Android App Fullscreen Converter Program

A while back euser1 posted a nice guide on how to use an tool to decode/change/and rebuild apk files to work full screen on the eDGe. Needless to say I jumped right on this and started trying to convert everything I had to fullscreen. This led to a wide gamut of outcomes. From triumph (working) to utter defeat (losing my 'My Documents' folder). I came to the realization that a GUI would be nice to prevent those very pesky typos that cause problems in command line programs.

AndroidAppDecoder is a simple HTA (HTML Application) that presents a user interface and menus to control APKTool. I have only been able to test this on Window XP and only on 3 different computers. Because of these limitations I consider this 'late beta' quality.


Instructions:

• Download http://pages.suddenlink.net/a727891/...ecoder_1-2.zip the .zip file.
• Download APKTool jar file http://android-apktool.googlecode.com/files/apktool-1.1.1.tar.bz2
• Download APKTool Windows files http://android-apktool.googlecode.com/files/apktool-install-windows-2.1_r01-1.zip
• APKTool's open source License http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 (required to redistribute licensed software)
• Unzip AppsDecoder_1-2 to a location on your harddrive, USB key, etc.
• Unzip the APKTool files into the AppsDecoder folder.
• Place android APK files into the 'Apps' folder.
• Run AndroidAppsDecoder.hta
• Select an APK from the dropdown menu
• Click Decode
• Click 'Edit XML File' to automatically convert the manifest file
• Click Rebuild
• Install the rebuilt APK (located in the 'RebuiltApps' folder)
• -- You will need to uninstall any previous versions on your device first

Update 1.2 May 17, 2010

• Changed internet hosting, but had to remove APK files from zipped package due to bandwidth limitation
• Added option "Skip Source" (speeds up decoding time on your computer)
• Added option "Run ZipAlign" (increases the apps performance in ram on the eDGe. Recommended for all android apps)
• Fixed issue with spaces in path names
• Modified Java Detecter algorithm
• Added Manual JDK error recovery, user types in JDK location, must see javac.exe in folder.
• Added Pref File
• -- Saves JDK Install location
• -- Saves last used APK, preselects it on window refresh
• Added Reset button: Clears contents of Pref file.
• EditXML now changes more than minSdkVersion
• -- Changes Supported Screens for large
• -- Changes screen density to any

Because this uses Jarsigner you must have a Java Development Kit (jdk) installed on your computer.
*You will be asked to install a jdk if this file cannot find one installed.
*Java JDK Download Link
*Jarsigner is java's tool to digitally sign files. Android requires all Apk files to be signed.

I know many of you are just as paranoid about internet downloads as I am therefore this is 'open source' because It uses Visual Basic and HTML code it is able to be viewed at plain text. Simply right-click AndroidAppDecoder.hta and open with Notepad to review the code.

Please post any questions or feedback and I will do my best to address it.

Most clever. Has anyone noticed ChrisF rocks!?

Originally Posted by kenjennings

Most clever. Has anyone noticed ChrisF rocks!?

Yes...yes he does.

This looks like it could be very useful. I'm running into a problem, however: it can't find the JDK on my Windows 7 system. My PATH variable has ";C:\Java\jdk1.6.0_19\bin" added to the end. I can't figure out why it can't find it since I see in the code that it's looking at PATH for it. Am I missing something? (Very possible since it's been over a decade since I've played around with Java.)

Originally Posted by Dellaster

This looks like it could be very useful. I'm running into a problem, however: it can't find the JDK on my Windows 7 system. My PATH variable has ";C:\Java\jdk1.6.0_19\bin" added to the end. I can't figure out why it can't find it since I see in the code that it's looking at PATH for it. Am I missing something? (Very possible since it's been over a decade since I've played around with Java.)

It checks the path variable to make sure that the java command works (java -jar apktool.jar). It actually uses the registry to find the java directory. On the XP machines I tested on this was always HKEY_Local machine/ software/ javasoft/ java development kit. Then there is a key CurrentVersion that identifies the subfolder that contains another key JAVAHOME that points to the install location.

Until I can get time to see what is different with Win7, you could try to comment the javadetecter call in Window_onLoad and then add
Java_Path = "C:\Java\jdk1.6.0_19\bin"
Comment is just a single apostrophe in vbs.
Please let me know how that works out, and I'm sorry it did not work for you.

PS: I really need the get myself an external keyboard.

ChrisF, thanks! That did the trick. For those who may run into the same problem the fix is easy. Open AndroidAppDecoder.hta in Wordpad (Notepad can often mess up program files) after making a copy for insurance. Find the following line about 1/4 of the way through the file:

JavaDetecter 'Find Java Install Directory

Change to:

Java_Path = "C:\Java\jdk1.6.0_19\bin" 'Set Java Install Directory

(Your Java Path will likely be different since I specified directory when I installed Java. e.g.- It might be C:\Program Files\jdk1.6.0_19\bin)

Save. It should work now, assuming the JDK was already in the PATH environmental variable. (Part of the bypassed subroutine sets that variable if unset.)

ChrisF,

This will work on the majority of Android apps. However, occasionally the manifest.xml needs to be further changed for screen size. Here's the problem line from an app I recently altered (Droid Comic Viewer):

<supports-screens android:smallScreens="true" android:largeScreens="false" anyDensity="false" />

The "false" entries needed to be changed to "true" before it would run full screen. Perhaps the program could either look for and change such lines, or it could optionally pause and allow manual manifest.xml editing between decoding and the rest of the process.

Originally Posted by Dellaster

ChrisF,

This will work on the majority of Android apps. However, occasionally the manifest.xml needs to be further changed for screen size. Here's the problem line from an app I recently altered (Droid Comic Viewer):

<supports-screens android:smallScreens="true" android:largeScreens="false" anyDensity="false" />

The "false" entries needed to be changed to "true" before it would run full screen. Perhaps the program could either look for and change such lines, or it could optionally pause and allow manual manifest.xml editing between decoding and the rest of the process.

Thank you for the feedback.

I made the HTA a three click process so that the source files could be changed manually if need be. After you click decode, all source and resources will be in a folder created at \Apps\<AppName>. You can then open and edit the AndroidManifest.xml file there. (Side note: The APKtool author suggested I add the -s (skip sources) switch to the decode to increase performance, I omitted this so that the source files do appear and can be edited.)

I will look into searching for largeScreen and anyDensity to automatically change them, luckily this should be a simple XML node attribute query. Does anyone know of any other manifest items I should look for?

The problem with converting apps that I have run into is that there are no 9patch images or layouts are defined in actual pixels and not dips. Correcting these issues is currently beyond the scope of this file.

Thank you, ChrisF. I should have noticed that you can edit between processes.

As far as I can see the HTA isn't calling zipalign after the signing. I'm wondering if that's not something ever really necessary in practice for Android apps or if I should continue to run zipalign manually afterward?

I'm having a little trouble getting this to work. I'm running Windows 7, as an administrator. I installed the JDK, then extracted the Android App Decoder. When I try to run AndroidAppDecoder.hta, I get the following error: "An error has occurred in the script on this page. Line: 166, Char: 3, Error: Permission denied, Code: 0. Do you want to keep running scripts on this page? If you click "Yes", the program opens to a blank screen (just the blue background). I'm not a programmer, so this is more or less gibberish to me. Can anybody help?

Originally Posted by ayersem

I'm having a little trouble getting this to work. I'm running Windows 7, as an administrator. I installed the JDK, then extracted the Android App Decoder. When I try to run AndroidAppDecoder.hta, I get the following error: "An error has occurred in the script on this page. Line: 166, Char: 3, Error: Permission denied, Code: 0. Do you want to keep running scripts on this page? If you click "Yes", the program opens to a blank screen (just the blue background). I'm not a programmer, so this is more or less gibberish to me. Can anybody help?

I plan to have another release soon (After Finals) that corrects the issues brought up so far, including running zipalign (thanks Dellaster). From that error message it seems that windows7 does not like the only way that I know how to update system environment variables. I will search around and see if there is another way to make that work in win7. Thanks for reporting that ayersem.

Thanks, Chris

In the meantime, has anybody tried to rebuild Evernote as full screen?

Originally Posted by ChrisF

A while back euser1 posted a nice guide on how to use an tool to decode/change/and rebuild apk files to work full screen on the eDGe. Needless to say I jumped right on this and started trying to convert everything I had to fullscreen. This led to a wide gamut of outcomes. From triumph (working) to utter defeat (losing my 'My Documents' folder). I came to the realization that a GUI would be nice to prevent those very pesky typos that cause problems in command line programs. Thus AndroidAppDecoder is born.

AndroidAppDecoder is a simple HTA (HTML Application) that presents a user interface and menus to control APKTool. I have only been able to test this on Window XP and only on 3 different computers. Because of these limitations I consider this 'late beta' quality.


Instructions:

• Download http://www.mediafire.com/file/3iimyy...ppsDecoder.zip the .zip file. I have already included the required files from ApkTool.
• APKTool's open source License http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
• Unzip it to a location on your harddrive, USB key, etc.
• Place android APK files into the 'Apps' folder.
• Run AndroidAppsDecoder.hta
• Select an APK from the dropdown menu
• Click Decode
• (eDGe Users click: 'Edit XML File' to automatically convert the manifest file)
• Click Rebuild
• Install the rebuilt APK (located in the 'RebuiltApps' folder)
• You will need to uninstall any previous versions on your device first

Because this uses Jarsigner you must have a Java Development Kit (jdk) installed on your computer.
*You will be asked to install a jdk if this file cannot find one installed.
*Java JDK Download Link
*Jarsigner is java's tool to digitally sign files. Android requires all Apk files to be signed.

I know many of you are just as paranoid about internet downloads as I am therefore this is 'open source' because It uses Visual Basic and HTML code it is able to be viewed at plain text. Simply right-click AndroidAppDecoder.hta and open with Notepad to review the code.

Please post any questions or feedback and I will do my best to address it.

Does anyone know or have another download link for the AppsDeecoder file? MediaFire is not letting me download the file (it keeps processing my download but doesn't actually give me the option to download). If anyone can post the .zip file or an alternate download link, I'll really appreciate it. Or if you PM me I can send you my email address and you can email it to me.

Thanks a bunch.

I was trying to rebuild the "Skyfire-Android" but after I clicked on the Build Android App Button, it gives me an error:
ERROR: Cannot verify file signature, please delete the files and try again.
(This may be due to very large apk files.)

Help!

I launch the small programm from ChrisF but I can't choose any apk even if I put them in the good directory.

Chris have you an idea?

Thanks and you know what you rock because now I don't need to learnhow to code apk aplication.

Originally Posted by grafix

I was trying to rebuild the "Skyfire-Android" but after I clicked on the Build Android App Button, it gives me an error:
ERROR: Cannot verify file signature, please delete the files and try again.
(This may be due to very large apk files.)

Help!

That happened to me several times as well (with different apk files). I closed the program and retried, in all cases it completed correctly on the 2nd or 3rd attempt.