Creating custom themes by modifying framework-res.apk

[Guest BigBearMDC]

;( I thought you'll write it in Java, hope there will be a version what can be run on Ubuntu as well..

I'm working on it ;)

[Guest HunteronX]

When exactly do you get the error?

No error message box appears, but the 'Replace Image' button is always blanked out.

There is an error message when I untick 'show portable network graphics only (*.PNG)' though, saying about an unhandled exception, and that 'The path is not of a legal form - maybe the form the button is trying to open doesn't exist - it could have been given a different name, maybe?

(I've only been learning Visual Basic for a short while, so sorry if I sound like an idiot.)

Edited February 10, 2010 by HunteronX

[Guest BigBearMDC]

hmm try running it as administrator.

These bugs shouldn't even exist ;)

Anyway I'll make a new application.

Same function but different source... tomorrow :D

BTW should i make a own topic for the application?

Stay Tuned!

Greetings,

BigBear

[Guest David Horvath]

Maybe a google code page would be wise.

[Guest Rem1x]

hmm try running it as administrator.

These bugs shouldn't even exist ;)

Anyway I'll make a new application.

Same function but different source... tomorrow :D

BTW should i make a own topic for the application?

Stay Tuned!

Greetings,

BigBear

Yes, you should!

People need to see this :(

[Guest Rem1x]

Video of my mod. Turn down the volume, it's for your own good. I have awful music taste.

[Guest P!nback1]

One thing to note if your themes don't apply (caught me out at first) run 'df' from adb shell and see how much space you have on system, I had to remove some unwanted APK's because it was 100% used so the theme didn't have any room to make temp files while patching etc.

Okay, one question... which APK's did u delete? My system/ partion is 100% full, how do i free some space up?

[Guest Daniel Williamson]

Video of my mod. Turn down the volume, it's for your own good. I have awful music taste.

Hey im really liking the green highlitghts, so how do i get that on my pulse ?

Thanks

Dan

[Guest HunteronX]

hmm try running it as administrator.

These bugs shouldn't even exist ;)

Anyway I'll make a new application.

Same function but different source... tomorrow :D

BTW should i make a own topic for the application?

Stay Tuned!

Greetings,

BigBear

I did this straight away from the beginning; the error still appears.

The screen dump is attached.

Edited February 11, 2010 by HunteronX

[Guest BigBearMDC]

Use my new version here ;)

Greetings,

BigBear

[Guest HunteronX]

Use my new version here ;)

Greetings,

BigBear

Thanks, I'll try it. :D

[Guest Swift_gti]

Okay, one question... which APK's did u delete? My system/ partion is 100% full, how do i free some space up?

I removed Exchange, Touchpal, FrenchPack, gtalkservice.. this gave me about 6 mb free.

adb shell

su

cd /system/app

rm Exchange*

rm TouchPal*

etc..

On a side note, has anyone successfully managed to change the clock colour ?

[Guest starkos]

I removed Exchange, Touchpal, FrenchPack, gtalkservice.. this gave me about 6 mb free.

On a side note, has anyone successfully managed to change the clock colour ?

Hey, just wondered if you're still able to download & install apps from the Market with gtalkservice removed? And automatically receive emails/notifications from gmail too for that matter?

[Guest McSpoon]

On a side note, has anyone successfully managed to change the clock colour ?

Yes, I've managed it on the original ROM (I used this method, which is presumably the same technique phones4pete used).

But not yet on the MCR 1.7 ROM. I think it's because the optimised ODEX files in /system/app/ break when you modify services.jar. Those optimisations do not exist in the original ROM.

We could give Paul a modified services.jar (black clock text) for use in MCR 1.8 and maybe he could re-ODEX the apps. There are tools to deodex those files but I haven't had time to try that yet.

[Guest Swift_gti]

Yes, I've managed it on the original ROM (I used this method, which is presumably the same technique phones4pete used).

But not yet on the MCR 1.7 ROM. I think it's because the optimised ODEX files in /system/app/ break when you modify services.jar. Those optimisations do not exist in the original ROM.

We could give Paul a modified services.jar (black clock text) for use in MCR 1.8 and maybe he could re-ODEX the apps. There are tools to deodex those files but I haven't had time to try that yet.

That's the method I tried, using MCR 1.7 it resulted in being stuck at the Android boot screen.

Didn't realise about the optimised stuff in /system/app, might have a further look into it if I get time, there must be a way to do it.

[Guest chris1991]

Looking for a good signing app or tutorial got a nexus one launcher sorted but it wont go onto the phone as it needs signing any ideas ?

[Guest HunteronX]

Looking for a good signing app or tutorial got a nexus one launcher sorted but it wont go onto the phone as it needs signing any ideas ?

Try using BigBear MDC's AnDE (Android Design Editor) from here, but use it to replace images from your launcher.apk instead.

http://android.modaco.com/content/t-mobile...-design-editor/

[Guest klutsh]

There are tools to deodex those files but I haven't had time to try that yet.

I tried, and although time consuming it does work.

I had to convert all the odex files into dex files, then I used metamorph to install a custom theme I made editing the framework-res.apk and services.jar

I've attached the metamorph theme (pulseblk.zip) and have uploaded the de-odexed /system/app/ files to my own server. http://www.asificanrememberthat.com/de-ode...R-1.7-u8220.rar (11.4MB)

To install reboot to recovery and use adb

adb shell mount -a

adb shell rm /system/app/*.odex

adb push AlarmClock_common.apk /system/app/

adb push Browser.apk /system/app/

adb push Calculator.apk /system/app/

adb push Calendar.apk /system/app/

adb push CalendarProvider.apk /system/app/

adb push Camera.apk /system/app/

adb push checkin.apk /system/app/

adb push Community.apk /system/app/

adb push DownloadProvider.apk /system/app/

adb push DrmProvider.apk /system/app/

adb push Email.apk /system/app/

adb push FileManager.apk /system/app/

adb push FrenchPack.apk /system/app/

adb push Gmail.apk /system/app/

adb push GmailProvider.apk /system/app/

adb push GoogleApps.apk /system/app/

adb push GoogleContactsProvider.apk /system/app/

adb push GoogleMusic.apk /system/app/

adb push GooglePartnerSetup.apk /system/app/

adb push GoogleSearch.apk /system/app/

adb push GoogleSettingsProvider.apk /system/app/

adb push GoogleSubscribedFeedsProvider.apk /system/app/

adb push gtalkservice.apk /system/app/

adb push HTMLViewer.apk /system/app/

adb push ImProvider.apk /system/app/

adb push LatinIME.apk /system/app/

adb push Launcher.apk /system/app/

adb push MediaProvider.apk /system/app/

adb push MediaUploader.apk /system/app/

adb push Mms.apk /system/app/

adb push NetworkLocation.apk /system/app/

adb push PackageInstaller.apk /system/app/

adb push Phone.apk /system/app/

adb push ProjectMenuAct_B115sp02.apk /system/app/

adb push SecurityResult.apk /system/app/

adb push Settings.apk /system/app/

adb push SettingsProvider.apk /system/app/

adb push SetupWizard.apk /system/app/

adb push SFP_TIMB115.apk /system/app/

adb push SoundRecorder.apk /system/app/

adb push Stk_b211.apk /system/app/

adb push Street.apk /system/app/

adb push Superuser.apk /system/app/

adb push Talk.apk /system/app/

adb push TelephonyProvider.apk /system/app/

adb push TouchPal.apk /system/app/

adb push UserDictionaryProvider.apk /system/app/

adb push Vending.apk /system/app/

adb push YouTube.apk /system/app/

The above code is attached in install.zip as a batch file for easy use

Note: these are for MCR 1.7 u8230 Kitchen builds only

the Launcher used is Launcher17.apk mentioned elsewhere.

EDIT:

As xangma pointed out, it is slower to boot, and the stripped apk's need to be installed before you apply the theme or it will fail to boot.

pulseblk.zip

install.zip

Edited February 15, 2010 by klutsh

[Guest xangma]

Testing now.

EDIT: Watching the logcat, it will take longer than usual to start up. It is realising all of the packages have changed.

EDIT2: Installed Metamorph, applied theme ... used install.bat and then restarted. Wrong way to do it. Had to install theme again. Install .bat first, then theme I think. Good work though but not for me.

Edited February 15, 2010 by xangma

[Guest HunteronX]

I managed to get the eclair blur animations working, by taking its metamorph theme, extracting it, and copying the anims xml's over the ones in the original framework-res.apk, without unzipping it. (I used 7-zip for this.)

Here's a link, if anyone wants it.

http://android-stock-theme.googlecode.com/...-Anims-v1.0.zip

Although, i tried editing the services.jar using smali and baksmali to change the clock colour, but when I copied the finished file back to the phone, it wouldn't boot.

The tutorial is here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=549309.

Please could someone help explain where I went wrong, as I'm sure I followed all of the instructions.

Edited February 15, 2010 by HunteronX

[Guest xangma]

I managed to get the eclair blur animations working, by taking its metamorph theme, extracting it, and copying the anims xml's over the ones in the original framework-res.apk, without unzipping it. (I used 7-zip for this.)

Here's a link, if anyone wants it.

http://android-stock-theme.googlecode.com/...-Anims-v1.0.zip

Although, i tried editing the services.jar using smali and baksmali to change the clock colour, but when I copied the finished file back to the phone, it wouldn't boot.

The tutorial is here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=549309.

Please could someone help explain where I went wrong, as I'm sure I followed all of the instructions.

They are sexy indeed.

EDIT: Oh yeah, forgot to say. For me to remount system to have the right permissions I had to type this:

mount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock1 /system

EDIT2: This is what I used/did attached and using a batch file, not tested so it may not work. I was already using the Advanced Launcher 17 or whatever talked about elsewhere ;-) Do a backup first, as I have no idea if this will mess your phone up. I take no responsibility etc. You mess up, you mess up and it's nothing to do with me =]

EDIT3: May experiment with 7zip later and write a batch file to get apk, add these files to it and replace on phone so anyone could use it?. Shouldn't be too hard, but I have to go.

fancyblursl17.zip

Edited February 15, 2010 by xangma

[Guest klutsh]

Please could someone help explain where I went wrong, as I'm sure I followed all of the instructions.

See my last post, All that was to get white clock text.

You do need to de-odex all the /system/app/*.apk's.

Also on the link you posted the guide is wrong for a pulse.

I followed this:

[Guest Swift_gti]

Thanks klutsh, will be testing out your files when I get home :D

[Guest klutsh]

I'm working on porting the Elegance theme posted over @ xda-dev

[Guest BigBearMDC]

I'm working on porting the Elegance theme posted over @ xda-dev

Awesome!

:D