[Q] Skins Can they do MORE? - Thunderbolt Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Im curious as to HOW skins do what they do... Is it possible to create a skin or even modify an "htc" skin that will change 'framework' files, not just common 'htc.resources' files.
Ive done some serious googling and searching on the MAKE UP of these skins. Ive edited/modded a few, ive even tried throwing in extra files. ( i know that some sort of control files mut be there for any given item changed, it was just ruling it out) But i wanted to see if for a novice like me that only knows how to manipulate images and replace them, could ADD to a skin, not just rename and recolor it. Simply put ; can we make a SKIN change say status bar icons. We can change the background!
I theme every ROM, MOD, FIX, etc etc i put on my phone. Ive been doing so since D1. Which requires pushing framework-res and others back n forth.
I HATE green... so ive made personal themes (some shared) to remove all green aspects from android. If i could mod a skin to allow for MORE changes it could make my (and others) theme process easier.
ANY Info on this would be appreciated... and passed on .. ASOP roms have figured this out.. HTC finally added some support to Sense.. but welp i want it all.. lol
THANX...

...BUMP...
Really no one... Bueller? Bueller?

Related

[Q] harder questions on theming

Okay, so i've been playing around with theming for 2 months and i've just about figured it all out, except for one thing.... the VZW banner on the lock screen for the D2 doesnt seem to give two ****s what i put in any of the keyguard .xmls that is supposed to control the layout and keeps on just being white...
im running fission 2.5.7 and i've tried everything that is supposed to do the lockscreen on the xml side (as far as i know) including the colors.xml in the values folder(more on this issue later)... so i started poking around .jar files in the framework but unfortunately i have little understanding still of .smali files because im still on the baby steps side of coding beyond the beginners html stuff i learned in the 6th grade ('99) and i could use some help/pointers toward i should be looking for.
i noticed mentions of wakelock (or something like it, its 2am and im mentally fried right now) in one of the smali files in a telephony folder in framework.jar but im just not sure if it is even close to the right thing because it may just be the phone doing something to the cdma radio on wakeup....
I'm open to try any suggestion you guys are willing to throw at me because finishing this project is important to me.
every guide i have been able to find so far just mentions line 7 and 8 of the .xmls in layout, if you find another idea besides that already posted send those too...
ALSO, when i edit colors.xml and then compile and push framework-res.apk to the phone i get 2 results depending on what i do
1) move the file that values folders gets turned into into the original framework-res.apk and get a boot look
2) use the newly compiled framework-res.apk (in whole) and lose the functionality of lockscreen selection app...
any idea on how to make this work would also be awesome
may end up having to work with the devs in the chatroom on this issue (im sure) but its also somethign i want to do so i can change the text colors of sound on/off (along with a couple other default text colors)

How do you redesign themes that are made by others

I wanted to know if there is a program that can do what you guys are talking about. I would like to make my own themes with themes made by other people. If the is no program then where would one start. Thx in advanced.
Ok I don't want to piss people off but how can I make a theme. Where do I start, is there a program to help you make themes instead of copying off of people. That's what I really like to know.
What mind of theme are you talking about? There are different methods for different types of themes.
I think u just need Photoshop and u have to edit the images then repack them to the zip for install just be sure u don't lose where the icons are placed and don't rename them... I think.... but I have no idea "/
CM7 wtf else....
Well I'm talking about themes poeple make that are in android market. I dont know what type of themes they are. Forgive me I'm new to android, I had a iPhone 4 and used winspc to change themes other people made on cydia.
Now do you just got to only use Photoshop cuz I use gimp is it the same.
You can use any image editing software. Read this thread. It pertains to the same thing that you are trying to do. You will use almost the exact same process to edit themes made by others.
Like the previous posters have mentioned, Photoshop or Gimp photo editor which is free would be your best bet, if you wanna make your own designs... If you want to theme your home screen using other people's work visit this thread, might help you out a bit.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=901649
It also has an instruction on how to change the icons after you make the design
Good luck!
If you use anything that is not yours, ask first. A lot of time goes into making a theme (even a not-so-good one) and I've seen too many people just say "credit goes to blah blah" but never asking. Please be considerate of the work of others.
As for actual theming it all depends on what you are theming. Some apps (launchers and widgets mainly) have built in theme functionality and should have a guide specific for them. Theming a ROM is a lot more time intensive and involves decompiling frameworks, setting up development tools, dealing with many possible problems, hoping compiling works, being frustrated about forgetting something, testing, etc. etc.
good info was looking for something very similar
Is making a them for a stock MT4G that uses the theme installer different than those made for custom ROMs?
It seems the androidian theme is the only one that can be installed and used on a stock MT4G. I'd love to see that exact theme with the green replaced by a dark gray.

gray background dialer

Hello all, I would like to ask a question on dialer streakdroid 1.9. are
managed to make my Contacts.apk transparent by simply adding
theme.wallpaper styles.xml in the background of my dialer but continues to be increasingly
gray. how can I do to make it transparent?. thanks
custom dialer background
Ive been searching everywhere building and testing contacts.apk, Can someone with some more code knowledge have a peek at this please?
Ive dug through all the .xml's, the Manifest .xml, the .smali (even though I dont understand very much at all), there are only a few .png's the rest are .9.png, so Im sure the grey comes from code. in colors .xml there are a couple which match this dark gray perfectly, I changed those to black as well as styles Theme to Theme.Black, and Theme.Wallpaper(which will change the other 3 backgrounds but not dialer), ive tried changing background only in styles, no luck.
I saw on Dell website where it says Streak has Customized Dialer, which obviously we know, but I think ours is a unique situation
chrisrotolo said:
Ive been searching everywhere building and testing contacts.apk, Can someone with some more code knowledge have a peek at this please?
Ive dug through all the .xml's, the Manifest .xml, the .smali (even though I dont understand very much at all), there are only a few .png's the rest are .9.png, so Im sure the grey comes from code. in colors .xml there are a couple which match this dark gray perfectly, I changed those to black as well as styles Theme to Theme.Black, and Theme.Wallpaper(which will change the other 3 backgrounds but not dialer), ive tried changing background only in styles, no luck.
I saw on Dell website where it says Streak has Customized Dialer, which obviously we know, but I think ours is a unique situation
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"Customized" is not a word I'd choose to use when describing the horrible dialer. Hope someday we can improve it. I really think the dialer is the worst part of the UI.
if I find it I will gladly make a guide to theme it.
I may even send Dell developer an Email... oh yeah too late not supported..
chrisrotolo said:
if I find it I will gladly make a guide to theme it.
I may even send Dell developer an Email... oh yeah too late not supported..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
I think the EOL is only USA. But I don't think the dell dev team cares too much about us
Brainstorming: Reference for anyone else trying to find this..
the dialer background is not a .png, most images are .9's I pretty sure the background is not a .9.png. There is only one .png close to the color and Ive already tried changing that one.
It could be a color in color.xml, they could have coded it as android:color, but if they did that it would likely be a solid color such as black or transparent, and would have to rely on framework-res. More than likely they would have made their own color in colors.xml, since there is only a dozen or so, at least 2 of which are almost identical greys, I have tried changing these colors to black with no luck.
Ive tried changing almost every .xml refernce I could find to a drawable window/background, etc. to android:color"black" , Theme.Black or 000000,
It could be in .smali, Is where I will dig next, I have tried checking a few of the codes I found in there, they seem to be based on a deep purple?
this is just reference use to help others who may search, wish me luck!!
spelling error found DialtactsActivity.smali line 205 says: const-string v3, "Dailtacts" ,yeah wonder if this why dialtacts theme doesnt theme completly.
some progress!
I fixed the spelling mistake in DialtactsActivity.smali, though i dont /think/ this is what we see. I did change call_background.xml and secondary_call background.xml all parameters to android:color/black, I will keep experimenting, funny how in vertical only the right side of keypad is black,
Once we find the right string , we should then be able to create a custom style instead of just a solid color and use a custom background.png
edit: FOUND IT!, cant post screenie, out right now, should release something later and info. Sit tight everyone.
found it
right where its "should" be, contacts\res\layout-long-finger and res\layout-long-land-finger. the first is portrait, second is landscape. the file for both is twelve_key_dialer.xml. The first line:
LinearLayout androidrientation="vertical" android:id="@id/top" android:background="#ff000000"
just change the android:background="ffRRGGBB" to whatever 6 digit RGB/hex value you desire.
working on this now to call out a custom.png will likely get scaled like cr4p, but will give it a go.
If you dont have any .9.png errors decompiling, then you can recompile and flash it straight away.
If you use my phone&contacts theme, it wont compile because some of my .9.pngs must not be patched. So use stock to change, then after compiling extract the new .apk. If youre using my theme or whatever, then change my contacts.apk to contacts.zip, open my contacts.zip as an archive with 7zip, copy the 2 twelve_key_dialer.xml's, and close. Then in your stock framework where you changed the .xml's go to resources.arsc and right click use 7zip to add to archive... browse and select your contacts.zip with new .xml's. Its important that archive method is .zip and compression must be set to store. make sure update mode is: add and replace files. Then rename back to contacts.apk and place in your update.zip and flash!
I plan on making a guide and probably a stock framework with a custom.png for everyone to use.

[Q] Install Entire icon pack, not one at a time(via zip)?

Before i get flamed or people say dont create a thread etc, i have read the other threads and done some research so please bear with me. I have many icon packs that are stored in zip files, and would like to replace ALL of my icons at once with them. Now i have looked into some apps like tha plash and better cut but they only allow you to change one at a time and that will take FOREVER. is there an easier way to change all of my icons at once? i use miui, so is there a possible way to convert the icon pack to a mtz? or is there a way to convert it to a adw theme file? any help is appreciated!

Changing Resources in 4.0.4

Hi & 1st off if this is stupid please dont take the piss to badly lol...
years ago i was well into the whole Windows thing, Stripping its resources & making batch files that would find & replace icons that were of a better quality.. They would then be injected into the resource files of the OS so when it was installed it looked nicer...
Now to my idea...
Ive seen lots of nice Themes out there for my phone but dont seem to like any of the theme managers & how they change the feel of the phone & was wondering if its possible to strip the icons (.png ) from these & create an APK that just over writes them directly to the phones installed files..
An example would be the awesome Blue Theme for one of the custom roms you can get.... just having the png files on there own installed without the theme itself..?
Sorry if this is stupid as im only thinking from a windows point of view & dont no really if its possible or even an idea for android..
War3zuk said:
Hi & 1st off if this is stupid please dont take the piss to badly lol...
years ago i was well into the whole Windows thing, Stripping its resources & making batch files that would find & replace icons that were of a better quality.. They would then be injected into the resource files of the OS so when it was installed it looked nicer...
Now to my idea...
Ive seen lots of nice Themes out there for my phone but dont seem to like any of the theme managers & how they change the feel of the phone & was wondering if its possible to strip the icons (.png ) from these & create an APK that just over writes them directly to the phones installed files..
An example would be the awesome Blue Theme for one of the custom roms you can get.... just having the png files on there own installed without the theme itself..?
Sorry if this is stupid as im only thinking from a windows point of view & dont no really if its possible or even an idea for android..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
check the link below, it might be of some help to,also u can PM the OP of that post for any further clarification.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=28793952&postcount=134
Wicked
Thats wicked thankyou.... Just what i was after really as I want to learn to do this myself.. Thankz again

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