Enable Copy & Paste on the Nook Tablet - Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet

Enable Copy & Paste on the Nook Tablet​
Background
The lack of copy & paste functionality on the Nook Tablet is one of the most annoying "features" of the B&N firmware and it affects not just geeks like me but also the average user. This thread and this thread are two of many, many threads complaining about the missing copy & paste. This thread proposes a "fix" by combining the Hacker's Keyboard and Swype, but is still really lame.
The method I will describe here solves the problem by replacing /system/framework/framework.jar which contains the code for Android widgets like text fields. I have merged into the stock /syste/framework/framework.jar the code responsible for copy & paste from the Android source code.
Instructions
Video walkthrough: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7V70a3FYbt4
0. Before you proceed, know that THIS IS EXPERIMENTAL SOFTWARE THAT PROBABLY VOIDS YOUR WARRANTY AND MAY PERMANENTLY OR TEMPORARILY BRICK YOUR TABLET. Even though it worked for me, it may not work for you, and worse, it is quite possible that it could cause your tablet to boot-loop or die. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY POSSIBLE DAMAGES TO YOUR TABLET / ANYTHING ELSE CAUSED BY THIS METHOD. BY USING IT YOU AGREE TO ASSUME ALL RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS.
1. Your tablet needs to be rooted for this to work. If you have not rooted it yet, search this forum for instructions.
2. Since we will be copying files to /system, you will need to install ES File Explorer or Root Explorer or whatever other app that allows you to do that.
3. Download the file that corresponds to your OS version from below:
1.4.2 (16GB/8GB): http://www.mediafire.com/?5pf2aegq02194lq MD5: ef35d35daffd0d9574f48a43ccc4b58c​1.4.0 (16GB): http://www.mediafire.com/?es6gd31wzr7yk8a MD5: 99d2e7eff173fbdc77c79b4f4a6ff53c
The 1.4.0 version has been reported to cause boot loops for some people, while it has worked for others. You have been warned.​If you're on a different OS version, post the file /system/framework/framework.jar form your tablet and I will make a package for it.
4. Extract file contents to microSD card, and insert microSD card into the tablet.
5. Using ES File Explorer / Root Explorer, copy the extracted file framework.jar.new to the directory /system/framework/. (If you're using ES File Explorer, make sure "Up to Root", "Root Explorer", and "Mount File System" are checked in settings.)
6. Copy the extracted file uim-sysfs to /system/bin/.
7. Go to /system/bin/, and change the permissions of the file uim-sysfs to executable. (If using ES File Explorer, long press -> Properties -> Change -> Check everything under "execute".)
8. Power off tablet and power on again. The tablet should take much longer to boot this time than normally, so no need to worry. When the tablet boots up, you will most likely see lots of force close dialogs. This is normal.
9. Wait one minute. You could be stuck in a boot loop if you don't wait.
10. Power off tablet and power on yet again. This time it should also take much longer to boot; the boot times will return to normal after several reboots.
11. Profit.
Force close issues
The first time you run some (read most) apps after applying this hack would likely result in force closes. While annoying, there is no way to get around it due to how the Dalvik VM caches references to /system/framework/framework.jar. In addition, every time you install new apps or update apps, you will have to reboot the machine before those apps are usable; you will get a force close when you try to use those apps until you reboot.
The solution is simply to reboot your tablet each time you get a force close error from an app that worked fine before this hack. The force close error for that particular app should go away following a reboot. If you get a force close from another app after that, just reboot again.
How it works
The information below is for people interested in understanding how this stuff works. If you just wanted to enable copy and paste on your tablet, you can stop reading.
This hack is based on the exploit explained at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1534518. The uim-sysfs script in the attached file saves the stock /system/framework/framework.jar, copies over my modified framework.jar.new, and restarts the zygote process. After the zygote process has loaded my framework.jar.new, the uim-sysfs script restores the stock /system/framework/framework.jar so that /init will not bail on the next boot.
To enable copy & paste in /system/framework/framework.jar, I decompiled the stock implementation and merged in related code from AOSP. The two classes I changed are android.widget.TextView and android.widget.EditText. For android.widget.EditText, I simply used the AOSP implementation because the only difference between the two was in the enabling of copy & paste. I manually merged android.widget.TextView because there appears to be B&N enhancements in it in addition to disabling copy & paste.
The exact steps I took as well as a diff of my modifications are documented in post #12.
Disclaimer
Again, this is experimental software. That it worked for me does not mean it will work for you, or that it won't brick your tablet. I am not responsible for any possible damages resulting from using this method.

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Here i post framework.jar from stock 1.4.0 rooted
~ Veronica

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lavero.burgos said:
Here i post framework.jar from stock 1.4.0 rooted
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK. Looks like the framework.jar from 1.4.0 is different from 1.4.2; I've merged in the same changes. If you're feeling brave, the package I've made for 1.4.0 is here.
MD5: 99d2e7eff173fbdc77c79b4f4a6ff53c
Can you confirm whether this works?

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16gb Nootlet with 1.4.0 rom, rooted, OTA blocked yada yada.
Stayed at the "read forever" screen almost forever, then finally started up. Fellow victims take note, it isn't dead so be patient.
Lots of FC, the last persistent one was the launcher (ADW ipaidforthis version)
Powered off and on again after waiting way longer than 1 minute.
Second boot forever at "read forever" screen so far.
If it comes back to life I'll try the 1.4.0 version & let you know.
[Edited to add}
... time passes ...
Any way out of the "ADWLauncherEX" force-close loop? Does Android have a "safe mode" boot option like Windows? (sorry)
No, I haven't installed CWM recovery yet. Remind me to do that if this thing ever gets over its mental breakdown.

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jichuan89 said:
OK. Looks like the framework.jar from 1.4.0 is different from 1.4.2; I've merged in the same changes. If you're feeling brave, the package I've made for 1.4.0 is here.
MD5: 99d2e7eff173fbdc77c79b4f4a6ff53c
Can you confirm whether this works?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks can't test right now 'cause im finishing another project and then i have to test the tun.ko module for CM9 busy bee .
~ Veronica

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cellhead said:
Stayed at the "read forever" screen almost forever, then finally started up. Fellow victims take note, it isn't dead so be patient.
...
Second boot forever at "read forever" screen so far.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for mentioning this. Will add to instructions.
cellhead said:
Any way out of the "ADWLauncherEX" force-close loop?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Getting FC's is normal - as the instructions state you probably have to reboot a number of times before all FC's disappear. Any luck so far? If not, please let me know and I will post a recovery SD card image that will allow you to undo this hack.
Also - as I said clearly in the instructions (Compatibility section), before you try this out on your 16GB, you should post your /system/framework/framework.jar so I can verify that this works on the 16GB. I don't have the 16GB tablet so I don't know if this works on it at all. Anyone?

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Thanks. You may want to feature the version info prominently in the OP. I got my issue solved in a roundabout way when it finally went into a boot loop and triggered the factory reset. That got me back to 1.4.0 unrooted, and without the FC problems. Reran indirect's rooting script and I'm back to some semblance of normality.
Ain't complaining, I took on the risk of trying your copy/paste fix and went on an unplanned adventure. Such is life as a RL software tester ;-)
I'll wait and see how things shake out. You're onto something good here, so once it's a little safer for the normals to apply it, I'll give another go.
For the record, 16g Nook tablet, rooted via indirect, OTA blocked, v1.4.0

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cellhead said:
You may want to feature the version info prominently in the OP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're right...really sorry about that.
On the other hand, did you try the files in the original post, or did you use the files for 1.4.0 I posted in the 3rd post?

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The ones in the original post. Then I read the third post, but was unable to get it to boot far enough that I could replace the files and try again.
Sent from my BNTV250 using xda premium

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cellhead said:
The ones in the original post. Then I read the third post, but was unable to get it to boot far enough that I could replace the files and try again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The files in the original post are modified from 1.4.2 and would most certainly not have worked on 1.4.0...I should have made that clearer. Sorry.
The files in the 3rd post though are modified from 1.4.0 (thanks to lavero.burgos) and should work for you. Any chance you could test them out?
--- EDIT ---
Also - I've made a bootable SD card that will remove this hack and fix the tablet even if something goes wrong and you cannot boot into the system to remove the files directly. I can post it if someone needs it.

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Cool hack, but why all these doubts and asks for 16gb's framework.jar ? What users have on devices comes from vendor firmware package(s), and you can see at http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/Software-Updates-NOOK-Tablet/379003187/ that there's no separate versions for 8gb vs 16gb. That page (and pages for other releases) should be also the authoritative place for getting framework.jar .
On the related note, would you care to provide exact instructions how to make framework.jar with c&p functionality? That would help to keep it updated across vendor upgrades, and also for making sure that new framework.jar contains only changes related to c&p and nothing else ;-). Granted, such instructions would be long and boring, so writing them in the shell script language rather than English would be a good idea ;-).

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pfalcon said:
Cool hack, but why all these doubts and asks for 16gb's framework.jar ? What users have on devices comes from vendor firmware package(s), and you can see at http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/Software-Updates-NOOK-Tablet/379003187/ that there's no separate versions for 8gb vs 16gb. That page (and pages for other releases) should be also the authoritative place for getting framework.jar .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the link! I went and downloaded the update archive and extracted it, and can confirm that the /system/framework/framework.jar in that archive (which I'd assume is the same as on the NT 16GB/1.4.2) is different from the same file on my NT 8GB/1.4.2., which confirms my hypothesis in posts #11 and #14 in http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1517513&page=2. The bizarre thing is that if you unzip the files they produce the exact same content; it looks like they differ only in some sort of signature. But this means that my framework.jar will work on both the 8GB and 16GB on 1.4.2. So thanks again for the link!
pfalcon said:
On the related note, would you care to provide exact instructions how to make framework.jar with c&p functionality? That would help to keep it updated across vendor upgrades, and also for making sure that new framework.jar contains only changes related to c&p and nothing else ;-). Granted, such instructions would be long and boring, so writing them in the shell script language rather than English would be a good idea ;-).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What I did was this. You need zip, unzip and a tool called apktool. I'm assuming the framework.jar from the Nook is called ~/framework.jar.nook and the framework.jar from vanilla Android (AOSP) is ~/framework.jar.aosp.
1. Extract framework.jar into a directory z:
Code:
$ unzip framework.jar -d z
2. Use apktool to disassemble framework.jar.nook:
Code:
$ apktool d ~/framework.jar.nook
3. Disassemble framework.jar from AOSP.
Code:
$ apktool d ~/framework.jar.aosp
4. Compare and modify framework.jar.nook.out/smali/android/widget/{TextView,EditText}.smali against framework.jar.aosp.out/smali/android/widget/{TextView,EditText}.smali. My diff file can be downloaded here. Apply diff with
Code:
$ cd framework.jar.nook.out; patch -Np1 < jichuan89_nook_text_hack.diff; cd ..
5. Recompile Nook's framework.jar:
Code:
$ apktool b framework.jar.nook.out
6. Repackage modified Nook's framework.jar into ~/framework.jar.new
Code:
$ cp framework.jar.nook.out/build/apk/classes.dex z/classes.dex
$ cd z; zip -r ~/framework.jar.new META-INF classes.dex preloaded-classes; cd ..

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framework.jar in that archive (which I'd assume is the same as on the NT 16GB/1.4.2) is different from the same file on my NT 8GB/1.4.2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just tried to compare framework.jar I have on my device after 1.4.2 OTA update vs downloaded from B&N site - they turned out to be the same, md5sum is 795ae49e2b05b05c999a424a7d84b36b. Anyway, good news that contents were the same in your case too. It might be that 8Gb's initial in-flash 1.4.2 indeed was packaged differently than 16Gb's 1.4.2 update (that's idea somehow backed by the fact that 16Gb's initial in-flash 1.4.0 is not available on B&N site). Again, good to know that actual contents are the same, so 1.4.3 would be common either (which makes full sense, otherwise B&N just makes it harder on themselves).
What I did was this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the instructions and the diff! I with that all hacks posted on the forum came in such form ;-)

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pfalcon said:
I just tried to compare framework.jar I have on my device after 1.4.2 OTA update vs downloaded from B&N site - they turned out to be the same, md5sum is 795ae49e2b05b05c999a424a7d84b36b.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice - thanks for confirming this. That's really helpful to know.
pfalcon said:
It might be that 8Gb's initial in-flash 1.4.2 indeed was packaged differently than 16Gb's 1.4.2 update (that's idea somehow backed by the fact that 16Gb's initial in-flash 1.4.0 is not available on B&N site). Again, good to know that actual contents are the same, so 1.4.3 would be common either (which makes full sense, otherwise B&N just makes it harder on themselves).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right - it would make economic sense for B&N to make the software on the two tablet models to be as close as possible. I do hope they'll make their and our lives easier by just using the same version of the same damn files in the next update for the two models, as you said.
Sent from my Nook Tablet using XDA

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I can make CWM flashable zip with original framework.jar for the ones having troubles until is fully tested. Tomorrow i'll jump back to stock 1.4.0 to test this hack and report back.
~ Veronica

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A flashable zip would be cool if for no other reason than simplicity and reduced panic on the part of newcomers and when re-flashing the stock ROM.
I'm going to try this, so with me luck, but first: Do I need to boot into CWM to do this?

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CRE said:
A flashable zip would be cool if for no other reason than simplicity and reduced panic on the part of newcomers and when re-flashing the stock ROM.
I'm going to try this, so with me luck, but first: Do I need to boot into CWM to do this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No - this is for the stock firmware. CWM should have copy & paste already because it doesn't use B & N's framework.jar.

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CWM as in ClockWorkMod not CM7 as in CyanogenMod v7.
EDIT:
To clarify, I didn't know if I could do this while the NT was booted normally or if I needed to boot with ClockWorkMod to ensure that the OS didn't try to access that file.

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CRE said:
CWM as in ClockWorkMod not CM7 as in CyanogenMod v7.
EDIT:
To clarify, I didn't know if I could do this while the NT was booted normally or if I needed to boot with ClockWorkMod to ensure that the OS didn't try to access that file.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. If there were requirements I would have put them in the instructions. It doesn't matter how you boot.
Sent from my Nook Tablet using XDA

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Thank you. I guess I'll repartition first then get this out of the way too.