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So I have been reading a few theming guides but haven't been able to really understand them. It looks like with KB1, there is nothing but .xml files in the drawable folder. Am I only needing to edit these .xml's? Or is there somewhere I am not finding the .png's?
If anyone knows how to create custom themes please let me know, or direct me to a guide that will give me more information specifically for the Vibrant.
Strericsons guide is good, but it is old and outdated.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=667951 this guide is good too but I there aren't any theme files to start off with.
Any help will be appreciated, thanks!
I also plan on sharing the themes I create. They will be good
jzero88 said:
So I have been reading a few theming guides but haven't been able to really understand them. It looks like with KB1, there is nothing but .xml files in the drawable folder. Am I only needing to edit these .xml's? Or is there somewhere I am not finding the .png's?
If anyone knows how to create custom themes please let me know, or direct me to a guide that will give me more information specifically for the Vibrant.
Strericsons guide is good, but it is old and outdated.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=667951 this guide is good too but I there aren't any theme files to start off with.
Any help will be appreciated, thanks!
I also plan on sharing the themes I create. They will be good
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The great majority of the .pngs are in the drawable-hdpi or drawable-hdpi-v4 folders.
As for theming in general, take a look at this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=916814
Also, I wouldn't call Stericsons guide, or anyone else's for that matter, outdated. There haven't exactly been major changes in the structure of APKs, so any guide that was applicable before should still be applicable.
Ok great thanks for the info. I didn't mean necessarily outdated, but the methods might have a few changes pertaining to them. I will take a look at that link you provided!
uhh.. I'm certain if I understand you correctly. You unzip one of KB1 Roms. Under \system\framework\, some basic files you need to focus is framework-res.apk, twframwork-res.apk, and services.jar. You have to extract these apks to see the corresponding pngs.
Here's an excellent REF from Master himeself:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=940692&highlight=apk+manager
xxxman999 said:
uhh.. I'm certain if I understand you correctly. You unzip one of KB1 Roms. Under \system\framework\, some basic files you need to focus is framework-res.apk, twframwork-res.apk, and services.jar. You have to extract these apks to see the corresponding pngs.
Here's an excellent REF from Master himeself:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=940692&highlight=apk+manager
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Awsome! Thanks for this info, I remember seeing this but don't remember where, it was late at night. This is exactly what I needed!
Thanks
jzero88 said:
Awsome! Thanks for this info, I remember seeing this but don't remember where, it was late at night. This is exactly what I needed!
Thanks
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I just want to mention that, while I don't want to knock his guide, if you have any real interest in theming, it's best to learn how to properly decompile and compile apks, not simply unzip them. His method is fine for changing out a few pngs, though.
MWBehr said:
I just want to mention that, while I don't want to knock his guide, if you have any real interest in theming, it's best to learn how to properly decompile and compile apks, not simply unzip them. His method is fine for changing out a few pngs, though.
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Click to collapse
Yeah definitely. I am just looking on getting my feet wet for now, edit a few simple things to get an idea of how its done. If I want to fully edit a ROM I'm definitely going to get under the hood and take a look
So being able to change colors of some status bar .png's has been successful. What I did was basically simple. I took an already modified battery stat update theme since I wanted to keep the settings from it (KA7-KB1-circ-ab-col-pm.zip) and modified the .png's from that. Added them back to the zip, and flashed. Did not need to resign at all. Took two minutes
Was able to edit the status bar color, but couldn't find the .png's for the pull down background color.
jzero88 said:
So being able to change colors of some status bar .png's has been successful. What I did was basically simple. I took an already modified battery stat update theme since I wanted to keep the settings from it (KA7-KB1-circ-ab-col-pm.zip) and modified the .png's from that. Added them back to the zip, and flashed. Did not need to resign at all. Took two minutes
Was able to edit the status bar color, but couldn't find the .png's for the pull down background color.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You'll never resign a framework no matter what you do. The background is actually in twframework-res.apk
Firstly, I am using Mik's rom.. with pngs modified to my liking.. I have also searched around quite extensively for getting my questions answered.. but without any success.
I have been trying to mod the rosie launcher and am running into a few issues.
1. I can mod the icons pretty easily.. no problems there.. I can also remove the text "Phone" from the center icon.. but phone image is a little off center plus it is vertically offset (shifted a little up). I was told I can play around with the png image file and get that fixed.. however.. I am wondering if there is an xml file in particular that defines the x and y co-ordinates of the launcher icons. So yea.. I am verse with adb, decompiling, recompiling etc.
2. I am looking for a way to get the phone on the left and app drawer in the center.. any guidance with regards to this will be of great help to me. I am guessing this is somewhere in the smali files in Rosie.odex. I have decompiled it resulting in a bunch of smali files.. can someone tell me which particular one I am supposed to edit?
3. Wanting to know if there is any way to add a 4th button to the rosie launcher instead of the usual 3.
Again, I am looking for the know-how... NOT just a mod that I can apply via flashing.
I appreciate anyone who can direct me to a tutorial or a guide.
Thanks.
wow.. not a single reply!... I guess I would have gotten at least a few responses if I had posted this in the development section.
Grab one of my Rosie mods on theMikMik. It has the phone on the left and app drawer in the middle. grab one of those and mod it to your liking
chingy51o said:
Grab one of my Rosie mods on theMikMik. It has the phone on the left and app drawer in the middle. grab one of those and mod it to your liking
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Click to collapse
Thanks.. but like I said "Again, I am looking for the know-how... NOT just a mod that I can apply via flashing.""
I want to know which xml files require the editing etc. I am surprised there are no Rosie Guides anywhere that explain which xml/smali files are commonly involved the typical mods.
I have a couple tweaks that I want to make to my status bar and could really use some help. I'm new at this and have yet to try my hand at XML edits or the like and have only completed simple image swaps to date. The following are the two things I'd like to accomplish:
1. I want to remove the battery icon (not insert a transparent icon)
2. I want to re size the signal strength indicator. I have a custom image that I'm using, it works great and i have re sized the .png to where i want it but when i flash it, it is auto scaled to fit the original width of the previous image. I'm assuming that this is an XML edit? Along with re sizing this image, i'd like to center it on the status bar if possible, but this is not that big of a deal.
Any and all help anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated. Again, I'm very new to the more involved aspects of themeing but I'm also very eager and willing to learn. Thanks in advance for your time and patience.
Interested in learning more myself I was one of the of d1 themers but with sense 3.0 m10 files and more xmls I'm lost LOL. I can png and edit xmls decompile but as for what does what in the xml I'm lost
Sent from my Thunderbolt using Tapatalk
I have tried UOT Kitchen before, always was unlucky at having flashing errors.
My question is this... If I take a flashable theme, with permission from the creator, I should be able to use the scripts that they include for flashing? I am savvy with un-APKing zipping, signing and what not, is that all I would have to do to recreate a theme using my own images?
Thanks to everyone here!
Yes, the script you see other themes using can be changed out with your own, as well as the content. You can also just use the UOT Kitchen script. Credit given where credit is due, of course, but the script itself (IMHO) is not something you really need permission for.
Another tip, this from firsthand experience, when you're zipping everything up getting ready to flash, make sure you're zipping the contents of the theme folder (/META-INF/ & /system/) vs zipping the theme folder.
It sounds really stupid, but it took me forever to figure out why everything I did in UOT Kitchen perfectly but everything I did, using the same damn script, just froze. But ya gotta learn somewhere, right?
Remember when using the kitchen make sure u click amend scripting in the area where u load the apks... x2 uses 2. Something recovery.. if u don't click that there will be errors everytime
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Thank you, I think I've tried UOT 5 times but never had success.
Kevin, I tried the amend scripting, it solo didn't work.
I would much rather use my own images then those offered in uot kitchen.
I'm going to try to put a theme together this weekend, I haven't modded anything since BF2 wake island air show
Dee Ex Two - See Em Seven
Ok, how much do you know about themeing? Because if you are wanting to edit just the images(.pngs) you will need some info first...
You can "simply" take the framework-res.apk and systemUI.apk and go to the HDPI folder(or wherever the images are) and "drag n drop" to your desktop and edit those... OR you can take a .png that you wanna use(say one from another theme) and just drag n drop in the HDPI folder. And then, simply make a flashable .zip and your good to go.
.9s !!!
These are a PAIN if you dont know what you are doing.
If you are going to try and get into themeing, download APKManager and decompile the framework-res.apk ... go to a .9 image(i think its .png.9 or something of the like). When you load the image(say in GIMP) you will see black squares on the OUTSIDE of the image(like near the edges of the ACTUAL picture edge)... DONT TOUCH THOSE!!!! leave them there and make edits how you choose to the rest of the image. Once you are finished, just recompile(DONT SIGN AND YES! THESE ARE SYSTEM APPS!). Put in a flashable .zip and your set.
NOW Please note:
When you are doing the drag and drop method, make sure you are REPLACING an image and not ADDING more images.. catch the drift?
this is quick how to, hope it helps and good luck. let me know if you need anything else.
All the themes rock! I have poor eye sight (far sight) so my main concern always is status bar and the battery icon. I love being able to see the percentage, but some themes use smaller battery percentage text.
.9 seem like the stretchable area I'm beautiful widget... I understand that
Thanks Peperm1nt
Dee Ex Two - See Em Seven
I was thinking of trying out theming. That is until I looked at the crap load of images just thrown into one directory. lol. It may not be as hard as it looks but I havent looked any further than that yet. I still want to try something out though. Is there an easy way of figuring out what image does what on the phone? Like if I want to change some things, I have to know the name of the image. Well, to me, it looks like they aren't named plain and simple. Plus when they are just thrown into one directory its kinda hard to distinguish what is what. It was so much easier theming for webOS. lol
Js if u really look at the framework u will see all the images in the drawable hdpi folder are really a lot of the presses..tabs. status bar icons... over scroll glow theming takes a lot of time to build straight from scratch... any .9 PNG can be edited when it is decompiled in apk manager or apk multi tool just don't edit the black patch as peppermint said or u will not compile...
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Kevin3328 said:
Js if u really look at the framework u will see all the images in the drawable hdpi folder are really a lot of the presses..tabs. status bar icons... over scroll glow theming takes a lot of time to build straight from scratch... any .9 PNG can be edited when it is decompiled in apk manager or apk multi tool just don't edit the black patch as peppermint said or u will not compile...
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
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Click to collapse
Yeah, one of these days ill download the tools and play with it. I've always enjoyed theming.
Sent from my MB870 using Tapatalk
I'm just trying to figure out the script to flash, is it the one in the google folder?
Dee Ex Two - See Em Seven
@js I know what you are saying about the desire to do it but the system isn't really what I would say themer friendly! Admittedly I am not the sharpest tool in the shade when it comes to some things (like the Android OS), so I would imagine that plays a big role in my intimidation of the whole thing.
What got me was the De-Compiling and Recompiling of everything just to change something. Not to mention the signatures and etc... perhaps one day someone will write a piece of software (be it windows based or Android in a shell on a PC) that will make it all pretty simple on that part. Till then I will prob. just enjoy and appreciate the work of others.
GL, Slim!
SlimMan said:
@js I know what you are saying about the desire to do it but the system isn't really what I would say themer friendly! Admittedly I am not the sharpest tool in the shade when it comes to some things (like the Android OS), so I would imagine that plays a big role in my intimidation of the whole thing.
What got me was the De-Compiling and Recompiling of everything just to change something. Not to mention the signatures and etc... perhaps one day someone will write a piece of software (be it windows based or Android in a shell on a PC) that will make it all pretty simple on that part. Till then I will prob. just enjoy and appreciate the work of others.
GL, Slim!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I agree about the decompiling and recompiling thing. When I had a webOS phone I created my own theme just by simply replacing the images and restarting the phone. With android, it seems you have to take the whole framework out, theme it and recompile the package file and flash it to the phone. Just seems a bit overwhelming.
Sent from my MB870 using Tapatalk
It's not that bad if you are just changing the images... Just timely. I suggest gimp to do the work. Another tip, some of the images are indexed. In gimp change from indexed to rgb...back to indexed, then rgb. Reason being that you are now able to add any color and doing it twice clears the pixelation...
What gets hard is smali editing and .xml editing. Let me know if you need help there.
Tapin' the Talk on the xSquared
Send a PM to "KTT16" on the Motorola Photon Forums, he is a great themer, let him know what you need help with, tell him you are running stock on the X2, he'll ask you for whatever files he needs, and he will help out.
By the way, if you are at all interested in a signature image, I can create one for you, just PM me, and I'll get on it.
Peperm1nt said:
It's not that bad if you are just changing the images... Just timely. I suggest gimp to do the work. Another tip, some of the images are indexed. In gimp change from indexed to rgb...back to indexed, then rgb. Reason being that you are now able to add any color and doing it twice clears the pixelation...
What gets hard is smali editing and .xml editing. Let me know if you need help there.
Tapin' the Talk on the xSquared
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can batch process in PS.....and what is this bout clearing the pixelation...lol
Thanks I'll check it out
Dee Ex Two - See Em Seven
When you find a indexed image going to rgb pixelates the image...going back to indexed and then to rgb fixes this.
Tapin' the Talk on the xSquared
Peperm1nt said:
When you find a indexed image going to rgb pixelates the image...going back to indexed and then to rgb fixes this.
Tapin' the Talk on the xSquared
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was p playing with you, all my online gaming and forum names have always had pixel, pixelated, pixelation, pixelized or any variety of pixel
Edit: swyponese
Dee Ex Two - See Em Seven
I am trying this out for the 1st time. My main goal is to create a transparent status bar for CM7. Will this make that "patch" I need for this?
Kevin3328 said:
Js if u really look at the framework u will see all the images in the drawable hdpi folder are really a lot of the presses..tabs. status bar icons... over scroll glow theming takes a lot of time to build straight from scratch... any .9 PNG can be edited when it is decompiled in apk manager or apk multi tool just don't edit the black patch as peppermint said or u will not compile...
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
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Click to collapse
i seem to be a complete idiot lol
im sitting here trying to use apk manager and have no clue how to go about it
i cant get it to friggin pull files, i have no clue what im doing tho lol
i been trying to find info on how to use it with the x2 but cant find jack that is actually useful.
time to go eat, clear my head, and get back to researching, im probably just missing something extremely easy i knoow, but hey, i havent had a working computer in years so yea, im kinda learning on the fly here, lol
Lol @ash
In apkm select the apk you want, then decompile... Make edits, recompile.
Tapin' the Talk on the xSquared
I have been theming apps on my phone to give them black backgrounds. The white backgrounds bother my eyes. I'm doing pretty well but I am having a big problem with the LGSettings.apk. I have decompiled the apk and edited the colors.xml, styles.xml and parts of the manifest that i thought might change the theme. I then recompile and run the settings app but I never see any changes. I am trying to figure out what I need to edit to achieve white text on a black background. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I don't have the apks in front of me, but you may need to theme more than that one. I think you'll need:
LGSettings (which you currently themed)
Possibly: LGSettingsAccessibility/LGSettingsProvider
These two may or may not have anything to theme in them, so you may need to decompile to take a look.
Ok. I'm getting there. The background item and textcolor item were lurking in the lge-res.apk. I am still having trouble finding a way to change the blue action bar color (1) and the color of the white section headers (2). Anybody know what these might be called and what apk I need to look in? Thanks a lot!
skyman88882002 said:
Ok. I'm getting there. The background item and textcolor item were lurking in the lge-res.apk. I am still having trouble finding a way to change the blue action bar color (1) and the color of the white section headers (2). Anybody know what these might be called and what apk I need to look in? Thanks a lot!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok. I found the action bar - I used 'Widget.Material.ActionBar.Solid' to hard code the background color. Now I just need somebody to help me find those white section headers. Anybody? Thanks so much!
Well after two hours of poking around the apks I finally figured it out. Pretty easy to make all the changes in lge-res.apk. pm me if interested in doing this kind of theming
skyman88882002 said:
Well after two hours of poking around the apks I finally figured it out. Pretty easy to make all the changes in lge-res.apk. pm me if interested in doing this kind of theming
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome, great work!
I remember doing something similar when I was doing this to my Galaxy S3, trying to find the various apk's where Sammy had changed things. It was a great feeling to find and change things.
skyman88882002 said:
Well after two hours of poking around the apks I finally figured it out. Pretty easy to make all the changes in lge-res.apk. pm me if interested in doing this kind of theming
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HI THERE, I WAS WONDERING IF YOU CAN SHARE THOSE APS's, COUULD YOU MAKE IT POSSIBLE?
elmanolette said:
HI THERE, I WAS WONDERING IF YOU CAN SHARE THOSE APS's, COUULD YOU MAKE IT POSSIBLE?
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Hi. Please in the future don't use all capital letters. I know you didn't mean this in this case, but it's generally considered "shouting", and for longer strings it makes it harder to read. Thanks for understanding.
roirraW "edor" ehT said:
Hi. Please in the future don't use all capital letters. I know you didn't mean this in this case, but it's generally considered "shouting", and for longer strings it makes it harder to read. Thanks for understanding.
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Click to collapse
sorry man, i'm understand!
I definitely intend to share my findings. However right now i am redoing the theming trying to push all the edits into LGsettings. Since I did the editing in the lge-res.apk it has a lot of unintended consequences on other parts of the system
subscribed.
i despise white backgrounds.
Brian
i cant find any color.xml in any stock apps?
skyman88882002 said:
I have been theming apps on my phone to give them black backgrounds. The white backgrounds bother my eyes. I'm doing pretty well but I am having a big problem with the LGSettings.apk. I have decompiled the apk and edited the colors.xml, styles.xml and parts of the manifest that i thought might change the theme. I then recompile and run the settings app but I never see any changes. I am trying to figure out what I need to edit to achieve white text on a black background. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how do you theme? i can never find the color.xml file in any stock app?
Glitch15 said:
how do you theme? i can never find the color.xml file in any stock app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need a deodexed ROM/apk file to decompile to find those resources.
RMarkwald said:
You need a deodexed ROM/apk file to decompile to find those resources.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
my Rom is deodex, can you pm me a step by step guide to get to the color.xml?
it would be nice if you can post a brief guide about theming it.. so people can have benefit.
knowledge is meant to share after all
minhas729 said:
it would be nice if you can post a brief guide about theming it.. so people can have benefit.
knowledge is meant to share after all
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey there! Good to see you on this thread Minhas729. I'm really sorry for the delay, I have just been slammed on the home front and haven't had time to play around with this stuff.
I'm still not happy with the theming I'm doing but I plan on posting my work in process files in the next 5 or 6 days.
In the meantime, let me share my knowledge (it isn't much!)
I think I am going to change the thread title to Theming for Dummies (Like Me) (anybody know how to change a thread title?). so step one will be in the next post.....
OVERVIEW
(Ok - so here is a quick overview of the theming process as I do it. Again, I am just a novice and I just stumble around so if I get the terms incorrect forgive me.
1) The first step in theming an apk is to decompile the apk. Unzipping the apk is not going to work. This is because there are special files like styles.xml and colors.xml that are hidden in a 'values' folder in the res directory. As far as I know, you cannot access these special files by simply unzipping the apk.
2) To decompile you need an apk tool - I use 'Tickle My Android' (I'm going to call it TMA going forward) - it has a great developer with excellent instructions. The way decompiling works is you first have to create a mini-work area on your computer. You do this by decompiling and installing the framework-res and lge-res apks from your phone to your computer. TMA needs these files to decompile other apps because most apps reference a bunch of things in the framework-res and lge-res files Installing TMA is pretty easy and the instructions on the thread are excellent. The only issue I had was finding a good version of apktool.jar to use in conjunction with TMA - one that worked well with marshmallow apks. The apktool is the actual tool that does all the work - TMA (in my understanding) is simply a very well designed user interface to use the apktool. So you need an apktool that will recognize marshmallow files and be able to decompile them. I use "apktool_2.1.0-a64a03-SNAPSHOT"" as my apktool.jar file.
3) Once an apk is decompiled, all the apk components will be saved in a 'working' folder. You can then go in and edit colors and and styles using an xml editor.
4) Once you have made your edits you use TMA to recompile and sign the apk. Then you move the file back to your phone, place it in the proper device directory, fix permissions, reboot and cross your fingers.
Ok - that is the overview - go off and start trying it. One suggestion - dont try to push files from the phone to the pc with TMA - just use your usb cable.
more to come...
skyman88882002 said:
I think I am going to change the thread title to Theming for Dummies (Like Me) (anybody know how to change a thread title?). so step one will be in the next post.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Edit your first post in a web browser. Choose Advanced mode and there'll be a field to edit the title.
Below are links to download the themed lge-res.apk and lgsettings.apk. MAKE A BACKUP FIRST (I'm not responsible for anything that goes wrong if you try these files). Once downloaded you will need to use a root browser to copy the files to the appropriate system directory and to change the permissions. Keep in mind, this is a work in process, if you enter settings and click on the bluetooth or wifi sections you will notice that the background is not themed yet. I'll repost when these are fixed.
lge-res.apk download link
LGSettings.apk download link
Keep in mind that you have to install both files if you want the full black background.
Ok. I think I worked out most of the bugs. The files are now set up in a flashable zip. Test it out and let me know if you see any issues. If it is working well I will start a new thread in the Themes section and work on the systemui as well. Thanks. Download link below:
download