
-Insert Reboot/Reboot to Recovery
-Use Wavelock
-Use Xperia S apps (Alarm, Callscreen, Clock, Conversation, Contacts, Font, Home, Keyboard, Phonebook & Walkman)
-Supercharge
-Notification Toggles (which I removed)
Changing the status bar and reverting to stock icon for no network signal is next on my list.
messagemode said:
Hey there, Ticklefish! Thank you for taking the time to reply. You're one of my favorite devs here in xda.
Could you take a quick peek at this? There's an update on his notification toggle for a transparent status bar so I got me thinking whether this was possible or not. As for the battery, I'll still have to search for the battery icon I'm fancying about or I might have to create it from scratch. Sorry, I forgot to mention this but I tried to use your tool. I just didn't know how the battery icons would look like that's why I chickened out at the last moment. Instead I used it to create a zip to flash a stock SystemUI.apk to remove the Notification Toggles which I had extracted from an earlier CWM backup (can't find an uninstaller. I figured all I needed was stock to remove). Great tool, by the way.
I can't post any screenshots at the moment since I haven't been able to add that feature to my Mini yet. So I'll try my best to explain what I meant about reverting the network icon. If you would notice whenever you lose the network signal a icon appears on the notification bar, well mine used to be color grey and had a yellow exclamation point beside it. Now it's all red. This might not be an issue for some but it's pretty hard on the eyes. I'd like to have the old one back.
Just to give you an idea, I'd like to improve my Mini's functionality and aesthetics while keeping it as close to stock as possible. So far I've managed to:
-Insert Reboot/Reboot to Recovery
-Use Wavelock
-Use Xperia S apps (Alarm, Callscreen, Clock, Conversation, Contacts, Font, Home, Keyboard, Phonebook & Walkman)
-Supercharge
-Notification Toggles (which I removed)
Changing the status bar and reverting to stock icon for no network signal is next on my list.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Screenshot should already implimented just not in the power menu. All you have to do is hold power and vol down button.
evilbarcode said:
Screenshot should already implimented just not in the power menu. All you have to do is hold power and vol down button.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow! Didn't know that. Just tried it just now and it worked. Thanks! Will be posting/updating once I've recreated the situation.
messagemode said:
Hey there, Ticklefish! Thank you for taking the time to reply. You're one of my favorite devs here in xda.
Could you take a quick peek at this? There's an update on his notification toggle for a transparent status bar so I got me thinking whether this was possible or not. As for the battery, I'll still have to search for the battery icon I'm fancying about or I might have to create it from scratch. Sorry, I forgot to mention this but I tried to use your tool. I just didn't know how the battery icons would look like that's why I chickened out at the last moment. Instead I used it to create a zip to flash a stock SystemUI.apk to remove the Notification Toggles which I had extracted from an earlier CWM backup (Can't find an uninstaller. I figured all I needed was stock to remove it). Great tool, by the way.
I can't post any screenshots at the moment since I haven't been able to add that feature to my Mini yet. So I'll try my best to explain what I meant about reverting the network icon. If you would notice whenever you lose the network signal an icon appears on the notification bar? Well mine used to be color grey and had a yellow exclamation point beside it. Now it's all red. This might not be an issue for some but it's pretty hard on the eyes. I'd like to have the old one back.
Just to give you an idea, I'd like to improve my Mini's functionality and aesthetics while keeping it as close to stock as possible. So far I've managed to:
-Insert Reboot/Reboot to Recovery
-Use Wavelock
-Use Xperia S apps (Alarm, Callscreen, Clock, Conversation, Contacts, Font, Home, Keyboard, Phonebook & Walkman)
-Supercharge
-Notification Toggles (which I removed)
Changing the status bar and reverting to stock icon for no network signal is next on my list.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, it might be possible. There's a lot that can be done if you just know how. I'll have a look at a transparent status bar soon. It was incredibly simple to do on early GB so hopefully it can be done on ICS as well.
There are a lot of battery icons out there. If you find the ones you want, TMA can put them into your app for you, or I can tell you how to do it manually.
As for the icons that come with TMA, you can see what they look like on the thread. Some look better on HDPI, and our phones are MDPI, but the tool can backup your original app so you can just try whichever one you want without being in danger of losing anything.
Changing that icon should be pretty simple. All you need to do is find out which image file it is and change it. Either by downloading one of the GB roms here and taking the new image file out of that, or by using a graphics program and just recolouring it yourself. If you're doing that, and if you're in a creative mood, you could even redesign the icon completely..
Thanks for the kind words, btw. If there's anything I can do to help, just let me know!
Ticklefish said:
Well, it might be possible. There's a lot that can be done if you just know how. I'll have a look at a transparent status bar soon. It was incredibly simple to do on early GB so hopefully it can be done on ICS as well.
There are a lot of battery icons out there. If you find the ones you want, TMA can put them into your app for you, or I can tell you how to do it manually.
As for the icons that come with TMA, you can see what they look like on the thread. Some look better on HDPI, and our phones are MDPI, but the tool can backup your original app so you can just try whichever one you want without being in danger of losing anything.
Changing that icon should be pretty simple. All you need to do is find out which image file it is and change it. Either by downloading one of the GB roms here and taking the new image file out of that, or by using a graphics program and just recolouring it yourself. If you're doing that, and if you're in a creative mood, you could even redesign the icon completely..
Thanks for the kind words, btw. If there's anything I can do to help, just let me know!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, I won't hold back in asking for assistance anymore.
I've attached a screenie of the icon problem I'm facing right now. If you would look at the upper lefthand corner, it's all red. I wonder if it's the same for the other ST15i Stock ICS users. It' used to be grey with a yellow exclamation point or something like that (can't recall how it exactly looked like but, yeah, something like that). Now for the battery icon, I'm fancying the Purple Android Battery Icon in TMA, only in green and shouldn't mess with the original height of the status bar. I've cooked a battery icon using the kitchen and it messed the height of the status bar. Could you also point how to manually change the battery icon? I'm trying to do it myself so I won't be asking around here anymore. I think others will benefit from it, too.
The stock SystemUI.apk that I've attached came from a stock version of my ST15i's ICS. I wondering if the network icon is found in the framework-res.apk, not in the SystemUI.apk. Since I've flashed the stock one and managed to remove the Notification Toggles but Red icon is still there.
Hopefully, you can find something with the transparency of the status bar. Thanks for all the help!
messagemode said:
OK, I won't hold back in asking for assistance anymore.
I've attached a screenie of the icon problem I'm facing right now. If you would look at the upper lefthand corner, it's all red. I wonder if it's the same for the other ST15i Stock ICS users. It' used to be grey with a yellow exclamation point or something like that (can't recall how it exactly looked like but, yeah, something like that). Now for the battery icon, I'm fancying the Purple Android Battery Icon in TMA, only in green and shouldn't mess with the original height of the status bar. I've cooked a battery icon using the kitchen and it messed the height of the status bar. Could you also point how to manually change the battery icon? I'm trying to do it myself so I won't be asking around here anymore. I think others will benefit from it, too.
The stock SystemUI.apk that I've attached came from a stock version of my ST15i's ICS. I wondering if the network icon is found in the framework-res.apk, not in the SystemUI.apk. Since I've flashed the stock one and managed to remove the Notification Toggles but Red icon is still there.
Hopefully, you can find something with the transparency of the status bar. Thanks for all the help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That icon might be in framework-res.apk but I suspect it's SystemUI.apk. That's where most of those things are. This is a stock icon so flashing a stock system app won't do anything to change it. If you want, you can change the icon yourself by loading the png into a graphics program and messing around with it. If you want it to be grey and yellow, then you can make it grey and yellow.
Battery icons won't change the height of the statusbar. Android automatically scales images to the right size. As long as they're in the right folder. The Mini and Mini Pro both keep their images in drawable-mdpi for ICS. If images are put into drawable-ldpi, drawable-hdpi or even drawable-xhdpi (which would be insane on such a small screen), Android will scale them for a low, high, or extra high resolution screen. Which will mess the statusbar height. Your battery icons can be any height you like, they just have to go in the right place.
By the way...Tickle My Android will automatically put them in the right place. Just saying...
To change battery icons manually, you need to use apktool or a utility that uses apktool to decompile framework-res.apk and SystemUI.apk
Hey....Tickle My Android uses apktool...(subtle, ain't I?)
Then find the battery icons in whichever drawable folder they're in. They might be in more than one but that's not an issue. Replace them with ones you want.
If you're changing how often they change, you'll need to edit the xml files in the layout folder. If you got your icons from a kitchen, they should have come with the right xml files. In fact, if you've got a version of the Purple Android icons, you could use TMA to put those on first and then change them to the icons you want. That'll ensure you get the right xml files.
Then you use apktool to recompile the apps you changed. Make a copy of the original app, use 7zip to copy the res folder from the recompiled app into the copied one (this will ensure it's signed correctly), extract resources.arsc from the recompiled app, add that to the copied one at store levels of compression and..well, that's it.
The copied app is now ready to be put back onto your phone.
Eyes glazing over? Brain leaking out of the ears? I know it sounds complicated but it's quite simple once you've done it a few times. It can get a bit tedious if you're doing it a lot....which is why I wrote Tickle My Android in the first place.