This post will briefly document how to use the Manila Editor (and possibly other tools in the future).
Manila Editor is the tool available for directly editing the Manila graphics files. This allows you to start designing your own themes or tweak graphics. While there's not much too it, it can be pretty time consuming and tedious to edit the graphics, so here's an explanation of how to make it as effective as possible.
Before we begin, make sure you have ALL of the following on your PC:
1. Manila Editor available from
sushilange on XDA.
2. Graphic Editing program (you can use whatever you want, but I'm partial to using
Paint.NET)
3. All of the ########_manila files from the Phone. I've attached the default Sprint Theme to use as a template (see attachments below).
Now that you have those, let's begin...
If you haven't already, extract the "Original Files.zip" file to a folder where it's convenient for you. Immediately make a copy of the entire folder called "New Files" (ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS make changes to the New Files copy and save the Original Files as a backup in case you completely screw up an image!)
First, open Manila Editor (NOTE: If you're running Vista, right click and Run As Administrator). You'll see pretty much an empty looking program with only a few options. Let's click the most obvious one--
Select Path...
Now, back on the Select Path dialog, choose the location of the New Files...
This will take some time to process, but when it's done you'll see a very large list of files on the left side, and a preview of the image on the right side...
Now, notice how it shows the Manila filename as well as the "interpreted" QTC filename. The next thing you want to do is Save the graphic you want to change to your computer (preferably somewhere different from the manila files like "New Graphics" for example). To do this, find the file you want to save, and click the Save as button. This will prompt you for the location and filename you want to save. In the example below, I made it easy on myself and called it ########_familiar_name.png (always save as PNG for the best results)...
Once you do that, it returns to the main Manila Editor screen. For now, you'll want to save all the files you want to modify. If you plan on making your own theme, you might be inclined to use the Export option. Otherwise, go ahead and save just files you want, and then you'll want to use Paint.NET or whatever tool to edit those graphics as you see fit... go ahead, I'll wait...
Ready? Good... now let's replace the original graphics. Click the Replace button for the graphic you want to replace. It will prompt you for the graphic file (which you can browse to), a header location (99% of the time, just accept the default, I have found no files requiring a different header... yet), and whether you want to make a backup of the original file. I always make backups...
Once you do that for all the graphics you plan to change, you have to options. You can either bundle the whole file package into a Zip file, or you can bundle just the files you've changed into a Zip file. I recommend testing your work first, so for now, let's just bundle the Changed files, and then you can put those files on your phone's \Windows directory...
Click Zip, Only changed images, and give your file a name/location...
Now, once you have the zip file created, I would extract that file to a whole separate folder from what you've been working with. Now, take those files, connect your phone, open My Computer > Mobile Device > My Windows Mobile-based Device, and drop those files into the Windows folder (I usually Copy/Paste to make it easier).
It will ask if you want to replace the existing files. As long as you have a backup of the originals, click YES TO ALL.
To view the changes, you should either Disable/Reenable TouchFLO3D from Start > Settings > Today > Items tab... or you should soft-reset your phone. If something goes horribly wrong, restore the files from the backup you made.
That's pretty much it, but as you can tell by the screenshots... there are a LOT of files (just look how tiny that scollbar is!!) so that's why I say this isn't an easy or quick process.
Also, if you want to customize my theme from the first post, you are welcome to do so. I have also posted the files I've modified in the attachments below.
01-05-2009, 12:16 AM
Hybrid Mode
