Attn fellow themers: Meta/Ninjamorph question

[Insomaniac10]

As we all know, you can morph third-party apps in /data/app

would i be able to move a market app to /system/app and then morph it? has anyone attempted this?

 

[Romanbb]

Why would you need to move an app to /system/app? To stop it from upgrading? You can only accomplish it by a shell script or something.

 

[Insomaniac10]

Why would you need to move an app to /system/app? To stop it from upgrading? You can only accomplish it by a shell script or something.

metamorph will not morph apps in /data/app....thats why i would need to move it

 

[s15274n]

I cant think of any reason this would not work.. why not just try?

 

[Insomaniac10]

I cant think of any reason this would not work.. why not just try?

im going to, gotta wait till i get home, so i figured in the meantime id check to see if anyone had ever done this. wasnt sure if it might lead to signature issues, or something along those lines

 

[Romanbb]

metamorph will not morph apps in /data/app....thats why i would need to move it

I was always under the impression that it does

 

[Insomaniac10]

I was always under the impression that it does

i wish....stericson had said a couple months ago that he was working on it to function for /data/app, but there's been no follow-up on that yet

 

[bnielsen40]

I've made morphs for market apps on several occasions...the most recent was changing the background on my meridian music widget.

To answer your questions, it works without causing any problems to the functionality of the app itself, nor have I had any issues from applying the morph with the apk still located in data/app. But, you will get errors when trying to apply an update through the market. This also screws things up when you have lots of updates and try to "update all." The updates will work fine until the market tries to update the one you modified, then all apps it tries to update after that will also come back with errors.

Since I don't check for updates often, I need that "update all" button to work properly - so I solved the problem by using Titanium Backup to detach the modified apps from the market. The downside is you won't see if an update is available, but an update would require you to uninstall, reinstall, then reapply the morph. Most updates aren't critical enough to go through that hassle...imo.

Hope that helps!

 

[Insomaniac10]

To answer your questions, it works without causing any problems to the functionality of the app itself, nor have I had any issues from applying the morph with the apk still located in data/app

did you use metamorph, or ninjamorph for this? im assuming you use ninjamorph to unzip, make your changes, rezipped, signed, and installed? im trying to bypass the signing/reinstalling because ever since i upgraded to froyo "signapktic" no longer works for me, so i cant sign apps on my phone.

thats the beauty of metamorph is that you can change images without needing to take all those extra steps.

i was certain you caouldnt metamorph an app in /data/app....

 

[bnielsen40]

did you use metamorph, or ninjamorph for this? im assuming you use ninjamorph to unzip, make your changes, rezipped, signed, and installed?

Nope, used Metamorph. Never messed with Ninjamorph.

I actually do most of the work on my phone, so no need to unzip/rezip/unzip. Once it's unzipped on my phone I write/modify the xml file and move around the images to the folders they need to be in - all using Root Explorer.

For example, yesterday I tried applying MotorJohnny's Swype morph, but it didn't work because my Swype Beta had been installed in data/app and was "com.swype.android...something.apk" instead of "Swype.apk" in the system/app. So, all that was necessary was to modify the xml file to the correct filepath, folders, and apk name. Voila, worked like a charm. (well, the morph did...the buttons were a little screwed up having applied to to Swype beta haha): http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=13670377&postcount=42

 

[GrainOsand]

How do you change .xml files on your phone. I didn't think it was poss to decompile and recompile .xml's on a device.....?

Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

 

[Insomaniac10]

How do you change .xml files on your phone. I didn't think it was poss to decompile and recompile .xml's on a device.....?

Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

You can rewrite without decompiling.....i use an app called "silveredit"....you can also use a simple text editor on your pc like "edit pad"

Sent from my pocket rocket!!

 

[bnielsen40]

Any success morphing an apk in data/app Topshelf?

Sent from my Vibrant using XDA App

 

[Insomaniac10]

Any success morphing an apk in data/app Topshelf?

Sent from my Vibrant using XDA App

i have not tried, but i can confirm that i just successfully morphed a third-party app installed to /system/app

 

[GrainOsand]

You can rewrite without decompiling.....i use an app called "silveredit"....you can also use a simple text editor on your pc like "edit pad"

Sent from my pocket rocket!!

Yeah Top, I know you can use note pad, but im very curious how you edit xml.s without a pc. I have ported whole themes using ninjamorph and zip themer but any xml I had to edit had to be done on my comp. Even if I used ninjamorph to extract the .xml, I could never edit it on phone alone. The Xml would just look like garbled code...i will check out silveredit tho.....If you get a chance check out Xml engine..just search in market It looks promising but is still in alpha....thanks

Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

 

[gunked]

I have changed market apps with ninja morph. You need signaptic from the market to resign it when your done. There os a bit of w down side to it but it works well.

Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

 

[Insomaniac10]

I have changed market apps with ninja morph. You need signaptic from the market to resign it when your done. There os a bit of w down side to it but it works well.

Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

Yup, I talked about this earlier in the thread

Sent from my pocket rocket!!

 

[Annex1]

I was just gonna say that.. or use ZIPsigner2. its free on the market to sign the apk when finished

 

[GrainOsand]

I was just gonna say that.. or use ZIPsigner2. its free on the market to sign the apk when finished

Or get ahold of a metamorph zip. Prefferable a whole theme zip. You want the control file.....now rename the zip to .apk using root explorer, then use ninjamorph to decompile your new .apk file and delete everything in it except the .xml control file. Now take your new .png files and add them to the decompiled .apk in the correct folder or you may move whole folders if you like. After you have all your files in place use ninjamorph to recompile but dont choose to replace exsisting. Just hit no. this will leave your .apk in the workspace folder of ninjamorph. Go into root explorer and rename it back to .zip and move it to root of sd. Now go into zip themer and choose that zip file. Now change the output to /sd/whatever.zip, now hit build. Zip themer will build you a CWM flashable zip with all the mods for whatever apk.s you included using the exsisting files on your phone....not the easiest way and I wouldnt reccommend it just to theme 1 app. But if you want to theme multiple apk.s, even the ones ninjamorph cant theme like Swype and apps in data folder It works flawlessly....sounds like alot but literally takes 5min using root exp to move whole groups of .pngs instead of 1 at a time with ninjamorph and this can all be done without a computer.


Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App