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Let me start by saying that I have googled, and used the search box for XDA. I haven`t been able to find a clear guide, or even a hint on how to go about making a custom theme for manila 2d. The only things I can find are lots of link to themes others have made and other unless information. It`s like it`s everybody else`s big secret or something. I just want to be able to make my own theme that I actually like, and contribute to the Pocket PC community. I`m not exactly a noob when it comes to PPC`s , but I`m certainly no expert. I just want to learn how to do things myself, instead of waiting to see what others come come up with.
Enough with my sad plea though, if any one can help me out I`d appreciated it. I`m not asking for a 20 page detailed step by step guide or nothing just maybe a explaination of how the stuff in the theme fits together, what types of files and extension, the basics.
Whenever I make custom graphics for apps, I do this. First, take a look at the files associated with the app. If you have actual graphic files, than it's just a simple create and replace. Some apps use .dat files, which are protected sets of files. Like with Spb apps, you have to rename "file.dat", to "file.zip" and extract with the password. If after browsing through the files and find nothing, PM someone about how to change it.
I used M2D once, but never really looked at what it included. I suggest downloading a theme that is not a .cab file, and see what's included. If you still can't find your answer, PM someone.
Wish I could help, but I have only used it for a grand total of 10 minutes.
Well, in my whole 5 minutes of looking into this, the quickest way i can see is to download a theme from someone like - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=448326...
Then modify to your liking, and extract to the windows folder on your vogue.
Hope this helps.
nosco said:
Well, in my whole 5 minutes of looking into this, the quickest way i can see is to download a theme from someone like - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=448326...
Then modify to your liking, and extract to the windows folder on your vogue.
Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ewww, not too hot on all that red.... Take a look at these while you are at it....
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=425974
I was wondering the same thing on how to make the custom themes. Did you have any luck pknyo?
From what I've seen on these you can take the elements you like from several themes and combine them.
If you open one of the .ZIP files, you'll see a structure. All of the icons that are needed are named and there's a bunch of them.
You can also open and check out the .XML file at the end it has the sizing criteria for the themes.
If I am incorrect here, feel free to correct.
has anyone successfully edited the .9 images and got them working in their themes ?
Plz reply the poll too...
check out teknotiq, he explained some of the information to me about his work with editting .9 pngs... also most themes such as BUUF, Fadte to Blue, Stericson's themes, all have .9 pngs edited... you can check with them as well
I too have got them successfully edited...
i have made this thread just to know wheather .9.png images are changed widely ?
so thanks on your reply....
want more people reply....
They can be changed but they always break, I have never had one loop me at the boot screen. Some look ok and others dont, its just trial and error.
I've noticed the best way to change these .9.pngs is to give them a 1 pixel border. The buttons for instance, the inside is one color and the border should be a 1 pixel black or whatever color of the theme. You have to erase the corners to, if not they stretch weirdly.
hey pud, try editing the clear notifications button and change its color, without it breaking. Then send me a pic. I was stuck on this forever....
damnitpud said:
I've noticed the best way to change these .9.pngs is to give them a 1 pixel border. The buttons for instance, the inside is one color and the border should be a 1 pixel black or whatever color of the theme. You have to erase the corners to, if not they stretch weirdly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i do it the same way
Stericson said:
hey pud, try editing the clear notifications button and change its color, without it breaking. Then send me a pic. I was stuck on this forever....
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Click to collapse
I ll try doin that and give it to u...
I figured out the .9.pngs! The procedure is here! Updated: 02/13/09
::New:::
If you have downloaded the SDK and Eclipse, you have all the tools you need, If not you should grab them and follow Google's guide.
This process is somewhat a pain in the butt, but worth it. You need to take the .9 off of the file name that you want to change, then drag it into the draw9patch tool from the Android SDK(in the tools folder) Here is some info about draw9patch. Pay attention to the Note in the middle of the page. Once you have your 9patch file edited and saved you need to compile it, the lines will remain on this .9 image until it is compiled with eclipse. you need to open a project, or create one in eclipse, drag the .9.png into the drawable folder, then right click your project folder and choose android tools/export unsigned application package. Once this is done, you want to open the apk with WinRar and pull your .9.png files out. you will notice the lines are gone! That is all, I am sure people who have not downloaded the SDK and Eclipse yet might have problems understand this process, but I will try to help you. I am not a guru with Eclipse but i know enough to get by.
Good luck and happy stretching =)
Playing with the SDK today, i found in "SDK\tools\lib\res\default\drawable" all of the .9.pngs have the black lines intact. These could be good for learning the best way to stretch these images. Also the xmls have not been converted to binary, so it might make for some interesting hacks for themes.
Here is a screen shot of the draw9patch tool. The bottom and right sets the content area and the left and top set the stretch area.
I am not sure if i am going to disclose this info just yet (because of the competition) but i wanted to let everyone know its been figured out and we will all know very soon!
i am uploading some screen shots now with some perfect buttons! Anyone who has used my theme knows the buttons looked somewhat messy, well no longer will they be.
damnitpud said:
I am not sure if i am going to disclose this info just yet but i wanted to let everyone know its been figured out and we will all know very soon!
i am uploading some screen shots now!
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way to go! excited to see some sshots!
looks amazing man! I've been using this theme for the last week and i must say its totally grown on me. Thanks for putting out some kick ass updates
Great to hear.
To tell you the truth, I loved your theme. The only reason I uninstalled it was because of the .9.pngs stretched out and looked bad.
After seeing these pics though I will reinstall =)
That's cool but this theme competitions is starting to suck, no one want to share any info due to fear of losing. I'm fearing this comp.. my be counter productive.
are some .9's harder to edit than others? never tried editing the buttons and such but the ones i've tried editing (the notifications bar etc.) seem not to mess up, no matter what i do to them. are some of them just really temperamental?
Not me if i had info like that i would share it because for me i don't care if i win or lose one this not my first comp and second i have been doing this to long.
@Damnitpud
Good work bro.
For the few .9 pngs I have modified so far I just used the layer blending properties to apply an overlay with some opacity and saw no ill effects. I haven't done many yet, but if I am just changing colors, I don't see why this shouldn't work for all fo them. Since it preserves the original shapes and layouts, just adds a tint to the image.
I am going to type up the steps to getting the .9s working properly. I am going to end up sharing the info, i'm not one to usually hoard info. There is still some learning to do with the draw9patch tool, but at least we can get rid of those damn lines after messing with it in in the draw9 tool.
I will add it to the first post of this thread.
Meltus said:
are some .9's harder to edit than others? never tried editing the buttons and such but the ones i've tried editing (the notifications bar etc.) seem not to mess up, no matter what i do to them. are some of them just really temperamental?
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Click to collapse
Yes some are very hard and only distort at larger sizes. The buttons are very difficult, even opening them up and saving the file will break it. you don't even have to change anything. Try changing the btn_default_normal.9.png and use the stock btn_default_pressed.9.png. you will see a big difference when you press that button.
That's cool but this theme competitions is starting to suck, no one want to share any info due to fear of losing. I'm fearing this comp.. my be counter productive.
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Click to collapse
I agree, that is why i am going to release the info, its pretty simple but very tedious. Not as bad as compressing the images like i figured out before. But that's only because there is not as many.
Not me if i had info like that i would share it because for me i don't care if i win or lose one this not my first comp and second i have been doing this to long.
@Damnitpud
Good work bro.
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Click to collapse
This is the first time...well second time i have found something the community was looking for answers to, i am normally one of the herd waiting for the relases...not doing the release myself. i would love to win the competition, but i doubt perfect buttons will give me that much of an edge. =)
And thank you!
manup456 said:
Not me if i had info like that i would share it because for me i don't care if i win or lose one this not my first comp and second i have been doing this to long.
@Damnitpud
Good work bro.
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I agree. I want to get into the comp but it's not for the money. I'm doing it because it's fun to see what people can come up with and I enjoy a challenge. Besides isn't the comp about who's theme is most aesthetically pleasing, since none of us are releasing the themes to the public until after the comp no one will see those things anyway unless you post up 100 screens shots that is.
I gave away my secret in the first post =)
Sweet jesus.
You've opened a whole new can of worms.
The world is in our hands, now.
I successfully edited my first .png and ported it as a theme!
Colored Vibrating Phone!!
I want to appologize for being impatient to all the current theme developers specifically Manup. After spending an hour how to get the .png to save in the archive file, I can see that editing each individual icon could take hours and hours if you want it to look right.
Time for me to try at some more difficult stuff.
Hope to be posting my first theme within the next few months.
um..what did you do that took so long?
well....
Remember that this is my first self attempt at this.
I was having trouble getting it to save to the archive. The pop up was behind other applications I was running, so I didn't see it prompting me to save to the archive.
Next is just the editing of the .png itself. If I was just copying and pasting it wouldn't have taken any time. I had to find the icon I wanted to put there, then change the colors just right. It isn't really hard, just time consuming, but you already know that. This is why I was apologizing. Its my first time, give me a break.
Ok I went to edit the first android boot screen.
and of course it hung on boot screen in a loop. My file went from around 3k to 31k so obviously the file is too big. I can't seem to find an option to compress or deflate the file using 7zip.
Can any give me some suggestions?
You don't the .png images with 7zip you do it with Photoshop or whatever graphic design program. There is a post some where explaining how to compress the .png images i just don't know it of hand.
Yeah you want to save the file in photoshop using the save for web & devices...or the pngout program. read thru this here. has my way and the pngout way in the posts.
Ill give ya a tip, this is how i do it at least. i extract the update.zip then extract all the apks that i am going to change. I start editing all the files in framework-res, then move to Launcher, contacts and phone. After these are done i normally import them into the update.zip, sign it and test it.
When i import the images i just open the update.zip in WinRar, then double click the apk i need to import images into. It opens the apk in a new WinRar window, i browse tot he folder i need then just drag the images into it. Do that for each apk then sign it and test it.
Hope this helps.
I was using 7zip for extraction and paintshop pro for editing
I was doing fine. I was just excited to get that far. One of the problems I ran into was when I edited an image file it went from 3k to 30k when. I even used png crush and it only compressed to 24k. Not sure if it is even important yet.
I was only:
A) apologizing for expecting so much when it is so much work.
B) proud that I figured it out and am on my way to editing/creating my own theme.
I only ask one thing of some of the more senior devs. Please don't be so critical. All of us are at several different levels. What may seem juvenile to you might be a huge hurdle to others. This is why we are dependant on you for themes.
Brutal-Force said:
I was doing fine. I was just excited to get that far. One of the problems I ran into was when I edited an image file it went from 3k to 30k when. I even used png crush and it only compressed to 24k. Not sure if it is even important yet.
I was only:
A) apologizing for expecting so much when it is so much work.
B) proud that I figured it out and am on my way to editing/creating my own theme.
I only ask one thing of some of the more senior devs. Please don't be so critical. All of us are at several different levels. What may seem juvenile to you might be a huge hurdle to others. This is why we are dependant on you for themes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good job on getting going, im getting ready to make a go of it as well. I dont think they are criticizing you just being helpful. Have you seen how critical people are in the theme makers posts, cant believe half the theme makers still do it lol.
Brutal-Force said:
I was doing fine. I was just excited to get that far. One of the problems I ran into was when I edited an image file it went from 3k to 30k when. I even used png crush and it only compressed to 24k. Not sure if it is even important yet.
I was only:
A) apologizing for expecting so much when it is so much work.
B) proud that I figured it out and am on my way to editing/creating my own theme.
I only ask one thing of some of the more senior devs. Please don't be so critical. All of us are at several different levels. What may seem juvenile to you might be a huge hurdle to others. This is why we are dependant on you for themes.
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Click to collapse
Hope i didn't come off that way...i was just trying to help. no ill intenet in that post at all =)
Thank you.
It always helps with reassuring words while trying something this complicated.
Thank you damnitpud.
I have been following the forums very closely since October. I have even followed your posts and tutorials. I am just trying to ride the wave crest and not fall in, because getting out is a *****. I have had to not only pick up the 'ol writing computer
Read through my post here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=3339701&postcount=6
It tells you how to edit the update.zip without extracting anything but the drawables folder. After a lot of time and effort I have streamlined the process as much as possible so maybe you can pick up a few tricks with that walkthrough. And I use gimp, I dont mess wtih compression or saving file for web. I take big images, save them as a png, resize them to 48x48 using the XP power toys resizing tool and drag-and-drop them into my update.zip. I dont know what is happening but everyone keeps thinking its way harder than it really is.
Then when I swap themes from ADP to RC33 or vice versa I open up my theme in 7zip and a blank theme in the version I want to convert too. I got to each apk and drag-and-drop the drawables folder straight into the other update.zip replacing the existing drawables folder. If you do it my way you can convert a theme in minutes or if you have all the artwork you can turn it into a theme in about 15-20 mins TOPS.
My biggest suggestion is to experiment with trial and error, use your nandroid backup and make mistakes, its the best way to learn and there is nothing that compares to hands on experience, that way you know what works and you can tell people from experience instead of hearsay.
7Zip is the best tip you gave B, I tried using WinRar but it wasnt as user friendly for this stuff. Especially as 7Zip saves as you swap and move up the file tree.
I am using your tutorial B.
I don't have photoshop, so I am using Paintshop pro PhotoX2 which works fine for me.
I was using 7zip, but I am used to using Winzip. I am currently using Winzip12 so thats serving my needs nicely.
What I was referring too isn't so much difficult in moving files around, it is more or less knowing WHICH files you can mess with. I have seen posted that don't mess with .9.png files at them moment as that can cause problems. I also do not know what size a theme is aloud to be in the update.zip. I also wanted to know If i have to include ever single file or if it is just neccessary to do just the things you want to change.
It isn't hard to actually do the file changing and such, the "HARD" part is more Time consuming then hard, and thats the artwork required to actually change the look of the component.
More questions will pop-up I am sure, but I am in the Trial and Error Stage right now.
Another question if anyone reads this, Where is the Clock Widget located? I see that every theme maker edits this, and lets be honest, If you use this widget, it is the center focal point of every theme. Just changing this gives the whole desktop another feel.
Brutal-Force said:
...Where is the Clock Widget located? I see that every theme maker edits this, and lets be honest, If you use this widget, it is the center focal point of every theme. Just changing this gives the whole desktop another feel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's in the Launcher.apk.
All your questions are in the tutorials, if you drag the drawable folder onto your desktop you can see the pics when you doubleclick the folder.
Just my thought,
The clock is something that most people change, but I dont use the clock, that is why the time is in the corner constantly. I feel the clock just eats up space on my desktop. Of course I like it with as few icons as possible.
Thanx for the replies.
I had also found the clock in the Launcher.apk file, but for some reason, when I try and edit it and put it back into the folder it causes my phone stop at the boot screen. I just wanted to make sure I was trying to edit the right file.
I somehow expected it to be in a completely different place.
Yes a lot of my questions may seem to be repeats, but I had initially started this thread as just a Eureka thread. But as long as people who are in the know are reading it, I am glad to ask questions. Sometimes the Main threads and stickies are 150 pages deep and after not reading them for two days you kind of get behind.
well if we are asking questions....then can someone help me
when I go to update my phone with the update zip i get
E:Wrong digest
system/app/Launcher.apk
E:Verification failed
and yes I am new at this...
Have you rooted with RC29 yet?
Looks like what happens before you root.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=442480
Read this first.
I had the exact same "wohoo" feeling when I made my first theme mod and it was a success.
First off, I take no credit in doing this, this is meant to help people if they want to try it. And I am only making thread at request of others members.
If you break your phone I am not responsible, if you have questions though I am more than willing to help as much as I can but this was the first project I did.
There may be easier ways to do this but this is how I did it. If there is, feel free to comment the other ways!
I would like to say thanks to maddoggin and illinois08 for there help in getting mine figured out!
Requirements:
winrar (this is what I prefer but you can use any of your choice)
Original Swype.apk (included in thread and swype needs to be already installed)
image editing software (I personally used gimp and coreldraw) and experience in them.
common sense
What you are actually changing:
To change the look of swype is fairly simple, meaning all you are changing is some .png files in the apk itself to whatever you want them to be.
The only downside is trying to make sure the letter spacing is correct. That is the reason I used coreldraw first to do the spacing and then the background with my flames was in gimp.
First Step:
Using winrar (7zip, etc) open up Swype.apk (I placed on desktop for easier use).
The first folder should say assets. Open up assets. After you open assets, there should be a folder named keyboards. Drag the keyboards folder to desktop.
Once you open the keyboards folder, you will see multiple image files. You have found the files we need to edit! Make sure every png stays in there even if you decided not to edit one of them.
Files SwypeRef_LS_Blue_Shifted_WVGA.png (LS is landscape keyboard) through SwypeRef_PT_Standard_wBlue_VGA.png (PT is portrait, most important for me)
I only edited 4 of the images because these are the main 4 I use and don't use landscape. If you wish you can edit all of them or just 1 .
Second Step:
Using Gimp/or CorelDRAW, you will need to make new images that are 480x320 pixels. At this point, it is totally up to you to get the placements correct and make the image how you want it displayed.
I personally imported the images I was editing to Corel, and basically started a fresh one on top of it so I could get the letter placements correct. You need to make sure when you are done that the image is still 480x320 with the letters not being the end of the size. I made an outline that was 480x320 and placed the letters inside and exported the image that way so it stayed the right size. I would also try to keep the images around 50 kb because mine are around 90 and you noticed some lag when it switched between pngs...
As you are exporting your images, make sure to name them their appropriate names (shifted, capitals, lower case, etc.) which makes it easier to rename them after wards.
Third Step
Once you have all of your images done how you want, I would place them all in their own separate folder.
Now, you will need to open the keyboards folder from earlier and match the images you edited to where they go in "keyboards" and rename your files to the appropriate name and delete its' counter part. Meaning make sure only your image is in keyboards with it renamed to what mode your png represents. And make sure the folder contains every png it did before. They all serve a purpose.
After you have removed all the old pngs and replaced with your renamed images, you will need to open Swype.apk back up and go to assets-> and delete the original keyboards folder. After deleting, move your keyboards folder with your images under assets.
Swype is now edited with your keyboards how you want them!!
Fourth Step:
The only thing left is either adb push Swype.apk to system/app or place on sd card and install with astro,ez,etc.
Another way that is very easy and the way I do it. If you are using a theme, open up on your desktop with winrar. Go to folder system/app and place Swype.apk in app folder. Now flash from recovery and your new and improved swype is ready for action.
I have attached what I made mine look like. Some people may not like how basic it looks and how some of the things are not sized or off correctly but I like it and it works!!
I also added a picture of my custom dropdown which I made in Gimp. If you would like to know how to do one like this send me a PM.
And if you have any questions, feel free to ask. I may not be the best at explaining things thoroughly !
I have been getting a lot of PM asking how to edit swype ...
Are my instructions to complicated? If so, let me know and I will try to revise them a bit and sorry!
Nah it's cool man. I mean i get it. idk about everyone else. I haven't got around to trying it yet but this lets me know what to expect.
Ok well that is good! Thanks for the reply...
I hope that post didn't come off as rude, if you sent me a PM I more than willing to help everyone! I just wanted to make sure it wasn't bad instructions ...
Dude this is really nice, I like how you changed the letters to diferent font. Nice job! You should make some more!
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA Premium App
Thanks man! Like I said since this was my personal one I didn't go all out and it was kind of sloppy but it suits me fine.
I was thinking about it but not sure what people would want! If some people gave me some ideas of what kind of background or font, I would have no problem making it for them.
Now that I know how to do it (with your help) it won't be as painful as before, just time consuming.
I'm not a user of Swype but I certainly commend the effort that you put into this. It came out great.
stir fry a lot said:
I'm not a user of Swype but I certainly commend the effort that you put into this. It came out great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you!
This is GREAT!! Thank you for putting this together.
Your are welcome! Let me know if you have any questions!
Just so everyone is clear, the Swype.apk attached to post is the original swype, not my customized one . Because that is what you have to edit.
Just so no one gets confused.
Thank you for this help. I've wanted to be able to change the way mine looked but have been stuck trying to find someone else's work that suited. I've just started modifying mine and what I've got looks awful but that's because I need to learn how to utilize the imaging programs better. I'm sure I can get it and thank you again for the starter.
ficjay said:
Thank you for this help. I've wanted to be able to change the way mine looked but have been stuck trying to find someone else's work that suited. I've just started modifying mine and what I've got looks awful but that's because I need to learn how to utilize the imaging programs better. I'm sure I can get it and thank you again for the starter.
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Awesome! Im glad it helped you! Im sure you will and hope you share with us the finished product!
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
jkrough0728 said:
First off, I take no credit in doing this, this is meant to help people if they want to try it. And I am only making thread at request of others members.
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Im thinkin that pull needs a lil animation......
D
jkrough0728 said:
I have been getting a lot of PM asking how to edit swype ...
Are my instructions to complicated? If so, let me know and I will try to revise them a bit and sorry!
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I haven't tried yetyet but I get It fine... great job
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Worked great on my3VO thanks.
Anyone have a link to the nexus s4g version
I want to edit my swype to look like that
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA Premium App
I forgot all about this thread lol
I just edited my 3D's swype today because of you guys posting on it and it made me think to do that so thank you
jkrough0728 said:
I forgot all about this thread lol
I just edited my 3D's swype today because of you guys posting on it and it made me think to do that so thank you
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I just themed one today. HOLY CRAP IT'S NOT EASY!
shane6374 said:
I just themed one today. HOLY CRAP IT'S NOT EASY!
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I know it can be a pain sometimes... Really depends if you want different font that is the hardest thing ever lol
sent from my Evo 3D from xda app
Hi all,
I see on market this cool wallpaper:
Sun Rise free
I'm using it and it's really nice, but there are (IMHO) a lot of things missing.
such as:
- always the same background during morning/afternoon/evening
- only those few birds
stuff like that ..
I would like to create a new one starting from this idea, I studied java but I'm more network administrator, programming is not my best!
is there someine who could help me?
UP ???
I just can't find a good "how to" to make a nice live wallpaper, guess it's not so hard, i could do a Flash (swf) pic. and use this as background
sorry this is probably not the answer you're looking for..
i've only been java programming for about a year, so my skills are still fairly week but i have been for awhile wanting to make a live wallpaper, only I haven't seen any particularly straightforward tutorials..good luck, you can message me if you need help with something and i can try and help you...i need to familiarize myself more with the android api
I found these 2 Links:
http://mobile.tutsplus.com/tutorials/android/creating-live-wallpapers-on-android/
and
http://www.vogella.de/articles/AndroidLiveWallpaper/article.html
take a look, maybe they can help. I'm not much of a programmer myself so I couldn't tell you if this is exactly what you need but it looks promising.
thank u guys I really appreciate your help!
first im trying to study from developer.android.com "how to programming"
then maybe i will try with live wallpaper :/
Perhaps you can check out the source code of the live wallpaper and familiarize yourself with how it's structured.
decompile the apk file and take a look inside
I've never opened an apk if not for replace images, can i really do that? cool! ill try then!! thanks!
P4p3r1n0 said:
I've never opened an apk if not for replace images, can i really do that? cool! ill try then!! thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes you can decompile an apk file.
You'll need a tool called "apktool" and if you haven't already you need "Android SDK"
If you then decompile an apk file you'll get access to all the .xml and image files.
Yep i've got all the necessary, sdk - eclipse with adt and everything works.
i "installed" apktool and tried to decompile this livewallpaper.
it worked!
now im reading all the xml files in it - i found out that there's a very little bit of java in android apps and lot of xml! -
btw .. im stuck finding how to change wallpaper's properties using the clock to switch from morning - afternoon - evening
that's what i would like to do more 'cos it sucks to take the phone at 9.00 pm and see the sunshine or whatever... ??
can i upload the decompiled file ? i think there will not be problems since this app is free