So, many know that I have been fighting with the xmls for weeks now with no success and while that is still mainly true there has been some progress thanks to JesusFreke who showed me how to understand the binary code a bit more and how to Hex Edit.
For right now, we cannot compile our own xmls for any of T-mobile's builds because we don't have the source for their builds. I tried and tried but to no avail.
However, With JesusFreke's help, I was able to do a few things.
I was able to change the date, and the notification text on the statusbar to any color I wanted. Sadly, the time will remain black because it is hard coded in and is not in those xmls.
I have also been able to change the color of the pull up menu background and make it more transparent, as well as totally transparent.
I have been able to make the t-mobile logo totally invisible in the notification menu
I tried making the keylock background transparent, which worked but it doesn't show the desktop instead it shows.....A black screen, go figure...
There are many other things that I can change, but....I won't continue to work on it.
As of tonight, I am moving to cupcake and plan on customizing that to my needs as it will be much easier.....
Please let me know if anyone has any questions.
Stericson
Very interesting stuff for sure. Thanks for keeping us updated!
I actually do have one question: How do I download the old source? I have the cupcake build, but since that's been delayed, and will probably be multiple mini-releases, I'd like the current source.
Also, if you have the time, once I get the current source, I'd like to edit some of those. The few feature you listed can help with the immersion of themes and such. If not, then oh well. Keep up the good work.
Go Stericson! Keep kicking the crap out of those xmls and lemme know how I can help.
Bro i need some of those .xml you made edits to so i can check it out. Great job keep doing your thing.
specifically, I edited the binary version of the xmls using a hex editor. All you can really do is change colors and stuff. unless your a master hex editor, which I am not.
Hello you all
I would like to have some information about editing the default android lockscreen.
First of all, I know that it is much easer to work with a lockscreen replacer like widgetlocker. But I hate the fact there is a lag on it, you sometimes can unlock the default screen, open for example the app drawer when suddenly your phone get locket again, but this time with the slow responding widget locker.
And besides that, I like to mess around with that sort of things
What I did so far just deleting the htc sense lock screen (thanks to warriorvibhu http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=948976). But when you do so, you notice that the sliders on your screen are way to big.
This can be solved by flashing an other framework, and I did that (using remove_HtcLockscreen.zip from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=10192875&postcount=2). The only problem is that this framework is, in my opinion, deadly ugly. So I thought "as I've seen that it is possible, I just going to modify the things my self".
I did all sort of things, using the new framework to see which things where changed. The plan was to look where the lockscreen was defined, to look for diferences and to make modifications in the standard sense framework.
The two most important things I already have done is
- modifying the keyguard_screen_tab_unlock.xml of the framework-res.apk so that it matched with the one in the framework-res.apk that I downloaded - resulted in nothing.
- deodexing the android.policy.jar classes.dex file. I've seen that there are a lot of smali files in there reguarding the "lockscreen" and "keyguard", but first of all I don't now which one does what an secondly, I've seen that the standard sense android.policy.jar doesn't contain a classes.dex file. I've already tried to push the android.policy.jar with the classes.dex file in my phone, but I noticed no difference.
Reading this it appears to me that it doesn't seem that I have done so much. But I can assure you, I've done a lot more, but most of the time it had nothing to do with the lockscreen and/or resulted in a bootloop.
But now my ideas have come to an end, and this is why I'm asking for help. Can somebody set me off in the good direction? I know that it must be possible to make the sliders normal, so it is really driving me crazy not to see which files I should edit.
Thank you in advance,
Erwin
ErwinP said:
This can be solved by flashing an other framework, and I did that (using remove_HtcLockscreen.zip from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=10192875&postcount=2). The only problem is that this framework is, in my opinion, deadly ugly. So I thought "as I've seen that it is possible, I just going to modify the things my self".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I flashed this one when I was using Sense and the lockscreen looked OK, not too big, not too small, just like the default android.
Kinda like this, but better:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=10486389&postcount=85
Thank you, but again, this is something that changes icons etc. And all I want to do is make the slide bars look like in that ROM
But reading trough that topic, it looks to me that it appears to be difficult to make changes in sense roms... Still hoping that someone can point me the files that should be edited, or at least set me of in the good direction.
But thank you Alex_GP for your fast respons!
Erwin
I don`t know these stuff, but you can try PM-img HewGBalls http://forum.xda-developers.com/member.php?u=3193485 and asking him for directions, seeing that he`s the one that worked on this before.
I'm new to Android, coming from my FrankenPre2 after giving up hope on webOS and HP. Picking up the Epic Touch has been great, besides the LOS and battery issues. I was pretty deep into modding the Pre, so I'm looking to do the same here.
My first thought was to try to modify the images on the Epic, but I am lost as to where to find the correct files to modify. I was able to change the icon for the messaging app and the Incoming/Outgoing phone call animation, but that's pretty much it. I don't know where to start with the phone app, since images seem to be spread out all over the place. Opening up the phone apk yeilds a ton of images, and I don't know which ones to change.
My question would be to any themers out there, or anyone familiar enough with Android. How do I know which images I need to edit? Is there a directory or a file list which gives corresponding locations to specific images, such as the "1" button or the "Call" button, or the launcher icons? Or is it more a process of trial and error? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Can you post screenshots of the things you want to change
(sxreeshot is done by holding power and home)
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
gtuansdiamm said:
Can you post screenshots of the things you want to change
(sxreeshot is done by holding power and home)
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pretty much everything. My first shot will be at the stock icons on the launcher. The I'd like to start on themes for the phone, email, and messaging apps. Pecifically, on the phone I'd like to change much of the color scheme, since the stock colors are in my opinion pretty ugly. But I also want to change the dial pad numbers and other standard buttons.
I was directed to this thread by another Android user:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=821638
Looking into it, the framework-res.apk does have a lot of images that are familiar, but there are a lot of images that aren't there. I think I'll have to start learning about the names of the file locations, and going by trial and error. It would be awesome if there was a simple blueprint as to where the images you want to change are, but ah well. I've got a lot of learning to do. Thanks for the response, and if you have any other suggestions, let me know.
Check out SystemUI.apk
This is the pulldown icons and such
Found under system\app\
I think the dialer is contacts.apk
KelvCast said:
Check out SystemUI.apk
This is the pulldown icons and such
Found under system\app\
I think the dialer is contacts.apk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you! I would never have looked in the contacts for the dialer icons. There doesn't seem to be a perfect logic as to which apk's hold the images, so I guess it's going to be a lot of trial and error here. If you know of any more locations, let me know. Thanks!
you need to modify the images in the following that I know of to get a pretty standard theme
Framework-res
touchwiz framework-res
contacts.apk
systemui.apk
I really love the new graphic style in Android ICS, especially for the blue fades that replaced those horrible plain black backgrounds in almost every list/app/screen. However, the app drawer background is still completely dark, and I was wondering...is there a .png or a file in the android framework, that lets us customizing the app drawer background opacity or better, the entire drawer background image?
The settings blue fade background would be a lot better of plain black, for example. Can you at least point me to the right direction? Thanks in advance!
The app drawer is part of the launcher, I believe, so poking around inside the launcher's .apk file would probably be a good place to start. That said, I probably know less about modding Android than you do, so I could be dead wrong...
Actually, I think this too - despite I talked about the 'framework'. The problem is, that a common android application is made up by a res folder, full of .pngs and pictures, and a lot of other folders that contain all the .xmls for the app itself, that I never achieved to edit in any way. And because I'm sure the drawer background is part of a style .xml, probably being defined by a string such as "background_color=0,0,0/transparency=0" (example taken by some .xmls edited on PC, I actually have no idea of how these things are written in android), it could be useful to know where to find something like that or how to edit this kind of values ;P
C'mon, I can't believe everyone actually never tought of changing the drawer background! I mean...this is one of the first feature that you -devs of several alt. launchers- will have to add, and so far (think to ADW) it has not been so difficoult! So...please, if you know something on that, point me to the right file or config!
I downloaded Launcher2.apk, extracted it, and gone through each single file inside. And "Drawer Layout" or "Drawer Background" aren't there. What could I do next?
Looking at the Launcher2 source, it is a xml file in the drawables folder named wallpaper_gallery_background.xml.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
wallpaper_gallery_background.xml - it was one of my search result for "backgound" keyword. But I went over it, since I think is related to the wallpaper picker (the little gallery of wallpapers at the bottom of the wallpaper selection screen...). Any other ideas?
p.s.: Happy that finally someone is paying attention to this topic... xda doesn't help people with a few posts or subscribed only some months ago (and that doesn't implies that they're newbie or dumb è_é) in ANY WAY... ;D I think this would be a very appreciated feature, this thread has a lot of views in just 1 day and a half!
I will play around with the source and get back with you.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Only thing I could find in Launcher2 is in drawable-xhdpi. The first PNG is apps_customize_bg.png and its a black image. Didn't see any XML files related to app drawer, which leads me to think its all hidden in smali code or another apk.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
@AndHel Great! That's the answer I was waiting for! Thank you so much...I hope we'll be able to find something relatively easy to handle ;D
BTW, it would be very interesting knowing a bit more about Android decompiling and modding...if you want, explain me (even very quickly) how will you reach certain files/configurations, if you'll do, when you'll do.
@mb02 Thank you for your efforts too, I hope you're wrong but I fear you're right...absolutely not even a single word that remembers the "app drawer"! Maybe with your patience, we'll find out more!
...and I keep searching around /system for any kind of thing graphic-related to this damned drawer ;P
ledoweb said:
@AndHel Great! That's the answer I was waiting for! Thank you so much...I hope we'll be able to find something relatively easy to handle ;D
BTW, it would be very interesting knowing a bit more about Android decompiling and modding...if you want, explain me (even very quickly) how will you reach certain files/configurations, if you'll do, when you'll do.
@mb02 Thank you for your efforts too, I hope you're wrong but I fear you're right...absolutely not even a single word that remembers the "app drawer"! Maybe with your patience, we'll find out more!
...and I keep searching around /system for any kind of thing graphic-related to this damned drawer ;P
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In every iteration of Android prior, including skinned versions (Sense, TW, blur) the app drawer coding and images resided in the launcher (Rosie, Launcher, etc). The naming, however, wasn't ever "app drawer" but "all apps" as drawer was never he official term for the all apps view. Rosie launcher had multiple XML files in the Rosie.apk res/layout folder that dealt with this "all apps" as well as related images. With the absence of anything related to apps in this Launcher2.apk, I feel as though everything was moved to smali or in another apk, unless they cleverly hid it in another XML in Launcher2.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
It's within /res/layout in Launcher2. The file is called apps_customize_pane.xml
Just change the 2 values ff000000 into something else, i.e. bb000000 to make them slightly transparent.
It sounds promising...i thought that file was for a screen called "apps customization"
...may I ask which other letters could I use to increase/decrease opacity? AFAIK, numbers are for color and letters are for alpha...right?
Anyway, thanks so much for this solution! - I'll give it a try as far as I can. BTW, no way to replace a colour with something better, like a .png? Maybe just removing that string, and replacing it with something slightly different...
Edit: I'm having troubles in editing that .xml. Apktool fails decompiling Launcer2.apk probably because I'm using an old version of the android SDK, and this means...that I'm stuck at unreadable .xmls. I'm waiting for the SDK manager to have all updates installed, and then I might be able to finally "undress" this damned drawer ;P
This is likely harder than you expect. A few technical notes (and yes it's possible this will be a Nova feature in the future but it's not officially planned at this time).
1) App drawer is indeed called "AppsCustomizePagedView"
2) When viewing the app drawer, the launcher disables the wallpaper from showing (I believe as an optimization). I think if you made the drawer fully transparent you would see (in order from top to bottom):
Drawer
Smaller sized home screens
Black background
If you're editing source you can prevent the black background by changing updateWallpaperVisibility(). To hide the home screens you'd probably have to change the animation code in showAppsCustomizeHelper which could be a bit tricky.
[email protected] said:
This is likely harder than you expect. A few technical notes (and yes it's possible this will be a Nova feature in the future but it's not officially planned at this time).
1) App drawer is indeed called "AppsCustomizePagedView"
2) When viewing the app drawer, the launcher disables the wallpaper from showing (I believe as an optimization). I think if you made the drawer fully transparent you would see (in order from top to bottom):
Drawer
Smaller sized home screens
Black background
If you're editing source you can prevent the black background by changing updateWallpaperVisibility(). To hide the home screens you'd probably have to change the animation code in showAppsCustomizeHelper which could be a bit tricky.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i managed to get the app drawer transparent and indeed a black background..
but cant find updatewallpapervisibility anywhere
where can it be found? is it a xml or in a xml ?
thnx!
For that you have to edit source files and recompile, it's not just an XML edit.
Sent from The Past into The Future via The Present.
Milamber33 said:
For that you have to edit source files and recompile, it's not just an XML edit.
Sent from The Past into The Future via The Present.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok!thnx!
i found the trebuchet source on gethub
i managed to change the source so the black screen and all is gone and the drawer is transparent.. but i cant test it because i dont know how to compile it
can you tell me ? thnx
There are plenty of tutorials on setting up an Android build environment and compiling the source floating around. They will be far more detailed and useful than I could be.
Sent from The Past into The Future via The Present.
I did it
I made it transparent its on a thread i started
locomain said:
I did it
I made it transparent its on a thread i started
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where is the thread?
Im gonna play around with this a bit when I have the chance....
But, using APKtool to decompile or recompile is very similar....
If you already have apktool all setup with your Roms framework file, and you already decompiled the file...... to recompile, all you have to do is use the command "apktool b foldername"
where folder name is the folder that it decompiled the apk to (likely Launcher2)