Develop Reference

The different between <item name="title"> and <item name="android:title">

I make ActionBar in app.I change ActionBar style.There are some questions.
I want to change the title in the ActionBar.
So I write the follow code.
<resources>
<!-- Base application theme. -->
<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar">
<!-- Customize your theme here. -->
<item name="android:actionBarStyle">#style/ActionBar</item>
<item name="actionBarStyle">#style/ActionBar</item>
<item name="actionOverflowButtonStyle">#style/overflowButton</item>
</style>
<!--ActionBar-->
<style name="ActionBar" parent="#style/Widget.AppCompat.Light.ActionBar.Solid.Inverse">
<item name="android:background">#color/bg</item>
<item name="background">#color/bg</item>
<item name="android:title">#string/test</item>
<item name="title">#string/test</item>
</style>
<style name="overflowButton">
<item name="android:src">#mipmap/ic_add_black_48dp</item>
<item name="android:showAsAction"></item>
</style>
</resources>
when I only write <item name="android:title">#string/test</item> ,it doesn't work,but write <item name="title">#string/test</item> it work.
I have try to solve in Android Developer,but fail.Please help me.

<item name="title">#string/test</item>
this tag works on supporting library, and
<item name="android:title">#string/test</item>
this one works on your android. For more detail please have a look on here
I hope you understand, If not please let me know.

Note: If you are using the Support Library APIs for the action bar, then you must use (or override) the Theme.AppCompat family of styles (rather than the Theme.Holo family, available in API level 11 and higher). In doing so, each style property that you declare must be declared twice: once using the platform's style properties (the android: properties) and once using the style properties included in the Support Library (the appcompat.R.attr properties—the context for these properties is actually your app).

Android appcompat theme always shows black color actionbar

I generated actionbar style using this web based tool which is very common
http://jgilfelt.github.io/android-actionbarstylegenerator/
I've 'android-support-v7-appcompat' as an individual project in my workspace. I dumped all the contents of the res folder generated by downloading the zip file from this tool into this project.
I used a dark blue kinda color for the action bar and context menu (pop up).
However, I'm not able to achieve the custom look from this theme. Most of the elements / components show a default look.
The actionbar is black (instead of blue) and the pop menu is grey (instead of light blue)
My style.xml from the value folder
<style name="Theme.dinemobileandro" parent="#style/Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar">
<item name="actionBarItemBackground">#drawable/selectable_background_dinemobileandro</item>
<item name="popupMenuStyle">#style/PopupMenu.dinemobileandro</item>
<item name="dropDownListViewStyle">#style/DropDownListView.dinemobileandro</item>
<item name="actionBarTabStyle">#style/ActionBarTabStyle.dinemobileandro</item>
<item name="actionDropDownStyle">#style/DropDownNav.dinemobileandro</item>
<item name="actionBarStyle">#style/ActionBar.Solid.dinemobileandro</item>
<item name="actionModeBackground">#drawable/cab_background_top_dinemobileandro</item>
<item name="actionModeSplitBackground">#drawable/cab_background_bottom_dinemobileandro</item>
<item name="actionModeCloseButtonStyle">#style/ActionButton.CloseMode.dinemobileandro</item>
<!-- Light.DarkActionBar specific -->
<item name="actionBarWidgetTheme">#style/Theme.dinemobileandro.Widget</item>
</style>
I've made the necessary changes in my manifest file as well
<application
android:name="com.railyatri.in.mobile.MainApplication"
android:allowBackup="true"
android:allowClearUserData="true"
android:enabled="true"
android:icon="#drawable/ic_launcher"
android:label="#string/app_name"
android:theme="#style/Theme.dinemobileandro" >
I've followed the steps mentioned in this blog closely and it worked for me previously for a sherlock theme.
http://java.dzone.com/articles/creating-custom-android-styles
However, this time, I migrated to appcompat and it stopped working. I've searched through SO and Google a lot and tried a couple of things suggested but all in vain.
Please help. Thanks in advance.

With AppCompat v21 the actionbarstylegenerator is deprecated.
You can use something like this to customize the ActionBar (or better the Toolbar).
<style name="Theme.MyTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light">
<!-- Set AppCompat's color theming attrs -->
<item name="colorPrimary">#color/my_color</item>
<item name="colorPrimaryDark">#color/my_darkercolor</item>
</style>
You can find more info in the official blog:
http://android-developers.blogspot.it/2014/10/appcompat-v21-material-design-for-pre.html

Have your already tried to change on your Java file?
Something like this:
getSupportActionBar().setDisplayShowHomeEnabled(true);
getSupportActionBar().setIcon(R.drawable.ic_launcher);
getSupportActionBar().setTitle(Html.fromHtml("<font color=\"grey\">" + getString(R.string.app_name) + "</font>"));
getSupportActionBar().setBackgroundDrawable(..);

On Android manifest:
<activity
android:name=".MainActivity"
android:label="#string/app_name"
android:theme="#style/Theme.dinemobileandro" >
On styles xml:
<style name="Theme.dinemobileandro" parent="AppTheme">
<item name="android:actionBarStyle">#style/MyActionBar</item>
<item name="actionBarStyle">#style/MyActionBar</item>
</style>
<style name="MyActionBar"
parent="#style/Widget.AppCompat.Light.ActionBar.Solid.Inverse">
<item name="android:background">#drawable/blue</item>
<item name="background">#drawable/blue</item>
On drawables xml:
<resources xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools" xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<drawable name="blue">#6189C5</drawable>
</resources>
The toolbar on activity is blue (#6189C5) compiling with API 21
Completed with the info in this answer (like Apurva appointed)

<style name="Theme.MyTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light">
<item name="colorPrimary">#color/my_actionbar_color</item>
<item name="colorPrimaryDark">#color/my_actionbar_dark_color</item>
<!-- if you need customization -->
<item name="actionBarStyle">#style/MyActionBarStyle</item>
</style>
Remember to use
parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light"
not
parent="#style/Theme.AppCompat.Light"

Customize themes not working

i have to customize my whole application theme and i am trying to implement my custom theme.
i am able to implement custom theme but it is showing error when i apply it in manifest file.
here is my code for custome theme:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
<!-- the theme applied to the application or activity -->
<style name="CustomActionBarTheme"
parent="#style/Theme.Holo.Light.DarkActionBar">
<item name="android:actionBarStyle">#style/MyActionBar</item>
</style>
<!-- ActionBar styles -->
<style name="MyActionBar"
parent="#style/Widget.Holo.Light.ActionBar.Solid.Inverse">
<item name="android:background">#drawable/actionbar_background</item>
</style>
</resources>

You should provide more details about the error you are getting. At first sight I can see you are using Theme.Holo.Light.DarkActionBar, which I believe is only available for Android 4.x, so if you are targeting a previous version of Android you could get an error.
Try adding a style.xml file to each of the following folders:
res/values
res/values-v11
res/values-v14
Replace the referenced theme with Theme.Light in the style.xml file of the first folder. Use Theme.Holo.Light for v11 and leave Theme.Holo.Light.DarkActionBar in the style.xml file under v14.
Also bear in mind you cannot style the action bar under versions prior to Honeycomb (v11). Check the documentation for the ActionBar to get more details, in particular the information related to the AppCompat library.
I hope that helps. Otherwise, please provide more information about the error you are getting.

Change to
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
<!-- the theme applied to the application or activity -->
<style name="CustomActionBarTheme"
parent="#android:style/Theme.Holo.Light.DarkActionBar">
<item name="android:actionBarStyle">#style/MyActionBar</item>
</style>
<!-- ActionBar styles -->
<style name="MyActionBar"
parent="#android:style/Widget.Holo.Light.ActionBar.Solid.Inverse">
<item name="android:background">#drawable/actionbar_background</item>
</style>
</resources>
In manifest apply theme as
android:theme="#style/CustomActionBarTheme" >
Your min sdk in manifest should be 14. Use appcompact from the support library if you wish to support actionbar below api level 11.
Also check this
http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/actionbar.html
https://developer.android.com/training/basics/actionbar/styling.html

<style name="CustomTheme" parent="android:Theme">
<item name="android:windowTitleSize">35dip</item>
<item name="android:windowTitleBackgroundStyle">#style/CustomWindowTitleBackground</item>
<item name="android:windowNoTitle">false</item>
<item name="android:windowBackground">#color/transparent</item>
</style>
<style name="CustomWindowTitleBackground">
<item name="android:background">#drawable/button_black</item>
</style>
put this code in style.xml and just change theme attribute of application tag in AndroidManifest.xml like
<application android:icon="#drawable/ic_launcher"
android:theme="#style/CustomTheme">
.
Thats it.

How to set custom ActionBar color / style?

I am using Android Navigation bar in my project,
I want to change the top color in action bar to something red, How can i do that?
I have something like this,
and i want something like this,
how can i achieve that?

You can define the color of the ActionBar (and other stuff) by creating a custom Style:
Simply edit the res/values/styles.xml file of your Android project.
For example like this:
<resources>
<style name="MyCustomTheme" parent="#android:style/Theme.Holo.Light">
<item name="android:actionBarStyle">#style/MyActionBarTheme</item>
</style>
<style name="MyActionBarTheme" parent="#android:style/Widget.Holo.Light.ActionBar">
<item name="android:background">ANY_HEX_COLOR_CODE</item>
</style>
</resources>
Then set "MyCustomTheme" as the Theme of your Activity that contains the ActionBar.
You can also set a color for the ActionBar like this:
ActionBar actionBar = getActionBar();
actionBar.setBackgroundDrawable(new ColorDrawable(Color.RED)); // set your desired color
Taken from here: How do I change the background color of the ActionBar of an ActionBarActivity using XML?

In general Android OS leverages a “theme” to allow app developers to globally apply a universal set of UI element styling parameters to Android applications as a whole, or, alternatively, to a single Activity subclass.
So there are three mainstream Android OS “system themes,” which you can specify in your Android Manifest XML file when you are developing apps for Version 3.0 and later versions
I am referring the (APPCOMPAT)support library here:--
So the three themes are
1. AppCompat Light Theme (Theme.AppCompat.Light)
AppCompat Dark Theme(Theme.AppCompat),
And a hybrid between these two ,AppCompat Light Theme with the Darker ActionBar.( Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar)
AndroidManifest.xml and see the tag, the android theme is mentioned as:-- android:theme="#style/AppTheme"
Open the Styles.xml and we have base application theme declared there:--
<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar">
</style>
We need to override these parent theme elements to style the action bar.
ActionBar with different color background:--
To do this we need to create a new style MyActionBar(you can give any name) with a parent reference to #style/Widget.AppCompat.Light.ActionBar.Solid.Inverse that holds the style characteristics for the Android ActionBar UI element. So definition would be
<style name="MyActionBar" parent="#style/Widget.AppCompat.Light.ActionBar.Solid.Inverse">
<item name="background">#color/red</item>
</style>
And this definition we need to reference in our AppTheme, pointing to overridden ActionBar styling as--
#style/MyActionBar
Change the title bar text color (e.g black to white):--
Now to change the title text color, we need to override the parent reference parent="#style/TextAppearance.AppCompat.Widget.ActionBar.Title">
So the style definition would be
<style name="MyActionBarTitle" parent="#style/TextAppearance.AppCompat.Widget.ActionBar.Title">
<item name="android:textColor">#color/white</item>
</style>
We’ll reference this style definition inside the MyActionBar style definition, since the TitleTextStyle modification is a child element of an ActionBar parent OS UI element. So the final definition of MyActionBar style element will be
<style name="MyActionBar" parent="#style/Widget.AppCompat.Light.ActionBar.Solid.Inverse">
<item name="background">#color/red</item>
<item name="titleTextStyle">#style/MyActionBarTitle</item>
</style>
SO this is the final Styles.xml
<resources>
<!-- Base application theme. -->
<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light">
<!-- This is the styling for action bar -->
<item name="actionBarStyle">#style/MyActionBar</item>
</style>
<style name="MyActionBar" parent="#style/Widget.AppCompat.Light.ActionBar.Solid.Inverse">
<item name="background">#color/red</item>
<item name="titleTextStyle">#style/MyActionBarTitle</item>
</style>
<style name="MyActionBarTitle" parent="#style/TextAppearance.AppCompat.Widget.ActionBar.Title">
<item name="android:textColor">#color/white</item>
</style>
</resources>
For further ActionBar options Menu styling, refer this link

For Android 3.0 and higher only
When supporting Android 3.0 and higher only, you can define the action bar's background like this:
res/values/themes.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
<!-- the theme applied to the application or activity -->
<style name="CustomActionBarTheme" parent="#style/Theme.Holo.Light.DarkActionBar">
<item name="android:actionBarStyle">#style/MyActionBar</item>
</style>
<!-- ActionBar styles -->
<style name="MyActionBar" parent="#style/Widget.Holo.Light.ActionBar.Solid.Inverse">
<item name="android:background">#ff0000</item>
</style>
</resources>
For Android 2.1 and higher
When using the Support Library, your style XML file might look like this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
<!-- the theme applied to the application or activity -->
<style name="CustomActionBarTheme" parent="#style/Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar">
<item name="android:actionBarStyle">#style/MyActionBar</item>
<!-- Support library compatibility -->
<item name="actionBarStyle">#style/MyActionBar</item>
</style>
<!-- ActionBar styles -->
<style name="MyActionBar"
parent="#style/Widget.AppCompat.Light.ActionBar.Solid.Inverse">
<item name="android:background">#drawable/actionbar_background</item>
<!-- Support library compatibility -->
<item name="background">#drawable/actionbar_background</item>
</style>
</resources>
Then apply your theme to your entire app or individual activities:
for more details Documentaion

You can change action bar color on this way:
<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar">
<item name="colorPrimary">#color/green_action_bar</item>
</style>
Thats all you need for changing action bar color.
Plus if you want to change the status bar color just add the line:
<item name="android:colorPrimaryDark">#color/green_dark_action_bar</item>
Here is a screenshot taken from developer android site to make it more clear, and here is a link to read more about customizing the color palete

Another possibility of making.
actionBar.setBackgroundDrawable(new ColorDrawable(Color.parseColor("#0000ff")));

I can change ActionBar text color by using titleTextColor
<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar">
<item name="titleTextColor">#333333</item>
</style>

Custom Color:
<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light">
<item name="colorPrimary">#color/ColorPrimary</item>
<item name="colorPrimaryDark">#color/ColorPrimaryDark</item>
<!-- Customize your theme here. -->
</style>
Custom Style:
<style name="Theme.AndroidDevelopers" parent="android:style/Theme.Holo.Light">
<item name="android:selectableItemBackground">#drawable/ad_selectable_background</item>
<item name="android:popupMenuStyle">#style/MyPopupMenu</item>
<item name="android:dropDownListViewStyle">#style/MyDropDownListView</item>
<item name="android:actionBarTabStyle">#style/MyActionBarTabStyle</item>
<item name="android:actionDropDownStyle">#style/MyDropDownNav</item>
<item name="android:listChoiceIndicatorMultiple">#drawable/ad_btn_check_holo_light</item>
<item name="android:listChoiceIndicatorSingle">#drawable/ad_btn_radio_holo_light</item>
</style>
For More: Android ActionBar

As I was using AppCompatActivity above answers didn't worked for me. But the below solution worked:
In res/styles.xml
<resources>
<!-- Base application theme. -->
<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar">
<!-- Customize your theme here. -->
<item name="colorPrimary">#color/colorPrimary</item>
</style>
PS: I've used colorPrimary instead of android:colorPrimary

in the style.xml add this code
<resources>
<style name="MyTheme" parent="#android:style/Theme.Holo.Light">
<item name="android:actionBarStyle">#style/MyAction</item>
</style>
<style name="MyActionBarTheme" parent="#android:style/Widget.Holo.Light.ActionBar">
<item name="android:background">#333333</item>
</style>
</resources>

Use this - http://jgilfelt.github.io/android-actionbarstylegenerator/
Good tool to customize your actionbar with a live preview in couple of minutes.

How to change action bar size

I would like to change the action bar size. I have tried the following coding.
<style name="MyTheme" parent="#android:style/Theme.Holo.Light">
<item name="android:actionBarStyle">#style/CustomActionBar</item>
</style>
<style name="CustomActionBar" parent="#android:style/Widget.Holo.Light.ActionBar">
<!-- <item name="android:background">#drawable/action_bar_style</item> -->
<item name="android:actionBarSize">15dp</item>
<item name="android:background">#drawable/header_bar</item>
</style>
But the action bar size didn't change. Is there another way? I am using api level 11.
Thanks.

Use height attribute, actionBarSize if for something else.
<item name="android:height">#dimen/bar_height</item>
Explanantion:
From source code of ActionBar:
mContentHeight = a.getLayoutDimension(R.styleable.ActionBar_height, 0);
We can see that R.styleable.ActionBar_height is being used for height. Stylable property names are generated as component_attribute (If you have ever used a custom stylable view, you'd have notice this). Hence, Actionbar is the name of component and height is the name of the attribute to use. Since this is a system attribute, hence defined under android namespace.
Update Dec-2014:
AppCompat library is now provided to extend support for latest ActionBar (or Toolbar) and theme support to old android versions. Below is an example of such an application theme /res/values/styles.xml:
<resources>
<!-- Application theme. -->
<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light">
<!-- Main theme colors -->
<!-- your app branding color for the app bar -->
<item name="colorPrimary">#color/primary</item>
<!-- darker variant for the status bar and contextual app bars -->
<item name="colorPrimaryDark">#color/primary_dark</item>
<!-- theme UI controls like checkboxes and text fields -->
<!-- native widgets will now be "tinted" with accent color -->
<item name="colorAccent">#color/accent</item>
<!--Action bar style-->
<item name="android:actionBarStyle">#style/AppTheme.ActionBar</item>
<item name="actionBarStyle">#style/AppTheme.ActionBar</item>
</style>
<style name="AppTheme.ActionBar" parent="Widget.AppCompat.Light.ActionBar">
<item name="android:titleTextStyle">#style/AppTheme.ActionBar.TitleText</item>
<item name="titleTextStyle">#style/AppTheme.ActionBar.TitleText</item>
<item name="android:height">#dimen/bar_height</item>
<item name="height">#dimen/bar_height</item>
</style>
<style name="AppTheme.ActionBar.TitleText" parent="TextAppearance.AppCompat.Widget.ActionBar.Title">
<item name="android:textSize">#dimen/bar_text_size</item>
<item name="android:textColor">#color/bar_text_color</item>
</style>
</resources>
This style can now be set as app theme by using android:theme="#style/AppTheme" in <application> tag of the AndroidManifest.xml.
Note the use of duplicate entries
<item name="android:actionBarStyle">
<item name="actionBarStyle">
The ones without android namespace are there for supporting both compatibility library and native attributes.Some of these attributes didn't exist under android namespace on older versions and belong to support library.
In some other places, you'll need to use app namespace (xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"), for example app:showAsAction="always" in menu xml files.
Update Apr 2015
AppCompat Library v22 is also available. Read through the article to know what's new.

Simply put actionBarSize item under MyTheme style, like this:
<style name="MyTheme" parent="#android:style/Theme.Holo.Light">
<item name="android:actionBarSize">15dp</item>
<item name="actionBarSize">15dp</item>
...
</style>
Explanation:
In R.styleable we see that R.styleable.Theme_actionBarSize is a styleable attribute defined at Theme level.
Also, from source code res/values/styles.xml we see how actionBarSize is used to set height:
<style name="Widget.ActionBar">
...
<item name="android:height">?android:attr/actionBarSize</item>

Add this to the custom theme style XML that you are referencing from your manifest file:
<item name="android:windowTitleSize">58dip</item>
For instance if your manifest file looks something like this:
<application
android:allowBackup="true"
android:icon="#drawable/ic_launcher"
android:label="#string/app_name"
**android:theme="#style/AppTheme"** >
Your theme style should be -at least- like this:
<!-- Application theme. -->
<style name="AppTheme" parent="AppBaseTheme">
<item name="android:windowTitleSize">54dip</item>
</style>

S.D.'s solution does not work for me.
I used AppCompat v-21 library in my case.
And I just add
android:layout_height="#dimen/actionBarSize"
android:minHeight="#dimen/actionBarSize"
to my layout file and it works.

Make sure to add S.D.'s code to styles.xml and then add
android:theme="#style/thin_ab"
to the <application> element in the main manifest. (I'm a noob and it took me about 2 hours to find that out.)