[Q] Build Phone.apk from Source using Eclipse - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Is it possible to build an app from source using Eclipse?
Nelson made a small hack to the CM9 Phone app to fix the mute/unmute bug. I would like to use this for CM7.2.
I decompiled the phone.apk but I'm not fluent in smali. Also, I don't run Linux, so I want to use the source code for the CM7.2 Phone app, add in Nelson's fix and compile it with Eclipse.
I'm looking for some guidance with doing this.

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[DEV] Need help porting CM5 to the mini pro.

Hello, I am trying to compile CyanogenMod 5.0.8 (eclair) to the mini pro.
I chose this version because it will probably have almost everything working since the latest kernel on the x10 mini pro supports eclair.
however when I try to compile the eclair branch from the cyanogenmod source I get the following error.
Code:
error: revision eclair in CyanogenMod/android_external_webkit not found
I've looked on the internet for a solution and found something about removing a line from manifest.xml, but I haven't been able to locate it. Is there no hope for porting CM5 over then?
Greetings, Mike
what manifest.xml do you mean coz every app has an manifest.xml
please give us some information about this
edit:
i think you need the manifest.xml from browser.apk
coz its a problem with the external webkit this is the browser
and if you decompile browser.apk there is an manifest.xml (like every app has xD)
edit 2:
i've attached the original 2.1 SE Manifest.xml
Thanks, but this goes beyond my knowledge.
I think I'm going to start up trying to port a nice gingerbread theme including animations and will take a look at porting CM6 over. I have owned an android tablet before so I have some basic knowledge.

[Q] Rom source code?

If I understand android correctly the kernel source has to be open. And the Google rom source is also open (AOSP, right?) But what about the rom, like das bamf, source. Is it open and able to be downloaded?
The HTC Sense Framework and related applications are not open source. You modify it by decompiling to bytecode and manually editing the results.
Ok so lets take the GB roms. They are based off the GB leak. So what does "based off" mean in that context. Are they tweaking source files or are they tweaking xml, build.prop, etc. files? This might be asking a too complicated question, but lets take das bamf sense 3.0, they took the GB leak, and then added the Sense 3.0 Framework on top, I understand then resized images and such, but what had to be "done" to make it work? Find working apks for camera and such?
What I am getting at, is I am curious about Rom development. I am going to start small, thinking CM7 over on the Nook Color, seems like a good device to mess around on. And I know that source is available due to it being built from AOSP, but I was wondering about the Roms built off of, say, MR1 that is delivered by Verizon.
There is no source to the gingerbread leak or for any of the leaks based on sense, rom creators just do what I said in my last post. That's how it's done for anything build off of sense period.
If you dont believe me, try googling for "htc sense source code" and see how far that gets you. If that still doesnt make sense, google "decompile code"
If you want actual source code, you have to stick with building off of roms created with the Android Open Source Project like CM and OMFGB.
Oh I believe you. Thanks for the info, that is what I was curious about. So most of the Sense development is in a hex editor? Interesting.
you could hex edit, but there's easier ways. Google for apktool and dalvik bytecode instructions
Thanks. That info is very helpful in understanding all of this stuff.
sure, good luck

[Q] New rom (or just launcher)?

The first thing I want to say is that my English is not really good. I hope you understand my questions.
I have an idea for a new Android rom, but I'm faced with a dilemma. I want to have as much as possible supported devices, so I also can just build a launcher apk which can be installed through Google Play. In this way all mobile devices with the minimal platform version can use it. The biggest problem is that I don't only want a replacement for the application launcher but also the notification drawer and everything else. Is it possible to replace them also? I don't think so, so I think I'll work on a custom rom.
The next problem is which base rom I would use if I really build a custom rom. It's most likely to use AOSP as base because it's clean. The question is which version of AOSP: Gingerbread, Ice Cream Sandwich, or the newest version Jelly Bean. You would probably say Jelly Bean because this is the newest version. The problem is the phone support. Gingerbread is supported on most phones. If I build ICS or JB the phones which are supported by Cyanogenmod are easy to support, because I can use their device files. The only problem is that my phone, the Samsung Galaxy Gio is not officially supported and the unofficial port is not really stable. I don't think it's a big problem to use this device files and just wait till the developer makes it more stable, but I don't know for sure.
The last thing I want to know is if it's really that simple to support multiple devices. If I read tutorials about porting existing roms to your device they all say you just have to add your device files to the source and compile it. But they never say something about the kernel. Most devices need another kernel because their hardware is different isn't it? Please explain me how this works.
I'm sorry about this hazy story, but please help me before I make wrong choices. Thanks on purpose.
Wietse
WietsedeVries said:
The biggest problem is that I don't only want a replacement for the application launcher but also the notification drawer and everything else. Is it possible to replace them also? I don't think so, so I think I'll work on a custom rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
These changes you are talking about can be done. They are system changes so not supported by the android app installer.
Eg: Your notification drawer, status bar are part of SystemUI.apk. The source for this is can be found in the AOSP source code under android/frameworks/base/...
You can make your modifications, compile it into an apk and then make a flashable zip to replace the current one (or push it via a rooted adb console).
or you can compile the entire source code into a flashable zip (eg CM7,9 etc..) and use it a replacement ROM with your modifications.
This is the line between an application under the android runtime and the android runtime itself.
these files, under framework are part of the OS. so to provide a customized version of the operating itself is what people like to call ROMs.
Now ROMs (like any OS) are device dependant. Windows has the code to run in a lot of different hardware configs, but android aims to be small. It should have only the minimum required code to efficiently run itself on a device.
Thats the kernel. The kernel communicates with the hardware and so the rest of the hardware can happily talk to a working kernel and expect the hardware to function as advertised. Kernel is a simple program which goes into the RAM on system start and sits there directing the operation of the phone.
Kernel devs work on making sure the hardware and the android runtime work perfectly together. Now, in this imperfect world, not all sources are open, even though they should be. and therein the issue lies.
If you want to compile android from source and make sure it works on your phone, first you need to make sure you have the kernel with all the changes(patches) to it made by the vendor (chap who made the phone and bullied you into buying it) to get it working on your hardware.
If you dont have that, you have to do it yourself. Or wait for someone else to do it.
once you can compile android and get it working on your phone with all the itty bitty hardware working A-OK.. then you can browse through the source, make changes as per your individual requirements and compile it into a ROM.
see the changes to the OS are separate from the changes to the kernel. The kernel changes are for hardware-software interaction so they are phone SPECIFIC.
but changes to your custom android OS (ROM) can be "cherry-picked" from other ROM/gerrit/AOSP/CM/AOKP sources and put inside your own source tree to get included in your build.
so if you have all the device / kernel stuff from a working android distribution, you can take the source of another android distribution and swap the device stuff into it and see if it works.
hope this helps.
wingie6200 said:
These changes you are talking about can be done. They are system changes so not supported by the android app installer.
Eg: Your notification drawer, status bar are part of SystemUI.apk. The source for this is can be found in the AOSP source code under android/frameworks/base/...
You can make your modifications, compile it into an apk and then make a flashable zip to replace the current one (or push it via a rooted adb console).
or you can compile the entire source code into a flashable zip (eg CM7,9 etc..) and use it a replacement ROM with your modifications.
This is the line between an application under the android runtime and the android runtime itself.
these files, under framework are part of the OS. so to provide a customized version of the operating itself is what people like to call ROMs.
Now ROMs (like any OS) are device dependant. Windows has the code to run in a lot of different hardware configs, but android aims to be small. It should have only the minimum required code to efficiently run itself on a device.
Thats the kernel. The kernel communicates with the hardware and so the rest of the hardware can happily talk to a working kernel and expect the hardware to function as advertised. Kernel is a simple program which goes into the RAM on system start and sits there directing the operation of the phone.
Kernel devs work on making sure the hardware and the android runtime work perfectly together. Now, in this imperfect world, not all sources are open, even though they should be. and therein the issue lies.
If you want to compile android from source and make sure it works on your phone, first you need to make sure you have the kernel with all the changes(patches) to it made by the vendor (chap who made the phone and bullied you into buying it) to get it working on your hardware.
If you dont have that, you have to do it yourself. Or wait for someone else to do it.
once you can compile android and get it working on your phone with all the itty bitty hardware working A-OK.. then you can browse through the source, make changes as per your individual requirements and compile it into a ROM.
see the changes to the OS are separate from the changes to the kernel. The kernel changes are for hardware-software interaction so they are phone SPECIFIC.
but changes to your custom android OS (ROM) can be "cherry-picked" from other ROM/gerrit/AOSP/CM/AOKP sources and put inside your own source tree to get included in your build.
so if you have all the device / kernel stuff from a working android distribution, you can take the source of another android distribution and swap the device stuff into it and see if it works.
hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very very much for your explanation! It's a pity it's impossible to hit multiple times "Thanks".
I think I'm going to make a modified SystemUI.apk but you didn't tell the application launcher is also in this file. Did you just forget this or is this stored in another file/folder? And the lock screen? And I want also to replace the boot animation if it's possible.
If I take the source files of the SystemUI.apk of AOSP ICS, does this work on every phone running ICS? Included CM, AOKP and other (smaller) custom roms? And my last question: Since SystemUI.apk a apk file is, is it possible to edit these files through Eclipse and build it in Eclipse? Or do I get errors?
//Edit:
Still another question: How much work is it to, as example, port a modified Gingerbread SystemUI.apk to ICS? (Or vice versa)
WietsedeVries said:
Thank you very very much for your explanation! It's a pity it's impossible to hit multiple times "Thanks".
I think I'm going to make a modified SystemUI.apk but you didn't tell the application launcher is also in this file. Did you just forget this or is this stored in another file/folder? And the lock screen? And I want also to replace the boot animation if it's possible.
If I take the source files of the SystemUI.apk of AOSP ICS, does this work on every phone running ICS? Included CM, AOKP and other (smaller) custom roms? And my last question: Since SystemUI.apk a apk file is, is it possible to edit these files through Eclipse and build it in Eclipse? Or do I get errors?
//Edit:
Still another question: How much work is it to, as example, port a modified Gingerbread SystemUI.apk to ICS? (Or vice versa)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only way is through exchanging the png files since porting the whole .apk is impossible.
Sent from my Jelly Beaned Ace
Thanks for the answer. And do you also know the answers of the other questions?
Sent from my GT-S5660 using xda app-developers app
WietsedeVries said:
If I take the source files of the SystemUI.apk of AOSP ICS, does this work on every phone running ICS? Included CM, AOKP and other (smaller) custom roms? And my last question: Since SystemUI.apk a apk file is, is it possible to edit these files through Eclipse and build it in Eclipse? Or do I get errors?
//Edit:
Still another question: How much work is it to, as example, port a modified Gingerbread SystemUI.apk to ICS? (Or vice versa)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are two roads you can go now - one is use apktool to *decompile* apk the apk file that you've taken from your phone, it doesnt convert the app to java source code but java bytecode in .smali files (like an assembly version of the source) but you will have access to the resource files (xml, images etc..) so you can replace them and create some new themes.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1814441
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1760133
And no - a GB systemUI.apk will *NOT* work on ICS. It is very probable that any changes you make through any of these methods can brick you phone. So make sure you have CWM and a nandroid backup.
If you want to add/edit functionality within the source code of systemUI.apk, you need to learn how to compile Android from Source. i would suggest getting hold of the CyanogenMod source tree for your device and playing around with it.
Ginger bread is CM7 and ICS is CM9.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1552090
once you have the full source tree, you'll find a folder called android/frameworks/base/core/...something../systemui/..
this will contain the javasource code for your application. Here you can edit stuff to your hearts content!
Note that this cannot be compiled standalone by eclipse. The Android build system must be used to compile this (cuz its a system app).
a nice resource i used when i was doing the same thing :laugh:
http://iserveandroid.blogspot.in/2011/01/how-to-implement-your-own-status-bar.html
cheers and have fun.

Building AOSP camera app in eclipse

is this even possible ? has anyone succeeded in doing this ?
i'm currently trying to compile gallery2 and camera app from the aosp source (it seems they are intertwined)
but having numerous (3k+) errors in the source code..
must be a proper way to get into this
any help would be appreciated.
You must have jar file with class which you need to compile it(which generated with start compile AOSP). Best way is Compile AOSP and get Camera.apk ( in which temat i read this)

[Q] Building a specific apk from source.

Quick question.
Can you download one specific apk from Android source and then just compile that or do you have to download the entire source, compile the entire rom and pick out the one apk?
Id like to look at adding/merging some things to Mms.apk which I cant do just through apktool/xml but if it requires a full build environment Ill have to add it to the pile of things to get round to
Never really looked at compiling from source, tend to stick to what I know (which isnt a lot!)

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