I'm rather new at this customizing android hobby and I have a question.
For now I would like to stick to my rooted leaked 4.2.2 touchwiz, but I do want to change colors and stuff.
I'm using wanamlite rom to adjust the notication and quick settings area.
But I would like to alter for instance the dialer as well. The one when you are IN a call, not before you call.
Can I put the secphone.apk on my pc, unzip it, make the changes to the xml files and different png's. Then zip it back to the apk file and replace it on my samsung?
RebelwithoutaClue said:
I'm rather new at this customizing android hobby and I have a question.
For now I would like to stick to my rooted leaked 4.2.2 touchwiz, but I do want to change colors and stuff.
I'm using wanamlite rom to adjust the notication and quick settings area.
But I would like to alter for instance the dialer as well. The one when you are IN a call, not before you call.
Can I put the secphone.apk on my pc, unzip it, make the changes to the xml files and different png's. Then zip it back to the apk file and replace it on my samsung?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
If you post a topic with "Noob question" as title, no one will ever respond to it. Please refer to the posting rules.
I'm surprised this have not been deleted.
Besides that, trying to help you:
I've never tried to modify APKs, but i'm pretty shure you'll need APKTool for that. Google-search it.
You need apktool to decompile and compile apk's.
Search xda for apktool and search for a treat where they explain modding apk's.
It's not that easy as you think.
You can found it all here on xda.
Good luck with modding apk's.
verzonden met de xda premium app.
There are modding guides around the forum .
Related
Trying to learn and I have yet to see a place for such basic questions. Also, there was a request for this type of information in my Sticky thread.
What is the difference? Both are done from Stericson... I've read he doesn't really use MetaMorph any longer (not sure if he does Ninja).
Metamorph is for theming... ninjamorph is for apps?
Is one better than the other?
Does a morph for one, work for the other?
Why morph vs. doing the flashes of a .zip file (old school way)......
Also... morphs... do they have to be specefic to your phone?
Would morphs for the Nexus work on our phone?
I know metamorph was suppose to make themeing easier and allow you to mix and match themes. Update.zip files couldn't to that easily. IIRC themes are specific to each device and ROM. I've seen ninja morph but have yet to use it. Would like to know how it works as well.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
To my understanding, Ninjamorph is for allowing you to extract and modify apk files to create the morphs on your phone (along with using something like silveredit to create the xml files). Metamorph just lets you apply the morphs.
I'd be curious to learn some more about this as well. I found this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=763439 about creating morphs which is helpful but still leaves me with questions.
s15274n said:
Is one better than the other? They do different things. So far I figured out that ninjamorph is good for unpacking .apks so that you can find what you need to modify/modify it. Metamorph does the actual replacing.
Does a morph for one, work for the other? They do different things.
Why morph vs. doing the flashes of a .zip file (old school way)...... This seems to be because a morph doesn't change much and it allows you to make updates and things easier. Not really sure other than what I read in one of the battery mod threads and since using them a bit it is much faster to apply a morph.
Also... morphs... do they have to be specefic to your phone? Yes because they replace specificly named things. If you try and use one on a different device or different rom it may not work because the file names will be different. I don't think there is a reason you couldn't modify that though.
Would morphs for the Nexus work on our phone? Would probably need to be updated
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use them together... Want a quick tut?
Go to ninja and start a new project...
System/framework/framework-res.apk
You just extracted the files from the app... Inside the res/drawable-hdmi folder are the images you want to change...
Statusbar_background.9.png is the status bar color... If you click it it will ask what you want to replace it with... you can do the same think to any other pics...
Now make a new folder, My_Morph, add another folder here, framework-res, and now another res,
copy the android themes/workspace/frameworkresapk/res/drawable-hdmi (folder you just changed) and add it to the res folder you just made..
Now to make an xml doc... I have a tut/template here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=759329
and there is one by stericson in my sticky morph thread...
I use silver edit to create my .xml docs on my phone...
Add the My_Morph.xml to the My_Morph folder with the framework-res folder.. You just made a morph...
To test the morph first you can finish project with ninja.. It will rebuild the apk then install it... This is how I build half of my stuff...
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Junk you're the man. I think I just found me some android crack to play with lol.
Vibe the XDApp
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
Click to expand...
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.
Can anyone who is good with UOT Kitchen put together a walk-through? I was told it basically walks you through it, and to an extent it does, but it didnt work for me with my SystemUI and Framework-res from the UnNamed 1.3.1 ROM.
Sorry if this is a VERY Noob question but I'm having trouble with it.
I love the idea of being able to mod my own stuff without having to ask for everything. This is sort of asking to teach the horse to find water rather than giving it the water.
BTW this is the UOT kitchen I am referring to in case anyone is unfamiliar and wants to give it a go
http://uot.dakra.lt/kitchen/
What steps did you take?
I tend to upload the files first then proceed to adding the mods.
Did you pull the files off your phone or the zip file?
sent from the Dark Obelisk.
It was off my phone with ES File Explorer. I chose the mods i wanted to make then uploaded the files as the last step, sort of just going through the tabs in order left to right. Then I submitted it and waited, when it came up in the pick up section it said there was an error with it.
If someone can make a youtube video or something of them doing a successful mod? I think that can help, maybe also point out common mistakes or misconceptions people run into?
It seems like a very straight forward process but there seem to be several areas which can trip people up because its sort of a do-all tool for many devices and roms which don't necessarily interchange.
Edit:
I think I found my mistake, I've been playing with it and it seems I misplaced one file, I put twframework-res into the framework-res spot, i found framework-res and put that in the correct spot and the twframework-res into its spot.
Do I need to use all three files or will just framework-res do? I read in another post that you just need framework-res.apk for things like battery mods and other status bar items.
Edit2:
So I sort of got it to work, I did a custom battery and scroll bar but the overscroll glow didnt show up, not sure why.
There are a few screen shots of it and I'll up up the file if anyone likes it and wants to flash it, like I mentioned earlier I'm using UnNamed 1.3.1 so I'm assuming it should work with UnNamed ROMs. There is also a png of the battery, its the Jazzk one.
Normally just framework-res.apk and SystemUI.apk are used for dropdown menu, animations, icons etc.
I'm guessing twframework-res.apk falls into the same thing, involving itself in everything like com.htc.resources.apk does for HTC Sense devices.
The kitchen said to include twframework-res.apk if you are using touchwiz, which from what I understand is what UnNamed uses.... but dont quote me on that haha
Unless your on an AOSP like CM7 then yes your using using touchwiz.
sent from the Dark Obelisk.
AntwanL said:
The kitchen said to include twframework-res.apk if you are using touchwiz, which from what I understand is what UnNamed uses.... but dont quote me on that haha
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if unnamed uses touchwiz 4.5, which i think it may, the reg tw-framework-res.apk won't work. You have to be sure its the stock tw launcher if your going to use the tw-framework file for UOTKitchen.
Enzopreme said:
if unnamed uses touchwiz 4.5, which i think it may, the reg tw-framework-res.apk won't work. You have to be sure its the stock tw launcher if your going to use the tw-framework file for UOTKitchen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it doesn't
From what I've learned playing around with decompiling the different system framework apks the touchwiz-res.apk is used when editing SystemUI.apk and Settings.apk which includes icons from the status bar and the system menus. The framework-res.apk contains the battery icon and things such as that.
question in title. I mean things like the SMS app, dialer, etc. I love the work people are doing with them (dark themes and whatnot) and was just curious as to how they do it. Can be technical, I feel comfortable with all the "android jargon" lol
You'll need something to decompile your apps. If you are working on odex files you'll need to deodex first. Once you decompile your app it'll be broken into 2 folders project and project-smali. You'll focus on the project folder -or- where the folder "res" is.
In there is drawable folders in various DPIs. Those contain the picture files you can edit. Some of the background colors, text colors, and placement of items will be controlled inside of the various XML files.
While in there you could also look around at potential mods in the bools.xml and you COULD remove some of the extra languages if you want to lean it out.
Sent from my SCH-I545 using xda premium
Dubbsy said:
You'll need something to decompile your apps. If you are working on odex files you'll need to deodex first. Once you decompile your app it'll be broken into 2 folders project and project-smali. You'll focus on the project folder -or- where the folder "res" is.
In there is drawable folders in various DPIs. Those contain the picture files you can edit. Some of the background colors, text colors, and placement of items will be controlled inside of the various XML files.
While in there you could also look around at potential mods in the bools.xml and you COULD remove some of the extra languages if you want to lean it out.
Sent from my SCH-I545 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have sorta played around with them and whatnot and have seen the res folder. so when you go and replace the images and everything, how do you recompile so that they will install fine? I'm rooted of course so I can put them in system and set permissions
Sent from my SCH-I545 using xda app-developers app
I've found it works best to recompile it using whichever tool you prefer. If it doesn't install nicely you can open the apk with 7zip and pull the compiled images and xml files out to use in either a vrtheme installer or you can open up the stock apk with 7z and copy them in.
There are tons of ways to do things. :good:
sent from my GE gs4
that is what I am starting to realize I may start playing around with it. thank you for the help, really! this is what makes XDA rule so much. :thumbup:
No problem buddy. Everyone has to start somewhere
sent from my GE gs4
Dubbsy said:
No problem buddy. Everyone has to start somewhere
sent from my GE gs4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
one more question, might not pertain to you...what is the best/easiest way to sign an apk after editting it? i am using a macbook pro by the way
coltonwood said:
one more question, might not pertain to you...what is the best/easiest way to sign an apk after editting it? i am using a macbook pro by the way
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I generally don't sign mine. If i themed something that wasn't mine and it could potentially be updated i would want the update to fail due to mismatching signatures in order to keep my theme.
But a way to keep the same signature is to recompile your work, open the new one with 7zip and copy the compiled pngs, xmls, and arsc file at root from the new one and over write the stock one's files using 7zip again. That'll change everything but leave the signature.
sent from my GE gs4
Dubbsy said:
I generally don't sign mine. If i themed something that wasn't mine and it could potentially be updated i would want the update to fail due to mismatching signatures in order to keep my theme.
But a way to keep the same signature is to recompile your work, open the new one with 7zip and copy the compiled pngs, xmls, and arsc file at root from the new one and over write the stock one's files using 7zip again. That'll change everything but leave the signature.
sent from my GE gs4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ohhhhhhhh okay that makes sense! okay here is a question that could be getting away from the theming, im not sure:
i was playing around with textra (the sms app) just changing the png's to look like ios 7 (lol just for testing). I decompiled, changed some png's, and then recompiled (using apktool). It created a new textra.apk that i then transferred to my phone. i deleted my current textra and installed my new one (successfully) and i can tell my theming worked from a test sms they send you. but when i try to compose a new message, Textra force closes. I rebooted and everything to make sure. Do you think this would be from my attempt at theming, or would it have to do with signing at all? this is where i am really lost lol, considering it installed and everything fine.
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?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
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