Sorry for all the questions lately, even though I'll probably have more.
I'm working on the SystemUI.apk from IE20 and my method of compiling consists of using the keep folder method and deleting all the files I changed with apk manager 4.9.
Now I can change the Status_bar.xml and status_bar_tracking.xml without a hitch, however if I delete status_bar_expanded.xml from the keep folder (whether I change anything in it or not) I get force closes when I get it loaded onto my phone.
There's no error in the log so I'm pretty lost...So I was wondering if there's something else I have to do that anyone knows of?
Thanks if you can help!
The only thing that should be deleted are images that you edited (if you didn't edit any images just leave the folder). But if you edited ANY xml ONLY delete the resourses.arc from the keep folder. But don't delete any individual xml's from keep. And yes the size will change because of the compression used in apk mgr.
good day.
chopper the dog said:
The only thing that should be deleted are images that you edited (if you didn't edit any images just leave the folder). But if you edited ANY xml ONLY delete the resourses.arc from the keep folder. But don't delete any individual xml's from keep. And yes the size will change because of the compression used in apk mgr.
good day.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the response,
However, by not deleting the xmls I edited in the keep folder it seems it just replaces them with the stock files.
Soo...This stopped the force closes, but none of my edits took.
Maybe it's time to to switch to a linux build environment...I'm frustrated to say the least. Google'd every possible problem and nothing...
EDIT: But before I do that could someone possibly try to compile this SystemUI.apk with a color edit in the res/layout/status_bar_expanded file?
Would highly appreciate this ^^^
Related
Posted it here because i need a dev.
I pulled my Framework-res.apk and modified all the icons for everything. I decompiled using apktool.
My question is what steps do i take now (do i need to sign it, what a good tool to recompile it as apktool does and gives me a framework-res.apk but caused my phone not to boot up)..also someone said seomthing about resources.arsc or something..not sure where to go...thanks for your help.
Open ur new apk using 7zip (righr click>7zip>open archive) and do the same with ur old one. Delete the resources.xxxx(i dont know the name by heart lol) and drag and drop the one (by one i meant the resources.xxxx file) from the new zip to the old zip and adb push ur old frameworkres apk and reboot
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA App
kpkimmel said:
Posted it here because i need a dev.
I pulled my Framework-res.apk and modified all the icons for everything. I decompiled using apktool.
My question is what steps do i take now (do i need to sign it, what a good tool to recompile it as apktool does and gives me a framework-res.apk but caused my phone not to boot up)..also someone said seomthing about resources.arsc or something..not sure where to go...thanks for your help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sounds more like a question. Use apk manager and or 7zip
how does just that one file carry over all the new pics and stuff i changed...
edited......
What exactly have you edited? If you just change non patch9 images... then you can just drag and drop the new images into the apk (may have to rename apk to zip).
If they are patch9's... you need to..
decompile framework-res.apk (apktool d framework-res.apk)
swap out images
recompile (apktool b framework-res)
Now take the newly compiled apk (in the /dist folder). Open it up and take the edited images (only the ones you need changed) and put them into your original apk.
No need to resign just push it to your phone and verify that it works
If you are editing xml files in /values* or /layout..
do the same as above, except after re-compiling, you're going to swap over the resources.arsc file to the original apk.
This is using apktool... in my experience apk manager doesn't do the job to my expectations... so i just do it manually with apktool.
Lemme know if u need anything more, or if i didnt touch on a specific situation.
Btw, maybe to combat the retarded comments about q&a and being in the right section... maybe turn the OP into a How-To?
preludedrew said:
What exactly have you edited? If you just change non patch9 images... then you can just drag and drop the new images into the apk (may have to rename apk to zip).
If they are patch9's... you need to..
decompile framework-res.apk (apktool d framework-res.apk)
swap out images
recompile (apktool b framework-res)
Now take the newly compiled apk (in the /dist folder). Open it up and take the edited images (only the ones you need changed) and put them into your original apk.
No need to resign just push it to your phone and verify that it works
If you are editing xml files in /values* or /layout..
do the same as above, except after re-compiling, you're going to swap over the resources.arsc file to the original apk.
This is using apktool... in my experience apk manager doesn't do the job to my expectations... so i just do it manually with apktool.
Lemme know if u need anything more, or if i didnt touch on a specific situation.
Btw, maybe to combat the retarded comments about q&a and being in the right section... maybe turn the OP into a How-To?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much..finally...one last question, where do i put the wallpaper so when the system is fully booted it shows the wallpaper i want? Thanks.
kpkimmel said:
Thank you very much..finally...one last question, where do i put the wallpaper so when the system is fully booted it shows the wallpaper i want? Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's an xml edit for it... but forgot it off the top of my head... quickest way is to replace system/customize/resource/shows_over.jpg with your image.
preludedrew said:
There's an xml edit for it... but forgot it off the top of my head... quickest way is to replace system/customize/resource/shows_over.jpg with your image.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks you, sorry about the stupid framework-res question...i knew the answer but had been so long forget the simplest of steps....instead of normal compression i was using store instead.....duh.......thank you though for the reminder because 7zip will automatically restore the same it was decompressed with, unlike that crap winrar. Have a good one man and thank you again.
This guide will explain how to theme your Dialer for firmwares 2.2 and higher. This will very likely only work on De-Odexedroms. If you're not sure what deodexed is, it is not Dell Stock, if you have a custom ROM check with the Chef.
I will make this as easy as possible. This is for windows. The only tools you should need is 7zip and a good image editor, like Photoshop, Paint.net or GIMP.
I will attach an DialerTheme.zip with custom Contacts.apk and a stock Phone.apk to use.
Theming Contacts.apk, will customize the things you see before placing a call.
Theming Phone.apk, will customize images during or in-call.
For Dialer background in Contacts before calling, I recommend using an 800x800 .png, make sure its not just renamed .png but actually saved as a .png
This can be a photo, picture or solid color, whatever you desire. Name this "custom_dialer_background.png" without quotes and with the underscores.
I will explain how to copy this to the .apk, most will know how to do this, but I will explain. With 7zip installed, right click on my DialerTheme.zip, choose 7zip, then mouseover to ..open archive. then double click on \system folder, then double click \app folder, then double click contacts.apk, double click \res folder, then double click \drawable-long-finger folder. Now simply drag and drop your custom_dialer_background.png into this folder. It will ask you if you want to replace. Say Ok or yes. Don't worry it doesn't move, just copies and keeps your original. Next do the same and copy to \drawable-long-land-finger and also \drawable-mdpi-finger. Now close the window and it should ask yo to update the archive, say Ok or yes. Done. That's it for contacts and the 1st dialer.
The next one is a bit trickier and may take a bit more time. It involves .9.pngs, which are stretchable images and can be difficult to work with. Lets make it easy for our selves. Again open DialerTheme.zip as an archive with 7zip and navigate to Phone.apk\res\drawable-hdpi. we need to copy the first 5 files from here to your desktop, or a folder to make things neater.
These are:
bg_in_call_gradient_bluetooth.9.png,
bg_in_call_gradient_connected.9.png,
bg_in_call_gradient_ended.9.png,
bg_in_call_gradient_on_hold.9.png, and
bg_in_call_gradient_unidentified.9.png
A quick way to do this is to open any one with your photo editor and make your changes, (eg.paste your picture or image). The ones I am using are 480x754, but I think it should be fine using the same 800x800 from before. If you start adding layers to it though it may not save correctly, I find copy/paste works just fine. Now save and it should retain the .9.png extension. You can either do the remaining 4 or just open the 1st one and choose save as: bg_in_call_gradient_connected.9.png,(or even a copy and rename should work) just make sure it naturally retains the .9.png extension which already contains the boundaries and data we need. When you have all 5 looking as you wish with .9.png extension still intact, we can then move these to our zip in the same location( mulit-move by holding CTRL while selecting all 5). It will ask if you want to overwrite say yes. Also copy these 5 files to phone\res\drawable-long-finger, and say ok to overwrite.
Now we need these same 5 for a landscape view in-call. So you either rotate them, if it doesn't compromise your image. These images are also normal .png's, so they will not stretch. You may need to crop them, or expand your canvas. The ones I am using are 802x477 and look just fine. When you have all 5 name them as before except without .9. (I wouldnt recommend just renaming a .9.png to .png, although it would probably work, I suggest opening a.9 and saving it as .png first then copying and renaming should be fine. Same 5 filenames as before without .9
bg_in_call_gradient_bluetooth.png,
bg_in_call_gradient_connected.png,
bg_in_call_gradient_ended.png,
bg_in_call_gradient_on_hold.png, and
bg_in_call_gradient_unidentified.png
copy these like we did before to phone\res\drawable-long-land-finger.
Close the archive when finished and it should ask you to update, say OK. Thats it. Now place on SD Card and flash in recovery.
This doesn't theme anything else, but you can change all the other images yourself in the same manner. Try making the buttons transparent,etc! Just remember to retain the .9.png or it will not display correctly.
Because we have done it this way, if you try to decompile and rebuild it is likely you will get "missing .9.chunk data, etc." But we shouldnt need to decompile again, all images can be drag and dropped.
This method should not have any problems, bootloops, stuck at logos, because were only swapping out .png's, If anything you may get an immediate force close when trying to open phone or contacts, likely becuase an image is missing/named incorrectly or the size is too far from the original.(which I think android will still try to display...up to a point)
There is also a .zip in next post to return to stock phone and contacts.apk
If you need further assistance, search, then post here and we will try to help.
reserved
Update: custom background will now be on all screens!
If no one else makes a transparent buttons-so you can see your whole wallpaper-theme, I may do it when I have time. This theme also doesn't change any background in your contact list, etc. Those will still be black. I can change those as well and may do so in an update. If so, it will use the same image as custom_dialer_background.
::bump::
The secret sauce...
great post
Howdy
I'm glad you posted this, I have been PM'ing peolpe to try and found out how to do this, not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but might you have something similiar for the keyboard??
THanks again for the post.
I tried to decompile, modify 1 xml file and recompile the framework-res.apk.
But everytime I do it, I either get into a boot loop, or when In succeed it displays glitches (like notification bar, and messed up lock screen, and settings)
This is for AURORA ICS 4.0.3 and I do have the latest aapt.exe file .. so I don't know what is wrong!
I tried to use the original framework-res but replace the resources file inside, stored and compressed methods.
Tried to get the compiled framework-res but add the META-INF and Manifest file (again, both with compressed and stored resources file) and always.. it just glitches or bootloops.. and the mod that I tried (ICS on screen buttons or the CRT effect when you switch off the screen, mainly used in Oxygen roms, but it's available in all ROMs).. it never works.. only glitches the lock screen, notification bar etc..
Any help?
Thanks.
I might know the answer to this..
Which files are you modifying in framework-res? And how are you pushing it back to your phone?
Sent from my U20i using xda premium
Would be great
I am modifying some files in the values folder, bools.xml, arrays.xml .. but even if I edit bools.xml alone, it still glitches.
To push it back: I go to recovery mode on my phone, plug it into my linux machine (the system partition mounts), paste the new framework-res.apk to replace the old one, fix permissions (otherwise it boot loops), and restart the phone. This method works for other files and never had any problems, like the android.policy.jar
Would be great if you can help me. Thanks
Well, the XML files you're editing are all part of resources.arsc so it's something to do with that which is causing the problem. I used to get all sorts of annoying bugs when I edited anything in resources.arsc and I eventually found out that I was pushing the final apk back to the phone incorrectly.
I use a Windows PC, not Linux, so I might not be that helpful but this is what I do to modify and replace framework-res.apk. Hopefully it'll help. What I do is..
Decompile framework-res.apk
Make my changes
Recompile the file
Use a program like 7zip to open the old and the new files
Drag and drop the "res" folder from the new file into the old
Extract resources.arsc from the new framework-res.apk and add it to the old one in "STORE" mode, so it's not actually compressed
Go into recovery, mount the system partition and push the old file
..and that's it. Works a charm every time.
I would have thought that you would need to do the same thing on Linux but with the additional step of correcting the permissions. If you do all that and it still doesn't work, then there has to be a problem with the actual mod you're trying to do.
Thank you very much, I actually tried that method. It sort of worked, but everytime it breaks the notification bar. It becomes like double the size and I'm not sure why.
Thanks.
Then the issue must be with the modification itself. What exactly are you changing to what?
Sent from my U20i using xda premium
I tried different ones.. but even a simple one.. enable CRT animation.. which is pretty much open bools.xml and edit one true to false.. it breaks it :/
I´m having bit of a strange issue. I´ve been editing a Mms.apk by decompling it with apktool and then chaning png, editing xml files ( I Use dreamwaver cs6, but have tried with notepad++ too) and the likes.
But when I then recompile the apk something strange happens to the data stored in the xml files, like it gets encrypted or messed up somehow. They still work tho since Ive pushed the Mms.apk to my system/app and the changes I´ve made are clearly shown+working.
But it makes it difficult incase I want to redo some changes in the XML files by decompiling the new Mms.apk.
I´ve uploaded one xml file with the changes ive made, and then the same after it has been recompiled to my dropbox.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/p52d74uxtwjmf09/VmhoP1raEG
Hope someone knows why it ends up like that.
bump
So there is this PinyinMe keyboard which looks the most like an iphone keyboard which I like as my phone is an iPhone Replica.
1. So the things I want to do is change the APK to a normal APK but I only know the way by TitaniumBackup but this app aint installed so it doesnt work.
2. The next thing I want to do is edit the APK xml files so I can remove all the chinese signs in it and change it to normal letters (mainly english).
- I already tried this but the APK wont install
3. If this is all working, I would like to make a second version of it which has AZERTY keyboard instead of QWERTY.
Please, I would really apreciate it and others too.
bOyka8 said:
So there is this PinyinMe keyboard which looks the most like an iphone keyboard which I like as my phone is an iPhone Replica.
1. So the things I want to do is change the APK to a normal APK but I only know the way by TitaniumBackup but this app aint installed so it doesnt work.
2. The next thing I want to do is edit the APK xml files so I can remove all the chinese signs in it and change it to normal letters (mainly english).
- I already tried this but the APK wont install
3. If this is all working, I would like to make a second version of it which has AZERTY keyboard instead of QWERTY.
Please, I would really apreciate it and others too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's the APK and OBEX which I forgot to add
http://www.mediafire.com/?216cm8rcgi2z5m8
I really hope someone can help me out with this !
Ok so in this ZIP file is the original APK that you can just install and use. Also the one I edited which gives App not installed.
Can anyone look into this please??
http://www.mediafire.com/?216cm8rcgi2z5m8
bOyka8 said:
Ok so in this ZIP file is the original APK that you can just install and use. Also the one I edited which gives App not installed.
Can anyone look into this please??
http://www.mediafire.com/?216cm8rcgi2z5m8
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have two files in the zip. One is an .apk and the other is an .odex file.
I saw this thread as I was browsing around and came across your GooApple thread.
I am not sure what your level of expertise is, but basically, an apk from a manufacturer comes in two parts (.apk and .odex). If you want to edit the app, you must either edit both the .apk and .odex files, or you can 'deodex' the file which basically takes the contents of the .odex file and places it inside the .apk file.
If you have deodexed an apk file (removed the need for the .odex), you no longer need the .odex file. In this way, you get 'deodexed' ROMs with no .odex files inside. These are much easier to edit and work with.
There are lots of tutorials to find out more about this and about deodexing and editing .apk files if you search.
Here is a good starting point
If you are already aware of this, I apologise
nobnut said:
You have two files in the zip. One is an .apk and the other is an .odex file.
I saw this thread as I was browsing around and came across your GooApple thread.
I am not sure what your level of expertise is, but basically, an apk from a manufacturer comes in two parts (.apk and .odex). If you want to edit the app, you must either edit both the .apk and .odex files, or you can 'deodex' the file which basically takes the contents of the .odex file and places it inside the .apk file.
If you have deodexed an apk file (removed the need for the .odex), you no longer need the .odex file. In this way, you get 'deodexed' ROMs with no .odex files inside. These are much easier to edit and work with.
There are lots of tutorials to find out more about this and about deodexing and editing .apk files if you search.
Here is a good starting point
If you are already aware of this, I apologise
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey man, thanks for giving me this information.
I did read about deodexing but havent had the time to look it up. And I think TBP does the deodex (I could be wrong) when changing the system app to a user app.
Anyways, I have been able to edit the xml & png's, but whenever I try to install the newly created APK, I get the error : App not installed.
Maybe this deodexing can do the trick, I'll test it out once I find 30min of free time ^^
Titanium backup doesn't deodex the .apk. That is why you are having the issue. You can swap pngs etc without decompiling, but to edit smali and some xmls etc you have to decompile... it is much easier if you have first deodexed your apk to remove the .odex file.
nobnut said:
Titanium backup doesn't deodex the .apk. That is why you are having the issue. You can swap pngs etc without decompiling, but to edit smali and some xmls etc you have to decompile... it is much easier if you have first deodexed your apk to remove the .odex file.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did recompile a working APK, but when I put it all back together and try as a system/normal app and do zipalign or no zipalign, I always get an error or just a crash. But probably deodexing will do the trick.
Hopefully I'll get some time this week for doing it cause its like:
Wake up - Eat - Job - Eat - Sleep - Eat - Soccer - Eat - Sleep
The life of a mailman