Develop Bugs

Themes Ala Carte???

I haven't gotten into zip signing and all that yet. But I was wondering if it's possible or would even make sense to ala carte themes?
I saw a thread on fonts that sort of addressed this, but would it work of the clock and icons or other select things? Where instead of installing the whole theme, you could mix and match which ever you want?

I'm not sure what you mean but I'm guessing you wanna pull some icons from one theme and put it in another, yes that is possible and you MIGHT have to resign the zip and apk's.
You can just put the /system/apps or /framework folder by itself, with the updated apks in it, in an update zip and just flash it.

No that isnt what he means, he wants to know if you can just flash a specific set, such as just the fonts or just the clock or just the notification bar. Right?
While it does seem possible through a couple unrelated threads, the more you brake up the flashes, the more "ugly" the strucure gets/ That is not the correcr word, but it would probably be safer and cleaner to build a theme. But, I believe it is possible. Someone with a better understanding of the entire process, such as Stericson, could address your question with a little more certainty.

i took this as you like a clock that is held in theme A and the fonts in theme B and the icons in theme C and you want to flash those three components, if that is not right then please tell me and try to explain a little better what you meant by this. if you wanted that you would have to either extract those such items from the themes they are apart of(with the devs' permission of course) and then put them all into one zip and resign it, which isn't that hard at all, especially easy if you have windows and you download the auto-signer app. or if you do not want to make the sip and sign it you would have to ask the theme dev to extract the files for you and sign them for you and give them to you.
personally as a theme dev i would probably tell you to figure it out if you wanted parts of my theme, and if in a few days you decided to ask again i would be willing to help you. i certainly wouldn't just take the file you wanted and zip and sign them. i like to help people learn, that would be spoon feeding and i am really against that

My question is about the structure / theory of themes. Right now a theme consists of many things; a clock, icons, background, menu button….. and whatever a dev decides to put in that one update.zip is what you’re stuck with.
I’m wondering if you could have an update.zip that just does the clock without changing the other icons. And visa versa, and update.zip that just does the menu button without changing the clock…. And so on.
So as a theme creator can I create a bunch of clock update.zips.. or a series on menu buttons.. so themes become more like skins, where you can skin just the clock, or just skin the icons.
Can I install an update.zip for the clock. Then immediately after, install an update.zip for the menu button without messing up the install of the clock.
I’m not thinking of anyone’s themes in particular… and I’m not talking about a single update.zip that does the clock and icons.. I’m thinking of multiple update.zips that are either the clock or the icons or the font.. where it’s more ala carte.

theDante said:
My question is about the structure / theory of themes. Right now a theme consists of many things; a clock, icons, background, menu button….. and whatever a dev decides to put in that one update.zip is what you’re stuck with.
I’m wondering if you could have an update.zip that just does the clock without changing the other icons. And visa versa, and update.zip that just does the menu button without changing the clock…. And so on.
So as a theme creator can I create a bunch of clock update.zips.. or a series on menu buttons.. so themes become more like skins, where you can skin just the clock, or just skin the icons.
Can I install an update.zip for the clock. Then immediately after, install an update.zip for the menu button without messing up the install of the clock.
I’m not thinking of anyone’s themes in particular… and I’m not talking about a single update.zip that does the clock and icons.. I’m thinking of multiple update.zips that are either the clock or the icons or the font.. where it’s more ala carte.
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Yes, that is very much possible. You WILL have to resign everything you edit though.

This can be done but certain apks contain multiple features (the Launcher.apk contains the clock and the programs drawer).

90% of all graphics, save for icons, are located in just three or four apk's, so you can't really mix and match all that much.

mannyb said:
90% of all graphics, save for icons, are located in just three or four apk's, so you can't really mix and match all that much.
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Unless you are willing to dive deep into the waters, and learn what images are for what aspect and where they reside. Then, you can mix/match/replace as you see fit. My phone has a few icons from Blue Star 5, most from Fade to Blue, most elements are from Fade to Blue, some status icons from Code Name Ninja, a custom status bar & tray handle, a custom designed clock, and some custom text on the lock screen.
But it definitely involves some time and work, figuring out which elements I want, where to put them (or get them from if not creating my own files), resigning each APK, repackaging into an update.zip (or multiple updates, as I do incremental changes often flashing only the modified file over) resigning that, and crossing your fingers that you did everything right. Of course nandroid nandroid nandroid!!!

daveid said:
Unless you are willing to dive deep into the waters, and learn what images are for what aspect and where they reside. Then, you can mix/match/replace as you see fit. My phone has a few icons from Blue Star 5, most from Fade to Blue, most elements are from Fade to Blue, some status icons from Code Name Ninja, a custom status bar & tray handle, a custom designed clock, and some custom text on the lock screen.
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Definitely. Though that is almost as much work as making your own theme from scratch

mannyb said:
Definitely. Though that is almost as much work as making your own theme from scratch
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Except for designing the icons, and all the painful work that Damnitpud put into the .9.pngs for FadetoBlue. It surely wasn't as easy at copy and paste to get it the way I wanted it. But, I gotta say, it is nice to have a theme that I know is unique and holds some really cool elements.
I took some of my friends complex line drawings, used one for the status bar, and three different ones for the launcher drawer. I also used a photo I had taken for the clock, while placing the minute/hour hands outside of the numbers - keeping the rest transparent so it would work on any background.
But, yeah, to the OP - anything is possible. But it can turn into you creating your own theme for the most part.

Cute girl too!

mannyb said:
Cute girl too!
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That's my wife, I get to keep her forever now. We got married just under 7 months back. on a supposedly very lucky day 8/8/8. And, yeah, she is very cute!

How could I replace all of the Sense UI icons with the vanilla icons?

My Droid Incredible's Sense UI has all these HTC-only icons that are a lot uglier than vanilla Android (i.e. Android 2.0+). These are the icons for things like the settings panels (e.g. "Wireless & networks," "Sound & display," "Accounts & sync"), and HTC's custom versions of basic apps (e.g. Messaging, Phone, Internet, et cetera). I once had a Motorola Droid, and it had beautiful, stock vanilla icons. Now, I like HTC Sense UI overall, but I can't stand the HTC icons.
How could I go about replacing said icons? I checked the contents of framework-res.apk and didn't see any of the appropriate icon files there. Also, where can I download the vanilla Android icons?
Thanks for any help you can give!
P.S. I have rooted, and I have busybox and clockword recovery mod installed. However, MetaMorph reboots the phone during its self test. BetterCut cannot replace icons inside of apks, and it's not free anyway.

Progress!
I think I've got all the stock icons now, which I found in this file named Team_CHAOS_Clean_black_froyov1_1_stock_icons.zip, and I figured out that the Sense UI icons that I want to change are almost entirely encapsulated in com.htc.resources.apk. What's the proper way to replace the icons in com.htc.resources.apk with the stock icons?

If you are looking to replace pngs in com.htc.resources.apk, then just pull the file and replace the pngs in the /res/drawable-hdpi folder with your replacements. Then push it back to your phone and reboot. Note: you will only be able to push it back to your phone in recovery.

Thanks, I gave it a whirl, starting small by replacing only common_app_ic_launcher_settings.png inside res\drawable-hdpi, and then I booted into recovery (Clockwork), mounted /system, and successfully pushed the new apk. However, when the phone reboots, the icon hasn't changed. I tried pulling the apk back off the phone and it seems to have the new icon inside of it. Am I putting com.htc.resources.apk in the wrong place? I pushed it to /system/framework/com.htc.resources.apk.
Do I have to replace com.htc.resources.odex as well? If so, how would I do that?

First, imho, I would ditch Sense.
What you are doing is correct. Leave the odex file alone. Make sure when you replaced the file, you have your case exactly the same as the original (all lowercase) and it is spelled the same. Also, even though it's not entirely necessary, make sure the dimensions are the same as the original (72x72). If it still does not work, then that is not the correct icon for what you are trying to change. It looks like the one from Add to Home->Widget->Settings while using the Sense launcher.

ihtfp69 said:
First, imho, I would ditch Sense.
What you are doing is correct. Leave the odex file alone. Make sure when you replaced the file, you have your case exactly the same as the original (all lowercase) and it is spelled the same. Also, even though it's not entirely necessary, make sure the dimensions are the same as the original (72x72). If it still does not work, then that is not the correct icon for what you are trying to change. It looks like the one from Add to Home->Widget->Settings while using the Sense launcher.
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Nice, thank you! I looked where you suggested and found that you're right; this particular change did work and I'm just mistaken about how to replace the icons I want to replace. How would I go about replacing the home screen icons for the Settings app?

Try /system/app/Settings.apk

[Q] Changing Status Bar Icons

I was wondering if there is an easy way for me to see which of the icons under the SystemUI.apk/res/drawable-hdpi folder are actually used in my rom? I am going to modify the colors but notice that a bunch of those are not even used.
I noticed that I can do that with the UOT kitchen, but when I installed the new SystemUI.apk not all of the icons were changed to the color I put in. So, I figured I will just go in and do it manually. It will be a learning experience anyway.
I am just getting into customizing and it is pretty fun. As long as I don't screw it up too much.
Thanks,
Jeff

My suggestion would be to grab another theme for the rom you are running, from an established themer, and rip the drawable-hdpi folder out of that SystemUI.apk to see what they have themed. Also helps in pointing out those real pesky icons that you only rarely see but are used.
oh.. and keep an eye out for those crazy .9png's!!!

Question about theme mod's

Hi there I have just got my SGSII
i've been able to root it and install TW4.5 and pretty much have the device exactly how I want it with just one gripe
The drop down of the notification bar is way too dark especially for notifications with black fonts.
Can anyone point me to any kind of guide or way of changing the the background graphic for this drop down?
Thanks in advance

Everything you'll ever need to know
forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=916814

dully79 said:
Everything you'll ever need to know
forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=916814
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Click to collapse
Hey man thans very much for the resources they helped me find what I needed.
however the methods of editing seemed very complex for my needs ....
Since I only wanted to change some of the png graphics slightly (just to lighten them up) I opened the framework-res.apk and the systemui.apk in winrar extracted the png's I wanted lightened them up with irfanview dropped them back in the still open apk in winrar and then copied the apk's back where the originals were (renaming the originals .bak first).
I didn't change any .odex or .jar files in any way and I have kept backups of all the originals just in case so I only have one question for you.
can you think of any reason my simple method, for graphics only, would have caused any harm?
it doesn't seem to have after a reboot it seems to have had the desired affect on the notfication bar (which was to make all notifications readable whether they had black or white fonts)

There are 2 kinds of PNG files. Ordinary PNG files can be edited without any problems, but to properly edit .9 png's, you need to decompile the apk first, make changes and then recompile.
To do that, you need to use apktool/apk manager.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

sileshn said:
There are 2 kinds of PNG files. Ordinary PNG files can be edited without any problems, but to properly edit .9 png's, you need to decompile the apk first, make changes and then recompile.
To do that, you need to use apktool/apk manager.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk
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ok so if I have edited one of the .9.png and I think I might have done and simply dumped it back in the apk with winrar what harm might I have done and what symptoms might I see?

Sometimes you can get away with editing .9' s the way you have if the black border around the outside stays completely black, any slight discoloration and its force close city on a one way ticket courtesy of systemui.
It seems you my have gotten away with it......this time.

Thanks to everyone who has repsonded to me on this thread you have all been very helpful. This is a truely wonderful phone I cant believe how big a step up this is from my old SGS. I tired all sorts of custom roms and mods on that to get features on that, with this I have it pretty much exactly where I want it simply by rooting and installing a the custom Touchwiz 4.5 (I have other lauchers but find myself going back to that all the time)
So the only remaining thing was the fact that some notifications were in black and the backgrounds on the notification drop down were too dark to read some app's notifications in black with a simple glance so your help with finding the right pngs and files (systemui.apk and framework-res.apk) were very very helpful. Not sure if this was the simplest way to achieve what I needed but it worked so I am happy.
Thanks again one and all.

[Q] Pull Down Bar Background

Hello i was wanting to know how to change the image in the pulldown bar like you see in the UOT kitchen and if its possible to change the top buttons images like the wifi on / off and 4G on /off ect or the whole button itself

there in the SystemUI.apk located in system/apps
res/drawablehdpi folder
just edit in any image editor but try and stay away from the .9.pngs they are special and a pain in the bum.
you can just change .apk to .zip to unzip then rezip and rename.apk
you want the quicklaunch icons for the drop down icons
and status_bar_background for the actual background

thank you bro for such a fast answer

no problem i just happen to be trollin through

do you happen to know were the battery images are ?
and if i could just remove all the stock ones with ones from another theme for my phone ?

battery images are in framework-res
system/framework
if using ones from another phone you'll probably need to do some renaming
most roms currently on our phone use full 100 % increments
if i remember correctly there are 203 total 100 unplugged
100 plugged and a full empty and unknown

thanks again you have been a huge help

anytime
if noone shares the info this stuff can be a royal pain.

If you use the UOT Kitchen and keep getting errors, try un-checking Patch9 autofix. This will not decompile the 9patch images and may allow your theme to build. It worked for me with modding ACS Ice Cream Sandwich Theme (modded battery only).

thank you
and are there any other theme kitchens or rom kitchens for our phone ?

oh and i noticed there are two different default pull-down backgrounds one under systemUI.apk and one under the frameworks.apk and both are different sizes and dimensions , witch ones do i change ? or do i change both ?

the one you want for the drop down background is
status_bar_background.png
in SystemUI.apk

mjcollum said:
anytime
if noone shares the info this stuff can be a royal pain.
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I'm fairly new to Android, coming from my FrankenPre to the Epic Touch. I want to begin editing the icons and images on my phone, and I've been exploring some ROMs ansd themes and switching up some icons, which have worked fine. However, I have no idea exactly where all the images are kept. For instance, I tried to change the stock Email icon, but the images I changed weren't right, and I was somehow left with the "Android Robot" icon.
My question is, seeing as how you know where these images reside on the phone, how do I go about knowing which icons are where, and which ones I need to change? Is there a list somewhere of the stock system images and their locations, or is it trial and error to figure out where they are? Thanks for the help.

mjcollum said:
no problem i just happen to be trollin through
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haha "just rollin thru""