[Q] Modify TW Grid Please - AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note II

Can someone please make a touchwiz grid of 6x8 scroll on for me? Or help me figure out what I'm doing incorrectly when trying to modify it? Currently I'm using a 4x6 and I've tried to modify the apk using the apktool. I've been able to get the apk decompiled, but then when I look in the output folder all I see is another directory titled "smali" and that's empty. This is driving me crazy and I'm sure there's something I'm overlooking but this has just gotten on my last nerve! Any tips/help is appreciated. I'm aware of the fact that there are multiple 3rd party launchers but I'm too attached to the weather widget to give up TW. Even though I no longer have any issues with TSF Shell, I'm still drawn away from it. I've been a user of Nova & Apex since I rooted my HTC Inspire 4G last year, and when I was on stock I used GO Launcher EX & LauncherPro.
I came across this thread which was very helpful, it got me to the point of at least being able to decompile an apk. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1989533
I also came across this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=27433971 and at first I wasn't able to get far. So what I tried to do was take a little advice and follow some steps from both threads and I'm not getting anywhere except 1 step ahead of where I left off with it. I know this stuff isn't the easiest thing to do, but I'm sure it's not the hardest thing to do either.

Related

[Q] Looking for a specific dock & app...

Hi every1.
I have been searching these forums and many others for a couple of hours now and I still can't find what i'm looking for. Important to note is that I am very new to all that has to do with android in general.
I was wondering if there is any application that lets me change my dock (similar to launcher pro with the ability to scroll sideway) so I can add not just icons but also folders there.
Maybe there is a way for launcher pro to make me add folders already, in that case I would like to know how. My Galaxy S is rooted but I would rather not try and mix with system files since I dont know much about such things. (if it's not very simple or well explained)
My other question is why I can't find widget locker on the android market? I tried finding it through a site called appbrain with the barcode scanner application, but that didn't help either.
Would appriciate any kind of help, i'm really at a loss here...
123 views...please any1?
If I have made myself unclear in some way please let me know, I would really appriciate any kind of help guys/gals =/
So you basically want shortcuts to folders in the dock at the bottom?
I do this by using "Apps Organizer" to organise my folders then while in launcherpro and then selecting the Apps Organizer shortcut in the dock and choosing the folder I want!
oh, so thats how it's done =P Thanks a bunch NorcoFox
That's ok, glad I could help!
Nice hint, but I would raise call
AppsOrganizer / FolderOrganizer create folders on the homescreens, together with widgets and other icons. Let's say on the "active" layer of SGS
I guess the original Tsukimiya's intent would be (well, mine IS) to have such folders/categories in the APP-DRAWER (the all together app layer, in the above notation) instead.
This would let us to categoriza ANY app in different folders. Their original icon/link, not only a copy.... Let's say just like iphone does, on its unique layer
This way I could prevent duplicating icons and forgetting newly installed apps, messed up among such alphabetic list launcherpro or adw realize.
Or, worst case, keep aligned touchwiz app-drawer pages too
Any hint existing on market ?
Till now, I only found TagHome Launcher, but it's a complete home replacement and it isn't at the quoted best-of-breed level, unfortunately
Thanks a lot
Yeah this is something I would be very interested in!
My friend was going through my app drawer and said can't you have folders to sort all of these out?
Val3r10 said:
Nice hint, but I would raise call
AppsOrganizer / FolderOrganizer create folders on the homescreens, together with widgets and other icons. Let's say on the "active" layer of SGS
I guess the original Tsukimiya's intent would be (well, mine IS) to have such folders/categories in the APP-DRAWER (the all together app layer, in the above notation) instead.
This would let us to categoriza ANY app in different folders. Their original icon/link, not only a copy.... Let's say just like iphone does, on its unique layer
This way I could prevent duplicating icons and forgetting newly installed apps, messed up among such alphabetic list launcherpro or adw realize.
Or, worst case, keep aligned touchwiz app-drawer pages too
Any hint existing on market ?
Till now, I only found TagHome Launcher, but it's a complete home replacement and it isn't at the quoted best-of-breed level, unfortunately
Thanks a lot
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

[Q] A doubtless foolish question about wallpaper

I apologize in advance for what must be a foolish question. My inability to locate an answer when I search the forums just helps reinforce the notion that the answer is glaringly obvious, so I fully expect to be taken to task for having an IQ slightly below that of the average potted plant.
When I install a ROM on my Epic, and sometimes even when I simply apply a theme, it often has a very nice wallpaper that accompanies it. If I browse other wallpapers in any of what I would consider the "usual" locations (Wallpaper, Live Wallpapers & Gallery), I can't help but notice that the theme's wallpaper is not among the available choices. The implication is that if I were to select a different wallpaper - even just to see how it might look - I would be unable to return to the theme's wallpaper without re-flashing. Surely this can't be right?
Am I missing something? Wouldn't it make sense to simply include the wallpaper as a standard, everyday typical wallpaper, easliy accessible through the usual menus? Or is there, perhaps, some way of choosing "no wallpaper," which would default to the theme's background image?
default wallpaper is located in 2 places,one I know for sure is in the framework-res,the other I cant remeber,Ill have to wait to get to my PC when I get to the houe,in about 2 hours...
Sent from my Frankenstein FROYO using XDA App...
Lol its ok I spent about 2 hours banging my head against the wall trying to figure this out too...but I found it out, so here's mine in my case:
I have emotionless beast theme, so that was the default wallpaper I was looking for. You'll need an explorer like astro file manager.
Go to the very root of the phone (keep hitting up till your in the folder simply named "/"
Navigate to "system", then to "framework"
In there is a .apk, not a folder, named framework-res (there prbly is a folder too but that's not what you want). Click it, astro will bring you up a menu, and hit "browse file"
In the next screen navigate to "res", then to "drawable-hdpi"
Finally you're in the right folder. Scroll down till you see the picture file named "default_wallpaper"...this should be it
Now remember, this is simply my case...but I suspect its a standard practice for devs to put the wallpaper there in most roms so I'm betting it'll work for whatever you're using
NOTE: you can't take a shortcut and simply search for "default_wallpaper" since its located in an .apk file, which astro doesn't search through.
Hope this helps!
Sent from my baked and emotionless SPH-D700
^
Squishy figured it out. It is tucked away in framework-res, where people who don't know better would probably never look.
DiGi760 said:
^
Squishy figured it out. It is tucked away in framework-res, where people who don't know better would probably never look.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yayy me!
Sent from my baked and emotionless SPH-D700
Thank you very much, squshy 7!
I believe you're entirely correct about finding it again, but I wonder if you (or anyone else) might have some idea as to why something so apparently simple as changing your wallpaper has to be so complex an affair as to force one to acquire software he might not own to look in places he'd never otherwise go to find files he might not know about and break them open to tinker about in areas he probably has no business messing around with...all to put back a silly wallpaper he didn't mean to change in the first place? Shouldn't part of the experience involve a certain amount of "user friendliness?"
Obviously, I'm no developer (potted plant-brained folk need not apply), so perhaps there's a reason why a ROM or Theme can't install the wallpaper in such a way as to become more easily accessible? Is it a problem with permissions that prevents copying the wallpaper into the appropriate directory? An issue with protecting the developer (as in, preventing his wallpaper from being distributed separately from his ROM/Theme? Something else entirely?
At any rate, thank you very much squshy 7! I appreciate your having pointed me in the right direction!
I think he just stuck it in the default hiding place for internal wall-papers. Each of google's launchers also has some internal wallpapers that are tucked away from people. Changing your wallpaper is easy. Changing back to image that is hidden from you is tougher.
DiGi760 said:
Changing your wallpaper is easy. Changing back to image that is hidden from you is tougher.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly my point! I'm just curious about why it should be hidden away in the first place - and not just a single ROM/Theme, but so far every one I've tried.
Since I'm fairly certain there's not some world-wide conspiracy of developers to go out of there way to make such an apparently simple thing difficult for their end users, it struck me that there must be a reason behind it, and while I appreciate squshy 7's work-around and can certainly follow his instructions, it leaves me curious about why anyone should have to.
Please note: My problem is fixed - it's now just my curiousity that wonders at the need for such complexities.
If I had to take a guess, it probably is for the same thing you are calling in to question: simplicity.
Think about it: changing the default (stock) wallpapers is easy enough...but have you ever actually "seen" the wallpapers, as in where they are located?
I haven't, simply because I've never looked. But we never wonder because they're so readily accessible from the wallpaper changer.
Again this sounds like they're doing nothing but making it harder for themselves and us. Why not put the default wallpaper for your ROM in the same location as the other wallpapers so its easier for us to change back and forth?
In my opinion, in that question lies what I feel is the answer: because maybe it's easier for them to put it in that drawable-hdpi.apk for some reason. So we're brought back to simplicity; it's just in this case it's for the devs sake.
All of this is, of course, entirely conjecture. I'm no dev and I really have no idea. But I think it's sound reasoning right?
Because all humans are lazy lol.
Sent from my baked and emotionless SPH-D700
squshy 7 said:
Why not put the default wallpaper for your ROM in the same location as the other wallpapers so its easier for us to change back and forth?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Those other default wallpapers that aren't from your gallery are usually built in to the launcher in a similar way.
DiGi760 said:
Those other default wallpapers that aren't from your gallery are usually built in to the launcher in a similar way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah - I think I'm beginning to understand. In other words, there's no there there. There's no single place, repository, directory or folder into which any installed image magically becomes a wallpaper? And if a developer wanted to make his wallpaper more "accessible" in a way that would simplify our lives, he'd have to sort of "crack open" whatever launcher we might be using and insert it, which is neither likely nor desirable. Do I have that right?
If so, then the best we could hope for would be an easily accessible copy of the wallpaper that we could insert into our own gallery for future use - which would still be preferable to the digital gymnastics currently required.
I'm slow, but I do get there eventually. Thanks for helping me sort it all out.
Pretty much. Sometimes you have to do the work to pull a wallpaper out of a launcher or framework-res. Once you have it, changing your wallpaper to it is the easy part.
If I go to change my wallpaper, it asks me to select wallpaper from:
Home screen wallpaper
Live wallpapers
Wallpaper gallery
Wallpapers (com.android.launcher)
Wallpapers (com.ebproductions.android.launcher)
The last three are for different launchers. The next to last one has the stock Epic wallpapers. These wallpapers are all stored in the apks.
I'd be willing to bet that there is a way to simply put the wallpaper in folder and point some setting to it. It isn't done that way because by default, that stuff is all packed in to different things where it is nice and self-contained and many rom developers just adjust the default settings until they have a reason to make a departure.

[Q] Edit the default android lockscreen

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.

[REQUEST] How to edit app-drawer background

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)

[Q] Shortcut Icons?

I've spent the last few hours trying to recreate something I accomplished in the past with nothing more than what is on my phone and I can't figure it out. I am running and have been running Calk's ROM and outside of Astro File Manager I don't believe I've added anything to my phone to do this. The attached picture shows a shortcut in the standard TWLauncer for a Citrix ICA file. I created this and remember the option for me to select an Icon and I remember choosing the one that is shown. Several people have asked me how I did it and I'd like to create others, but can't seem to figure how I did it. It really shouldn't be that difficult. I can easilly create an Astro Shortcut that I can name anything I want and it works, but I'm not able to edit the icon. If I switch to another Launcher I can hold-click on the icon and edit it to be something else, but in the default launcher as shown I'm not able to figure this out. Can anyone surmise what I did? It is possible that in a version of Astro or a version of Calk's ROM this option was there and now it's not, but outside of that I'm either missing something or just being clueless (not at all unusuall).
Bump - anyone have any thoughts?

Categories

Resources