• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

[TUTORIAL] Theming walkthrough v. 1

Status
Not open for further replies.
zeroibis said:
Yea that would be expected you need to move it to the systems folder first then change the permissions then move to the app folder and overwrite. As it will then overwrite with the correct permissions already set your problem can be avoided. Always got to be careful with those system files. ;)
Click to expand...
That worked beautifully! Thank you :)
 
Just wanted to say that you don't even need to be running the ROM for which you're creating the theme. I downloaded CM7 a couple days ago, here's what I did:

1. Downloaded the CM7 ROM
2. Created my desired theme before even flashing CM7
3. Created a stock CM7 flashable theme just in case I wanted to revert later
4. Copied CM7 and both themes to the sd card
5. Flashed CM7
6. Flashed my theme
7. Rebooted into CM7 and my theme was in place :)

I recently created a theme for a friend who was using a phone I have never used. Probably a little risky but I was comfortable doing it.
 
I'm having some trouble signing my files and was wondering if anyone could help. I'm trying to only edit the SystemUI.apk on my HTC Thunderbolt running a Gingerbread ROM (BAMF).

I have optimized the package and put the SystemUI.apk into the correct folder in the Theme Template. I updated the updater-script to include the line for GB ROMs. I didn't remove the folder for framework or remove the line for the package_extract_dir for framework either.

I zip up the 3 folders so I can sign them in APK Manager. I rename the .zip to repackaged-unsigned.apk and put it in the modding folder, open APK Manager, choose the repackaged-unsigned.apk to work with, then choose option 4 to sign. I get an error in the log that says it can't find unsingedrepackaged-unsigned.apk and then it fails.

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong or if I'm skipping a step. Everything seems to work great up until I try to sign.
 
all I want to do is render the notification bar (not the icons in it) transparent or really really close to transparent (apparently slightly smoky is ideal so you can see the clock in otherwise white programs like market etc..)

problem is I can not install busybox. how would I do it ?? (for some reason busybox won't install my my winmo touch pro 2 running froyo 2.2

any suggestions? I just want the notification transparent so my wallpaper goes edge to edge.
 
nerys said:
all I want to do is render the notification bar (not the icons in it) transparent or really really close to transparent (apparently slightly smoky is ideal so you can see the clock in otherwise white programs like market etc..)

problem is I can not install busybox. how would I do it ?? (for some reason busybox won't install my my winmo touch pro 2 running froyo 2.2

any suggestions? I just want the notification transparent so my wallpaper goes edge to edge.
Click to expand...
Froyo doesn't support transparency in the notification bar, that supports came with gingerbread.
 
I can't change the png image file or whatever it uses to draw that bar? drat that sucks hard core. not sure how viable ginger is on my hardware. I know a group is working on it not sure how complete it is though.

what about skinning it? ie take the top x pixels of my image and use "that" as the "skin" for the notification bar ? (like we do in winmo)
 
nerys said:
I can't change the png image file or whatever it uses to draw that bar? drat that sucks hard core. not sure how viable ginger is on my hardware. I know a group is working on it not sure how complete it is though.

what about skinning it? ie take the top x pixels of my image and use "that" as the "skin" for the notification bar ? (like we do in winmo)
Click to expand...
It doesn't matter what you put as the notification bar skin, it won't be transparent because Froyo doesn't support transparency for the notification bar - there's more involved than just rendering an image. If you use a completely transparent image, you'll end up with a black bar.
 
nono your missing it. in winmo we had the same problem and someone made a program that replaced the image with a NON TRANSPARENT image but that image was a "chunk" of the wallpaper.

so it would look "odd" when you slide left and right (the chunk would not line up) but one the core center home screen it would "line up" and be seamless if you cut it right.

so how do I replace the image with ANOTHER image. all I need are its dimensions so I know what "chunk" to remove from the image I am using as a wallpaper.
 
nerys said:
nono your missing it. in winmo we had the same problem and someone made a program that replaced the image with a NON TRANSPARENT image but that image was a "chunk" of the wallpaper.

so it would look "odd" when you slide left and right (the chunk would not line up) but one the core center home screen it would "line up" and be seamless if you cut it right.

so how do I replace the image with ANOTHER image. all I need are its dimensions so I know what "chunk" to remove from the image I am using as a wallpaper.
Click to expand...
You could do that, but some phones use a .9.png for the notification bar, so you'd need to edit the image, compile the image and include it in the frameworks somewhere.. then flash the new theme. The image you need to edit is called statusbar_background.9.png in the /system/app/SystemUI.apk file. Again, this image will be in different places on different phones, you just need to find it.

By the way, nice trick :)
 
how do I know what mine uses? its a custom rom running off the micro sd card for the touch pro 2 (a winmo phone) I know its froyo 2.2 not sure of much else.

the image I am using came from here.
XDAndroid
 
Thanks for this, i used to make Blackberry themes, and they were fairly popuplar, i'm thinking of getting in to Android themes so this is just what I need.

Appreciated!
 
ardchoille said:
Manufacturer specific ROMs:
The above packages will be needed in addition to the below requirements.

Sense UI ROMs:
* /system/framework/com.htc.resources.apk

Samsung Froyo ROMs:
* /system/framework/twframework-res.apk - Notification menu

Since Fresh Evo 3.5.0.1 is a Froyo ROM with htc's Sense UI we'll need the following packages in order to create a theme:
* /system/framework/com.htc.resources.apk
* /system/framework/framework-res.apk

If this were a Gingerbread ROM we would need these packages plus /system/app/SystemUI.apk
Click to expand...

Howdy,

That part confuses me...

I have a Thunderbolt with Gingerbread & I can read the above 2 ways specifically: If this were a Gingerbread ROM we would need these packages plus /system/app/SystemUI.apk

Is this saying I will need the above files listed under the Froyo & Evo (or even the Evo) as well as this one OR is it to be read I need the Sense file listed above as well as this one?

I am such a noob...so, a ROM is what I flashed my phone with when I flashed it(?) & this is what I need to begin with(?), because I attached my phone to the computer in Disk Drive mode & looked for the files the walk through stated I needed (such as framework-res.apk), but couldn't find them.

I'm also confused, because it sounds as if I need the ROM to get the files, but then when I upload the files back to the phone I'm really just flashing a recovery & not the full thing.

Please keep in mind I've rooted exactly ONE phone & that was less than a week ago, so I'm really new to all this.

I'm just trying this for the first time & don't want to create a brick.

Thank you all.
 
Oh. Well, that stinks. It says this on his new website (ardchoille.nfshost.com):

"08/24/2011 - Removed all android items due to bandwidth costs" :(
 
I am really new to this, so please excuse my noobness. In the OP, am I supposed to be doing this on the phone or PC?
 
Although I've got the basics started using NinjaMorph, I've hit a snag in my theming. I've successfully been able to theme SystemUI.apk, Framework-res.apk, as well as MMS apk.

I would like to theme some non-System apps, too. Is it possible to theme, say Juice Defender?
 
Yes, it's possible to theme non-system apps. I'm currently running a themed version of K9-mail.

Have any of you guys contacted Ardchoille for the files you are looking for? He might have a local copy that he could upload on a website like mediafire.
 
I am really new to this and would appreciate some help please. I think I'm missing something, do you do this on the phone itself or on the PC and then transfer it?
 
Viper52 said:
I am really new to this and would appreciate some help please. I think I'm missing something, do you do this on the phone itself or on the PC and then transfer it?
Click to expand...

You do this on the PC and the result is a .apk file, just like what you started with. After transferring it to your phone, you can install the application using a file manager. You'll have to accept applications from unknown sources in the phone's settings because the app doesn't come from the market. Don't worry about that, it should prompt you when trying to install it.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom