[General Questions and Answers] 02ranger:
I have been trying to figure this one out myself, but no luck so far. Been working on it all day and I'm very, very confused.

What I would like to do is take an existing ROM that does not currently have any alternate battery options in the status bar and add the option to have a text only battery percentage. I know I could create a theme and type out the percentages in pngs, but I would prefer to have it done as text through the ROM, so any font changes or color changes will follow without the images needing to be changed. I was under the impression it would require systemui or framework-res modifications, but if there's a way to create a theme that would do the same, that would be great. If anybody could direct me someplace that has what I need to learn, or willing to post what to do here, it would be greatly appreciated. I'm not asking anybody to make it for me, I'd like to learn it myself. I'm just at a loss right now. It's going on an AOSP 4.2.1 ROM, if that matters, on a Galaxy Nexus.

I have already looked through the status-bar.xml files on the ROM I'm trying to add it to, and compared that to the same file in an AOKP ROM and CM 10.1, and I see where they implemented it, I think. I'm just really not sure how this works and I honestly don't even know where to start to learn it. I assume the text battery has to be set up or defined someplace else besides status-bar.xml, so I doubt I can just change portions of that file to get what I want, but I don't really know where else to look. Any help or direction is appreciated. I want to learn what I can, and I have to start somewhere. I figure this is simple enough to start on. lol

This is the CM10.1 status-bar.xml battery code

<TextView android:textAppearance="@style/TextAppearance.StatusBar.Battery" android:gravity="left|center" android:id="@id/dock_battery_text" android:paddingLeft="4.0dip" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:layout_marginRight="-3.0dip" android:singleLine="true" />
<ImageView android:id="@id/dock_battery" android:paddingLeft="4.0dip" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
<TextView android:textAppearance="@style/TextAppearance.StatusBar.Battery" android:gravity="left|center" android:id="@id/battery_text" android:paddingLeft="4.0dip" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:layout_marginRight="-3.0dip" android:singleLine="true" />
<ImageView android:id="@id/battery" android:paddingLeft="4.0dip" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
<com.android.systemui.statusbar.policy.CircleBattery android:textAppearance="@style/TextAppearance.StatusBar.Battery" android:gravity="bottom" android:id="@id/circle_battery" android:paddingLeft="4.0dip" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:singleLine="true" />

AOKP status-bar.xml, which actually points to battery_cluster_view.xml, I think.

<include android:id="@id/battery_cluster" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" layout="@layout/battery_cluster_view" />

AOKP's battery_cluster_view.xml

<FrameLayout android:id="@id/battery_combo" android:paddingLeft="4.0dip" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content">
<ImageView android:layout_gravity="right" android:id="@id/battery" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
<TextView android:id="@id/battery_text" android:visibility="gone" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" style="@style/Battery_Offset" />
<TextView android:id="@id/battery_text_center" android:visibility="gone" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" style="@style/Battery_Center" />
<TextView android:textAppearance="@style/TextAppearance.StatusBar.BatteryTextOnly" android:id="@id/battery_text_only" android:visibility="gone" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:singleLine="true" />
<TextView android:textAppearance="@style/TextAppearance.StatusBar.BatteryTextOnly_Low" android:id="@id/battery_text_only_low" android:visibility="gone" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:singleLine="true" />
<TextView android:textAppearance="@style/TextAppearance.StatusBar.BatteryTextOnly_Plugged" android:id="@id/battery_text_only_plugged" android:visibility="gone" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:singleLine="true" />
</FrameLayout>

ROM I'm trying to add it to.

<ImageView android:id="@id/battery" android:paddingLeft="4.0dip" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
<ImageView android:id="@id/dock_battery" android:paddingLeft="4.0dip" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" />