Develop Bugs

audiobook player

Ive searched the forums and the web for audiobook players, and not had much luck. Ive recently found someone who has written something for a pocketpc, but only posted the source code.
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/audio-video/abcPlayer.aspx
If anyone else is interested in a player, and has the ability to compile the source code (i believe you need VS2008), and can produce a cab file that will work on a LEO, I would be most grateful.
It may be quite a useful app for others that want an audiobook player, and I believe the author has allowed the use of it for further development.

The zip file on that page already contains the compiled executable. Look under bin\release. Just copy all the files (dlls, exe, skins, etc.) to your device and run it, you don't need a CAB.

danim said:
The zip file on that page already contains the compiled executable. Look under bin\release. Just copy all the files (dlls, exe, skins, etc.) to your device and run it, you don't need a CAB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you please upload the zip file? I'd rather not have to register to yet another site just to DL thia and try it out.
TKS

well it's not too difficult to register to that service.
but well I can understand you
here is the file: http://rapidshare.com/files/328172883/abPlayer.zip

daddy2k said:
well it's not too difficult to register to that service.
but well I can understand you
here is the file: http://rapidshare.com/files/328172883/abPlayer.zip
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks!! I'll give it a try. I've been using S2P until now but it is less than perfect for audiobooks. Hopefully, this will be better as it is specifically designed for this purpose.

Motisu, did u have any luck running it? I managed to run it, but it doesnt display any of the icons. Just block graphics, without skins. It must see the skin directory, otherwise it complains the directory is missing, but doesnt use it.

ansaar99 said:
Motisu, did u have any luck running it? I managed to run it, but it doesnt display any of the icons. Just block graphics, without skins. It must see the skin directory, otherwise it complains the directory is missing, but doesnt use it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I've been using it exclusively for my audiobooks ever since I DL'ed it. The only complaint that I have with it is that in order to rew/ff within the file, I have to bring up a different page and then go back to the play page. In S2P, I just have to tap the screen to bring up the position bar. Other than that, it is really a great app.
BTW,to answer your question, yes I do have the Icons but the text is a bit oversized. I am running this on a TP2 with a WVGA screen and a larger than regular text so the font is a bit too large

I use CorePlayer. It works fine for me and always has.

[XAP + Source] Advanced Explorer [Version 1.4]

Hello XDA Community,
@DEVELOPERS: I need some developers with other devices to make things (at least parts of advanced explorer) work on other devices (i have a htd hd7). !Programming & Testing!
Please PM me
To bring all together what xda achieved for WP7, i wrote a helper app for the following tasks,
- File management
- Registry management
- Copy files from desktop to phone
- Copy files from phone to desktop
- Set max unsigned apps
- Provision any given XML
If you post in this thread how any of those features could be implemented on other devices, i will maybe implement them. You can always send me a modified version and i will maybe update this post with the new version!
Usage/(Release-)Notes on the website!
If you encounter any errors, or wanna give some feedback => just leave a post here or use the idea page or write me an email (go to contact on the homepage)!
I included the source code, so that anybody can modify it at will but do not use anything here for commercial purposes (contact me first).
Homepage for this project:
http://sites.google.com/site/yaafdevelopers/projects/advanced-explorer-for-wp7
You can give feedback / bugreports:
http://advancedexplorerwp7.codeplex.com/
(Go to Discussion or Issue Tracker)
You will find the latest version and the Release-Notes there. I will continue to watch this thread!
Because some people asked how to support/donate me:
I appreciate every donation! Thank you!
reddragon

He that is great stff... i am glad you added the source i was thinking about how this could work having had a little peek at the code in the samples that Ms provided.
wings over a thanks too

Question...If you send a file, where does the device dump it into the computer? I was getting an error sending the file to my computer at first, but then I configured correctly and it sends fine, but I don't know where it is...
Edit: Nevermind, I got it. Upload/Download Root folders. Good work on this app man. Pretty nifty. Uploaded a .doc from my laptop to the phone, copy/pasted it into My Docs and it appeared and opened on MS Office Word perfectly.

nice ! but ...
Nice app !
But can't send from \windows directory ?..

Re: can't send from \windows
Hey,
like i said in my first post i brought together what was achieved...
Im using the HTC app COM dll files for file system access. Actually you can send files from \windows but not all. (in usage or no access)...
If somebody knows a better way, or something for other devices => just implement and send it, or post here!
The problem: Now it works on my device, so I can do what i wanted to do (coping .pdf and other stuff on the wp7) I have not the time to search & wait for other devices.
I tried to code it very generic and emulated the System.IO namespace, so everybody can add his results or replace it with better results.
Just contact me and I will check the code and update the first post.
reddragon93

eternalemb said:
Question...If you send a file, where does the device dump it into the computer? I was getting an error sending the file to my computer at first, but then I configured correctly and it sends fine, but I don't know where it is...
Edit: Nevermind, I got it. Upload/Download Root folders. Good work on this app man. Pretty nifty. Uploaded a .doc from my laptop to the phone, copy/pasted it into My Docs and it appeared and opened on MS Office Word perfectly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
actually you can double tab any file and it should open from any folder.
To get PDF working I copy the file to the PDF reader (most likely the app will crash if Adobe reader is not installed), but you will not see anything as PDF reader just pops up with the file
Just like always contact me if there are file types missing!

cool app, ty
how long did it take?

hi reddragon93, thank you for your work, i've an lg optimus 7, is there an eta for explorer for other device?
i need it!!!
thank you so much!

gianlucarugby said:
hi reddragon93, thank you for your work, i've an lg optimus 7, is there an eta for explorer for other device?
i need it!!!
thank you so much!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really can understand you because I needed this for myself (that's why I coded it in the first place)
But the answer is NO, because we have to wait until somebody finds a way to get access on other devices and shares the info (i will observe this thread for new infos).
And by the way you should not ask for ETA in developer forum (forum rules), but it's OK for me. Hope you will be the only one after my answer
I answered this question in my first post:
"If you post in this thread how any of those features could be implemented on other devices, i will maybe implement them"
Hope I answered your question.
reddragon

thanks, you were very kind,
apologize me for the ETA, i did not know, i'm just a student not a developer!
good work!

EDIT: I can't figure out how to mark a post as useful yet, so let me just say THANK YOU!!!
Awesome app. However, there are a few things that would be nice in terms of file types:
Any chance of getting support for loading .mobi files (Kindle ebooks)? I'd love to be able to sideload books that aren't in the Amazon store.
Currently, .log files won't open. Copy/renaming them to .txt should work, or a simple text reader/editor could be built-in.
Possible bug: the "Max unsigned apps" field in Settings is showing "Not set - (can't read from registry)" Setting it from within the app seems to work, though (and be remembered).
Feature request: ability to search the registry
Small change request: pressing Back on an Exception could do the same as OK (rather than exiting).
Overally, much thanks for an awesome tool!

Thanks for feedback
GoodDayToDie said:
EDIT: I can't figure out how to mark a post as useful yet, so let me just say THANK YOU!!!
Awesome app. However, there are a few things that would be nice in terms of file types:
Any chance of getting support for loading .mobi files (Kindle ebooks)? I'd love to be able to sideload books that aren't in the Amazon store.
Currently, .log files won't open. Copy/renaming them to .txt should work, or a simple text reader/editor could be built-in.
Possible bug: the "Max unsigned apps" field in Settings is showing "Not set - (can't read from registry)" Setting it from within the app seems to work, though (and be remembered).
Feature request: ability to search the registry
Small change request: pressing Back on an Exception could do the same as OK (rather than exiting).
Overally, much thanks for an awesome tool!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your feedback!
(1) I really needed the app for myself (real pdf support) so... The Thanks Button is only visible with 5+ Posts
(2) i will pm you maybe if i find some spare time. This is most likely pretty simple to implement. Can you edit your (or create a new) post and describe what happens if you double tab a kindle book with the current version?
(3) yeah i saw this before but didn't thought it is important enough to implement. I don't have the time for the own Editor (you have to handle really big files for example) but i can do the renaming thing behind the scenes (remember renaming = copy+delete until a better solution is found).
(4) on first app start i have really no solution in determining how the value is set (no access on this key). So my solution was to set this text ("Not set - (can't read from registry)" until you set a value => then i save this value local to the app, and set it every time the app starts (It gets reset every time i connect the device to the PC anyway)
(5) "search the registry": I thought on this one... But this will not be of much use as we have not really much read access
NOTE: The Problem with the registry is that we have FULL WRITE access trough the provxml method but not very much READ access (HTC COM .dll)
(6) really? I'm satisfied with the current behavior. Without searching I don't know if this is a small change maybe it is, maybe not. At least it looks like one but that doesn't mean anything
reddragon

Thanks for the response, reddragon. I'm at work right now, so the .mobi thing will have to wait. It's a very common request among WP7 users around here, though.
I've found that selecting the Edit context item will open any file in Word, which is typically sufficient for viewing and even editing purposes! True plain text files open fine regardless of extension, and even binary files will usually have enough ASCII in them to determine useful info. You can also send any file (via email) from Word, if you want to email an attachment rather than just transfer to a PC.
Unfortunately, I've found that XML files just... don't work. Double-clicking them opens IE, which complains that it can't handle that file type. Selecting Edit on them looks like it's opening some Office app, but the app then closes and drops back into Advanced Explorer (no error). This is the currently problematic filetype, as a *lot* of data is stored in XML.
The "Registry Editor" app already provides registry search (and despite the security restrictions on read it *mostly* works) but without system copy-paste it's tricky moving data between apps. I enjoy being able to pan between the FS and registry... hell, I want a Windows (desktop) app that does this, now.
It looks like there's FS search (an option on the command bar, and a text box that appears) but I can't get it to do anything. Pressing Enter has no effect, tapping either Refresh or Search again just reloads the page. Am I using this right? It would be great to be able to either scroll long folders (\Windows) or find a filename behind a bunch of GUIDs.
Some files show as "0 b" size, even though they almost certainly aren't. Is that just because some program has an exclusive lock on them and their size can't be read in that state?
Any chance of the ability to create folders in the GUI (I think I see how to do it with provxml files, but that's not exactly convenient)?
Thanks for the explanations on the registry. I was wondering how you could write to locations that you can't read from... Also, I didn't know the sideload limit resets itself. That's something I'll have to watch out for, as I'm near the nominal sideload limit already. Hmm... maybe I should look into writing an app that lets the phone install a .XAP directly, to minimize the amount of PC connecting that's needed.
Sorry, I know that's a lot of comments and questions. If it helps, I showed this to a couple of other HD7 owners today, and the immediate response of both of them was "I've got to get that!" This is a great app, super-convenient and good for making the occasional Samsung Focus owner jealous ;-D
Actually, I'm a developer myself (mostly C/C++, but I know C#). I'll crack a look at the source when I get a chance (probably this weekend) but would you be interested in a patch if there's something I can improve? One thing I might add is an optional "Did you mean that?" prompt on the Back button, as it's a little too easy to hit and knock you clear out of the app (optional of course, as I understand some people don't have such problems).
Thanks again!

does anyone know the latest ETA on compatibility for samsung devices?

Some Answers
GoodDayToDie said:
Thanks for the response, reddragon. I'm at work right now, so the .mobi thing will have to wait. It's a very common request among WP7 users around here, though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Like I said: I will pm you most likely, today or this weekend.
GoodDayToDie said:
I've found that selecting the Edit context item will open any file in Word, which is typically sufficient for viewing and even editing purposes! True plain text files open fine regardless of extension, and even binary files will usually have enough ASCII in them to determine useful info. You can also send any file (via email) from Word, if you want to email an attachment rather than just transfer to a PC.
Unfortunately, I've found that XML files just... don't work. Double-clicking them opens IE, which complains that it can't handle that file type. Selecting Edit on them looks like it's opening some Office app, but the app then closes and drops back into Advanced Explorer (no error). This is the currently problematic filetype, as a *lot* of data is stored in XML.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah the best way to handle the edit mode would be an editor inside the app, but that's quite some work i guess... So if somebody is willing to write such a control just contact me!
But the current workaround is quite simple: Upload your file, edit it with the powerful editors you know and send it back to the phone...
In fact what i did was send the complete windows/applications folder and all files that where successfully send can be edited (on the others you have no access anyway).
GoodDayToDie said:
The "Registry Editor" app already provides registry search (and despite the security restrictions on read it *mostly* works) but without system copy-paste it's tricky moving data between apps. I enjoy being able to pan between the FS and registry... hell, I want a Windows (desktop) app that does this, now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I think it's not that difficult to implement a search for registry. It's funny to say that all the time but I thought on this one too and if you look on the source code you will see that i positioned the search/filter text box out of the explorer pivot to use it for registry search or other purposes. If you find it really that useful with the current read restrictions... yeah I should just implement it...
GoodDayToDie said:
It looks like there's FS search (an option on the command bar, and a text box that appears) but I can't get it to do anything. Pressing Enter has no effect, tapping either Refresh or Search again just reloads the page. Am I using this right? It would be great to be able to either scroll long folders (\Windows) or find a filename behind a bunch of GUIDs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In fact this is a filter function so that large folders can be loaded much faster. Just enter "a*" and make the keyboard disappear (tab anywhere else) and you see only the files/folders starting with "a". I don't know why "enter" on keyboard doesn't do anything, I will look into this. I should update the usage in my first post, thanks.
GoodDayToDie said:
Some files show as "0 b" size, even though they almost certainly aren't. Is that just because some program has an exclusive lock on them and their size can't be read in that state?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yep.
From the htc COM call i get 0 bytes....
GoodDayToDie said:
Any chance of the ability to create folders in the GUI (I think I see how to do it with provxml files, but that's not exactly convenient)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hehe, i thought on this one too as it is already implemented (just create a folder in UploadRoot drop a file and start downloading it to the phone => the folder gets created). I will look into this.
Can you (or anybody) provide me with an example on how to rename a folder via provxml. And in Yaaf.WP7.NativeAccess.IO.File i have in the "Move" method some code commentated. Can somebody please un-comment, debug and tell me why the hell this provision-xml is invalid / not working, thanks.
(ProvisionXml is completely new to me as this is my first smartphone)
GoodDayToDie said:
Thanks for the explanations on the registry. I was wondering how you could write to locations that you can't read from... Also, I didn't know the sideload limit resets itself. That's something I'll have to watch out for, as I'm near the nominal sideload limit already. Hmm... maybe I should look into writing an app that lets the phone install a .XAP directly, to minimize the amount of PC connecting that's needed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't look into that but i think it is not enough to simply create the guid folder and drop content there... Anyway you can use the "NativeAccess" Projekt to get all the access i used in the Explorer. But you have to create links from your main projekt to the COM-dlls so they get included into the xap file.
GoodDayToDie said:
Sorry, I know that's a lot of comments and questions. If it helps, I showed this to a couple of other HD7 owners today, and the immediate response of both of them was "I've got to get that!" This is a great app, super-convenient and good for making the occasional Samsung Focus owner jealous ;-D
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what keeping me up i guess
GoodDayToDie said:
Actually, I'm a developer myself (mostly C/C++, but I know C#). I'll crack a look at the source when I get a chance (probably this weekend) but would you be interested in a patch if there's something I can improve? One thing I might add is an optional "Did you mean that?" prompt on the Back button, as it's a little too easy to hit and knock you clear out of the app (optional of course, as I understand some people don't have such problems).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm always interested in any patch especially support for other devices (I have a htc so I can't debug stuff for other devices :/ )
Yeah there could be an option for that. It's pretty easy to implement so... But i don't have this problem so i didn't realised that one.
GoodDayToDie said:
Thanks again!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your feedback
Muzzy777 said:
does anyone know the latest ETA on compatibility for samsung devices?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I answered this on the first page of the thread already, thanks.
EDIT: I updated the program and my first post and implemented some of your feature requests
reddragon

Configuration Service Provider Reference for Windows Mobile Devices

Have you used the forum-search? You'll find a post which describes you how to get these books to your phone (it's by me). I can't give you the link because I send this from my HD7.

really great app. Also like the pc<->phone feature
I use it now very often, so I think it needs:
-2 Filebrowser Tabs
-or an option to "bookmark" certain folders

diboze said:
really great app. Also like the pc<->phone feature
I use it now very often, so I think it needs:
-2 Filebrowser Tabs
-or an option to "bookmark" certain folders
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I talked to other people, at first this feature looks awesome, but after some time you would see that you don't use 2 tabs!
The bookmarking thing is a good idea...
Elerador said:
Have you used the forum-search? You'll find a post which describes you how to get these books to your phone (it's by me). I can't give you the link because I send this from my HD7.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm looking into amazon kindle... what i can do for sure is copy the file into the kindle folder and start amazon kindle...
But i forgot how to start a program via app-guid. I remember that i saw an COM.dll which can do that.
__ow said:
Configuration Service Provider Reference for Windows Mobile Devices
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i know that link but i don't see how you can move folders (if it is possible)
reddragon

Love the update! Thanks for cluing me in on the workings of the filter; I wasn't trying wildcards and it therefore looked like it was always empty.
That said, a bug report (reproed on the older version too):
Registry manual mode can crash with a System.ArgumentException "Invalid fullpath".
Start Advanced Explorer
Pan to Registry
Tap "edit manual"
Observe exception
App crashes on hitting OK

[Tutorial][Linux]Themer's Portal and Guide

"If you can't explain something simply, you don't know it well enough" -Albert Einstein
There are a ton of guides available for theming, but I have always found most to be either a) erroneous b) way over complicated or c) out of date. I'll try to keep this simple, easy to understand, and up to date.
Introduction
There are 2 main ways to theme. You can choose the more powerful “zip” style that gives you complete control but is more difficult and time consuming to maintain, or you can choose the “theme chooser” method that is much easier to maintain, but is more limited. A lot of themers will do a theme chooser apk and supplement it with an additional zip file that finishes things the theme chooser cannot. That’s what i do. I recommend Linux for theming since more of the advanced concepts are best done on linux. (Git, source building, etc) For the purpose of this guide, I’ll use my Elegant Dusk as a reference and Ubuntu 12.04 as my distribution of Linux.
Decompiling
Without building directly from source, you'll need apktool to decompile apps. We'll use Apkmultitool for this, since it will sign your apps with a debug key so you can actually install them to your device.
Download this ApkMultiTool, (Choose the "Linux Version 1.0" at the bottom) then extract it to your desktop, then rename the folder ApkMultiTool.
Once extracted, open a terminal and go to that directory by typing
cd /Desktop/ApkMultiTool
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now, we need to make the script executable. From the open terminal, type
chmod 755 Script.sh
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
then type ./Script.sh to execute it.
If you got an error about optipng and sox are not in your path, simply open another terminal and run this:
sudo apt-get install optipng p7zip-full sox
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should get a menu like this:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Now, we need to patch the aapt to the newest version. In your Android SDK folder, look in the platform-tools folder and grab the aapt file from there and place it in the /other folder in ApkMultiTool. This ensures you have the latest aapt (Android Assets Packaging Tool)
Minimize that and place ElegantDusk.apk into the place-here-for-modding folder. Then maximize the script and choose option 9 to decompile. You should now have a /out folder with several things in it. This is our project folder to begin theming. Navigate to /out/res and let's begin.
Working with Images
First, you'll need an image editor. Since we're using Linux, i recommend the GIMP. Open a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T) and run this:
apt-get install gimp
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Once that's done, launch gimp (either from the dash or by typing gimp into a terminal) and we're ready to theme. I can't get into a full GIMP tutorial here, but that will get it installed, and you can either play with it or find some of the zillion gimp tutorials.
Ok, you've edited an image and are ready to test it on your phone. Let's say you want to change the settings background. That's controlled by frameworks_res_background_holo_dark.png in the drawable-nodpi folder of my theme. Change it however you want. If you're done and ready to compile, refer back to the recompile section above. Or, continue on for more tips.
What the heck is a .9.png file?
Android has devised a method of special metadata that can stretch an image in certain ways so it doesn't have to store tons of large image files in it's resources. In other words, it's an optimization technique. We can edit these easily within GIMP, or we can redraw them with a tool that comes with the AndroidSDK called draw9patch.bat. It's in the /tools folder. Let's look at one.
See the 1 pixel black lines around it? The position of that tells android how and where to stretch the image, as well as where content (ie text) can be displayed inside it. The top and left sides tell android where to stretch and the bottom/right tell it where content can be displayed. As we see, content can be displayed everywhere, and the image is stretched in only a small part. For theming, you NEVER want to touch the black lines, so when you change something inside (the gray area), make extremely sure to never alter them in any way. It will cause literally dozens of compile errors with no warning as to which file caused it (a huge pain).
Working with XML
XML (eXtensible Markup Language) is the primary code language we'll be dealing with in theming. There are a TON of programs that can edit xml, but since we deal with it a lot, it's good to get one that looks nice and has syntax correction. I recommend Sublime Text 2. Let's install it with these 3 commands. Run them seperate.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/sublime-text-2
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install sublime-text-2
Now let's look at a simple XML. Go to /res/values/colors.xml and open it with sublime text. (Right click>open with) You'll see this:
The values are on the right side listed as #ffffffff or similar. These are hexadecimal ARGB color codes. Each set of 2 letters/numbers represent something. The first two (Alpha) are the transparency. FF means fully opaque and 00 means fully transparent. 50 would be 50% transparent. The next set of two (R) represent the red value, or how much red is in the color shade. Again, FF is fully saturated pure red and 00 is no red at all. The same applies to the next two sets. (Green and Blue) This makes up ARGB, so the example of #ffffffff would be fully opaque and full colors of red, green, and blue, which make white. So the hex for white is #FFFFFFFF.
ICS Blue is #ff33b5e5, just in case you are wondering.
Change any values you like, and then simply hit save at the top menu.
Ok, so what about changing more than just colors that were already there? Read on:
Let's say you wanted to change an entire style. I'll use MMS as an example. There are tons of "inverted MMS" apps out there, mainly because it is one of the easiest apps to invert. We want to change the light style to a dark style, so how do we do that? There are a handful of edits we need to do, but since we are concentrating on styles, let's start there. Open /res/values/styles.xml and search for theme.holo.light.darkactionbar. Found it? Change it to theme.holo (so, delete the .light.darkactionbar part) we've just told MMS to use the android "holo" style, which is dark with white text. There's a lot more to it, but this is a simple example of redirecting styles within an app.
Compiling
This is where it gets fun. There can be a lot of errors at this point so be patient. After you've edited your images and .pngs you need to pack it all up again. Maximize your script.sh again and choose option 10 for compile. If you need, scroll up when it's done to see if it built ok. It should look like this:
Odds are you might get some errors at this stage, so copy the log and post it in a pastebin or similar and i'll try to help as time permits. If no errors, you now need to sign it. If you look in the place-here-for-modding folder, there will now be an unsigned apk waiting. After choosing option 11 to sign, it will change to a signed apk, and you can rename it whatever you like and install like a regular app.

that's why i'm trying to set up a build environment to compile directly from source (without success for now hehe).
apktool is powerful but not enough, it causes many FCs with some APKs (deskclock, camera, contacts, etc..)

Not yet. I've even figured out how to make the dialer transparent. Too bad there is no easy way to compile it other than from the source.

Is there a tutorial somewhere on how to build contacts from source? I'd really really really like to have it in my theme
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

i don't know exactly. you have to use linux for sure, then update jdk, download android sdk and so on..then sync with aokp github and compile. but in fact it's a little harder than i explained lol. there's a lot of guides but no one is complete and updated, i tried many of them but every one has some missing part and i can't proceed somehow.
we should find some dev that spends a little time to explain the fundamentals of compiling from source, then we can help each other with it.

artvandelay440 said:
Is there a tutorial somewhere on how to build contacts from source? I'd really really really like to have it in my theme
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only way to build one apk is, you need to make a full rom build first and then you can do a command for one apk. I was in the same boat and trav posted his contacts source and I told someone what xml's I wanted edited (to get rid of blue text) so that person built me the apk and I handled the images on my end cause I'm able to decompile/recompile contacts without errors (but yes phone F's me) so after compile of apk and my images I just 7zip them into the built one. You guys are more than welcome to kang the contacts/phone apk's (un holo'd) from my themes if it'll help (link in sig).
good day.

I am content with the way things are until the Theme Chooser gets updated for ICS. Theming will get so much easier then .

I would also be interested in a guide for compiling apps from source

chopper the dog said:
The only way to build one apk is, you need to make a full rom build first and then you can do a command for one apk. I was in the same boat and trav posted his contacts source and I told someone what xml's I wanted edited (to get rid of blue text) so that person built me the apk and I handled the images on my end cause I'm able to decompile/recompile contacts without errors (but yes phone F's me) so after compile of apk and my images I just 7zip them into the built one. You guys are more than welcome to kang the contacts/phone apk's (un holo'd) from my themes if it'll help (link in sig).
good day.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, i think i'll do that. Your theme colors are more fitting than what i have now. I'll be compiling a full rom on a spare virtual machine today, and if by some miracle, it works, then i can post source to it as well.

artvandelay440 said:
Thanks, i think i'll do that. Your theme colors are more fitting than what i have now. I'll be compiling a full rom on a spare virtual machine today, and if by some miracle, it works, then i can post source to it as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any of the colors in those is handled all with images. I had the apk built with all the blue.holo text changed to 9a9a9a so that it could be a neutral theme. I just edit .9's and other images for multiple themes and use same apk base.
good day.

chopper the dog said:
Any of the colors in those is handled all with images. I had the apk built with all the blue.holo text changed to 9a9a9a so that it could be a neutral theme. I just edit .9's and other images for multiple themes and use same apk base.
good day.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, so technically, i could use 7zip to simply replace the images i want. Wouldn't that cause issues with .9 images, since they need to be compiled again to be drawn correctly?

artvandelay440 said:
Ah, so technically, i could use 7zip to simply replace the images i want. Wouldn't that cause issues with .9 images, since they need to be compiled again to be drawn correctly?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's were I was saying I have no problems de/recompiling contacts so I use a sacrificial apk to decompile make all image edits compile and 7zip image folders into working apk.
good day.

chopper the dog said:
That's were I was saying I have no problems de/recompiling contacts so I use a sacrificial apk to decompile make all image edits compile and 7zip image folders into working apk.
good day.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just tried your apk and it's perfect for minimalist themes .
Can you also please get rid of the blue strip on the top of the call screen or is that in Phone.apk?

chopper the dog said:
That's were I was saying I have no problems de/recompiling contacts so I use a sacrificial apk to decompile make all image edits compile and 7zip image folders into working apk.
good day.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That worked perfectly- thank you.

sonnysekhon said:
Just tried your apk and it's perfect for minimalist themes .
Can you also please get rid of the blue strip on the top of the call screen or is that in Phone.apk?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I need to figure out where that edit is at and have my smarter than me friend build me an apk. It has annoyed me but laziness has prevailed.
good day.

chopper the dog said:
I need to figure out where that edit is at and have my smarter than me friend build me an apk. It has annoyed me but laziness has prevailed.
good day.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's in wither framework or systemui, that i know. (i'm thinking systemui) Here's how it turned out. And i can build phone.apk just fine if you need as well.

i'd love a contacts.apk without that bastard dividers between contacts..
got rid of all of them in framework and phone.apk but that one is in values\colors.xml and can't be removed (yet)

artvandelay440 said:
It's in wither framework or systemui, that i know. (i'm thinking systemui) Here's how it turned out. And i can build phone.apk just fine if you need as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sonny was referring to the blue strip at the top when you place a call. But that cap looks sweet.
good day.

chopper the dog said:
Sonny was referring to the blue strip at the top when you place a call. But that cap looks sweet.
good day.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oh- this one? if so, look in phone apk /res/values/styles/<color name="incall_call_state_label_background">#80fd9000</color>

Yup. Yay laziness paid off. Thanks
good day.

noob apk decode/build tools?

hello,
just wondering if anyone can point me in the right direction?
I'm interested in doing a little bit of editing on some apk's to improve the JoyOS port. It's just little things like removing chinese characters and making some slightly better translations.
From what I can gather, most of what I want to do can be achieved by editing the "strings.xml" within some of the system apk's....like JOYsettings.apk etc.
Only trouble is, I can't find any apk editing tools that work on my windows machine. Most of the ones i've seen are java based, and tend to crash whenever the file you're working on is bigger than say 100kb :s
obviously, not good for editing main system apk's....or....pretty much any apk's.
can someone point me in the right direction for what I can use to siply decode and then rebuild the edited apk's?

Gloris said:
hello,
just wondering if anyone can point me in the right direction?
I'm interested in doing a little bit of editing on some apk's to improve the JoyOS port. It's just little things like removing chinese characters and making some slightly better translations.
From what I can gather, most of what I want to do can be achieved by editing the "strings.xml" within some of the system apk's....like JOYsettings.apk etc.
Only trouble is, I can't find any apk editing tools that work on my windows machine. Most of the ones i've seen are java based, and tend to crash whenever the file you're working on is bigger than say 100kb :s
obviously, not good for editing main system apk's....or....pretty much any apk's.
can someone point me in the right direction for what I can use to siply decode and then rebuild the edited apk's?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here you go...study that in the link..and tool you specificly need is apk tool or its alternatives...just read the tut carefully...ill add youtube links if needed later
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1661770
Hope i helped....

many thanks, i'll give that a good read tomorrow...when i'm a bit less sleepy

Gloris said:
many thanks, i'll give that a good read tomorrow...when i'm a bit less sleepy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you can change these two lines in build.prop of your rom with winrar or 7zip to make it boot in English
ro.product.locale.language=en
ro.product.locale.region=US
Then save the changes
If you want to remove chineese apps just open system folder,then app folder and simply remove what you dont like...save the changes and flash the ROM
Hope this save you some time,cause editing apk is time and nerve consuming job...

thanks. i did remove all the things like chinese app store etc...it's just a little tweaking basically of the settings.apk and some other apps that have some pretty iffy translations. my favourite so far is that instead of "low battery warning" it says "low electrical quantities"
::EDIT::
think i'm gonna give up lol.
i have apktool working, it decompiles fine, but as soon as i go to recompile (even if i make no changes) it gives at brut.androlib errors all the time.

[Q] making sense of .smali

hey guys.
can one of you masters point me in the correct direction to understanding .smali code?
I'm trying to update the video ringtone app that I had themed back in 2010. I've been able to get most of it done via .xml and .png edits, but I'm running into an issue I never ran back then. there's a check in the code of the program that tells me the app is corrupt. I know it's because it's been edited, but it's a free apk, i'm not breaking any rules. never heard of free apks being so strict.
I'm fairly certain it's down to .smali, as I've poured through all the .xmls and I don't see anything referencing that error except the strings.xml in res/values/.
within the smali i'm fairly certain i'm in the right folder, as I'm seeing different .smali files for specific parts of the program I can recognize based on the name, but nothing makes sense of what's on the smali code.
i can real .xml plainly, but .smali reads like text java...which I'm very bad at. is this something that I can visualize by using Eclipse or another Java compiler? how do you guys find what you need to edit in the code?
any help is greatly appreciated.

nobody? I know someone must know because you awesome guys do smali changes all the time!
I found a "guide" on editing/themeing Android. It mentioned I needed Eclipse. that's ALL it ever said about Eclipse...I need it, for what?!

What does it do when you try to open the program? Does it just fc or does it actually tell you that it's corrupt?

the problem only happens when I try to select a video for a specific contact.
instead of opening the video picker thing, it gives a toast notification saying the application is corrupt. the toast notification goes away and the app stays open.
I can continue to use the app otherwise, and everything else seems to be working. the share/download videos option gives the same message, but that connects to a server, so that is understandable.
the app still works. i just don't want to release it as is since you can only have one video ringtone right now, and I like having custom ringtones and I know so will other people.