[APK][Xposed] ResXploit : Theming your android the easiest way! No decompiling APKs!

WisdomSky · Aug 10, 2013

This would be my second public-released xposed module...

(A duplicate thread is also posted in the Android Themes Section, so user who are only interested in themes can also see this)

I did not expect that my WisdomSky Xploit would be a big hit.
I'm just an Amateur developer who just started delving into android development 3months ago and I didn't expect that much appreciation from my work... XD

But all of these would not be made possible if not because of sir @rovo89 and sir @Tungstwenty and their Xposed Framework, right? That's why I thank them a lot...

REQUIREMENTS
Xposed framework must be pre-installed before installing this.

What does the ResXploit do?

ResXploit has two parts:
the Removable part, terminal
and the main star, engine

The terminal is where you enter the commands(I'll discuss it later). These commands will then be interpreted by the engine and then passed to Xposed framework...

Flow:
TERMINAL >> ENGINE >> XPOSED FRAMEWORK

I have provided a variety of modules:
ResXploit (Terminal + Engine) (RECOMMENDED FOR NEWBIES)
ResXploit Terminal (Terminal Only)(DEPRECATED)
ResXploit Engine (Engine Only)

You might be wondering why I made one which has both terminal and engine... and other two which are separated...
ROM Chefs, Themers and some others would understand directly why...

All the commands are interpreted by the Engine right? so that would mean that once you have entered all the desired commands, the terminal will now end up as useless... so you will just delete so no one can touch the engine...
If you are a ROM Chef or a themer, you can theme all the apps you need to theme using ResXploit and then remove the terminal, so end-user interaction of the engine is prevented after you have released your ROMs to the world.

FOR NEWBIES!
I recommend you to use the ResXploit (Terminal + Engine)...
It is very smart..
I included 99% accurate error-checking system,
line numbering system,
and also Xposed module prioritization(which is first implemented on ResXploit for better module performance).

COMMANDS
We have four basic commands in the ResXploit, the apk, drawable, string, and boolean.

apk - A prerequisite command. This command is very vital whenever you using the ResXploit. This will define the target application by using the package name of the target application. You need to include this before you enter any command or else your command will not know which application is targeted and end up in lost island.

Code:

[B]format[/B]: [I]apk <package name>[/I]
[B]example[/B]: apk com.android.systemui

drawable(also drw) - The most often used command. The command which will change icons/images (png drawables) of an application. You can either overlay the existing image with your favorite color or completely replaced it with a .png image from your sdcard.

Code:

[B]format1[/B]: [I]drawable <target application's drawable name> <image path, no need to include /sdcard> <transparency, 0 to 255>[/I]
[B]example1[/B]: drawable status_bar_background bg.png 255

[B]format2[/B]: [I]drawable <target application's drawable name> <HEX RGB color code> <transparency, 0 to 255>[/I]
[B]example2[/B]: drawable status_bar_background #fff00ff 255

string(also str) - This command will change string(text) values of the application. The predefined string values are usually located in res/values/strings.xml of an application, but I guess they are not visible when you view the contents of an application using Archive managers like RootExplorer. But there is a way to identify them. I will include it later.

Code:

[B]format[/B]: [I]string  <target application's string value holder name> <replacement string>[/I]
[B]example[/B]: string app_name My App

boolean(also bln) - This command will change boolean values of the application. The predefined boolean values are usually located in res/values/bools.xml of an application, but I guess they are not visible when you view the contents of an application using Archive managers like RootExplorer as well.

Code:

[B]format[/B]: [I]boolean  <target application's boolean value holder name> <replacement boolean value, either [B]true[/B] or [B]false[/B] only>[/I]
[B]example[/B]: boolean allowNumberNotifications true

Some simple examples screenshots:

drawable and string commands in action

ResXploit UI screenshots:

If you find my ResXploit module interesting,
Please hit THANKS!!! XD:angel:

UPDATES & CHANGELOGS:

ResXploit Engine 1.0.8 - added support to framework-res(android).(latest)
ResXploit 1.0.8 - updated engine(1.0.8).(latest)

NOTICE: ResXploit is now an abandonware.
My flash drive where I stored the sources of my android projects was corrupted unexpectedly.
And also, my phone was broken. I have no device to use to re-write everything from scratch... Sorry...

WisdomSky · Aug 10, 2013

Tutorial and samples

System Apps Package Names:
SystemUI - com.android.systemui
Settings - com.android.settings
Mms - com.android.mms
Contacts - com.android.contacts
Launcher - com.android.launcher
Gallery - com.android.gallery3d
File Explorer - com.android.qrdfileexplorer
Framework-res - android
Tip: If you want to find the package name of a specific application(not on the list), you can open Root Explorer(download it from googleplay) and then browse the apk you want to check, open it and choose "view". You can find AndroidMaifest.xml file inside. Open it then find the package="xxxxxxxxxxx". The words or group of words inside the quotations separated by a period is the package name of that application.

Note: ResXploit is far safer(in terms of error awareness) to use than the ResXploit terminal. If possible, only use ResXploit. In the simple tutorials below, please expect that I'm referring to ResXploit only.

Changing Statusbar background color
let's say color red...

Code:

#!/
apk com.android.systemui
drawable status_bar_background #ff0000 255

Changing Notifications Panel background color into transparent

Code:

#!/
apk com.android.systemui
drawable notification_panel_bg #000000 0

Changing Notifications Panel background with an image from sdcard
let's say that the png image is located in /sdcard/my_img.png

Code:

#!/
apk com.android.systemui
drawable notification_panel_bg my_img.png 255

You might be wondering where i'd get the target application's drawable filename?
Actually, you can just open the root explorer and view the files inside the apk of the target application. under the /res directory(folder), you can find a variety of subdirectories prefixed with [drawable, like drawable-hdpi,drawable-mdpi and so on... Basically, all images inside those folders are under the scope of drawable command in Resxploit. And if you want to target a certain image in the drawable folders, you just need to get the file name without the .png or .9.png. That's it!

Adding "comments"...
Comments in programming are human-readable additional information. If you want to put notes somewhere in your script, you can put "#" before your statement. When the terminal find a "#" before a statement, the terminal will ignore it and skip it. However if you will enter a non-command information and is not started withcl a "#", the terminal will ofcourse read it as command and then throws an error message.

Code:

#!/

# my comment. my comment. my comment  
apk com.android.systemui
drawable status_bar_background #ff0000 255

# the terminal will skip the command below
# because it started with a "#"

#drawable oh_no #ff00ff 255

Defining working directory path of your images
If you want to start theming and you already have the images you want to use stored inside a single folder, then you can tell the terminal where these images are located so you don't need to enter the path redundantly.
You can define it on the very first line of ResXploit, after the "#!/" you can add the folder name or path to the folder.

let's say we have our images put in a folder in sdcard named my_images or /sdcard/my_images, then you can define it like this.

Code:

#!/my_images

#we can start theming now
drawable hello some_image.png 255
drawable world next_image.png 255

greedisgood99999 · Aug 10, 2013

great work dude...noypi are very smart of course,,

daggerxXxsin · Aug 10, 2013

Very interesting. I've been interested in theming for a while now but haven't gotten my feet wet. I'll be waiting for your tutorials. Great work mate!

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

souler456 · Aug 10, 2013

Nice! I love to see Pinoys In-Action with the XDA community!

Will wait for the tutorial of yours repa!

@greedisgood99999 Please stop that bad-habit of quoting... It's quite irritating tropa...

meatballstz · Aug 10, 2013

Wait for the tutorial

Sent from my Xperia Mini Pro

Dovidhalevi · Aug 10, 2013

So ... a scriptable general purpose module. This is a phenomenal idea. OK still requires digging into the apk but a whole lot easier than building a new module from scratch.

Mission: Get rid of Armv7 calls the FC apps on my old clunker (also need help buying a new phone--if I had it, would have reserved the edge already!). Google Now first tries to init the "off line" voice recognition engine. Minimum, want to simply disable this call. I use overlays to prevent other such calls. Maximal, to replace with the old "on line" voice recognition engine.

Capability in this yet?
Among the booleans?

what say you

WisdomSky · Aug 11, 2013

Dovidhalevi said:
So ... a scriptable general purpose module. This is a phenomenal idea. OK still requires digging into the apk but a whole lot easier than building a new module from scratch.

Mission: Get rid of Armv7 calls the FC apps on my old clunker (also need help buying a new phone--if I had it, would have reserved the edge already!). Google Now first tries to init the "off line" voice recognition engine. Minimum, want to simply disable this call. I use overlays to prevent other such calls. Maximal, to replace with the old "on line" voice recognition engine.

Capability in this yet?
Among the booleans?

what say you

i don'think so... because ResXploit's scope is only the res or resource directory of the apk structure...
if a boolean value is defined in the res/values/bools.xml that will actually toggle controls then it would be great... but i think, in your case it is deeply hard-coded to work like that...

Metallijim · Aug 11, 2013

Framework.res?

Can you theme the framework.res using this?

package name is only 'android' no com. or anything..

EDIT: Tried and it seems to go through ok, but nothing seems to change. Rebooted several times, changed an image in my keyboard, checked it was ticked in Xposed framework, setup a folder in my internal storage, checked superuser granted access, pressed high priority in settings. Don't know

Here's a debug log (uploading tomorrow, pc occupied)

Rokonacdc · Aug 11, 2013

Will this work for non system apps? The unlock button on the PowerAmp lock screen drives me insane because it's the only thing I can't change and I absolutely hate green.

WisdomSky · Aug 12, 2013

Metallijim said:
Can you theme the framework.res using this?

package name is only 'android' no com. or anything..

EDIT: Tried and it seems to go through ok, but nothing seems to change. Rebooted several times, changed an image in my keyboard, checked it was ticked in Xposed framework, setup a folder in my internal storage, checked superuser granted access, pressed high priority in settings. Don't know

Here's a debug log (uploading tomorrow, pc occupied)

I'm so sorry for that...
in exposed, framework-res(android) uses different method...
so i forgot to implement it fo support the framework-res...
thanks for your feed back. I'll add it up and upload it later...

Rokonacdc said:
Will this work for non system apps? The unlock button on the PowerAmp lock screen drives me insane because it's the only thing I can't change and I absolutely hate green.

Ofcourse! it will work with non-system apps too... XD

414isaiah · Aug 12, 2013

This looks very promising, thank you for your work!!

Metallijim · Aug 12, 2013

here's a Debug

Here's my Debug log

Xperia Z 4.2.2, Images in internal storage, Xposed priority set low, all other xposed modules that I have installed disabled

WisdomSky · Aug 12, 2013

Metallijim said:
Here's my Debug log

Xperia Z 4.2.2, Images in internal storage, Xposed priority set low, all other xposed modules that I have installed disabled

sir l've already added support for framework-res, please check the changelogs for the download link...

dully79 · Aug 12, 2013

Interesting, sounds like a concept similar to Ninjamorph.

A couple of quick questions:

Is this able to apply folders or just single png's?
Also do you need extract png's from apks in order to apply or does it extract and apply automatically?

:good:

WisdomSky · Aug 12, 2013

dully79 said:
Interesting, sounds like a concept similar to Ninjamorph.

A couple of quick questions:

Is this able to apply folders or just single png's?

Also do you need extract png's from apks in order to apply or does it extract and apply automatically?

:good:

Unlike ninja morph, in resxploit, there is no permanent replacing of resources happened... which means you can deactivate, share, edit easily anytime....

Q: Is this able to apply folders or just single png's?
A: only single pngs... 1 drawable command = 1 png... but there is no limitation on how how many commands you can add

Q: Also do you need extract png's from apks in order to apply or does it extract and apply automatically?
A: As what I've added on the title, "No decompiling APKs"... it means, no decompiling or extracting is involved in the process as what Xposed Framework aimed. You just need to put the image to replace inside your sdcard and just add a command to tell the engine "to replace that with this"... there is no permanent replacing of resources happened here... the image is just move into the /data partition and will be just overlapped to the target resource so there will be an impression of replacing of resources

dully79 · Aug 12, 2013

I didnt mean does it decompile/extract full apks. I meant can you pull an resource/image out of the apk to apply.
I know it overlays instead of permanently overwriting the original resource, similar to Icon themer and XTheme engine.

Ninjamorph/ Metamorph unzips apks into folders so you can navigate through them and choose what you want to apply.

Example:

Choose target resource/image to change.
Choose apk to pull resource/image from.
Navigate and choose resource/image (extract if applicable) to apply.

This would be good if it also done the same. Although you could just unzip with an on board app like Zarchiver.
Basically it would make it a new and improved Ninjamorph/ Metamorph (dont tell Stericson i said that

)

No offense, but looking at it from newbies point of view, it seems like a bit of a drawn out process if you were wanting to change numerous items.
I know it's early days and I'm sure this would be greatly improved with a GUI, if you decide to add one.

Personally speaking, i think this has massive potential and could be something very special. I applaud you, i wish i had your talent.#

Thanks.

phanitej · Aug 12, 2013

I tried clicking on the changelog link, it gave an error "Invalid Attachment specified. This can happen for a variety of reasons-- most likely because the thread or post you are trying to view has been moved or deleted. Please return to the forum home and browse for another similiar post."

Not sure if its the file attached to the post that is the updated one or if the actual update got deleted. Please help me here

WisdomSky · Aug 12, 2013

phanitej said:
I tried clicking on the changelog link, it gave an error "Invalid Attachment specified. This can happen for a variety of reasons-- most likely because the thread or post you are trying to view has been moved or deleted. Please return to the forum home and browse for another similiar post."

Not sure if its the file attached to the post that is the updated one or if the actual update got deleted. Please help me here

Oh sorry for that.. ill just upload it to a third party site and add the link...
thnx for reminding...

dully79 said:
I didnt mean does it decompile/extract full apks. I meant can you pull an resource/image out of the apk to apply.
I know it overlays instead of permanently overwriting the original resource, similar to Icon themer and XTheme engine.

Ninjamorph/ Metamorph unzips apks into folders so you can navigate through them and choose what you want to apply.

Example:

Choose target resource/image to change.

Choose apk to pull resource/image from.

Navigate and choose resource/image (extract if applicable) to apply.

This would be good if it also done the same. Although you could just unzip with an on board app like Zarchiver.
Basically it would make it a new and improved Ninjamorph/ Metamorph (dont tell Stericson i said that)

No offense, but looking at it from newbies point of view, it seems like a bit of a drawn out process if you were wanting to change numerous items.
I know it's early days and I'm sure this would be greatly improved with a GUI, if you decide to add one.

Personally speaking, i think this has massive potential and could be something very special. I applaud you, i wish i had your talent.#

Thanks.

thanks for the appreciation and to your suggestions...someone did suggest to me to add GUI...

I'm still a newbie in terms of androld... there's so much to learn first before I can fully implement whats on my mind...

My phone is also not that good for development... its so slow... XD
but if everything turns out good... then maybe I should reconsider...XD

phanitej · Aug 12, 2013

WisdomSky said:
Oh sorry for that.. ill just upload it to a third party site and add the link...
thnx for reminding...

thanks for the appreciation and to your suggestions...someone did suggest to me to add GUI...

I'm still a newbie in terms of androld... there's so much to learn first before I can fully implement whats on my mind...

My phone is also not that good for development... its so slow... XD
but if everything turns out good... then maybe I should reconsider...XD

Which phone do you use?

[APK][Xposed] ResXploit : Theming your android the easiest way! No decompiling APKs!

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