Database Users

[Q] How to decompile/recompile binary XML from .apk file?

I have an .apk file which containing the new HTC keyboard, and I tried to translate the Russian layout to Hebrew so I'll be able to use any ROM which use this keyboard (I can't find the original Android SK on the ROM).
There is no problem to find the Russian XML files, but it's all compiled to a strange binary XML.. can someone help me with it? is there any way to decompile it to a normal XML again and then recompile it so i'll be able to override the original on my system?
thanks in advance
Avi

You would have to use a hex editor. More helpful information may be found here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=479019

AXMLPrinter2:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=514412
Stericson's hex editing tutorial:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=479019

Thanks you two
I wish we'll have an app in the future (maybe i'll write one ) that can easly decompile/recompile - just like we have for mode9 files etc.

A problem, I can only decode it to a normal txt file - but I can't recode it back to that binary xml format...
How can I do that?

avimak said:
A problem, I can only decode it to a normal txt file - but I can't recode it back to that binary xml format...
How can I do that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's a converter in the Android SDK.

jashsu said:
There's a converter in the Android SDK.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which one? there's a lot of them there...

avimak said:
Which one? there's a lot of them there...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"aapt dump xmltree" will show the contents but not in actual xml.

cyanogen said:
"aapt dump xmltree" will show the contents but not in actual xml.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi man, I'm already using AXMLPrinter2.jar to decode the xml file, that's not the problem. I'm looking for a way to recode it back to binary - and jashsu says it's in the SDK, but we have there about 100 different tools so I asked him which one is to recode a simply xml to binary xml that's fits Android
do you know?

Hey Avi,
why don't you use the hebrew keyboard that already published in iandroid.co.il forums?

zrubi said:
Hey Avi,
why don't you use the hebrew keyboard that already published in iandroid.co.il forums?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, first of all I'm using it now and it's great.. but still the HTC official keyboard looks bigger and wider for me, plus there is a space there (in the Russian layout) for question mark etc...

Modifying musicplayer.apk & other doubts regarding unpacking & packing apk!!

I like the option to change music from anywhere via notification but i hate the cheap default album art in it!! So I like to extract the apk remove those pictures!! Does removing those pictures alone will cause any problems?? If the answer is yes I ll replace those images with my own images!!
So now regarding extracting :
Does extracting by zip & repacking again with zip & changing name as .apk is enough or do I want to extract using apk extractor/manager found in this forum (forgot its name) & repack & sign it with the same??
Regarding .odex file :
I have a rough idea about odex & deodexed files!! Stock application is usually odexed!!
Now my doubt is what I have to do with the .Odex file near the music??
Help me out soon
Sorry for my bad English & unframed question!! Cz am posting via mobile!!
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App

Don't ever remove stuff, depending on how they are loaded / how well coded the app is, it will most likely cause null pointers and so force close.
If you mod an apk, replace stuff but don't remove or rename.
P.S. you could deodex the app, to make your life simpler, but deodexing is no simple task for system apps if you are not familiar with the process.
Maybe the solution, if you want to mod, is to get a deodexed rom and mod away.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

Am new to Android just a week old, but am not a total noob i had molded roms in Symbian!!
So please send me links or tutorials about
How to deodex & other important things about droid!!
Also am not gonna remove anything am just gonna replace default images for music player for album art with custom pics!! I already replaced camera. Apk for battery mod found in the forum!! I can request any1 to mod for me but I really like modding it on my own, i like droid more than Symbian now!! & even am not using iPad properly after buying s2!!
Coming to point, is musicplayer.apk is system app like touchwiz. Apk & framework-research. Apk??
Update:
If i wanna edit musicplayer.apk what to do with its ODEX file ?!!
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App

rajaspidey said:
Am new to Android just a week old, but am not a total noob i had molded roms in Symbian!!
So please send me links or tutorials about
How to deodex & other important things about droid!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=How+to+deodex
rajaspidey said:
Coming to point, is musicplayer.apk is system app like touchwiz. Apk & framework-research. Apk??
Update:
If i wanna edit musicplayer.apk what to do with its ODEX file ?!!
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Frameworks are not applications. But yeah, Musicplayer.apk is an application apk.
As for the Odex file... http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Odex+file

messed up my music player cant able to install stock back too !! please help me !!
i need to replace default album art with this png's !! for 400x400 i need that thumb_00.png !! please help me !!
also please teach me how to modify/edit/customise/repack/sign apk's !!!

1) Reflash your current rom (look for stock roms topic in Original Android Development forum)
2) ALWAYS do a backup of your files before messing with them, especially when you don't know how to recover them -.-'
3) Asked like this, nobody will do that for you. Moreover, that's iTunes, and we, as loyal Android users, won't take any of these into our droids.
4) To modify/edit/repack/sign APK, there's Google for that. It has tons of resources if you only take a second to type in your search, and one other to look at the links.

XpLoDWilD said:
1) Reflash your current rom (look for stock roms topic in Original Android Development forum)
2) ALWAYS do a backup of your files before messing with them, especially when you don't know how to recover them -.-'
3) Asked like this, nobody will do that for you. Moreover, that's iTunes, and we, as loyal Android users, won't take any of these into our droids.
4) To modify/edit/repack/sign APK, there's Google for that. It has tons of resources if you only take a second to type in your search, and one other to look at the links.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for your help now i learnt that i have to deodex the app to make it work !! if u can u can help me !!
i found a tool called "Andrizoid's_Deodex_Kitchen_V4" but files have extension .sh confused about what to do !! help me if you can or else i ll need to google all night

k now i have deodex tools !! but now i need framework files for samsung !! does twframework-res.apk/framework-res.apk & its ODEX & jar files are enough ??!!!

rajaspidey said:
i found a tool called "Andrizoid's_Deodex_Kitchen_V4" but files have extension .sh confused about what to do !! help me if you can or else i ll need to google all night
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Jeeeeeeeeeezzzz....
If you don't know what a .sh is, then you shouldn't be doing what you're trying to do.
P.S. you could deodex the app, to make your life simpler, but deodexing is no simple task for system apps if you are not familiar with the process.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As said in the first reply.
And yes, framework-res and twframeword-res.apk should be enough.

Sorry .Sh means shell used on linux!! I hv no basic of computer programming am an civil engineering student .!!
BTW i deodexed files my doubt is musicplayer.apk is system app right I repacked it & replaced it in folder but it's not appearing in menu!! :-(
Do I wanna push it like update.Zip?? Creating update.Zip is just like creating folder system/app, putting musicplayer.apk in it & zipping it right!!
I hv a nandroid but i wn restore it I want to modify musicplayer.apk & make it work!! You gotta solve my noobish doubts bro!!
Sent from my Galaxy S II via XDA app so sorry if u did any typographical or other mistakes!!

i deodexed musicplayer.odex with help of
http://code.google.com/p/smali/wiki/DeodexInstructions
&
http://www.madteam.co/forum/tutorials/how-to-deodex-an-odex-file
now i got an out folder !! please send me link for anythread which has how to for this kind of modifications !! am too searching !!

[MOD] modified default album art images for music player in SGSII.!!
Succesfully made my music player !! the work is simple i made it complicated !! just deodexing to dex is enough !! i was more noobier than i thought & when i was about to post it i found it was already present in the forum !!
anyways i learnt how to deodex & many things heres own my mod version attached !!
thanx for your help !! & thanx to XDA Forum !! thnx to @XpLoDWilD & other member replied for me !!
just copy this to System/app/ rename your musicplayer.apk & its .ODEX to musicplayer.bak (just keep a backup)
& rename this as musicplayer.apk no install needed !!
Hell yeah finally i made an mod !!

Nice to see your first mod!!

Thank you bro!! Soon ll post detailed how to for newbie/noobs like me!! I won't ask them to Google . Lol
Sent from my Galaxy S II via XDA app so sorry if i did any typographical or other mistakes!!

[Q] G2 dialer apk

Hello All,
I would like to mod a bit the default dialer in the G2. i found the package com.android.contacts which I believe its related however there are only XML files (under res folder) but no source code, i wasnt able to find any odex file.
so my questions is where in the file system can I find the source code/package for the default G2 dialer?
Thank you for your help in advanced.

[email protected]@c3 said:
Hello All,
I would like to mod a bit the default dialer in the G2. i found the package com.android.contacts which I believe its related however there are only XML files (under res folder) but no source code, i wasnt able to find any odex file.
so my questions is where in the file system can I find the source code/package for the default G2 dialer?
Thank you for your help in advanced.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe the dialer apk is system/priv-app/LGTeleservice.apk and the source code is in the android manifest

Art Vanderlay said:
I believe the dialer apk is system/priv-app/LGTeleservice.apk and the source code is in the android manifest
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you!
I believe that the related APK file is com.android.contacts since I managed to find several related classes which I believe are related, see below:
AlphabetConverter.java
NumberToHebrewConverter.java
NumberToRussianConverter.java
NumberToChunjiinConsonantConverter.java
etc
So based on the above I believe that I am on the right direction however im currently trying to understand the idea behind the hashmap and its functionality and also find the relevant class for handling the click button events.
does anyone have any experience with that?
Thank you in advanced.

Creating a modded apk

Hello everyone.
I'm trying to start to make some mods in some applications but I'm not sure where to start, mainly because i'm in Linux.
For Windows I know about dnSpy which allow us to decompile, edit, compile etc etc apk files!
Is there any applications for Linux to do the same job?

HorusEyE said:
Hello everyone.
I'm trying to start to make some mods in some applications but I'm not sure where to start, mainly because i'm in Linux.
For Windows I know about dnSpy which allow us to decompile, edit, compile etc etc apk files!
Is there any applications for Linux to do the same job?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
APK Studio :good:

guitardedhero said:
APK Studio :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, I have already that application installed, but it keeps telling me that I should have some 3rd party applications in my "vendor" folder. What applications are those? I already tried to copy into that folde "adb" and also the applications that comes with APK Tool, but it still shows the same warning. And I cannot edit dll modules with APK Studio as I can with dnSpy!

HorusEyE said:
Ok, I have already that application installed, but it keeps telling me that I should have some 3rd party applications in my "vendor" folder. What applications are those? I already tried to copy into that folde "adb" and also the applications that comes with APK Tool, but it still shows the same warning. And I cannot edit dll modules with APK Studio as I can with dnSpy!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use apktool and smali/baksmali...no studio needed. It is also a good idea to have old and new versions of smali/baksmali (I use 1.3.3 and 2.1.3) because some mods you download the smali files will be in old code format. So I smali them into classes.dex with the 1.3.3 and then baksmali with 2.1.3 to convert old code to new before merging with your apk.
Sent from my SM-T210 using Tapatalk

RealWelder said:
I use apktool and smali/baksmali...no studio needed. It is also a good idea to have old and new versions of smali/baksmali (I use 1.3.3 and 2.1.3) because some mods you download the smali files will be in old code format. So I smali them into classes.dex with the 1.3.3 and then baksmali with 2.1.3 to convert old code to new before merging with your apk.
Sent from my SM-T210 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, thanks
I have downloaded version 2.2.0 of smali and baksmali and also a zip containing (i hope, smali and balsmali) version 1.3.3 of the same application! Is there any basic tutorials to teach how to start with these applications?

apktool
https://youtu.be/1t5n8rR5hTE
Smali/baksmali
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1296802
Sent from my KYOCERA-C6745 using Tapatalk

RealWelder said:
apktool
https://youtu.be/1t5n8rR5hTE
Smali/baksmali
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1296802
Sent from my KYOCERA-C6745 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, after I have decompressed/decompiled/whatever the apk file I need to edit a file that is a dll module! It has some like c# or so code. How can I edit these files, change them and compile the file again???? Some use dnSpy and when the dll file is opened, we can see a lot of code, functions and stuff. How can I do that without dnSpy because looks like there is no linux version of dnSpy.

HorusEyE said:
Ok, after I have decompressed/decompiled/whatever the apk file I need to edit a file that is a dll module! It has some like c# or so code. How can I edit these files, change them and compile the file again???? Some use dnSpy and when the dll file is opened, we can see a lot of code, functions and stuff. How can I do that without dnSpy because looks like there is no linux version of dnSpy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've never had to edit dlls. Are you trying to hack a game? Anyways, on windows I use Notepad++, but on Ubuntu I use Notepadqq.
Sent from my KYOCERA-C6745 using Tapatalk

RealWelder said:
I've never had to edit dlls. Are you trying to hack a game? Anyways, on windows I use Notepad++, but on Ubuntu I use Notepadqq.
Sent from my KYOCERA-C6745 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I was trying to create my own modded version of a game! I usually use Atom, but I already tried to open DLL files with Atom and it doesn't work!
Do I have that Notepadqq for Debian?

HorusEyE said:
Yes, I was trying to create my own modded version of a game! I usually use Atom, but I already tried to open DLL files with Atom and it doesn't work!
Do I have that Notepadqq for Debian?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I`ve been trying to figure out why do you want to "create a modded apk" and according to your last post , you`re trying to bypass functionalities of an original game
This kind of thread / discussion isn`t allowed on XDA according to rule 6
6. Do not post or request warez.
If a piece of software requires you to pay to use it, then pay for it. We do not accept warez nor do we permit members to request, post, promote or describe ways in which warez, cracks, serial codes or other means of avoiding payment, can be obtained or used. This is a site of developers, i.e. the sort of people who create such software. When you cheat a software developer, you cheat us as a community.
Thanks for understanding
Thread closed

[Theme Creating] How to edit third party apps using EMUI themes?

I found EMUI themes on the internet which changed the design of various third party apps like f.e. WhatsApp. So I know, I could just take the theme, and edit the com.whatsapp file in it, but there are not all design elements of the app included. So my question: How can I find out the name of every design element and file name to change the design of every part of each app?

This is huge process i think

I'd just need the name of the elements for this xml file and the rest of the file structure where the media files for icons are (with their name). How could other people do it then? Isn't there a way to easily find that out? ?

I guess you have to decompile the apps in question and look at their source code for the correct names for elements. Probably a bit time consuming process yes. But that's probably how they all do it.

Thanks, I decompiled WhatsApp.apk and am now trying to understand how this whole thing works... I still don't understand everything especially because of the theme.xml file which obviously only exists in the theme, but not in the decompiled WhatsApp.apk. But I'm going to try to find out everything by try and error

Maybe this will help you:
http://developer.huawei.com/consumer/en/resources/index.php?title=How_to_Create_Themes

Lyshalia said:
Maybe this will help you:
http://developer.huawei.com/consumer/en/resources/index.php?title=How_to_Create_Themes
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm there isn't explained how editing of any app works, only some app icons, wallpaper and lockscreen.

Lyshalia said:
Maybe this will help you:
http://developer.huawei.com/consumer/en/resources/index.php?title=How_to_Create_Themes
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Themeing tool is available ? Do you have any links?

venugopalu007 said:
Themeing tool is available ? Do you have any links?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a link on the site, you will find it. Just scroll down a bit.

Lyshalia said:
There is a link on the site, you will find it. Just scroll down a bit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In which section , i didn't find the link

venugopalu007 said:
In which section , i didn't find the link
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. THEME TEMPLATE & TOOL
1.1 Download the required files

Lyshalia said:
Maybe this will help you:
http://developer.huawei.com/consumer/en/resources/index.php?title=How_to_Create_Themes
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lets see , thanks for the link.

Does anyone know how to edit the chat bubbles in Whatsapp using the EMUI themes? I already tried to enter another color inside the theme.xml:
<color name="bubble_color_outgoing">#ffd29bd7</color>
And I also tried to edit those files (see attachment) inside /res/drawable-hdpi-v4/, /res/drawable-xhdpi-v4/ and /res/drawable-xxhdpi-v4/.
Nothing changed. Is the EMUI theming engine unable to edit those chat bubbles or is there another file that I missed?