[Q] How to theme resources.apk?

[alexthesniper21]

Does any one know how to theme the htc resources with out crashing? im theming MikG 3.11, but every time i theme the resources, it crashes on the weather widget. any help?

 

[rgsgroup2005]

Hmmmm.

What are you using to theme it? Have you extracted the resources and right clicked an image and tried using a paint shop program then simply painting over the images? Thats what I am doing on CM7 and did some cool stuff with the widgets and MMS on the latest build (such as blach background and neon edges). What OS are you using? I'll try it since I wanna theme sense now. I'm too new to XDA to post my new roms. I'm focusing on stability and HD modifications but like your idea

 

[zelendel]

Does any one know how to theme the htc resources with out crashing? im theming MikG 3.11, but every time i theme the resources, it crashes on the weather widget. any help?

First thing you will need is an apktool then folow the directions to install the proper framework. Then use paint, photoshop, or gimp to make your changes. Be careful of anything that ends in .9 as these are special pngs and need to be handled differently. I used to theme Sense but stopped due to having to rewrite to many files for the changes I needed and have moved on the AOSP based roms which are much more straight forward.

 

[drlzanej]

Thank blaz1nr for this, all info he passed on to me, Hope it helps you,,,Later,,,

When you start working on transparency. The status bar/footer should be 20% less transparent than the background. Header starts at 10% less than background. Pop ups are where is gets a little harder. They must be opposite each other (ie) black/white text or white/black text. Black looks better but is more of pain. Make sure to keep pop ups slightly transparent, you should be able to see through them a little. Once you have the first one done then you be able to see what % to change and where,but these are good starting points. Status bar/header/footer should be the 3 darkest. It should look something like this. Status/[email protected] 60%, [email protected]%,[email protected]% pop [email protected] to 80%. So 100% is solid as you move down towards 10% it gets more see through.
PART 1:
Im going to to try to sqeeze this down as much as possible.Basically I'm gonna give you, the how to do stuff.Then I'm going to give the short cut's to figuring out what to do.First your gonna need some stuff.
1 Java EE jdk, jre
2 Apk tool
3 Android Sdk
4 Eclipse IDE
5 7 Zip
6 M10 editor
7 Cygwin
8 Android Kitchen
9 Notepad++
10 Alot of patience
Listed above is everything needed to build or theme a rom.
You wont need android kitchen or cygwin,if you just want to theme.You will need everything else.
This is a easy way to learn how to set up android kitchen so you can build your own roms from unrooted stock roms----> http://www.androidmerom.com/2012/01/11/4/
How to dev correctly----> http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1273044
Porting things like clocks or widgets---> http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1222746
Adding transparancies to status bar(its in the galaxY s forum but this is what you do) http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1327565
Learn how to recompile and decompile apk's first,Since this is a sense rom, you need 3 things to do this,SystemUi.apk,its in system/apps,
framework-res.apk & com.htc.resources.apk, they are in system/frameworks
PART2
Ok so now I'm gonna give you a bunch of info that will speed up your learning of what to do.
Since this is a sense rom, When you decompile SystemUi.apk it needs dependencies.These are the two apk's you got from system/frameworks.Learn how to use apk tool there's guides everywhere when its time to add dependencies you need to use both of these commands in cmd. apktool if framework-res.apk,apktool if com.htc.resources.apk, i cant stress enough that you first learn building apk's and how to use apk tools. once you know how apk tools works the commands earlier will make sense.Learn how to push your new apk to your phone with sdk.
A system app cannot just be dropped in the system. Unless your rom zip is open and your building it. Here come's the good stuff, when your trying to do something like move you clock to the center of the status bar.What you can do is decompile the apk's from earlier out of a rom that has a feature you like.Open it and find what files you need, copy them to your desk top. Now find the same files you need to change in your rom and look through them to see whats different in yours that you need to change(Notepad ++ is used for this/also M10 editor). 7zip will be your best friend from here on out.In 7zip all you need to do is click open archive. now you can add or remove anything you want,when your done just close it.This works for every zip file.UOT kitchen can be used to do a small amount of theme work.
Build.prop work is done the same way using notepad++. Say you built your own rom,but your not sure how to get your rom name or add 3g/4g/wifi tweaks or hardware acceleration or what ever.There's a lot that can be done in a build.prop that will do some major magic.you could compare mine to yours and see whats different and make changes.Use common sense here.Don't just go changing things if you don't know what it is first. That's it all you need to know right there to get you started. Now all you have to do is search around for whatever it is you want to do. locate the things you need to change and your on your way.
Although basically I've given you everything you need to get you stared.Not everything can done by simply changing lines of code in one spot some things have files located in multiple location that will need to be edited so...RESEARCH RESEARCH RESEARCH.Remember don't be a **** and steal someone's thunder,just so you can say you built a rom. Give props and ask the other dev's if you want you use something they worked hard making.