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A little help from the pro's

K

Karayan

Member
Have decided it's time to move on from the OG. Beginning to notice a lot of my files don't work correctly with the updates. No mad about it though. Was eventual I guess. But,I figure I will send it out with style. So,where can I find guides to modding Sense? Running 4.67 because I don't like linkify in 5.07. Stock Rom minus what I have added like qs,adv. power,init.d and such. Just went smurfed so covered that along with screencapture. What I am most interested in is themes. I have searched a lot but the guides I am finding don't work for me. Not sure if it is because they aren't meant for sense or what. So any pro's out there want to point me to some guides to get me started. I know about uot but really liking the idea of d.i.m.(do it myself). Thanks in advance.
 
I was using a guide back in the days called the Ultimate Android Themeing Guide:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-YFrDqBjk7U1w0RIJgvmwH7_famvjxUO9grFR9C15rA/edit?pli=1

I haven't looked at it in quite a while, so I'm not sure if it's been updated, or if any of the info is still relevant.

That is a great place to start, also, check out this area:
Android Themes - Android Forums

There are a few guides in there, also doesn't hurt to start a thread and ask any question you might have. Some of the members who frequent that area are truly knowledgeable.

Good luck!! :)
 
Any idea what OS all these different programs are intended to run on? So far:

Kitchen = Fail
Notepad++ = Fail
AXML = Fail
smali/backsmali = Fail

The only thing that has seemed to work correctly has been the root process and as I remember I had a lot of help with that from here.

I am running Windows7 64-bit. Have java,sdk,adb,smali/backsmali/notepad++,AXML all installed and haven't been able to read the first legible .xml yet. Oh and I also have apkmulitool.

One of these mentioned Github. Can I just upload the .xml I want to edit there and be able to read it or do I need to know how to write all this myself?

Oh and I have Gimp which seems to work. Question though. I decompile my apk via NinjaMorph so all I need is the hows and decompile/recompile .xml so I can move them to my PC,edit,move back to phone and NinjaMorph to finish the process.

Ok. Scratch all of that. I think it's my setup failing me. I have than sdk extracted to adt folder on my desktop. Sdk is installed and eclipse seems to be working. Gimp and Notepad++ both seem to be working as does 7zip. Now for the 2 apktool files. It said extract both to Windows folder but neither will. What am I missing? I found from reading they are needed to edit the xml files. Or can I just change the .9 pungent and make what I want clear? This is my goal. Make everything on my phone from Rosie to G+ transparent.
 
Thank you. That may be what I need in this case. I am almost certain that if I get everything set up correctly it will be cookies and cream from there.
 
I haven't figured out UOT yet. I got it to make my Status Bar/Notifications transparent but doesn't do much for any apps. And I never got the Boot Animation to install. Is why I am looking for just the basic starter info. Basic as in I still haven't figured out how to get the apk tool into Windows folder and it work. Second is after I do what commands open them so I can read xml and what closes them,but will probably just use root to move mod files in and repack via NinjaMorph. That info and I am sure I can get it from there just by referencing bookmarked threads. Hopefully.

Ok. So they joy of having a new phone to use is you can get gutsy. Figured out the apktool problem. Why they don't just say unzip both and drop the contents into your sdk folder,mine being adt,is so beyond me. To easy I guess. Figured out how to install com.HTC.resources.apk. Do I do the same process with Framework-res.apk? The guide says place both there but I only saw mentioned the resources so not sure.

What I am after is just system files. Sms,mail etc. Any links to what should be worked on? I only use Calendar and Bookmarks and Clock widgets so will need those as well as Rosie. I'm not bothering with apps because they update way to often to keep up with modding them.
 
No, UOT won't do anything for apps. But as you've worked out, these are really zips, so it's possible to unzip and replace images. I've done this myself on my previous phone for system theming (framework-res.apk and SystemUI.apk in an AOSP Gingerbread ROM - basically what UOT does, but with more flexibility), but not done it with other apps. Principle should be the same though.

The stuff you are asking about will all be in /system/app. Hopefully then the names will be clear enough (less obscure than "rosie" ;)) - on my HTC One I see files with names like Mail+nonprime.apk, which I guess are them. I can also see things like HtcCalendarWidgets.apk. If you are using a stock ROM I don't know for sure how you handle the odex files - never looked into that (I've only done this with deodexed custom ROMs, where it's anyway easy to replace the files in the ROM zip with your modified ones and reflash). Since we're talking about changing system files, definitely take a nandroid before making any changes :)
 
That's basically what I have started to attempt. I have read thread after thread saying change this or change that and a lot of the things aren't in the folders to change. So basically I have started doing something like:

Notification Background = find xml/open it in Notepad++/find where it links to eg android:@drawables/status_bar_backgroud or something to that effect/find that png and make it transparent. May be the long way around but I think for me vs guides this will be easier. Am I in the right direction or is this not going to work?
 
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