[Q] Top Bar tranparency - Captivate Themes and Apps

Can the top bar be made transparent so the desktop wallpaper will show through / behind it?
I have used UOT to set the top bar transparent (#000000 @ 50%) and it does appear transparent on lock screens with some of the wallpaper visible, but when I get to the desktop it goes back to solid black. I use go launcher by default but have also checked out the default launcher from Serendipity 7, both show solid black.
Is there a feature / limit in 2.3.3 roms preventing transparent top bar on the desktop?

Tried getting it to work by using the kitchen before and no luck

I'll make it for you. What ROM/theme/mods do you have installed?
Or could you post your SystemUI.apk?
Sent from my SGH-I897

Here's the stock Serendipity VII SystemUI.apk with a 50% transparent status bar. You should be able to use this with the UOT kitchen if you want to change anything, although I've never used it so I'm not completely sure.
take your pick -> APK or CWM zip

thanks for the offer. Here's my systemui file.

papashex said:
thanks for the offer. Here's my systemui file.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here you go, black, 50% transparent:
APK or CWM zip

No dice. I do have the transparent bar on lock screen, but it still goes solid black on desktop. Would I be better off trying to put a semi trans image for the bar in framework-res.apk? (if that would be the correct place) I have an image file in mind matching my dock bar but it would need to be resized and flipped 180.
Could you assist there as well?

papashex said:
No dice. I do have the transparent bar on lock screen, but it still goes solid black on desktop. Would I be better off trying to put a semi trans image for the bar in framework-res.apk? (if that would be the correct place) I have an image file in mind matching my dock bar but it would need to be resized and flipped 180.
Could you assist there as well?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That would be my guess. I edited the .png as black in framework-res.apk and it's always black, no matter what screen. So I guess making that image transparent would be your best bet.
The file is called "statusbar_background.9.png", in framework-res/drawable-hdpi.
Just edit the file and open apk with a zip program then simply drag it back in.

papashex said:
No dice. I do have the transparent bar on lock screen, but it still goes solid black on desktop. Would I be better off trying to put a semi trans image for the bar in framework-res.apk? (if that would be the correct place) I have an image file in mind matching my dock bar but it would need to be resized and flipped 180.
Could you assist there as well?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know why that last one didn't work. I put it on my phone and it worked perfectly. Framework-res shouldn't do anything, but then I also thought the last one worked, so I guess it'd be worth a try.
I'm now thinking it's an issue with your launcher, but I don't see how. You've really got me stumped here. Sorry I can't help you further.
Sent from my SGH-I897

Related

Morphs & Froyo

So I have Froyo on my nexus one, and I'm trying to change the status bar.
I have used MetaMorph and NinjaMorph in the past with no problems.
However, whilst applying a morph, the wait just takes forever, and I get bored.
So I tried to make my own using NinjaMorph, same thing. It just takes forever.
Any suggestions?
What about the status bar are you trying to mod? In depth mods can not be done due to the odex'd files. You need to wait for the source or a way to de-odex the system files.
The background color/image. I know it can be done, I think. (How's that for a contradictory statement?) Right now its gray, but I'm shooting for more of either a black or possible opaque one.
-------------------------------------
Sent from my Nexus One
I have only seen gray/clear. Look in the Themes section (should have been posted there in the first place) that is as far as they have come with themes, like I said, because of the odex's.
hollywooder said:
So I have Froyo on my nexus one, and I'm trying to change the status bar.
I have used MetaMorph and NinjaMorph in the past with no problems.
However, whilst applying a morph, the wait just takes forever, and I get bored.
So I tried to make my own using NinjaMorph, same thing. It just takes forever.
Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have had no success with morphing the status bar in froyo....Britoso said he has, but I don't know his setup.
Imho your best bet is to flash from zip.
click below
CLEAR statusbar
GRAY statusbar
BLACK statusbar
There is a clear statusbar mod that has a black notification background, but it had to be flashed instead of morphed.
Or use adb...pull framework-res.apk, change images, push, reboot. Done.
Yeah, morphs don't work but you can pull the apk and change the images.
The problem is with the text colour at the moment, you can't change it because it's in code and for that we either need the source or the deodexed files so we can reverse engineer.
So, you can get any colour bar you want, you're just stuck with black text at the moment for clock, date and tickers.

[lockscreen] photoshop

I dont have photoshop, but i need to have a see through or opaque picture to use as my lockscreen background. can anyone help me, or even make a quick one? with a grey background if its opaque.
BUMP! come on people someone must have photoshop, this would only take 5 minutes.
doesn't the one from the other thread work?....
http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.php?quickkey=idhtmtuqyrm
..... Then have a play with DroidExplorer?... apparently it can do the ADB stuff for you......
EDIT..... Droid Explorer - 0.8.6.0 [06/19/2010] - Conan O'Brian Edition
Why someone with photoshop. It's just as doable with Gimp, a totally free image editor.
i dont have an image editor, slash i didnt know that. And its not the actual lock screen or anything i need.
i downloaded lockbot and you can use your own image as the background, so if i got a transparent one then i would have a transparent lockscreen..
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=707599
i modified the file from Cronos 1.7.1 so i'm not sure it will work for villainrom...
if you do want to try it ... do a nandroid or bart backup before you PUSH the file onto /system/framework folder
i think i tried that one before, but i'm not sure, i'll give it a shot.
it says verification failed?
If your looking to set an image as a lockscreen background its not as easy as having a transparent image. Android does not treat it as if it is transparent.
Hoping someone can work out a fix soon though.
oh i see. well thats helpful thanks. Also when trying to flash all these zips that people are putting together for me, when i try to flash them i get an error "verification failed"!!
archie winnington-ingram said:
I dont have photoshop, but i need to have a see through or opaque picture to use as my lockscreen background. can anyone help me, or even make a quick one? with a grey background if its opaque.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
use GIMP instead.
Lennyuk said:
If your looking to set an image as a lockscreen background its not as easy as having a transparent image. Android does not treat it as if it is transparent.
Hoping someone can work out a fix soon though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There was a Vanilla ROM with transparent locksscreen. I think it even was SuperHero and I remember it coz people did not like transparent lockscreens. It made screen look messy. Also some other vanilla ROMs have semi transparent lockscreens - it shows only wallppaper, not all icons and widgets - which I found very cool, especially if you like live wallpapers. I want to make it work on sense ROMs, don't know how so
for future reference:
fotoflexer.com
free online image editing.
Have you got a rooted phone?

[Q] Custom theme for twframework-res.apk

Has anyone successfully changed the colors on the top tabs bar? I've been trying to change the colors from blue to red using NinjaMorph but it craps out on me everytime I save them. It doesn't FC at all but it screws up the images. See the pictures for what I'm talking about.
Edit:
Forgot to add that I'm running Cognition 2.2.7 with Minimalistic Mod v1.4 just in case it's needed.
Just throwing out something off the top of my head.. but are you using the same image sizes as the original also?
Just trying to help
Yeah, I'm just opening the apk in NinjaMorph, long pressing on the image and picking edit. From there I just adjust the color til its red then saving the image. The picture is the same size and everything it's just the color that's different.

[Q] ?s about themeing

I really want to theme my phone, is there any tips to make it easyier
an also theres no meny png files that im not sure what changes what, is there a guide of any sort for that or anything.
I got editing images down but im still gettin lost on changing things
an out of curioisy is there a good themer out there that would be willing to work with me personally so im not gettin mixed results
here ya go..this should get you a start
http://www.google.com/cse?q=how+to+...ub-2900107662879704:fs7umqefhnf&ie=ISO-8859-1
Great resource here
im not sure if im wording this right, but to theme an app u open that apps apk. to theme a widget u open that widgets apk. right?
So what all does framwork control?
still tring to get it togather what png's edit what on my phone
Essentially yes. Most of the app's .png's will be in the respective .apk, although if it's a Sense ROM then a lot is stored in the 'com.htc.resources.apk'
The 'framework-res.apk' holds all the files for like the notification area, the pull down menu, status icons, buttons, tick boxes, radio buttons etc...
The best way to familiarise yourself with it all is just to have a look through the image folders and see what you see.
not much luck, im gettin lost, so ill be back in a cuple days let u knw if i got it yet, if i cant come up with it, ill just make a list of things i want done an see where it goes.
Are you on a Mac or PC?
Keep in mind, you have to sign it to get it to install if you unpack it. After weeks of failed signing attempts (I still cant get them to sign) I found a way around this though...just don't unpack it Use 7zip on PC or I am on a Mac so I use Springy. Replace what you want and you are good to go.
Let me know if you need more help with this method. It isn't the way everyone else does things, but it works for editing things and making it what you want.
@reanger91878 I was just looking into start some theming and was trying to figure out if using a Mac put me at a disadvantage... but I guess since I found you I'll know who to ask if I run into a problem. So I guess I'm gonna get Springy and see what I can figure out. (I've never done this crap before).
:edit: boo it costs money, any free options? or will the non-licensed version work for me?
Alright
heres what i want done
I have NFX Sprint 2.31.651.7 STOCK Odex Update3.
Lock screen bar where its grey i want black
All screens under settings an phone options like device1 pic 1 want there its white to be black an the black letters white with a green boarder.
Device2 pic: want top an bottom where its grey to be black save with bookmark widget an calander app
Device3: white section black an the letter white
Device4: change all screens from white to black an white lettes an the grey buttons at the bottom to green same with clock, messages, music and photos
Device5: i want the ui buttons at the bottom like that but for it to be Phone in the middle app drawer on the left an add to home on the right
Invert all menus uder browser
so if some one would be willing to help with what xml an pic files i edit to do it, or some one helps me put it togather it would be awsome an id be very thankful
BuddahWolf01 said:
@reanger91878 I was just looking into start some theming and was trying to figure out if using a Mac put me at a disadvantage... but I guess since I found you I'll know who to ask if I run into a problem. So I guess I'm gonna get Springy and see what I can figure out. (I've never done this crap before).
:edit: boo it costs money, any free options? or will the non-licensed version work for me?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Using a Mac does not put you at a disadvantage per se...kind of, but there are workarounds
You don't have to use Springy, that is just what I use. The key is to find an Mac application that can open up a .zip file without extracting it, because once you extract, you need to resign (no big deal really, but for whatever reason my computer won't properly sign). I think the free version of Springy lets you open up a ROM of a certain size? Can't remember...but if you are editing a theme, they should open, because most are under 15MB. You can also just search around for other Mac apps that handle zip files and find one that does not extract. Let me know what you come up with and what you need help with...I gained much knowledge here, and will gladly pass on what I have gleaned.
DubsideWICKED said:
heres what i want done
I have NFX Sprint 2.31.651.7 STOCK Odex Update3.
Lock screen bar where its grey i want black
All screens under settings an phone options like device1 pic 1 want there its white to be black an the black letters white with a green boarder.
Device2 pic: want top an bottom where its grey to be black save with bookmark widget an calander app
Device3: white section black an the letter white
Device4: change all screens from white to black an white lettes an the grey buttons at the bottom to green same with clock, messages, music and photos
Device5: i want the ui buttons at the bottom like that but for it to be Phone in the middle app drawer on the left an add to home on the right
Invert all menus uder browser
so if some one would be willing to help with what xml an pic files i edit to do it, or some one helps me put it togather it would be awsome an id be very thankful
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Big tasks Don't know if anyone will actually be able to do it for you, but check the resources above to get an idea where to start. It's the whole "give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime" idea.
Open up your ROM and check the framework-res.apk and see what you find...but you are looking to do more than just framework edits...
ranger61878 said:
Big tasks Don't know if anyone will actually be able to do it for you, but check the resources above to get an idea where to start. It's the whole "give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime" idea.
Open up your ROM and check the framework-res.apk and see what you find...but you are looking to do more than just framework edits...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Out of what all i want edited what is controlled by frame work an then would the rest be Apk files in the system app
my biggest problem is im not understanding what xml files change what an some of the pngs idk what they change
edit: I found post that said this, is that a pretty good way to descride it.?
app folder - This folder contains all of the apps that will be installed during an update or wipe. You will need to extract only the apks of the apps you wish to change the icon and graphics for.
-Launcher.apk - This file is in the app folder and contains the menu launcher tab, clock, google search widget, wallpapers and some other things.
framework - This folder contains framework-res.apk, this is where the bulk of your editing will take place.
When you open a apk you will see:
assets - This will contain images, sounds and other content used by the programs. Not always used!
META-INF - This contain the encryption data of the update.zip.
res - This folder contains all of the png and xml files. The xml files are used to format the UI, these can be used to change the locations of things on the screen. The xmls need to be unencrypted first. Depending on the apk there can be a bunch of folders under the res folder but we will only concentrate on the drawable ones.
-drawable - The png files in this folder are displayed wheather the keyboard is open or closed. The majority of the files are here.
-drawable-land - These are the files that will show when the keyboard is open. There won't be as many files in these folders. Most of the time the programmer will re-organize the layout with an xml file.
so basically everything is a picture that i want changed an xml files control text color an placement of where things are or what?,
im try my best to but thoes darn xml files are messing with me lol
To start, don't mess with the XML files. Just make changes to the PNG files. Once you get familiar with changing icons and status bar colors, then you can start messing with XML files. Let's say you want a different alarm icon.
Look in the DeskClock.apk under res/drawable-mdpi. You would find an icon(PNG) you want to substitute with, size it to the same size as ic_launcher_alarmclock.PNG, name it the same name and replace the original in the apk.
Use adb to push the apk back to your phone. I would then reboot and then enjoy your new icon.
Some icons will be in drawable-mdpi and some just in drawable. No need to change hdpi on our phones.
The majority of your status bar icons and base OS icons will be in framework-res.apk.
Sent from my HERO200 using XDA App
poashll said:
To start, don't mess with the XML files. Just make changes to the PNG files. Once you get familiar with changing icons and status bar colors, then you can start messing with XML files. Let's say you want a different alarm icon.
Look in the DeskClock.apk under res/drawable-mdpi. You would find an icon(PNG) you want to substitute with, size it to the same size as ic_launcher_alarmclock.PNG, name it the same name and replace the original in the apk.
Use adb to push the apk back to your phone. I would then reboot and then enjoy your new icon.
Some icons will be in drawable-mdpi and some just in drawable. No need to change hdpi on our phones.
The majority of your status bar icons and base OS icons will be in framework-res.apk.
Sent from my HERO200 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well said.
You can also do it on your computer...don't extract, just open, replace, close, put on SD and flash (after you nandroid...just in case )
iv been looking an looking, but cant seem to find a black stock theme
with stock htc green when a button is pressed, any one kno off a stock black theme i might be over looking
still havent figured ths out, an im having problems because im odexed?
DubsideWICKED said:
still havent figured ths out, an im having problems because im odexed?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes more than likely your only have trouble theme and odexed rom. Try a rom that is deodexed or I heard the have some deodex sripts that will do it.
ASimmons said:
Yes more than likely your only have trouble theme and odexed rom. Try a rom that is deodexed or I heard the have some deodex sripts that will do it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alright is there a performance or memory difference between odex an deodex
Does this same process apply with adw? If so, does that mean theming aosp and cm6 are equally as easy?
Sent from my HERO200 using XDA App

Theming Widgets

So it was quite easy to chance the LauncherPro widgets, just drop a few files into a folder and re-sign. Can this be done with other apps?
Generally everything's looking good, but the BeyondPod widget is so old looking, can I make the background look like that of the YouTube or Google Search widgets?
If I could make the Fancy Widget Weather background lighter, that would be cool too...
(I've used a lighter wallpaper than usual, so you can see what I mean )
Thanks.
**EDIT** Okay, so I simply dropped in the appwidget_bg.9.png and it's kinda worked -
How can I now control the size of the background of the widget?
The best way to theme the widgets (if there is no source for app, like for many/most market apps) is to use apktool to decompile the .apk, this will give you the .9.png files with the guide lines on them, then you can open the .png from the .apk you just decompiled (the best way to keep the widget the same boundaries as the original is just to recreate the image on a layer above the existing layer, with the guide lines and widget background, to be the same width and length as the stock widget background). You can either use apktool to recompile the .apk which will or create the .9.pngs for you, or you can compile them in eclipse.
Use this png instead of the other one on my thread. I need to update it. This will size nicely on your Music widget and also Fancy Widget.
How would I go about making the launcher pro widgets transparent?
sonnysekhon said:
Use this png instead of the other one on my thread. I need to update it. This will size nicely on your Music widget and also Fancy Widget.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not quite what I was after, lol
Going to edit that one myself, see how I get on
**EDIT** Okay, so I've made the background a little smaller (and without the white background) but the buttons still stick to the very edges.
AndyCr15 said:
Not quite what I was after, lol
Going to edit that one myself, see how I get on
**EDIT** Okay, so I've made the background a little smaller (and without the white background) but the buttons still stick to the very edges.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Click on the attached image first and then save it. Right clicking and saving results in a loss of transparency, hence a broken .9 patch.
dinan said:
How would I go about making the launcher pro widgets transparent?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my signature go to the Nexus S link, bottom of the 2nd post.
Thanks. I followed the guide and I have the header and footers transparent (I edited your pngs so that it was 0% opaque so perfectly transparent since that's what I want) but the background for the calendar widget still has a grey shade... dunno which png to change to get it perfectly clear. Any suggestions?
sonnysekhon said:
In my signature go to the Nexus S link, bottom of the 2nd post.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dinan said:
Thanks. I followed the guide and I have the header and footers transparent (I edited your pngs so that it was 0% opaque so perfectly transparent since that's what I want) but the background for the calendar widget still has a grey shade... dunno which png to change to get it perfectly clear. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can get it from here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=783427
How would one go about editing a Beautiful Widget theme?
In the picture below you can see that the "pm" and weather are white and I want to make them both cyan to match everything else. (Also, I realized upon seeing the shot blown up that the color of the weather/date text didn't match so I fixed that).
kenvan19 said:
How would one go about editing a Beautiful Widget theme?
In the picture below you can see that the "pm" and weather are white and I want to make them both cyan to match everything else. (Also, I realized upon seeing the shot blown up that the color of the weather/date text didn't match so I fixed that).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Get the clock skin and the weather skin from your sdcard from data/beautifulwidgets. Edit them in Photoshop or GIMP and put them back.
sonnysekhon said:
Get the clock skin and the weather skin from your sdcard from data/beautifulwidgets. Edit them in Photoshop or GIMP and put them back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks Sonny! I am going to try (emphasis on try) to make a complete skin for BW to go with your SubCyan theme with just a simple clock and weather both cyan but if I fail (which seems to be what I'm doing) I'll probably do just that.

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