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Design a settings menu

using one compiled APK

Customise more

of your device, by

using your own

graphics in the

Settings menu

E

ven with the help of custom launchers and

ROMs, some parts of Android have a habit of

remaining exactly as the manufacturer intended

them. However, with the help of developer tools such

as the Android SDK and Android Debug Bridge (ADB),

it’s possible to customise your Android device.

This tutorial shows you how to change the

background of your rooted Android’s Settings menu.

You can replace the stock background w ith any image

of your choice – whether it’s a photo you snapped

yourself, or a graphic to replace the stock Settings

menu. To make this change, you need to pull an APK

file from your dev ice and onto your computer. This is

where you can decompile it into separate files and

folders, make your changes and then compile it back

into a single APK to push to your device.

Update your Terminal to point to APK on

yourdesktop (cd /Users/username/Desktop/

APK). Now decompile framework-res.apk with./

apktool d framework-res.apk.Openthe

unzipped folder, navigate to res/values and

open styles.xml using a text editing program.

4 Decompile your APK

Locate<item

name=”colorBackground”>@color/

background_dark</item>, replace it with <item

name=”windowBackground”>@drawable/

mybackground</item> and save. Create a PNG

background matching your device’s resolution.

5 Edit styles.xml

On your computer, install the Android SDK

https://developer.android.com/sdk/index.

html?hl=i, then visit https://code.google.com/p/

android-apktool/downloads/list and download

apktool1.5.2.tar.bz2 with the helper script for

your particular OS. Then unzip the folders.

1 Download your files

Create an ‘APK’ folder on your desktop.

Move the contents of the two unzipped apktool

folders into this new folder. Attach your Android

device to your computer using the USB cable.

Launch the Terminal on Mac or the Command

Prompt window on Windows.

2 Move your apktool files

Pull the framework-res.apk file from your

device by entering the pull command into the

Terminal, for example ./adb pull /system/

framework/framework-res.apk. Go to the

platform-tools folder and move framework-res.to

the APK folder you created on your desktop.

3 Pull Framework-Res.apk

Rename your image ‘mybackground.png’.

Place this in the res/drawable-nodpi folder.

Recompile your APK by running ./apktool b

framework-res. Back up your device then boot into

recovery and run ./adb push /system/framework/

framework-res.apk. Reboot and you’re done!

6 Compile your APK

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