Develop Reference

Tint CheckBox and Toolbar with different colors in nested preference activity

When I first start looking over this question I found this question, but the answer didn't work for me. I am working on a KitKat phone, but from what I read, this can be done on a pre-lollipop versions using the AppCompat library. I am using this GitHub repo, and more specificaly this code sample to create nested preference screen.
Here is my AppTheme.SettingsTheme for the SettingActivity in the code sample:
<style name="AppTheme.SettingsTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.NoActionBar">
<item name="titleTextStyle">#android:color/white</item>
<item name="colorPrimary">#color/colorPrimary</item>
<item name="colorPrimaryDark">#color/colorPrimaryDark</item>
<item name="colorAccent">#color/colorAccent</item>
<item name="colorControlNormal">#fff</item>
</style>
This line: <item name="colorControlNormal">#fff</item> changes the Toolbar from having a white text and black back arrow, to having both the text and back arrow appear white (which is good).
The issue is that I have a CheckBoxPreference which is tinted with this line also, so when it in not check, I can barely see it (box color is white).
I tried creating a special theme just for the toolbar (again from this answer) and doing the <item name="colorControlNormal">COLOR</item>, but its just doesn't affect to toolbar.
I also tried to tint the CheckBoxPreference alone, but it seems that in involves creating a custom layout for it, and this brings a lot more work.
Here is my toolbar layout, currently with no specific theme:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
tools:context=".ui.activities.settingsActivity.SettingsActivity">
<android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
android:id="#+id/toolbar"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:background="?colorPrimary"
android:minHeight="?actionBarSize"
app:navigationContentDescription="#string/abc_action_bar_up_description"
app:navigationIcon="?homeAsUpIndicator"
app:title="#string/activity_settings_title"
app:titleTextColor="#android:color/white" />
</android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout>
Can anybody explain how to tint the CheckBoxPreference and Toolbar seperatly? I don't care which one of them I tint using the ActivityTheme and which one I tint on its custom theme. The answers I found didn't work.

Use the theme for your Toolbar specifically, instead of for your entire Activity. This is what the ThemeOverlay styles are meant for (they use the colorControlNormal attribute when necessary). You can also define a separate "popup" theme if you would like light-themed pop-ups from your dark Toolbar:
<style name="SettingsTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.NoActionBar">
<item name="colorPrimary">#color/colorPrimary</item>
<item name="colorPrimaryDark">#color/colorPrimaryDark</item>
<item name="colorAccent">#color/colorAccent</item>
</style>
<style name="SettingsTheme.AppBarOverlay" parent="ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Dark.ActionBar"/>
<style name="SettingsTheme.PopupOverlay" parent="ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Light"/>
Then you can apply these styles in your layout:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:theme="#style/SettingsTheme.AppBarOverlay"
tools:context=".ui.activities.settingsActivity.SettingsActivity">
<android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
android:id="#+id/toolbar"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:background="?colorPrimary"
android:minHeight="?actionBarSize"
app:navigationContentDescription="#string/abc_action_bar_up_description"
app:navigationIcon="?homeAsUpIndicator"
app:title="#string/activity_settings_title"
app:popupTheme="#style/SettingsTheme.PopupOverlay" />
</android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout>

Style displayed in emulator but not on my device

I've following style.xml in res/values/ folder:
<!-- Base application theme. -->
<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar">
<!-- Customize your theme here. -->
<item name="colorPrimary">#color/colorPrimary</item>
<item name="colorPrimaryDark">#color/colorPrimaryDark</item>
<item name="colorAccent">#color/colorAccent</item>
<item name="android:colorBackground">#000000</item>
</style>
and the following layout for my main activity, where I've used style="#style/AppTheme":
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:paddingBottom="#dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
android:paddingLeft="#dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingRight="#dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
style="#style/AppTheme" // here I've used It.
android:paddingTop="#dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
tools:context="com.example.kaushal28.wakeupplease.MainActivity">
<LinearLayout
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_width="wrap_content">
<Button
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:text="Start"
android:id="#+id/startAlarm" />
<Button
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:id="#+id/stop"
android:text="Stop"/>
</LinearLayout>
</RelativeLayout>
I've device with Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean and emulator has latest Marsh mellow. I think the problem is because of this difference only. I've minimum SDK version 15 for this project.
I tried to change targetSDKVersion to 15 in Build.Gradle. But it couldn't solve my problem.
What should be displayed:
What is displaying:
I'm expecting Black color in background.

Try to use android:windowBackground instead of android:colorBackground
<!-- Base application theme. -->
<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar">
<!-- Customize your theme here. -->
<item name="colorPrimary">#color/colorPrimary</item>
<item name="colorPrimaryDark">#color/colorPrimaryDark</item>
<item name="colorAccent">#color/colorAccent</item>
<item name="android:windowBackground">#android:color/black</item>
</style>
Why?
By your screen, I saw that you are trying to set window background. So, the best attribute to that is android:windowBackground.
Your AppTheme is not overriding android:windowBackground.. it was only overriding android:colorBackground.
Since you are not overriding android:windowBackground, Android will use the color defined in your parent theme (Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar).
So, Android was using:
<item name="colorBackgroundFloating">#color/background_floating_material_light</item>
and
<color name="background_material_light">#color/material_grey_50</color>
<color name="material_grey_50">#fffafafa</color>
It is almost a white color.
Device vs Studio
I'll be honest.. I'm not totally sure why your device was ignoring android:colorBackground while emulator was using it...
Probably, is the API version or probably, it is just a normal behavior since your device shows the theme applied to an Activity and inside a whole context.. Your device will be always a little bit different from Android Studio Layout Preview tool.
For any instance, I recommend to use android:windowBackground if you want to sent whole window background...
android:colorBackground can affects not only the background of the main window but also of all the components e.g. dialogs unless you override it in the component layout. (this part was retrieved from here)

Android Toolbar: small title text in landscape mode

I'm testing the new Toolbar and AppCompat theme on Android and ran into a problem. My toolbar title text looks normal-sized on portrait mode but it became rather small on landscape mode although I didn't do anything in the code to change the title's text size. Here are the screen shots:
activity_main.xml:
<!-- A DrawerLayout is intended to be used as the top-level content view using match_parent for both width and height to consume the full space available. -->
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:orientation="vertical"
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
tools:context="com.techfunmyanmar.jujaka.ui.MainActivity">
<android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
android:id="#+id/main_toolbar"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"
app:theme="#style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Dark.ActionBar"
app:popupTheme="#style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Light" />
<android.support.v4.widget.DrawerLayout
android:id="#+id/drawer_layout"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent">
<!-- As the main content view, the view below consumes the entire
space available using match_parent in both dimensions. -->
<FrameLayout
android:id="#+id/container"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent" />
<!-- android:layout_gravity="start" tells DrawerLayout to treat
this as a sliding drawer on the left side for left-to-right
languages and on the right side for right-to-left languages.
If you're not building against API 17 or higher, use
android:layout_gravity="left" instead. -->
<!-- The drawer is given a fixed width in dp and extends the full height of
the container. -->
<fragment
android:id="#+id/navigation_drawer"
android:name="com.techfunmyanmar.jujaka.ui.NavigationDrawerFragment"
android:layout_width="#dimen/navigation_drawer_width"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_gravity="start"
tools:layout="#layout/fragment_navigation_drawer" />
</android.support.v4.widget.DrawerLayout>
</LinearLayout>
styles.xml:
<resources>
<!-- Base application theme. -->
<style name="AppBaseTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar">
<item name="windowActionBar">false</item>
<!-- Customize your theme here. -->
<item name="colorPrimary">#color/primary</item>
<item name="colorPrimaryDark">#color/primary_dark</item>
<item name="colorAccent">#color/accent</item>
</style>
<!-- Main application theme. -->
<style name="AppTheme" parent="AppBaseTheme">
</style>
<style name="DrawerArrowStyle" parent="Widget.AppCompat.DrawerArrowToggle">
<item name="spinBars">true</item>
</style>
</resources>

I tried to set android:titleTextAppearance of the toolbar but the style wasn't being applied. Then I realized I'm using the AppCompat theme so I used app:titleTextAppearance and the style is now being applied. It looks like the small letters in landscape are a problem in the built-in AppCompat.Toolbar.Title style itself so I overrode it to set the font size manually. The final code:
Toolbar XML:
<android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
android:id="#+id/main_toolbar"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"
android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"
app:titleTextAppearance="#style/ToolbarTitle"
android:theme="#style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Dark.ActionBar"
app:popupTheme="#style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Light" />
Toolbar Style:
<style name="ToolbarTitle" parent="#style/TextAppearance.Widget.AppCompat.Toolbar.Title">
<item name="android:textSize">20sp</item>
</style>

AOSP Issue #170707 was written regarding the change in text size for title and subtitle. Project Member response was "Works as intended. Identical to framework behavior." Although I don't find changing the text size to be the desirable default behavior, it sounds like the AppCompat engineers had to maintain consistency with the (flawed) framework behavior. Developers are then left to override the default styles as described in Chilly Chan's answer.
Additions to Chilly Chan's answer:
1) The subtitle text size can be controlled in a similar way by defining another style derived from TextAppearance.Widget.AppCompat.Toolbar.Subtitle.
2) Default values for title/subtitle size in portrait orientation are 20dp/16dp (on my Galaxy S3, 4.4.2.). Chilly Chan's example specifies "17sp". Use "sp" only if you want to let user preference setting affect title/subtitle size.

I was looking for a solution without custom Toolbar, but with custom style and this code did the trick for me:
styles.xml
<style name="MyTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar">
<item name="colorPrimary">#color/colorPrimary</item>
<item name="colorPrimaryDark">#color/colorPrimaryDark</item>
<item name="colorAccent">#color/colorAccent</item>
<item name="actionBarStyle">#style/MyActionBar</item>
</style>
<style name="MyActionBar" parent="#style/Widget.AppCompat.Light.ActionBar.Solid">
<item name="titleTextStyle">#style/MyTitleTextStyle</item>
</style>
<style name="MyTitleTextStyle" parent="#style/TextAppearance.AppCompat.Title">
<item name="android:textSize">20sp</item> <!-- Default for portrait is 20sp and for landscape 14sp-->
</style>
AndroidManifest.xml
<activity
android:name=".MainActivity"
android:label="#string/app_name"
android:theme="#style/MyTheme"/>
Where the MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity; tested on API 19, 22 and 23.

Try to add this to your toolbar section under the activity_main.xml.
android:minHeight="?android:attr/actionBarSize"
I also noticed that you are using standard dark action bar , suggest to use Theme with no action bar , defined a new toolbar where
Toolbar toolbar = (Toolbar) findViewById(R.id.my_awesome_toolbar);
setSupportActionBar(toolbar);
<android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
android:id=”#+id/my_awesome_toolbar”
android:layout_height=”wrap_content”
android:layout_width=”match_parent”
android:minHeight=”?attr/actionBarSize”
android:background=”?attr/colorPrimary” />

I think it has to do with some layout changes performed when you rotate the device, ast it looks like you can prevent the resize by adding something like
android:configChanges="orientation|screenSize"
in the AndroidManifest.xml for the activity you're in. As always, android:configChanges has more implications so should be used only if you really need it :)

Error inflating class android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar

I am trying to use toolbar (android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar) with navigation drawer. But it shows exception "Error inflating class android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar". Code is working fine if I don't use android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar in xml. My activity is extending android.support.v7.app.ActionBarActivity. Here is my main_activity.xml
<!--
As the main content view, the view below consumes the entire
space available using match_parent in both dimensions.
-->
<FrameLayout
android:id="#+id/container"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent" >
<LinearLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:orientation="vertical">
<!-- We use a Toolbar so that our drawer can be displayed
in front of the action bar -->
<android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
android:id="#+id/my_awesome_toolbar"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:minHeight="?attr/actionBarSize"
android:background="?attr/colorPrimary" />
</LinearLayout>
</FrameLayout>
<!--
android:layout_gravity="start" tells DrawerLayout to treat
this as a sliding drawer on the left side for left-to-right
languages and on the right side for right-to-left languages.
If you're not building against API 17 or higher, use
android:layout_gravity="left" instead.
-->
<!--
The drawer is given a fixed width in dp and extends the full height of
the container.
-->
<fragment
android:id="#+id/navigation_drawer"
class="com.jooleh.android.merchant.NavigationDrawerFragment"
android:layout_width="300dp"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:layout_gravity="start"
tools:layout="#layout/fragment_navigation_drawer" />
</android.support.v4.widget.DrawerLayout>
Styles.xml
<style name="AppBaseTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat">
<item name="colorPrimary">#color/red_primary_500</item>
<item name="colorPrimaryDark">#color/red_primary_700</item>
<item name="colorAccent">#color/green_secondary</item>
<item name="windowActionBar">false</item>
</style>
Styles-v11
<style name="AppBaseTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat">
<!-- API 11 theme customizations can go here. -->
<item name="windowActionBar">false</item>
</style>
Styles-v14
<style name="AppBaseTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat">
<!-- API 14 theme customizations can go here. -->
<item name="windowActionBar">false</item>
</style>
I am testing on jellybean, minSdkVersion="16" and targetSdkVersion="21".

I was able to solve this problem by replacing the following:
In your Toolbar layout, replace:
android:minHeight="?attr/actionBarSize"
android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"
with
android:minHeight="#dimen/abc_action_bar_default_height_material"
android:background="#color/myColor"

It might be late, but helpful for someone.
I struggled a lot for same problem and then I changed from
android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
to
android.widget.Toolbar
and it worked, I dont know the reason. If anyone has any insight pls share

Remove shadow below actionbar

I use actionbarsherlock. The piece of code below is responsible for changing it's background to a custom one.
<style name="Widget.Styled.ActionBar" parent="Widget.Sherlock.ActionBar">
<item name="background">#drawable/actionbar_bg</item>
<item name="android:background">#drawable/actionbar_bg</item>
<...>
</style>
<style name="Theme.MyApp" parent="#style/Theme.Sherlock.Light">
<item name="actionBarStyle">#style/Widget.Styled.ActionBar</item>
<item name="android:actionBarStyle">#style/Widget.Styled.ActionBar</item>
<..>
</style>
And it works for actionbarsherlock (on versions below honeycomb). But in ICS I have a shadow below actionbar which I don't want. What is the style item to make it disappear?

What is the style item to make it disappear?
In order to remove the shadow add this to your app theme:
<style name="MyAppTheme" parent="android:Theme.Holo.Light">
<item name="android:windowContentOverlay">#null</item>
</style>
UPDATE:
As #Quinny898 stated, on Android 5.0 this has changed, you have to call setElevation(0) on your action bar. Note that if you're using the support library you must call it to that like so:
getSupportActionBar().setElevation(0);

For Android 5.0, if you want to set it directly into a style use:
<item name="android:elevation">0dp</item>
and for Support library compatibility use:
<item name="elevation">0dp</item>
Example of style for a AppCompat light theme:
<style name="Theme.MyApp.ActionBar" parent="#style/Widget.AppCompat.Light.ActionBar.Solid.Inverse">
<!-- remove shadow below action bar -->
<!-- <item name="android:elevation">0dp</item> -->
<!-- Support library compatibility -->
<item name="elevation">0dp</item>
</style>
Then apply this custom ActionBar style to you app theme:
<style name="Theme.MyApp" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light">
<item name="actionBarStyle">#style/Theme.MyApp.ActionBar</item>
</style>
For pre 5.0 Android, add this too to your app theme:
<!-- Remove shadow below action bar Android < 5.0 -->
<item name="android:windowContentOverlay">#null</item>

On Android 5.0 this has changed, you have to call setElevation(0) on your action bar. Note that if you're using the support library you must call it to that like so:
getSupportActionBar().setElevation(0);
It's unaffected by the windowContentOverlay style item, so no changes to styles are required

add app:elevation="0dp" in AppBarLayout for hiding shadow in appbar

If you are working with ActionBarSherlock
In your theme add this:
<style name="MyTheme" parent="Theme.Sherlock">
....
<item name="windowContentOverlay">#null</item>
<item name="android:windowContentOverlay">#null</item>
....
</style>

You must set app:elevation="0dp" in the android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout and then it works.
<android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout
app:elevation="0dp"... >
<android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
android:id="#+id/toolbar"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"
android:background="#android:color/transparent"
app:popupTheme="#style/AppTheme.PopupOverlay" >
</android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar>
</android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout>

app:elevation="0dp"
but not
android:elevation="0dp"
worked for me on android L

I have this same problem, and I have successfully solved this problem. All you have to do is just change the elevation to 0 floating point value in that activity in which you want to remove the elevation.
If you want to change it in an activity called MyActivity.java so you have to get the ActionBar first.
First import the ActionBar class
import android.support.v7.app.ActionBar;
after importing you have to initialize a variable of action bar and set its elevation to 0.
private ActionBar toolbar;
#Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
.
.
toolbar=getSupportActionBar();
toolbar.setElevation(0);
.
.
}

Solution for Kotlin (Android 3.3, Kotlin 1.3.20)
override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
supportActionBar!!.elevation = 0f
}

For Xamarin Developers, please use : SupportActionBar.Elevation = 0; for AppCompatActivity or ActionBar.Elevation = 0; for non-compat Activities

Try This it helped me without changing theme . Put Your AppBarLayout inside any layout.Hope this will help you
<RelativeLayout
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content">
<android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout
android:id="#+id/app_bar"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:fitsSystemWindows="false"
android:theme="#style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Dark.ActionBar">
<android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
android:id="#+id/toolbar"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
app:popupTheme="#style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Light"
android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"
android:background="#color/white">
<ImageView
android:src="#drawable/go_grocery_logo"
android:layout_width="108dp"
android:layout_height="32dp" />
</android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar>
</android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout>
</RelativeLayout>

Add this toolbar.getBackground().setAlpha(0); to inside OnCreate method. The add this:
android:elevation="0dp" android:background="#android:color/transparent
to your toolbar xml file.

For those working on fragments and it disappeared after setting toolbar.getBackground().setAlpha(0); or any disappearance, i think you have to bring your AppBarLayout to the last in the xml, so its Fragment then AppBarLayout then relativelayout/constraint/linear whichever u use.

Use:
outLineAmbientShadowColor="#null"