Develop Reference

color of status bar in Android Studio

I am Struggling to change the color of the status bar for each activity.
I have tried the create theme and style listed in posts on this site to no avail.
How can I make each activity have a status bar of different color?

You can change it by setting the android:statusBarColor or android:colorPrimaryDark attribute of the style you're using for your app in styles.xml.
(android:statusBarColor inherits the value of android:colorPrimaryDark by default)
For example (since we're using an AppCompat theme here, the android namespace is omitted):
<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar">
<item name="colorPrimaryDark">#color/your_custom_color</item>
</style>
On API level 21+ you can also use the Window.setStatusBarColor() method from code.

Changing status bar icon color

I have received a design spec. in which the status bar icons' color is to be changed completely. I know I can change the status bar color in theme, however that is not my question. I want to override the icon color/icons themselves as shown in the image attached.
I searched a bit but could not find a way to do it.
I am aware that as a last resort, I can change the existing status bar icon tintcolor the following attribute in my app theme.
<item name="android:windowLightStatusBar" tools:targetApi="23">true</item>

You can change it by setting the android:statusBarColor or android:colorPrimaryDark attribute of the style you're using for your app in styles.xml.
(android:statusBarColor inherits the value of android:colorPrimaryDark by default)
For example (since we're using an AppCompat theme here, the android namespace is omitted):
<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar">
<item name="colorPrimaryDark">#color/your_custom_color</item>
</style>
On API level 21+ you can also use the Window.setStatusBarColor() method from code.
<item name="colorPrimaryDark">#color/your_color</item>
will only be visible in Lollipop and greater than Lollipop(API) devices. P.S. you need to have Theme.AppCompat as your base/main theme

Unable to set custom background colour of ActionBar

I'm trying to make the background colour of my ActionBar a colour corresponding to the code. For some reason my app crashes when it reaches this line of code.
getActionBar().setBackgroundDrawable(new ColorDrawable(Color.parseColor("#3f9845")));
When I remove it the error goes (ActionBar background is set to black by default). I've tried rearranging the line to be above and below
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.layout_register1);
but still no luck.
This is the theme I'm using if it has any relevance
<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar"> </style>
Thanks in advance for any help

If you are using AppCompat, you need to call getSupportActionBar() instead.
If you want to change the color by style with the recent versions of AppCompat, you just need to set the "colorPrimary" attribute in your theme to the color you want.

you can set it in the style:
<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar">
<!-- colorPrimary is used for the default action bar background -->
<item name="colorPrimary">#color/my_action_bar_color</item>
</style>

Holo Dark TabWidget style for Holo Light Theme

I've got a custom theme that inherits from Theme.Holo.Light.DarkActionBar and I'm trying to change the theme's tabWidget style so it to look like if the theme was Theme.Holo Dark.
I've tried this in my theme with no result
<style name="AppTheme" parent="android:style/Theme.Holo.Light.DarkActionBar">
<item name="android:tabWidgetStyle">#android:style/Widget.Holo.TabWidget</item>
...
</style>
The only thing I can appreciate is there is a small change in the blue bar of the tab.
Any idea how to get it? Thanks!

Try also the items "android:tabStripLeft" and "android:tabStripRight".

Changing the action bar overflow icon to the dark version

In my application I am using my own theme based on the Theme.Holo.Light
However I have customised the actionBarStyle, setting the background drawable to a blue gradient to fit with my app's style.
However, with the Halo light theme, the action bar text is dark, & the default icons, such as the Up Nav arrow and the menu icon are dark, these don't go on my blue gradient.
As you can see from my XML below, I have managed to correct the title text colour but I can't find the attribute I need to override for the icons.
How can I change tell the theme to effectively use the icons on the ActionBar from Theme.Halo
instead of those Theme.Halo.Light but making the rest of my application remain using Theme.Halo.Light
Here's my current XML
<style name="MyLightTheme" parent="android:Theme.Holo.Light">
<item name="android:actionBarStyle">#style/MyActionBar</item>
</style>
<style name="MyActionBar" parent="android:style/Widget.Holo.ActionBar">
<item name="android:background">#drawable/blue_gradient_light</item>
<item name="android:titleTextStyle">#style/Theme.ActionBar.TitleTextStyle</item>
</style>
<style name="Theme.ActionBar.TitleTextStyle" parent="android:style/TextAppearance.Holo.Widget.ActionBar.Title">
<item name="android:textColor">#color/solid_white</item>
</style>
Thanks for your help

Use Theme.Holo.Light.DarkActionBar as your base if you want to do this. It will take care of these details.