ARSCLib

Android binary resources read/write java library

This library is developed based on AOSP structure of androidfw/ResourceTypes.h , to totally replace aapt/aapt2

Read, write, modify and create

• Resource table (resources.arsc)
• Binary xml files (AndroidManifest.xml & resource xml)

Convert from/to json string

• Decompiling resources to readable XML using traditional techniques is now becoming very challenging due to resource obfuscation (like Proguard & ResGuard)
• Just like SMALI coding this library brings unbeatable coding style

<string name="app_name">My Application</string> 

can be represented in json as

   {
    "entry_name": "app_name",
    "id": 16,
    "value": {
    "value_type": "STRING",
    "data": "My Application"
   }

Works on all java supported platforms (Android, Linux, Windows)

• Use the jar file as dependency

Check this tool developed using this library

https://github.com/REAndroid/APKEditor

See java example

import com.reandroid.lib.arsc.chunk.TableBlock;
import com.reandroid.lib.arsc.chunk.PackageBlock;
import com.reandroid.lib.arsc.chunk.xml.AndroidManifestBlock;
import com.reandroid.lib.arsc.chunk.xml.ResXmlElement;
import com.reandroid.lib.arsc.chunk.xml.ResXmlAttribute;

public static void exampleManifest() throws IOException{
        File inFile=new File("AndroidManifest.xml");

        // *** Loading AndroidManifest ***
        AndroidManifestBlock manifestBlock = AndroidManifestBlock.load(inFile);

        System.out.println("Package name: "+manifestBlock.getPackageName());

        List<String> usesPermissionList = manifestBlock.getUsesPermissions();
        for(String usesPermission:usesPermissionList){
        System.out.println("Uses permission: "+usesPermission);
        }

        // *** Modifying AndroidManifest ***
        // Change package name
        manifestBlock.setPackageName("com.new.package-name");
        // Add uses-permission
        manifestBlock.addUsesPermission("android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE");
        // Modify version code
        manifestBlock.setVersionCode(904);
        // Modify version name
        manifestBlock.setVersionName("9.0.4");

        // Modify xml attribute
        List<ResXmlElement> activityList = manifestBlock.listActivities();
        for(ResXmlElement activityElement:activityList){
        ResXmlAttribute attributeName = activityElement.searchAttributeByResourceId(AndroidManifestBlock.ID_name);
        System.out.println("Old activity name: "+attributeName.getValueAsString());
        attributeName.setValueAsString("com.app.MyActivity");
        System.out.println("New activity name: "+attributeName.getValueAsString());
        break;
        }

        // Refresh to re-calculate offsets
        manifestBlock.refresh();
        // Save
        File outFile=new File("AndroidManifest_out.xml");
        manifestBlock.writeBytes(outFile);

        System.out.println("Saved: "+outFile);
        }

    public static void exampleResourceTable() throws IOException{
        File inFile=new File("resources.arsc");

        // *** Loading resource table ***
        TableBlock tableBlock=TableBlock.load(inFile);

        Collection<PackageBlock> packageBlockList=tableBlock.listPackages();
        System.out.println("Packages count = "+packageBlockList.size());
        for(PackageBlock packageBlock:packageBlockList){
        System.out.println("Package id = "+packageBlock.getId()
        +", name = "+packageBlock.getName());
        }

        // *** Modify resource table
        // Change package name
        for(PackageBlock packageBlock:packageBlockList){
        String name = packageBlock.getName();
        String newName = name + ".new-name";
        packageBlock.setName(newName);
        }

        // Refresh to re-calculate offsets
        tableBlock.refresh();
        // Save
        File outFile=new File("resources_out.arsc");
        tableBlock.writeBytes(outFile);

        System.out.println("Saved: "+outFile);
        }

    public static void exampleLoadApk() throws IOException{
        File inFile=new File("test.apk");
        File outDir=new File("test_out");

        ApkModule apkModule=ApkModule.loadApkFile(inFile);

        ApkJsonDecoder decoder=new ApkJsonDecoder(apkModule);
        outDir=decoder.writeToDirectory(outDir);
        System.out.println("Decoded to: "+outDir);

        // You can do any logical modification on any json files here

        // To convert back json to apk

        ApkJsonEncoder encoder=new ApkJsonEncoder();
        ApkModule encodedModule=encoder.scanDirectory(outDir);

        File outApk=new File("test_out_re-encoded.apk");
        encodedModule.writeApk(outApk);

        System.out.println("Created apk: "+outApk);
    }