Develop Reference

Create Custom displaying Activity for android

I want this kind of translucent activity/fragment for android any help would be appreciated
Android activity/fragment overlapping here just like this one:

use this style for your app :
<style name="AppTheme.NoBackGround">
<item name="android:windowIsTranslucent">true</item>
<item name="android:windowContentOverlay">#null</item>
<item name="android:windowBackground">#color/transparent</item>
<item name="android:colorBackgroundCacheHint">#color/transparent</item>
</style>
then set the blur and transparent background on the activity

Android datepicker dialog title pillarboxed

I'm trying to style the datepicker dialog. So far I managed to change the background and button color. But as you can see in the image below, the title is sort of 'pillar-boxed'.
My datepicker dialog with the dark boxes left and right of the title:
My xml code so far (values/styles.xml)
<style name="PickerDialogTheme_dark" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Dialog">
<item name="android:background">#color/colorBackground_bgreen</item>
<item name="android:buttonBarButtonStyle">#style/ButtonColor</item>
</style>
<style name="ButtonColor">
<item name="android:background">#color/colorBackground_bgreen</item>
</style>
In java it is just a regular datepicker dialog constructor with the theme set to PickerDialogTheme_dark and I'm trying to get this to work on pre Lollipop versions.
So hope you guys know how to get rid of this pillar-boxed title. If possible without using fragments and all in xml would be favourable :)

Fixed it finally after searching some more on the internet!
How my final xml code looks now:
<style name="PickerDialogTheme_dark" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Dialog">
<item name="android:gravity">center</item>
<item name="android:windowBackground">#android:color/transparent</item>
<item name="android:alertDialogStyle">#style/DialogBackground_dark</item>
<item name="android:windowMinWidthMajor">#android:dimen/dialog_min_width_major</item>
<item name="android:windowMinWidthMinor">#android:dimen/dialog_min_width_minor</item>
</style>
<style name="DialogBackground_dark">
<item name="android:topDark">#color/colorAccent_bgreen</item>
<item name="android:centerDark">#color/colorAccent_bgreen</item>
<item name="android:bottomDark">#color/colorAccent_bgreen</item>
<item name="android:bottomMedium">#color/colorAccent_bgreen</item>
</style>
This is how it looks like now

Android - Change text colour of the bottom button bar

I'm modifying downloads (for 4.3 Jellybean) and I can't change the colour of the text on the bottom button from black to white. Is it possible to change the text colour without giving the button its own style by adding an item in the app theme? Here is my Styles.xml:
<style name="DownloadListTheme" parent="#android:style/Theme.DeviceDefault.Light.DialogWhenLarge">
<item name="android:textAlignment">viewStart</item>
<item name="android:layoutDirection">locale</item>
<item name="android:actionBarStyle">#android:style/Widget.DeviceDefault.Light.ActionBar.Solid.Inverse</item>
<item name="com.sonyericsson.uxp:extendedLookAndFeel">true</item>
<item name="android:textColor">#android:color/white</item>
</style>

Yes, you can accomplish this pretty easily, just override your theme in styles.xml like this:
<style name="MyButtonStyle"
parent="#android:style/Theme.DeviceDefault.Light.DialogWhenLarge">
<item name="android:textColor">#android:color/white</item>
</style>
For more information, see the documentation.

Android Action Bar Icon Opacity

Hi There,
I am new to Android programming and using Android studio for my development.
As you can see from the screenshot, I've got a "refresh icon" but it is more of a gray color and I want to make it white. Here is my style. There is no gray color used in the style and I don't know which item I should use to override its gray color.. Please help!
<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar">
<item name="popupMenuStyle">#style/PopupMenu.Coin</item>
<item name="dropDownListViewStyle">#style/DropDownListView.Coin</item>
<item name="actionBarTabStyle">#style/ActionBarTabStyle.Coin</item>
<item name="actionDropDownStyle">#style/DropDownNav.Coin</item>
<item name="actionBarStyle">#style/ActionBar.Solid.Coin</item>
<item name="actionModeBackground">#drawable/cab_background_top_coin</item>
<item name="actionModeSplitBackground">#drawable/cab_background_bottom_coin</item>
<item name="actionModeCloseButtonStyle">#style/ActionButton.CloseMode.Coin</item>
<item name="android:windowContentOverlay">#null</item>
</style>
<style name="ActionBar.Solid.Coin" parent="#android:style/Widget.Holo.Light.ActionBar.Solid">
<item name="background">#drawable/ab_solid_coin</item>
<item name="backgroundStacked">#drawable/ab_stacked_solid_coin</item>
<item name="backgroundSplit">#drawable/ab_bottom_solid_coin</item>
<item name="progressBarStyle">#style/ProgressBar.Coin</item>
<item name="android:windowContentOverlay">#null</item>
</style>
<style name="ActionBar.Transparent.Coin" parent="#android:style/Widget.Holo.Light.ActionBar">
<item name="background">#drawable/ab_transparent_coin</item>
<item name="progressBarStyle">#style/ProgressBar.Coin</item>
<item name="android:windowContentOverlay">#null</item>
</style>

Consider using something like Android Asset Studio to create an icon with the desired opacity.
They already have a bunch of free to use (CCA 3.0) icons (including the same refresh icon you're using) and you can easily modify the opacity by modifying the opacity controller next to the 'Custom color' option.

Styling ActionBar dropdown menu

I'm using a custom theme that inherits from DarkActionBar and I want to customize dropdown menu to be white like when using Light Holo theme.
I've been able to change the background to white using:
<style name="MyTheme" parent="#style/Theme.Light.DarkActionBar">
<item name="android:actionDropDownStyle">#style/MyDropDownNav</item>
</style>
<style name="MyDropDownNav">
<item name="android:background">#drawable/spinner_background_white</item>
<item name="android:popupBackground">#drawable/menu_dropdown_panel_whyite</item>
<item name="android:dropDownSelector">#drawable/selectable_background_white</item>
</style>
But I haven't any clue of how to change the text color to black. Because after setting white drawable the problem is that text isn't visible because is white on white background.

I answer myself after some investigation.
In addition to question's styling you need to:
Customize android:spinnerDropDownItemStyle for actionBarWidgetTheme changing it's text appearance.
Also don't forget that dropdown list is managed by the adapter you use. Then if you used the standard one (simple_dropdown_item_1line) there's no problem. But if you used a custom one like me (to be able to add an icon) don't forget to apply style="?attr/spinnerDropDownItemStyle" in your layout TextView.
Then final custom style is:
<resources xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<style name="Theme.myapp" parent="#style/Theme.Light.DarkActionBar">
<item name="android:actionDropDownStyle">#style/myapp_DropDownNav</item>
<item name="android:actionBarWidgetTheme">#style/myapp.actionBarWidgetTheme</item>
</style>
<style name="myapp.actionBarWidgetTheme" parent="#style/Theme.">
<item name="android:spinnerDropDownItemStyle">#style/myapp.Widget.DropDownItem.Spinner</item>
</style>
<style name="myapp_DropDownNav" parent="#style/Widget.Spinner.DropDown.ActionBar">
<item name="background">#drawable/spinner_background_ab_myapp</item>
<item name="android:background">#drawable/spinner_background_ab_myapp</item>
<item name="android:popupBackground">#drawable/menu_dropdown_panel_myapp</item>
<item name="android:dropDownSelector">#drawable/selectable_background_myapp</item>
</style>
<style name="myapp.Widget.DropDownItem.Spinner" parent="Widget.DropDownItem.Spinner">
<item name="android:textAppearance">#style/myapp.TextAppearance.Widget.DropDownItem</item>
</style>
<style name="myapp.TextAppearance.Widget.DropDownItem" parent="TextAppearance.Widget.DropDownItem">
<item name="android:textColor">#color/black</item>
</style>
Where drawables in myapp_DropDownNav are white background ones that you can generate with ActionBar Style generator in Android Asset Studio

Try setting itemTextAppearance. That should achieve what you want.

I have stumbled on what may be the simplest way to do this. I was working with the AppCompat library.
<style name="ApplicationTheme" parent="#style/Theme.AppCompat">
<item name="android:actionBarWidgetTheme">#style/Theme.AppCompat.Light</item>
<item name="actionBarWidgetTheme">#style/Theme.AppCompat.Light</item>
</style>

My advice is to simply inherit from the Sherlock.Light theme and change the applicable fields to the Dark values. For my app, we wanted a white "up" icon, and white text for the action labels. I don't provide dark versions of my actionbar icons, so they are all white anyway. So after several hours messing around with it and following different people's suggestions, I finally found what I was looking for in the ABS themes file.
I inherit from Sherlock.Light (well, technically HoloEverywhereLight.Sherlock but...) and change:
<item name="android:actionMenuTextColor">#color/White</item>
<item name="actionMenuTextColor">#color/White</item>
<item name="android:homeAsUpIndicator">#drawable/abs__ic_ab_back_holo_dark</item>
<item name="homeAsUpIndicator">#drawable/abs__ic_ab_back_holo_dark</item>
<item name="android:dividerVertical">#drawable/abs__list_divider_holo_dark</item>
<item name="dividerVertical">#drawable/abs__list_divider_holo_dark</item>
That's it. It's way simpler and easier than trying to extend classes, restyle things in code, etc.