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
Related
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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
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
Hi,
i don't like the standard dialer theme. Can someone make new ones ? Or port some over for the defy ? Or tell me how to do that ?
thanks
i don´t know how to make or port it.
But i found dialer2 in the market.
Test it. it looks nice
thanks for dialer2, looks nice enough for now. But if you make a call you still see the original dialer
congomonster said:
thanks for dialer2, looks nice enough for now. But if you make a call you still see the original dialer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can hook u up, what are you looking for exactly?
a dial pad that looks black, and not so glossy. like the minimal matte one:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=726912
tried to metamorph contacts.apk for dialer, but the defy has no contacts.apk
I have the Gingerstock theme from JB3 installed. Something in yellow would be cool so that matches the theme.
Is your phone rooted? If so, can you pull a copy of your dialer for me so I can edit?
Use root explorer, go to /system/app. Grab blurdialer.apk, long hold and copy. move copy yo sd card and attach here
Sent from my MB525 using XDA App
sounds great, here it is. It's from my system. I'm using the orange rom
3.4.2_131-003_Deblur_Sign if that is helpful
congomonster said:
sounds great, here it is. It's from my system. I'm using the orange rom
3.4.2_131-003_Deblur_Sign if that is helpful
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey sorry, got busy at work... I'll grab it now and work on it, stay tuned for post. I'll try to get it as best as possible, but I ddi find while themeing mine, you cannot change the actual numbers only the back grounds. Stupid blur!
I'm going in blind, so not sure exactly how this looks or what managed to change. So do as I say and check it out, whatever you want fixed I'll redo it... Try it out though.
-Grab the apk from the attachment
-Put BlurDialer.apk on your SD card
-Using Root Explorer, Move this apk to /system
-Once in /System, long hold the apk, and hit permissions. Check boxes should look like this:
Read Write Execute
X X X
X
X
So essentially an upside down L.
- Once permissions have been changed, long hold the apk and paste in /System/app , hit yes to overwrite.
- Backout to home screen and reboot.
Let phone completely load up, then go into your dialer and see the changes.
Please report back with what needs to be fixed or what color arrangement you'd like different.
Otherwise enjoy!
Yeah ! thank you ! looks great ! Now it much better integrates in the theme.
I took screenshots with an app. The SDK for 2.2 won't install. It says that i have to install Java SDK, what i already did
So how you did it ? Is there a way to get inside the apk ? As you can see in screenshot 5 there is already red when i pressed the button. Can this changed also to yellow ? I ask because this "red" goes to the whole system. It is in the browser when he loads a site, it's there when i changed the volume and so on. I would like to edit more so that the system has one theme
When there is no way to theme the dialer buttons, is it possible to install the original contacts.apk ? I asked this in another thread too.
Don't forget the Thanks button!
Try this one, I made some more edits, need to see if it is the correct one for the button push. I don't believe there is a way to install the contacts.apk.
To theme the file you need to get into the apk, remove the res folder, theme in the drawable-hdpi and ten put the pieces back together. You can google for files to do so. I dont 't mind helping you..
I wonder how the yellpw in the status bar would look
Anyways, try this and see what differences there is.
Think I found a way to theme that even more. Give me a minute and i'll repost
For Honeycomb Theme
Here you go, this one should look even better.
Congo,
How does it look?
looks great ! thanks.have no time at the moment. Take some screenshot tomorrow
Good deal, look forward to checking it out
I get the sdk to run
Here are two screenshots
This there a Tutorial anywhere, what files i have to edit to get the red in yellow ?
Which apk i have to extract, and is there always a png ? or must i edit a xml file ?
congomonster said:
I get the sdk to run
Here are two screenshots
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good deal, I have been messing around further and am finding a few more details I can mess with. I am waiting though on a finalized them I am going to make... I will post when ready with screen shots.
congomonster said:
This there a Tutorial anywhere, what files i have to edit to get the red in yellow ?
Which apk i have to extract, and is there always a png ? or must i edit a xml file ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It depends on exactly what you are trying to do... The main ones will be blurdialer, blurres and framewrok-res, but you have to be very careful with what you are doing. There are .9.pngs in these fiales that need to be decompiled and patched.... It's a lot if work at first until you get the hang of it. There is a full theme guid here on xda on the main board, under hacking then themes. If it sounds excruciating, just tell me exactly what you want and I am happy to do it.
Just modded my soft keys to light up red, attempting to get the theme on Virus's Eternity ROM to match. Could anyone change all the green to red, or point me to some tools to help me edit the framework? I'm new to the theming, but I have a decent understanding of ADB and Android file structure.
Sent from my PG86100 using xda premium
spenceizzle said:
Just modded my soft keys to light up red, attempting to get the theme on Virus's Eternity ROM to match. Could anyone change all the green to red, or point me to some tools to help me edit the framework? I'm new to the theming, but I have a decent understanding of ADB and Android file structure.
Sent from my PG86100 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
M10 tools and eclipse for Modding .9 pngs. And gimp for adding colors and a ton of experimentation
Sent from my PG86100 using xda premium
That looks... daunting, so lets start small. Now lets say I just wanted to mod the notification bar icons for now, I think that would fall under the .9 png modding portion. What files exactly would I be modifying? Is it some sort of jar file I would be ripping the pngs out of, modifying, and replacing? I am quite new to this, so please don't flame me too much
spenceizzle said:
That looks... daunting, so lets start small. Now lets say I just wanted to mod the notification bar icons for now, I think that would fall under the .9 png modding portion. What files exactly would I be modifying? Is it some sort of jar file I would be ripping the pngs out of, modifying, and replacing? I am quite new to this, so please don't flame me too much
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
notification bar icons are mainly in systemui.apk and are standard .pngs.
Theirs alot of guys willing to help those who help them selves. from what your asking i'de suggest doing a ton of reading. their are a ton of theming modding how tos. but if you wanna jump in grab 7zip,gimp(or a similar graphics editor) and android signer, and start experimenting, If you wanna edit .9.pngs your gonna have to learn how to use apktool and a .9 compiler. But just do a search theirs alot of great how tos and tools all over the forum.
I found the systemUI.apk from reading the beats headphone icon thread. So I'm assuming that the .pngs found in the systemUI.apk are normal .pngs that don't need any kind of special encoding or transparency values. If I were going to change some sense 3.0 assets, I would need to use this guide posted here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=5206698, correct?
Edit: Also, is the SystemUI.odex file anything I have to worry about?
spenceizzle said:
I found the systemUI.apk from reading the beats headphone icon thread. So I'm assuming that the .pngs found in the systemUI.apk are normal .pngs that don't need any kind of special encoding or transparency values. If I were going to change some sense 3.0 assets, I would need to use this guide posted here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=5206698, correct?
Edit: Also, is the SystemUI.odex file anything I have to worry about?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if your just looking to change images the .odex isn't something you need to worry about, the link you posted refers to .9.pngs, when you say assets if your refering to the images that are in assets folders tose are .m10 files and for those you need the .m10 tools that can also be found here on xda.
Well, I got the drawable-hdpi finished, I may have to tweek the 4g icon, the signal bars look a little pink. Tomorrow I'll see if I can find the syncing icon, battery percentage, and other little odds and ends that I can easily edit. I'm attaching the SystemUI.apk for anyone who wants to try it.
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
Click to expand...
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
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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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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
Hey guys,
I was asked a week or so back to make a guide so others can theme the Stock SamsungIME.apk the way they like. I have made my thread to do this and you can put in request if this guide is not helpful(which I hope it is).
I will answer as many questions as I can, time permitting, and be as Noob friendly as I can, as well. I know this guide will not be perfect and there might be some things I am leaving out, and if so tell me, I will adjust the OP with any suggestions or changes. So here goes nothing...
Things you need:
Android SDK
Java JDK and JRE
Apktool
Notepad++
xUltimate-d9pc
Photo Editor (Gimp/Photoshop)
Before we begin, I am not going to go into how to load/decompile/recompile apks.. There are some good guides out there and here are some..
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2195680
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2206938
After you have the SamsungIME.apk totally decompiled you will want to open the folder it decompiled into and start with the res/drawables-sw359dp-xhdpi folder. In this folder there is all the pngs you need to edit. For starters the keys themselves..
You want:
sip_key_bg_normal.9.png
sip_key_bg_option.9.png
sip_key_bg_pressed.9.png
As you can tell, by the name, these are not normal pngs. You will see a 1 pixel border on all sides of the image. When editing the png either erase them or resize the canvas of the image. Just subtract by 2 form the height and the width, but remember when you save it re open it and adjust the canvas size back to the way it was. As my understanding of these goes, they are named this way because Android recognizing these .9.pngs and stretches them.. When I first attempted editing these I would have nothing but problems, of course because I was doing it wrong. I never could understand where the lines go and what they actually do. Thats probably because I was trying to do it with transparent/semi-transparent images and could not see the actual image expanding. Well when you are editing these with draw9patch, I noticed two very important things to look at (for the keyboard). The window to your right is how the actual image will look when expanded, but to see that you have to go to the bottom of the screen and the second scroll bar, move it all all the way to the right.
You will notice that it stretches the image.. This is the same thing Android does.
The middle image needs attention here because it expands it horizontally. So that means when you expand it all the way thats what you spacebar will look like. .
You notice that these edges (red lines) Are not defined they are rounded.. Because they are not patched correctly.
Notice the difference? This after it was patched with the proper line alignment.
To start you want add to full lines on the bottom and the right side. Next is the top and the left side. These are the lines you need play with to make you image look right. I used to only add a 1 pixel dot in the middle and one pixel line on the left. But when I started getting more advanced with photoshop/gimp I noticed my images would not looking the same. When you add gradients or borders to you keys, seeing the image on the right expanded is important because you will draw you lines to make you image look like it did in photoshop/gimp. NOTE: Don't leave any space in the lines to the right and on the bottom. You can, however, do so on the left and top but it will distort your png.
Here are a few guides to help you if you have anymore questions:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2326393
The next image of importance is:
qwerty_keypad_bg.png
This is the background of the keyboard.. NOTE: there is also one of these located in res/drawables-sw359dp--land-xhdpi, the only difference being the above image is for Portrait and land is for Landscape. Also, they are two different resolutions so be careful when changing them. You can change this image to anything you want.. It is a normal png so therefore no patching or further steps are needed.
Next would be all the other option pngs, backspace, space bar, voice, settings, enter key, etc. You will will find these starting with the word qwerty_.
So example:
qwerty_key_icon_enter.png
This is the enter key as it sits on your keyboard.. Yes there are other ones but there are for different actions.
Another thing we might want to change is the color of the CAPS key when it is enabled.
That png is named:
qwerty_key_bg_shift_capslock.png
As you can see a lot of these are named exactly what they are..well some at least..
Next is .xml edits. You want to locate res/values-sw359hp-xhdpi/colors.xml. You will need to open this with notepad++ to edit colors of the key text, pressed key text, shadow of those text, space bar lettering, etc. You will only (or I only do) need to focus on the first 12 lines. They pretty much explain themselves by there names.
Code:
<color name="normalkey_shadowcolor">#ff000000</color>
<color name="functionkey_shadowcolor">#ff000000</color>
<color name="functionkey_labelcolor">#ffe2e2e2</color>
<color name="normalkey_labelcolor">#ffe2e2e2</color>
<color name="pressedkey_labelcolor">#ff122438</color>
<color name="disablekey_labelcolor">#7fe2e2e2</color>
<color name="popup_normalkey_labelcolor">#ffffffff</color>
<color name="popup_pressedkey_labelcolor">#ff2d5a8c</color>
<color name="normalkey_extra_labelcolor">#ffe2e2e2</color>
<color name="spacekey_labelcolor">#ffb6b6b6</color>
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You'll notice that the colors are hex codes.. So the first two letters or numbers is for the transparency.. The next six define the actual color.
After we have edited our xml we can go ahead and recompile the apk. You should recompile with no errors. If you do encounter an error it's possible that you edited the color wrong and made it seven letters instead of eight or vice versa. Make sure that you transfer the old AndroidManifest.xml and META-INF folder form your original APK and transfer them to your new APK in SamsungIME/dist/.
FInally, you can copy you NEW SamsunIME.apk to your sd card, reboot into recovery. I prefer this method (Thanks to @Deckoz2302) because I would have trouble with APK's fully copying through adb. When in recovery select Mount, then click System. Select back. Then select Advanced, than File Manager. When in File Manager goto wherever you put your new APK. Copy it. Then go to System/app/ and hit Select and slide to copy. Reboot!
:good:Special THANKS to: @Deckoz2302: Best developer I have ever talk to! @Rizal Lovins, @grilleld, @Arsaw, @twanskys204, @Winterlove, @GuneetAtwal and I REALLY hope I didn't leave anyone out! If I did I'm sorry, tell me and I will update!:good:
FIRST......!!!
Thanks brother, I am going to give this a go tomorrow.
Today, young ,men on acid realize that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, we are all one consciences sharing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are just imaginations of ourselves And now to the weather.....
Reserved. .
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
This is quite the guide thanks so much for this.
Sent from Kendrick Lamar, King of New York
Nice Tut Great Work..!
Can all this be done on Mac osx?
Shamestick said:
Can all this be done on Mac osx?
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If there is an Android SDK for OSX then i'd imagine it can be done on a Mac.
The SDK was fine, its getting the java jdk that's giving me issue
Shamestick said:
The SDK was fine, its getting the java jdk that's giving me issue
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@Shamestick - Do you use Polaris to run Windows? That could work possibly.
Sent from my SCH-I605 using xda app-developers app
dudeicles said:
@Shamestick - Do you use Polaris to run Windows? That could work possibly.
Sent from my SCH-I605 using xda app-developers app
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I do not, and I haven't gotten a copy of windows to dualboot with yet either. My problems always come whe i try to go to the downloading site for java, it just will never open on chrome or safari
well done my friend ! Nice to see you here
Text color SamsungIME.apk Note3-MOD
I have a big problem.
I decompiled the SamsungIME.apk from Note3-MOD to change the color of the KEY-Text from BLACK to WHITE.
But I can't find the right XML and location where the code has to be changed.
Can someone help me in this topic?
Superwolf77 said:
I have a big problem.
I decompiled the SamsungIME.apk from Note3-MOD to change the color of the KEY-Text from BLACK to WHITE.
But I can't find the right XML and location where the code has to be changed.
Can someone help me in this topic?
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They will most likely be in values/colors.xml
For testing I already changed every black code to white in this XML but it does not change.
Superwolf77 said:
For testing I already changed every black code to white in this XML but it does not change.
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Oops sorry its in /values-sw359dp-xhdpi/colors.xml.. Took me a long time to figure out that! lmao! Anyways have fun hope I helped!
Thank you for the help. It works fine now.
Thnks sir.. usefull :fingers-crossed:
Apks?
For those who have made custom keyboards will you please post your apks?
Good
Thanks for your tutorial. I have a question about adding a backround image for the keyboard.Not sure if thread is to old so please respond if you an answer question and ill write it . thanks