[UPDATE 1/30/16 | THEME l MOD ] Transparent Widget Skins

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rushco

Senior Member
Dec 27, 2006
880
666
[UPDATE 06/27/2017 | THEME l MOD ] Transparent Widget Skins

What this thread is about.
You attach the .apk that needs the widget transparent. Someone that knows how to make it transparent will take time out of their day to help. You can show your appreciation by pushing "Thanks." This thread is only for widgets and not the whole app.

If you have a request please post the .APK (no spaces in the file name) of the program along with a screen shot of the widget if possible to help the modders know what to change without installing it, thanks! To find the .apk to attach go here. Another way look here. To make your own transparent widgets look here.

All credit goes to the people making these widgets transparent.

Below are the recent ones.
Code:
11/10/17 [URL="https://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=70658160&postcount=5971"]Yahoo! Sports (Install First)[/URL] 
and THEN INSTALL
[URL="https://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=74473296&postcount=6018"]THIS ONE[/URL]
More instructions for [URL="http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=68311476&postcount=5950"]Yahoo! Sports[/URL]
06/27/17 [URL="https://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=72829635&postcount=6004"]theScore[/URL]
03/15/17 [URL="https://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=71441493&postcount=5974"]Tunein Player[/URL]
Thanks to those still viewing this thread!!


In the 2nd post there is a "pending requests" section.

FAQ

I have a paid app. Can I still post it?
Please do not post any paid apps. You may have gotten it free during a promotion but it still costs money. If you do post it and a mod finds out you may receive an infraction.

How do I install this?
Uninstall the app on your phone using titanium backup (free in the market) and then install the .apk file you downloaded from here using a file manager.

How do I post an app that I want transparent here?
To find the .apk to attach look here

I installed it but the widget isn't transparent.
Try changing the theme on your phone as some themes like to override the app so you will always see a background. One other reason is that the widget was only changed for HDPI devices. You may request a MDPI transparent widget.

I want it in a different text color.
For text color requests please keep it to black and/or white.

Why do requests take so long?
There is no team working on these everyday. The people doing these are just like you and me and take time out of their day to help. Some take minutes to do and some take hours to do. In the end some may be impossible to do. Give us time and eventually someone may get to yours. Thanks for your patience.

I posted and my post was ignored.
I read every post and will put requests with the .apk file attached in the 2nd post. If you just post a name or a link to the market I may not put that request in the 2nd post. If I did the requests would be 50+ and never ending as not everyone uses the same apps as you and they don't want to download it. Also, sometimes everyone reading will not know the answer and won't reply. Thanks for understanding.

I want to help you make widgets transparent.
Look in the second post. Thanks!

Guides
How To Make Transparent Widgets

ilangoadigal talks about skinning apps

tnpapadakos talks about skinning apps

To learn how to change the text color click

A guide on how to patch .apk files like Facebook

When editing XML files use NOTEPAD++

How to make widget transparent when it is in a .xml file
 

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  • Transparent.jpg
    Transparent.jpg
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Last edited:

rushco

Senior Member
Dec 27, 2006
880
666
Pending requests.
9/20/17 Habit Bull
9/24/16 My Prayer
9/24/16 Eleven

Guides
Video

How To Make Transparent Widgets

ilangoadigal talks about skinning apps

tnpapadakos talks about skinning apps

To learn how to change the text color click

A guide on how to patch .apk files like Facebook

Make a widget transparent when it is in the .xml

Stat Counter
3/11/11 - 0 views and 0 posts
8/6/11 - 100,000 views and 935 posts
9/15/11 - 150,000 views and 1670 posts
10/25/11 - 200,000 views and 2156 posts
12/14/11 - 250,000 views and 2580 posts
1/16/12 - 300,000 views and 2900 posts
2/18/12 - 350,000 views and 3295 posts
3/27/12 - 400,000 views and 3525 posts
5/9/12 - 450,000 views and 3771 posts
7/5/12 - 500,000 views and 3950 posts
8/25/12 - 550,000 views and 4120 posts
10/25/12 - 600,000 views and 4230 posts
1/5/13 - 650,000 views and 4360 posts
3/6/13 - 700,000 views and 4511 posts
5/8/13 - 750,000 views and 4690 posts
7/6/13 - 800,000 views and 4936 posts
9/18/13 - 850,000 views and 5107 posts
12/5/13 - 900,000 views and 5330 posts
3/6/14 - 950,000 views and 5533 posts
7/4/14 - 1,000,000 views and 5735 posts
12/12/14 - 1,050,000 views and 5852 posts
8/13/15 - 1,100,000 views and 5912 posts
11/24/15 - 1,151,683 views and 5967 posts
9/26/17 - 1,181,015 views and and 6,015 posts
 
Last edited:

tnpapadakos

Senior Member
Dec 20, 2009
3,053
1,103
Pittsburgh, PA
currentwidget
btw, nice job rushco, i know that must have taken a good deal of work lookin thru that thread and grabbin the links to the working apps
 

Attachments

  • Currentwidget-tp.apk
    74.1 KB · Views: 1,941

rushco

Senior Member
Dec 27, 2006
880
666

Attachments

  • com.androsz.ramdroidx-1.apk
    55.9 KB · Views: 646
Last edited:

13597

Member
Jan 24, 2011
18
1
awesome work!
but when i tap on the googlescoreboard widget,it turn back to the orginal outlook:(
is there any setting i have to change?
thx!
 

saenz4931

Senior Member
Jul 27, 2009
1,097
104
Google Pixel 6 Pro
does anyone have GV clear (updated)... the one in the thread say transparent with white latter and black laters but is not clear nor transparent ... as it show for me.. insted looks like the one on Miks rom ..

can some one help me to get this one..

thanks alot guys
 

rushco

Senior Member
Dec 27, 2006
880
666
does anyone have GV clear (updated)... the one in the thread say transparent with white latter and black laters but is not clear nor transparent ... as it show for me.. insted looks like the one on Miks rom ..

can some one help me to get this one..

thanks alot guys

Hopefully someone will look into it. I added it to the 2nd post.
 
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    [UPDATE 06/27/2017 | THEME l MOD ] Transparent Widget Skins

    What this thread is about.
    You attach the .apk that needs the widget transparent. Someone that knows how to make it transparent will take time out of their day to help. You can show your appreciation by pushing "Thanks." This thread is only for widgets and not the whole app.

    If you have a request please post the .APK (no spaces in the file name) of the program along with a screen shot of the widget if possible to help the modders know what to change without installing it, thanks! To find the .apk to attach go here. Another way look here. To make your own transparent widgets look here.

    All credit goes to the people making these widgets transparent.

    Below are the recent ones.
    Code:
    11/10/17 [URL="https://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=70658160&postcount=5971"]Yahoo! Sports (Install First)[/URL] 
    and THEN INSTALL
    [URL="https://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=74473296&postcount=6018"]THIS ONE[/URL]
    More instructions for [URL="http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=68311476&postcount=5950"]Yahoo! Sports[/URL]
    06/27/17 [URL="https://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=72829635&postcount=6004"]theScore[/URL]
    03/15/17 [URL="https://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=71441493&postcount=5974"]Tunein Player[/URL]
    Thanks to those still viewing this thread!!


    In the 2nd post there is a "pending requests" section.

    FAQ

    I have a paid app. Can I still post it?
    Please do not post any paid apps. You may have gotten it free during a promotion but it still costs money. If you do post it and a mod finds out you may receive an infraction.

    How do I install this?
    Uninstall the app on your phone using titanium backup (free in the market) and then install the .apk file you downloaded from here using a file manager.

    How do I post an app that I want transparent here?
    To find the .apk to attach look here

    I installed it but the widget isn't transparent.
    Try changing the theme on your phone as some themes like to override the app so you will always see a background. One other reason is that the widget was only changed for HDPI devices. You may request a MDPI transparent widget.

    I want it in a different text color.
    For text color requests please keep it to black and/or white.

    Why do requests take so long?
    There is no team working on these everyday. The people doing these are just like you and me and take time out of their day to help. Some take minutes to do and some take hours to do. In the end some may be impossible to do. Give us time and eventually someone may get to yours. Thanks for your patience.

    I posted and my post was ignored.
    I read every post and will put requests with the .apk file attached in the 2nd post. If you just post a name or a link to the market I may not put that request in the 2nd post. If I did the requests would be 50+ and never ending as not everyone uses the same apps as you and they don't want to download it. Also, sometimes everyone reading will not know the answer and won't reply. Thanks for understanding.

    I want to help you make widgets transparent.
    Look in the second post. Thanks!

    Guides
    How To Make Transparent Widgets

    ilangoadigal talks about skinning apps

    tnpapadakos talks about skinning apps

    To learn how to change the text color click

    A guide on how to patch .apk files like Facebook

    When editing XML files use NOTEPAD++

    How to make widget transparent when it is in a .xml file
    61
    Pending requests.
    9/20/17 Habit Bull
    9/24/16 My Prayer
    9/24/16 Eleven

    Guides
    Video

    How To Make Transparent Widgets

    ilangoadigal talks about skinning apps

    tnpapadakos talks about skinning apps

    To learn how to change the text color click

    A guide on how to patch .apk files like Facebook

    Make a widget transparent when it is in the .xml

    Stat Counter
    3/11/11 - 0 views and 0 posts
    8/6/11 - 100,000 views and 935 posts
    9/15/11 - 150,000 views and 1670 posts
    10/25/11 - 200,000 views and 2156 posts
    12/14/11 - 250,000 views and 2580 posts
    1/16/12 - 300,000 views and 2900 posts
    2/18/12 - 350,000 views and 3295 posts
    3/27/12 - 400,000 views and 3525 posts
    5/9/12 - 450,000 views and 3771 posts
    7/5/12 - 500,000 views and 3950 posts
    8/25/12 - 550,000 views and 4120 posts
    10/25/12 - 600,000 views and 4230 posts
    1/5/13 - 650,000 views and 4360 posts
    3/6/13 - 700,000 views and 4511 posts
    5/8/13 - 750,000 views and 4690 posts
    7/6/13 - 800,000 views and 4936 posts
    9/18/13 - 850,000 views and 5107 posts
    12/5/13 - 900,000 views and 5330 posts
    3/6/14 - 950,000 views and 5533 posts
    7/4/14 - 1,000,000 views and 5735 posts
    12/12/14 - 1,050,000 views and 5852 posts
    8/13/15 - 1,100,000 views and 5912 posts
    11/24/15 - 1,151,683 views and 5967 posts
    9/26/17 - 1,181,015 views and and 6,015 posts
    28
    Video Walkthrough

    Video Demonstration/Tutorial
    How to make transparent widgets

    * no sound

    The steps of this tutorial are not new. I am writing them out again mostly in my own words as a companion to the video walkthrough above, so hopefully this can serve as a comprehensive look at the process for anyone looking to learn. The video moves very quickly at times, which is why I've provided timestamps along with the steps below; just pause and rewind if you miss something. I will do a few steps in a little more drawn-out fashion than necessary to illustrate all that is going on. Are there shortcuts, other workarounds? Yes, probably. But this should work for pretty much any widget that is not XML-based (meaning the widget itself is composed of easily editable images rather than hard-coded). Text colors and some other parts of certain widgets are in the XML files and require more complicated steps to edit.

    I chose ESPN ScoreCenter (version 2.3.0) as the example apk because it has two widgets: a scoreboard widget that uses a regular .png as the background, and a video widget that uses a .9.png file as the background. So I'll demonstrate both ways you might interact with these image files, and the end result -- an installable ScoreCenter apk with transparent widgets -- will be attached at the bottom of this post, along with the original unedited apk for the sake of comparison... before/after screenshots also.


    ASSUMPTIONS:
    • You have installed 7-zip.
    • You have installed image editing software. Some free alternatives to Photoshop are GIMP and Paint.NET.
    • You have installed the Android SDK. This is where we get the draw9patch tool needed for working with .9.png's.
    • You have installed the APK Multi-tool. Go through the set-up process to create the necessary folders: place-apk-here-for-modding, place-apk-here-for-signing, place-apk-here-to-batch-optimize, place-ogg-here, and projects.

    Step 1 - Extracting the apk (Timestamp - start)
    • Transfer the apk from your phone to your computer. It is most likely located in the data/app folder.

    Step 2 - Extracting the all-important res folder (Timestamp - 0:07)
    • Open the apk with 7-zip. Do not extract the entire contents.
    • You will see a folder called res. Drag that folder onto your desktop.

    Step 3 - Locating the necessary widget image files (Timestamp - 0:20)
    • Inside the res folder, there may be several drawable folders for various display types. In some cases, the base drawable folder will contain the widget background; in others, you might find it in drawable-hdpi or whatever display type your device is.
    • Locate the widget background image, it hopefully will be named something like "widget_bg.png". Look closely at the file type (if it has a .9 extension), as the next step depends on what type of image you are editing.

    Step 4A - Editing a regular .png file (Timestamp - 0:30)
    • Open the image with your image editor. Edit it as needed; for full transparency, simply select all and delete.
    • Save the file in the same format and do not change the file name.

    Step 4B - Editing a .9.png file (Timestamp - 0:59)
    • Delete the .9 from the file name (ie. change "video_widget_bg.9.png" to "video_widget_bg.png").
    • Open the image with your image editor. Edit it as needed; for full transparency, simply select all and delete.
    • Save the file in the same format (now a regular .png file) and do not change the file name.
    • Open "draw9patch.bat" in the Android SDK (located in ... android-sdk/tools). Drag and drop the image onto the workspace. No editing is required with transparent backgrounds. Simply select File --> Save 9-patch, and maintain the original file name, the tool will add the .9.png extension to the file name. Make sure to delete the original file you renamed.

    NOTE: There may also be other parts of the widget (logos, arrows, dividers, frames, landscape-view images, etc) that you might need to edit at this point in the process. You can follow the same steps with these images, whether changing the colors or making them transparent as well. In the final apk below, the arrows and logos have been edited here (not shown in video).


    Step 5 - Merging your edited images into the apk (Timestamp - 2:15)
    • Drag the res folder containing your modified images into the apk while open in 7-zip. Select "Yes" when prompted about overwriting the existing files.

    Step 6 - Using the APK Multi-tool (Timestamp - 2:26)
    • Move the modified apk file into the place-apk-here-for-modding folder in the APK Multi-tool.
    • Run "Script.bat".
    • Choose Option 24 - Set current project, and select your apk from the list. (This option might be #23 or 25 depending on the version of APK Multi-tool you are using.)
    • Choose Option 1 - Extract apk
    • Choose Option 3 - Zip apk
    • Choose Sub-Option 2 - Zip as regular apk ... IF you are editing a system app, choose Sub-Option 1.
    • Choose Option 4 - Sign apk ... IF you are editing a system app, skip this step.

    AND YOU'RE DONE!
    You should now have a signed version of the apk in the place-apk-here-for-modding folder. Transfer it to your phone and install, or install using the APK Multi-tool if you have ADB enabled. Enjoy your new app with a slick looking transparent widget! :highfive:

    Once you've installed, please share your apk here in the thread so others can enjoy your work! I assume that HDPI is currently the dominant display type, and that MDPI is decreasing as XHDPI increases. Regardless of that, you can do a service to your fellow XDA members when posting your apps by doing the transparency process for the common MDPI, HDPI, and XHDPI displays (where relevant, certain apps pull the images from the same "drawable" folder and require no further digging into the different display types). Not required, but definitely appreciated.


    Thanks/Credit
    • rushco for creating this thread and maintaining it so diligently
    • ilangoadigal for this tutorial which helped me and many others
    • tnpapadakos for this tutorial which helped me and many others
    • Daneshm90, brut.all, JF, farmatito, Raziel23x,and everyone else involved with the APK Manager/Multi-Tool projects
    • My fellow XDA members from whom I learned a great deal, whether through their helpful posts or from poking around in apk's they created to see what was going on


    Related Links for the more ambitious folks
    • This video tutorial by SuperViper75 is a very good (and a bit long) explanation of how to work with .9.png's.
    • This .9.png walk-through by damnitpud is a very good companion to the video above.
    • An explanation of draw9patch from the Android Dev Guide
    19
    K-Z Transparent Apps

    Old outdated Transparent Widgets moved to here http://pastebin.com/X40vftVM
    17
    Google Play Music v4.3.606

    Google Play Music just had an update. Can anyone make a quick mod on the widget? Thanks

    via xda app

    yep, here's an updated version of Google Play Music, version 4.3.606.

    it is unsigned, so it needs to be moved to system/app, replacing the original apk. rename to "Music.apk", set the permissions to rw- r-- r--, and reboot. enjoy.