theming the dialer

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i was curious about doing this as there is a lack of existing dialer themes/metamorphs. where exactly is the .apk i need to edit? i've seen posts on google that mention phone.apk and dialer.apk but for the life of me i can't seem to find them
 

DThomp

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Outgoing calls, the dialer is in contacts, drawable_hdpi and drawable_hdpi_finger.
In call, the dialer is the phone apk, but usually when I try doing that with ninja morph the phone and contacts disappear so either use something else to theme that part or find a rom with an in call dialer that you like. I still play with them some but am getting tired of reflashing a rom and theme to get my phone back.
 

turdbogls

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Outgoing calls, the dialer is in contacts, drawable_hdpi and drawable_hdpi_finger.
In call, the dialer is the phone apk, but usually when I try doing that with ninja morph the phone and contacts disappear so either use something else to theme that part or find a rom with an in call dialer that you like. I still play with them some but am getting tired of reflashing a rom and theme to get my phone back.

ninja morph doesn't like it when you try to theme pretty much anything other than notification bar icons. i tried NMing widgetlocker and it didn't work. what i think you have to do is use Root explorer to do it. copy the contacts app out of system/app, and paste it to the SD card.

once there, you can use root explorer to copy and paste the new images into the .apk. once this is completely done, you have to mount DATA/app folder r/o and paste the modified .apk into system/app and change permissions to rw-r-r, reboot and you are done.

i always make a backup when i do this tho, b/c if i do mess up i always have that to fall back on.

this is the method i used to change widgetlocker, which is a downloaded app and not a system app so i dont know if it will work for sure.

you can always create an update.zip file to do all the work for you.
 
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brewcrewwheels
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i prefer to use apk manager for theming because it lets me retain the signature of sytem apps and re-sign downloaded (data) apps. i just needed a hint to find the .png's to edit, so thank you for that, dthomp.
 

DThomp

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You are welcome. Good luck and happy theming.
Sent from my DROIDX using DroidForums App
 

DThomp

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Outgoing calls, the dialer is in contacts, drawable_hdpi and drawable_hdpi_finger.
In call, the dialer is the phone apk, but usually when I try doing that with ninja morph the phone and contacts disappear so either use something else to theme that part or find a rom with an in call dialer that you like. I still play with them some but am getting tired of reflashing a rom and theme to get my phone back.

ninja morph doesn't like it when you try to theme pretty much anything other than notification bar icons. i tried NMing widgetlocker and it didn't work. what i think you have to do is use Root explorer to do it. copy the contacts app out of system/app, and paste it to the SD card.

once there, you can use root explorer to copy and paste the new images into the .apk. once this is completely done, you have to mount DATA/app folder r/o and paste the modified .apk into system/app and change permissions to rw-r-r, reboot and you are done.

i always make a backup when i do this tho, b/c if i do mess up i always have that to fall back on.

this is the method i used to change widgetlocker, which is a downloaded app and not a system app so i dont know if it will work for sure.

you can always create an update.zip file to do all the work for you.

I have themed quite alot with NM without problems. Keyboard, contacts, calculator, settings, messaging, framework_Res, even use it to change out the Verizon wireless on the lockscreen and pull down with the Eri.XML that I have saved for when I change themes or roms. I have even changed out the occasional XML file with it.

Sent from my DROIDX using DroidForums App
 
B

budmonster

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i havent themed for so long i pretty much forgot everything...say i wanted to theme widgetlocker, how would i go about doing that? pull the apk from /system and edit the apk images on my pc? then what do i do? how do you resign it and all the good stuff.
 
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brewcrewwheels
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i havent themed for so long i pretty much forgot everything...say i wanted to theme widgetlocker, how would i go about doing that? pull the apk from /system and edit the apk images on my pc? then what do i do? how do you resign it and all the good stuff.


if you want to theme apps, imo, you need this:

Apk Manager 4.9 - Makes Modifying Ur Apk A Breeze (Windows/Linux) - xda-developers

this tool lets you pull the apk and extract it. then you can use photoshop (or GIMP or whatever your preference) to alter the images. then you can rezip, resign, and push it back to your device.

apk manager has different procedures for system and non system apps. however, i find it easiest to treat every app like a system app. that way you retain the original signature. so basically, you would pull, extract, edit, rezip (select the system app option) and then push it back to the directory it came from.
 
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