Customizing Your Rom: Adding Personal Files & Other Stuff - Tutorial

[rstoyguy]

About
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This tutorial will show you how to add files personal files to your cooked rom. No, not just files, I MEAN YOUR FILES! Documents, templates, ringers, your UltimateLaunch.ini customization file, password files, sounds, fonts, etc... A list of possible uses is at the end of post #2.
But yea, what ever you want, to where ever you want!

A little preparation now, can save you a lot of time later.

This tutorial ASSUMES you have working knowledge of cooking your own rom. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYTHING THAT HAPPENS TO YOU OR YOUR DEVICE by reading this tutorial! This tutorial should work with most windows-mobile based kitchens, Apache, Titan, Vogue and others.

Credits
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I would like to thank PPCGeeks and all those that made the kitchens possible! You all know who they (you) are!

Terminology used in this tutorial:
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OEM - Similar to a .CAB file, this is the method used to add files/programs to a cooked Rom. This is copied to USER_OEM if using the ppckitchen, or into your OEM folder if you are using another kitchen.
INITFLASHFILES.TXT - This is the text file you will edit to copy your files on your device from \windows to \whereever.
GUID - GUID (or UUID) is an acronym for 'Globally Unique Identifier'. It is a 128-bit integer number used to identify resources.

The steps involved:
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This tutorial will teach you how to add files to your cooked rom. I will show you how to add files to the attached "empty OEM", and then edit the initflashfiles.txt file that will copy your files to where you want 'em.

So here are the steps:
1. Download and extract "zzz_My_Files_OEM.zip"
2. Copy your files to the new directory "zzz_My_Files_OEM".
3. Rename your files. example.txt --> zzz-example.txt (Why later)
4. Edit your "initflashfiles.txt" to create directories and copy files.
5. Copy "zzz_My_Files_OEM" to your USER_OEM or OEM folder(s).
6. Flash and enjoy!

1. Download and extract "zzz_My_Files_OEM.zip"
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Ok, who needs help with this one? Be sure to extract with paths!

2. Copy your files to the new directory "zzz_My_Files_OEM".
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Just copy the files you want into the zzz_My_Files_OEM directory.
I have already created a custom OEM for you with a unique GUID, a sample initflashfiles.txt, and included a XML file so the ppckitchen will identify your OEM.

3. Rename your files.
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To avoid conflicts with other file names that may be in other OEM's, rename your files by adding a "zzz-" to the begining of the name. "MyRinger.mp3" should be renamed to "zzz-MyRinger.mp3" Note, this does two things for ya...
a) Keeps those files at the end of the list when viewing \windows with your file explorer.
b) You won't try to edit that read-only file in \windows named "zzz-storedata.xls", instead you will edit "\My Documents\storedata.xls".
You don't have to do this renaming bit, but it will make life easier...And you can use something else too. Like I could use my initials "DCM-", but I prefer the \windows junk to the end of the list in my file explorer...

[rstoyguy]

4. Edit INITFLASHFILES.TXT
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First let's take a look at a typical INITFLASHFILES.TXT file:

 
;My initflashfiles.txt
 
;Make your directories here:
Directory("\My Documents\"):-Directory("Tutorials")
 
;Copy your files here:
Directory("\My Documents"):-File("MyRinger.mp3","\windows\zzz-MyRinger.mp3")
Directory("\My Documents\Tutorials"):-File("Adding_Files2Kitchen.txt","\windows\zzz-Adding_Files2Kitchen.txt")
 
;End of File

The best way to do this is to copy and paste and then edit a new line!!
As you see above, there are basically two commands:
Directory("\existing_directory\")Directory("new_di rectory")
Directory("destination_directory"):-File("destination_filename","source_path+filename" )

In the above example where it says ";Make your directories here:", well ya, it makes your directories. If it already exists, nothing bad will
happen. Always create them unless you are positive they exist in the typical windows directory structure! In the example above the directory "\My Documents\Tutorials" is created.

Where it says ";Copy your files here:", this copies your files around. In the example the file "\windows\zzz-MyRinger.mp3" is copied to "\My Documents\MyRinger.mp3", and "\windows\zzz-Adding_Files2Kitchen.txt" is copied to "\My Documents\Tutorials\Adding_Files2Kitchen.txt".
And anything with a ";" is ignored as a comment line.
The examples above are included in the zzz_my_files_oem.zip attached so you have a working OEM. The mp3 is a star-wars ringer, the txt file is this tutorial (when first published).
Edit-Tip: You could start out with "MyRinger.mp9" in your OEM and copy to "\My Documents\MyRinger.mp3" so it only shows up in your ringer list once!
Edit-Tip2: If you add a file to this OEM and want it to stay in "\Windows", there is no need to create an initflashfiles.txt entry for it. This would be usefull if you want to add .cab files to your rom and optionally install them with TierAutoInstall...

5. Copy "zzz_My_Files_OEM" to your USER_OEM or OEM folder(s).
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Alrighty then folks, enough fun, drop it into your kitchen of choice.
PPCKitchen folks, copy zzz_My_Files_OEM to your USER_OEM folder.
Every one else, copy it to your ..\OEM folder.

6. Flash and enjoy!
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Build your rom and Flash! Now everyTime you need to hard reset, re-flash, you can keep your Ringers, needed text files, *.tsk themes, work documents,
configuration settings for certain programs, password files, latest pimbackup file, just about anything can be cooked into a rom! And yes,
you can edit the RGU file with some registry edits if you wish and know how...the registry edits is beyond the scope of this tutorial.

This has been a great timesaver for me in the past, and I hope it will be for too. If you can think of an idea for another tutorial, send me a
pm to let me know and I will see what I can do...
HAVE FUN!!!

Stuff you can install with this information:
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- Your ringers, wav's, other sounds, .TSK themes, icons, and other customizations.
- Use it to install password files, configuration files
- Your personal data files like MSOffice files for work or play.
- Combine with TierAutoInstall, and add your commonly used cab files.
- Use to install those programs with one.exe like Ms.Pacman.
- Advanced users can customize their start menu. (Another tutorial idea...)
- And many more uses!


So if you have ever had to hard-reset, if you have ever had memory-card issues, Don't you want to KNOW that the files you need most are already in your Rom?

[OMJ]

Nice write-up rstoguy!

[gguruusa]

If you're going to use initflashfiles to move stuff around, you'll be better off locating them on SD instead of in the ROM. Of course, once they're on SD, you might not need to move them to storage memory.

If you find yourself moving large files or many files around with initflashfiles, you should question what you're doing.

[ng12345]

any way to cook owner information into a rom using this method? (this way every time i flash I don't need to re-enter that info)

[gguruusa]

Originally Posted by ng12345

any way to cook owner information into a rom using this method? (this way every time i flash I don't need to re-enter that info)

Yes, use oemizer.

[Daniel93]

I did it
but how do i build the ROM and with what

[rstoyguy]

Originally Posted by Daniel93

I did it
but how do i build the ROM and with what

There are other tutorials for that. Like the one about Adding/Removing Programs. Probably the easiest would be available would be stickied to the Diamond Upgrade Forum. Here's the link:
WM6.5 21501 kitchen by the ppckitchen.org crew...

[Shivraj]

great tutorial