[XAP] Custom Theme & Accent Colors for Samsung Phones (1st & 2nd Gen)

voluptuary · Jan 18, 2012

WARNING: Just like any other tools using the Samsung Diagnostic app to make registry changes there is a chance that your 3G/4G connections could get all bungled up. There are fixes known but you are doing this at your own risk so keep that in mind.

I know that there are easier ways to set theme and accent colors for 1st gen Samsung devices and if you want to use those go ahead but as far as I know there are currently no real easy ways to do this on 2nd gen devices so that's why I'm doing this.

As long as your device is unlocked in some way (Developer/Chevron/WindowsBreak/Other) you can get custom theme and accent colors on your Samsung phone.

1.) First install the WP Dev Tools and unlock your Samsung phone.

2.) Use Microsoft's Application Deployment Tool to send the XAP to your phone. Don't run it, delete after it has been deployed.

3.) Install the Diagnosis app by typing ##634# on the phone keypad.

4.) After the Diagnosis app starts type *#9908# and select 'Extra Accents' press 'Save' then 'Close' and RESTART your phone.

5.) Your phone now has more theme options!

6.) (optional) Press the 'thanks' button at the bottom of this post if it worked for you.

FOR COMPATABILITY REASONS EXTRA ACCENT COLORS ONLY APPEAR WHEN USING ENGLISH (US)
Current Extra Accents: GRAY, HTC GREEN, NOKIA BLUE, ZEBRA (black /w light/blood/deep sea/jungle, white /w dark/darker)

Current Themes: Darker, Blood, Deep Sea, Jungle

I also have an 'All Themes' xap now that will install all the accents/themes in one shot. In this xap 'Darker' is now 'Night'

!IMPORTANT UPDATE INFO!: I have edited all accents/themes in an effort to eliminate an error that can cause 3rd party apps to stop functioning and crash the theme system. A side effect of this is that custom accents will show up ONLY when the language is set to English (US). If you would like an additional language to be supported please post your language code and I will try to make a xap for you in my free time, for example English (US) is 0409.

Also, I have figured out how to move files with provxml's so custom accents will work with 3rd party apps with no additional steps needed on both 1st and 2nd gen devices. Do NOT re-apply any of these if you already have working custom extra accents via the old xap's or you will get duplicate entries in your accent colors and it could even crash the theme system.

IMPORTANT: If you updated to 8107 via Zune you may have also updated your phones firmware. If this is the case you will not be able to use this hack. I would suggest rolling back to 7720/7740 and updating via CAB Sender using the cabs in Heathcliff74's thread.

MORE IMPORTANT INFO: Custom themes also apply extra accent colors. You may also notice with custom themes that the keyboard color doesn't change when a new theme is applied. If this happens just restart your phone and the color should be correct. Currently 3rd party apps when using any of the original accents and a custom theme will default to a blue accent, this has been fixed in the 'All Themes' xap, since there are quite a few file operations when you click 'Save' wait a few seconds before selecting 'Close' in order for the settings to apply.

NOTE: For 2nd gen Samsung phones you may need to download the Wireless Manager from the Marketplace to restore your 3G/4G.

THANKS: Heathcliff74 - File deployer, reeg420 - custom theme starting point, daniel-t & poloche - info about 3rd party app accent fix

voluptuary · Jan 18, 2012

To make your own accent colors you can edit the Extra Accents.xml file found in the XAP attached to this post (simply open the XAP like a zip file and browse to the file)

TEMPLATE

Code:

<wap-provisioningdoc>

<characteristic type="Registry">

<characteristic type="HKLM\ControlPanel\Themes\1\Accents">
<parm name="4" value="-13421773" datatype="integer" />
<parm name="14" value="-16757606" datatype="integer" />
<parm name="15" value="-9849841" datatype="integer" />
<parm name="16" value="-2105377" datatype="integer" />
</characteristic>

<characteristic type="HKLM\ControlPanel\Themes\0\Accents">
<parm name="4" value="-13421773" datatype="integer" />
<parm name="14" value="-16757606" datatype="integer" />
<parm name="15" value="-9849841" datatype="integer" />
<parm name="16" value="-16711423" datatype="integer" />
</characteristic>

<characteristic type="HKLM\ControlPanel\Themes\AccentsDisplayName\0409">
<parm name="4" value="Gray" datatype="string" />
<parm name="14" value="Nokia Blue" datatype="string" />
<parm name="15" value="HTC Green" datatype="string" />
<parm name="16" value="Zebra" datatype="string" />
</characteristic>

</characteristic>

<characteristic type="Registry">
<characteristic type="HKLM\System\AutoDataConfig">
<parm name="RunADC" value="1" datatype="integer" />
</characteristic>
<characteristic type="HKLM\System\AutoDataConfig">
<parm name="ConfigurationStatus" value="0" datatype="integer" />
</characteristic>
<characteristic type="HKLM\System\AutoDataConfig">
<parm name="Attempt" value="0" datatype="integer" />
</characteristic>	
<characteristic type="HKLM\System\AutoDataConfig">
<parm name="MaxAttemptsAllowed" value="5" datatype="integer" />
</characteristic>
</characteristic>

</wap-provisioningdoc>

Values stored under "HKLM\ControlPanel\Themes\1\Accents" are for the 'Dark' theme

Values stored under "HKLM\ControlPanel\Themes\0\Accents" are for the 'Light' theme

Values stored under "HKLM\ControlPanel\Themes\AccentsDisplayName\0409" are the accents display name. This is a single value for both 'Dark' and 'Light'

To change colors you first need to know the color's HEX value. Then you need to change the HEX to an Integer for the xml. What I find easiest is to just use the Windows Calculator (Windows 7) with the 'View' set to 'Programmer' and 'Basic' then on the calculator tick the 'Hex' and 'Dword' then enter in the Hex value, for instance for gray it would be FF333333, then tick 'Dec' and then copy that value (-13421773) and paste it into the xml.

Now for my example here I put 'Gray' as accent #4, this is normally reserved for the OEM to add a custom color to thier devices, the other default accent colors are 0,1,2,3,5,6,7,8,9,10 and I am not sure but I belive 11,12,13 are normally reserved for the MO so just to be safe if you are adding colors and don't want to risk messing anything up I would start at 15 and go up from there. So, just to be clear, don't set values for anything lower than 15.

Blood Theme Preview:

nanoware · Jan 18, 2012

good news! thanks for your hard work

and i hope to see some love for htc 2nd gen devices

Scrtcwlvl · Jan 18, 2012

What grey did you end up going with? After deliberating for quite some time, I ended up using a dark slate grey for custom accent Focus.

As for the Theme Colours, I documented the stock values in a thread a while back. So you can modify to your hearts content and know the defaults value and go back.

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

voluptuary · Jan 18, 2012

Scrtcwlvl said:
What grey did you end up going with? After deliberating for quite some time, I ended up using a dark slate grey for custom accent Focus.

As for the Theme Colours, I documented the stock values in a thread a while back. So you can modify to your hearts content and know the defaults value and go back.

For gray I used FF333333

Mallux · Jan 18, 2012

Great work! I'm so happy to finally see some headway on these second Gen devices

Already given some thanks

Any chance of seeing a xap that changes the keypad, keyboard background & menu color to black? This Dark gray is killing me! lol

voluptuary · Jan 18, 2012

Mallux said:
Great work! I'm so happy to finally see some headway on these second Gen devices Already given some thanks

Any chance of seeing a xap that changes the keypad, keyboard background & menu color to black? Think Dark gray is killing me! lol

I plan to, perhaps by request. I just have to figure out what colors to use. I also might put up a template for people to make thier own.

ManelScout4Life · Jan 18, 2012

voluptuary, I love you.

Mallux · Jan 18, 2012

voluptuary said:
I plan to, perhaps by request. I just have to figure out what colors to use. I also might put up a template for people to make thier own.

That would be awesome! I would love to be able to play around with accent colors again. I miss the days of my old Focus :'(

But, if a request is what you need, I emphatically request a xap to change my keyboard background, etc. to black

ManelScout4Life · Jan 18, 2012

Here's my gray if anyone is interested.

voluptuary · Jan 18, 2012

Ok, I'm starting on full custom themes now. To start I'm gonna try to get a darker dark theme. Will post here when it's finished.

EDIT: New 'Darker' theme added to first post. This is an additional theme, meaning your 'Light' and 'Dark' themes stay unchanged.

voluptuary · Jan 19, 2012

Mallux said:
That would be awesome! I would love to be able to play around with accent colors again. I miss the days of my old Focus :'(

But, if a request is what you need, I emphatically request a xap to change my keyboard background, etc. to black

Let me know if the 'Darker' theme meets your needs.

DavidinCT · Jan 19, 2012

Nice but, you can do this with Advanced Config and even create your own colors or pick from the 100 or so pre-defined colors. Even installs in the Settings menu..

voluptuary · Jan 19, 2012

DavidinCT said:
Nice but, you can do this with Advanced Config and even create your own colors or pick from the 100 or so pre-defined colors. Even installs in the Settings menu..

Thanks for posting without reading the first post in this thread.

Protip: Water is wet!

Mallux · Jan 19, 2012

voluptuary said:
Let me know if the 'Darker' theme meets your needs.

You are my hero, sir! (I assume you're a sir lol) It works perfectly! Love it

poloche · Jan 19, 2012

Hi voluptary,

About color in 3rd app, there is a way to use custom color, but can you add file in \Windows with your XAP ? ... because you must add a file "XML" in this directory and after, your custom color is ON !

See my screen, i use custom color "XBLive" and the toggle butons in Status Battery are green and not bleu

daniel-t · Jan 19, 2012

If you want to develop a theme which will take affect in third party apps, you need to make customised XAML resource dictionaries and place them into the Windows folder on the phone.

Just changing the registry settings is not enough.

This is the issue I had with adding my own Accent Colour, I had no way to add the custom XAML

voluptuary · Jan 19, 2012

poloche said:
Hi voluptary,

About color in 3rd app, there is a way to use custom color, but can you add file in \Windows with your XAP ? ... because you must add a file "XML" in this directory and after, your custom color is ON !

See my screen, i use custom color "XBLive" and the toggle butons in Status Battery are green and not bleu

Thanks for the info, I did not know that. However, I can't put files into the Windows directory with my XAP, and while someone could make the files and move them there with a 1st gen device (using Root Tools) I don't think anyone has found out how to access the file system on 2nd gen devices.

wsantiagow · Jan 19, 2012

Big Thank you worked perfectly on my Samsung Focus Flash 2Gen!

voluptuary · Jan 19, 2012

poloche said:
Hi voluptary,

About color in 3rd app, there is a way to use custom color, but can you add file in \Windows with your XAP ? ... because you must add a file "XML" in this directory and after, your custom color is ON !

See my screen, i use custom color "XBLive" and the toggle butons in Status Battery are green and not bleu

daniel-t said:
If you want to develop a theme which will take affect in third party apps, you need to make customised XAML resource dictionaries and place them into the Windows folder on the phone.

Just changing the registry settings is not enough.

This is the issue I had with adding my own Accent Colour, I had no way to add the custom XAML

Could one of you please post an example of such a file that I can edit and I will make a XAP to deploy them for 1st gen devices to match the colors I have already and then I'll post a tutorial on how to move them over to the Windows directory after they have been deployed with Root Tools. This way 1st gen devices will get accents in 3rd party app.

[XAP] Custom Theme & Accent Colors for Samsung Phones (1st & 2nd Gen)

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