How to create your very own version of TouchWiz
Complexity level: Low
Skill requirements: Need to know how to use CMD and preferably ADB
Requirements: Rooted & deodexed phone, APKtool, Notepad++, WinRar/7zip and a Windows PC(you can do it on other OS:s as well, but I'm using Windows so that's what I recommend)
So now let's start - this is what we are aiming for:
Before:
After:
1. Now what we want to do first is download the apktool from this link over
HERE.
2. It is important that you use the version meant for ICS otherwise you are going to run into problems
3. Now we need to extract the contents of the apktool.zip file and put it somewhere we have an easy time finding(my recommendation is simply to create a new folder on your C-drive, like so:
C:/APKtool).
4. Now we need to copy your framework-res.apk file located on your phone on
/Sytem/framework/framework-res.apk, by either pulling it with ADB(requires Android SDK available
HERE) or by simply copying it over with a file explorer such as
THIS one.
(Guide on how to use ADB
HERE)
5. We will also be needing the
SecLauncher2.apk that we want to modify, so pull/copy it from
/System/App/SecLauncher2.apk to the same folder you put APKtool in.
6. Now we need to make sure that we have the
framework-res.apk and
SecLauncher2.apk files we just pulled from our phone inside the same folder as APKtool(if you followed my recommendations in this guide this would be
C:/APKtool)
Now the pre-fun part starts:
7. Open up CMD on your Windows-machine, either by doing the
Win+R method(which opens the RUN-window, from where you open CMD
by just writing "CMD" and pressing "RETURN" on your keyboard) or simply by searching for it.
8. Now we need to make sure that CMD is running from the same folder as APKtool so what we do here is write: "
CD C:/apktool", which changes the folder to
C:/APKtool
9. What we need to do now is install the
framework-res.apk file to APKTool and we do this via CMD by typing
"apktool if framework-res.apk", which installs it to
C:/Users/Username(your username)/apktool/framework/1.apk
Now we have everything we need to start decompiling the APK-files!
10. Now what you need is a handy tool such as
Notepad++ to edit your files inside of the apk. Download
HERE.
11. Now what I do is two make a copy of the
SecLauncher2.apk, and at the same time rename it to
Launcher.apk
12. Now you need to open up CMD again(navigate to your apktool folder by executing the
"CD C:/apktool"-command)
13. Write
"apktool d launcher.apk" which decompiles it to a folder called launcher(the command we are running here is:
"apktool d -f
(to force overwrite of any prior folder sharing the same name) yourapk.apk foldername(the name of the folder you want to extract the contents of your .apk to))"
14. Now we have a bunch of folders and files, but we only need to edit some XML-files inside the
Launcher/res/values and
values-sw359dp-xhdpi folders
Jump to 17 if you don't want to enable wallpaper-scrolling, otherwise continue reading
15. We'll start by enabling wallpaper-scrolling by navigating to the
"Launcher/res/values" folder and opening the
bools.xml file with Notepad++
16. What you need to change here is the boolean value for
"<bool name="config_fixedWallpaperOffset">true</bool>" from
true to
false.(Now you've enabled wallpaper-scrolling, hard was it not?
)
The following is for editing the layout of the home-screen and app drawer(if you want to keep the stock layout jump to 24):
17. Navigate to
"Launcher/res/values-sw359dp-xhdpi"
18. Inside you will find the following files:
"bools.xml",
"dimens.xml",
"fractions.xml",
"integers.xml" and
"styles.xml"
19. The files we need to edit are the
"integers.xml" and
"dimens.xml" files.
20. We'll start by editing the
integers.xml file(this is all pretty straight forward):
a) The integer values here are aptly
named and it's not hard to guess what each value does:
home_cellCountX is the number of cells in the X(horizontal)-axis on the homescreen while the Y-value again, corresponds to the number of cells on the Y(vertical)-axis.
b) The
manuAppsGrid_cellCountX and
Y correspond to the amount of cells in the X- and Y-axis of the
App Drawer.
Note! Editing the hotseat_cellcount-values has no affect that I know of(tried it already).
21. Now that you've decided on the amount of Apps you want visible on both your HomeScreen and AppDrawer, you need to edit the dimensions as well so that they fit onto your screen.
22. Thus we need to edit the
"dimens.xml" file:
a)The values you want to change here are the following for the HomeScreen:
Code:
"<dimen name="home_cellWidth">90.0dip</dimen>
<dimen name="home_cellHeight">85.0dip</dimen>
<dimen name="home_cellGapX">0.0dip</dimen>
<dimen name="home_cellGapY">0.0dip</dimen>
<dimen name="home_cellGapMax">18.0dip</dimen>
<dimen name="home_pageIndicatorGap">12.0dip</dimen>
<dimen name="home_pageIndicatorTop">520.0dip</dimen>"
These need to suit your layout, and it takes a lot of trial and error to get these values right, but you can always download the modified launchers in the OP of this thread, decompile them and get the values from there.
23. For your app drawer you'll need to edit these values:
Code:
"<dimen name="menuAppsGrid_pageMarginPlusPaddingTop">10.0dip</dimen>
<dimen name="menuAppsGrid_cellWidth">70.0dip</dimen>
<dimen name="menuAppsGrid_cellHeight">90.0dip</dimen>
<dimen name="menuAppsGrid_cellGapX">0.0dip</dimen>
<dimen name="menuAppsGrid_cellGapY">0.0dip</dimen>
<dimen name="menuAppsGrid_cellGapMax">18.0dip</dimen>
<dimen name="menu_pageIndicatorGap">12.0dip</dimen>
<dimen name="menu_pageIndicatorTop">550.0dip</dimen>"
24. Once you've done this you'll just need to open up CMD and write
"apktool b SecLauncherNew.apk" to compile your modified launcher, and create an .apk named
SecLauncherNew.apk
25. BUT We're not done yet! Open up the
SecLauncher2.apk in your apktool folder as well as your SecLauncherNew.apk you just created, with
WinRAR/7zip.
26. Copy over the
"res" and
"resources.arsc" files to your
original SecLauncher2.apk,
overwriting the old ones.
27. This keeps the signature of the APK in tact, which means that you'll have no problem installing it on your phone
28. Push or Copy the modified
SecLauncher2.apk over to your
/system/app folder on your phone, making sure that you overwrite the existing
SecLauncher2.apk application
29. Reboot!
YOU ARE DONE! Congratulations, you are now running your very own version of TouchWiz.
