[voi]

I've got a gophone plan with att... so I've got not data service .... and i run Ubuntu on the only computer i have access to (other than a power book ... which also appears to be useless for what i want to do). So anyways does anyone know how to install themes without using the windows desktop manager or doing it over the air?

[rivviepop]

I still haven't gotten around to trying this, but scope out the webpage by the MyAlarm author:

http://lhurtado.vtrbandaancha.net/InstallJar.html

Creating a JAD file out of an ALX is very simple, so you should be able to install a theme this way. Again, I haven't tested yet but it looks very reasonable.

[voi]

so far heres what i've figured out:

i d/led a .jad file without a .cod and put it on the memory card , went to the media area and explored and ran the .jad which failed .. no .cod no love.
then i got a theme with a .alx and a .cod .... i have been searching for 15-30 minutes and i can find info about converting .jad to .alx .... but i keep coming up short on converting them alx to jad .... mind doing a quick run through for me?

either way ... thanks for the step in the right direction ... i think it should work.

back to searching

[rivviepop]

oh sure man -- you can totally do it by hand! Take a look at this other thread where I just did it and posted the JAD "source":

http://www.blackberryforums.com/gene...tml#post615039

You can just save that minimal snippet and replace the values, it's that simple -- everything except the physical filesize of the COD (or JAR) is inside the ALX file. For the filesize entry, make sure you use the "bytes on disk" property in Windows (ls -l in linux/mac).

[voi]

ok ... so if you go to a site that offers ota themes and rt click and save the .jad file then open it with a text editor and see what .cod files it refers to. you can d/l them from the same place as the .jad .

for example if you get www.blah.com/bbthemes/poo.jad then open poo.jad and see that it requires poo.cod , poo-1.cod , and poo-2.cod ... it looks like themes are usually a few .cod files. you can d/l the .cods from www.blah.com/bbthemes/poo.cod etc....

now connect your bb to your comp. ,put it in mass media mode , and copy all the files you just d/led into the same directory on your media card i put mine in my_pix ... i dont think it matters.

after that use the trick with exploring the media card and run the .jad , it installs and asks for reboot. when it restarts viola! new theme without a bbdata plan or a windoze machine! i hope all that jabber makes sense.

[voi]

first ... thanks rivviepop for all your help ... i forgot to put that in the last post...

i tried to make my own .jad from an alx with your format ... copied it to my bb ... ran it and it failed with a "907 invalid COD Unable to import ZIP file" ... heres what was in the .alx :

<loader version="2007.03.20.1946">
<application id="TriColor Zen TH">
<name>TriColor Zen TH</name>
<description>A user defined theme</description>
<version>2007.03.20.1946</version>
<vendor>Plazmic Inc.</vendor>
<copyright>Copyright (c) 2001-2006 Plazmic Inc. All Rights Reserved.</copyright>
<fileset Java="1.0">
<files>
com_plazmic_theme_TriColor_Zen_TH.cod
</files>
</fileset>
</application>
</loader>


and this is what my .jad ended up lookin like:

MIDlet-Name: TriColor Zen TH
MIDlet-Version: 2.0
MIDlet-Vendor: Copyright (c) 2007 haxor
MIDlet-Description: A user defined theme
MIDlet-Jar-Size: 0
RIM-COD-Module-Dependencies: net_rim_cldc,net_rim_os
RIM-COD-URL-1: com_plazmic_theme_TriColor_Zen_TH.cod
RIM-COD-Size-1: 231054


any ideas .... until then the way i figured out works as long as the themes are ota ...

[John Clark]

I've figured out how to do this with .jad's/.jar's but it doesn't work with .jad/.cod's. I get the 907 error each time.

[rivviepop]

Originally Posted by voi

i tried to make my own .jad from an alx with your format ... copied it to my bb ... ran it and it failed with a "907 invalid COD Unable to import ZIP file" ... heres what was in the .alx :

This may sound strange, but try looking "inside" the COD file; from other threads and such I have seen that sometimes (I don't know exactly why yet) there's a cod-within-cod; the outer .COD is actually a .ZIP renamed, then inside is a .COD which is the real byte-compiled java code (JAR file, sorta).

In one case when I was messing around I had to unzip the outer cod to get the inner cod, then list that inner cod's filesize and name in my JAD file - then it worked. Whether or not this is the correct way to do it, I dunno - but it's worth a shot.

[John Clark]

Aha! Yes, I changed the name of the .cod I was trying to a .zip and, low and behold, there are 4 .cod's inside there.

xxx.cod
xxx-1.cod
xxx-2.cod
xxx-3.cod

So, would I just add:
RIM-COD-URL: (name of the .cod)
RIM-COD-URL-1: (name of the -1.cod)
etc.

to the .jad? Or would I just add sizes for each one like:

RIM-COD-Size: xxxxx
RIM-COD-Size-1: xxxx


or both?

[rivviepop]

Originally Posted by John Clark

So, would I just add:
...
to the .jad? Or would I just add sizes for each one like:
...
or both?

Logistically you would add both, there would be a double-entry for each and every "to be installed" file, URL and Size.

The real question is, will it actually work. I'm taking a random shot in the dark with my idea...

[John Clark]

I've been trying it with an app I have on my BB. Trying to put it on my wife's Pearl using this method (she has no BB data plan.) I could use the .alx and .cod but this is much more fun She is gone right now but when she gets back I'll give it a shot. I tried many different modifications of the .jad last night but couldn't get anywhere. This sheds a little more light on it. Thanks Rivvie!

[John Clark]

Ok! Got this to work.

This is for .jad's/.cod's from OTA installation files.


Changed the name of the application.cod to application.zip. (I've noticed that some .cod's don't have hidden .cod's-or they are locked)

I then extracted the 4 .cod's contained in the .zip to the media card along with the .jad.

I then modified the .jad to include the sizes of each .cod (as listed in the winzip extract list

RIM-COD-Size: 73112
RIM-COD-Size-1: 68764
RIM-COD-Size-2: 85680
RIM-COD-Size-3: 36112

and the names of the .cod's

RIM-COD-URL: application.cod
RIM-COD-URL-1: application-1.cod
RIM-COD-URL-2: application-2.cod
RIM-COD-URL-3: application-3.cod


Hope this helps someone. It's a way to install OTA apps with no data plan and without Desktop Manager. It's also another way to backup the 3rd party apps (although, it obviously doesn't backup the app's data.)

[voi]

i just went throught the above stated process and turned a .zip theme composed of a .alx and a .cod into a .jad and a few .cods .... ran it .... rebooted ... STOKED!!! ... again thanks so much for the help.

[Spectral]

Originally Posted by rivviepop

For the filesize entry, make sure you use the "bytes on disk" property in Windows (ls -l in linux/mac).

Actually, you're supposed to use "Size" rather than "Size on disk". The on disk number shows you how many bytes the file uses, rounded up to the full cluster size, which depends on your filesystem.

A file that's 32770 bytes will show as 65536 bytes on disk with a 32KB cluster size, but only 33280 bytes on disk with a 512 byte cluster size.

If you are using NTFS compression or sparse files, then the "on disk" number will show you the size of the compressed/sparse file, complicating matters further.

[John Clark]

Originally Posted by Spectral

Actually, you're supposed to use "Size" rather than "Size on disk". The on disk number shows you how many bytes the file uses, rounded up to the full cluster size, which depends on your filesystem.

A file that's 32770 bytes will show as 65536 bytes on disk with a 32KB cluster size, but only 33280 bytes on disk with a 512 byte cluster size.

If you are using NTFS compression or sparse files, then the "on disk" number will show you the size of the compressed/sparse file, complicating matters further.

yeah, I should have mentioned that. I figured that out earlier by looking at other .jad files. They use "size." Thanks for the catch!

[rivviepop]

Originally Posted by Spectral

Actually, you're supposed to use "Size" rather than "Size on disk". The on disk number shows you how many bytes the file uses, rounded up to the full cluster size, which depends on your filesystem.

boy, that'll teach me to type something about Windows while not even looking at... well, Windows.

oy veh, the memory...

[voi]

i'm not gonna start a new thread for this even though its kinda off topic ...but... i used the same process we've been talking about to convert and install opera mini ... and i am happily browsing the web right now ... with my att go phone plan so it has "medianet .. but no bbdata plan.... wh00t... i did come to a road block when i tried to install the simulsays visual voicemail app ... looks like thats not an option right now ... back to the lab.

[rivviepop]

Originally Posted by voi

i'm not gonna start a new thread for this even though its kinda off topic ...but... i used the same process we've been talking about to convert and install opera mini ... and i am happily browsing the web right now ... with my att go phone plan so it has "medianet .. but no bbdata plan.... wh00t... i did come to a road block when i tried to install the simulsays visual voicemail app ... looks like thats not an option right now ... back to the lab.

A lot of BB-tailored apps have an advanced connections settings buried somewhere in their menu options; the typical default is 'Automatic'. In many cases you can change that to be specifically 'TCP' (or 'WAP'), 'BIS-B', 'BES', 'MDS', etc. In your case you want to dig in and make sure your settings say either 'TCP' or 'WAP' to use the MEdianet APN setup.

Apps that I know have these settings are JiveTalk, FreeRange, Viigo, Nexthaus, Viigo, and others. Some apps like Opera and Google Mail use only the WAP/TCP type of connection, and others can only use the BIS-B (I think Piconews is like this?). Generic java apps (like you get from getjar.com, games & stuff) will always use the WAP/TCP method as they aren't compiled against the RIM SDK (so they don't know about a BB, or BIS-B, MDS, etc.).

[CaptSwerve]

This is a great thread. It should be in the FAQ if it isn't there already. I'm sitting at the hospital with my Pearl and my girlfriends computer. I found a game that I wanted to install but I didn't want to install a bunch of stuff on her computer. Thanks everyone for all your time and hard work.

[Joekidqueen]

Hi I am not a tech person at all and I just want to be able to run my Opera Mini but can not create the jad file yawl are talking about. Is there something that can be downloaded or copied to a PC. Thanks yawl!