Develop Reference

Can't show actionMode on top of Toolbar in any way

Currently the action mode toolbar shows above the toolbar, moving the whole layout down, and I want it to show on top of my current toolbar. I tried all solutions in this post and this one:
I tried using windowActionModeOverlay with and without android: prefix, no success
I tried both view.ActionMode and support.v7.view.ActionMode, no success
I tried using startActionMode both on my toolbar and my activity, neither worked.
setContentView is called before super.onCreate, this is not the problem
Right now I just set toolbar visibility manually, which looks awful. Also I set the activity theme before super.onCreate, could it be the problem? If not what is it? How can I make the attribute work?
My activity:
import android.support.v7.view.ActionMode;
import android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar;
// import ...
public class FileExplorerActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
#Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
setTheme(R.style.Theme_NoActionBar);
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
Toolbar toolbar = (Toolbar) findViewById(R.id.toolbar);
setSupportActionBar(toolbar);
// ...
}
private void setActionMode(boolean enabled) {
if (enabled) {
actionMode = startSupportActionMode(new ActionMode.Callback() {
#Override
public boolean onCreateActionMode(ActionMode mode, Menu menu) {
MenuInflater inflater = mode.getMenuInflater();
inflater.inflate(R.menu.cab, menu);
return true;
}
#Override
public boolean onPrepareActionMode(ActionMode mode, Menu menu) {
// ... change icons color for theme
return false;
}
#Override
public boolean onActionItemClicked(ActionMode mode, MenuItem item) {
// ... handle item clicks
return true;
}
#Override
public void onDestroyActionMode(ActionMode mode) {}
});
} else {
actionMode.finish();
}
}
}
My theme:
<style name="Theme.NoActionBar" parent="Theme.AppCompat.NoActionBar">
<item name="android:actionModeBackground">?attr/colorPrimary</item>
<item name="android:actionModeSplitBackground">#null</item>
<item name="android:windowActionModeOverlay">true</item>
<item name="windowActionModeOverlay">true</item>
</style>

I have tried all the combination and found that you are using values-v21 folder for defining styles for lollipop and above devices and you have forgot to add <item name="windowActionModeOverlay">true</item> in styles.xml in values-v21 folder.
Just to make sure you are following the right path I have just posted a sample project on Github showing how to show ActionBar on the top of Custom toolbar.
You can also download the sample APK and try it.
Answering all the question you have posted in the question
I tried using windowActionModeOverlay with and without android: prefix, no success
You don't have to use android prefix. The windowActionModeOverlay is valid.
<item name="windowActionModeOverlay">true</item>
I tried both view.ActionMode and support.v7.view.ActionMode, no success
This is required as you are trying to use support lib which has a separate Action Bar namespace import android.support.v7.view.ActionMode;
I tried using startActionMode both on my toolbar and my activity, neither worked.
It works in both ways. If you want to look at example you can see it in the github repo.
setContentView is called before super.onCreate, this is not the problem
This isn't a problem. It will work.

Changing Search View back icon?

I am using AppCompat action bar and i want to change the back icon of the searchview I use in the action bar. I searched but i couldn't find a solution.
I have tried setting the icon in the style :
<item name="homeAsUpIndicator">#drawable/myBackButton</item>
but I want to set another one programmatically when the user selects the search view.
Any ideas on how I can do it?

To customize SearchView "up" icon, you can use style attribute:
collapseIcon="#drawable/ic_discard_icon"
in your Toolbar layout:
<android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
android:id="#+id/toolbar"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
app:collapseIcon="#drawable/ic_discard_icon"/>
Or you can move this attribute into Toolbar style. As you wish.

Try this code snippet:
if(Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.ICE_CREAM_SANDWICH) {
// get the parent view of home (app icon) imageview
ViewGroup home = (ViewGroup) findViewById(android.R.id.home).getParent();
// get the first child (up imageview)
( (ImageView) home.getChildAt(0) )
// change the icon according to your needs
.setImageDrawable(getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.custom_icon_up));
} else {
// get the up imageview directly with R.id.up
( (ImageView) findViewById(R.id.up) )
.setImageDrawable(getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.custom_icon_up));
}

You can change the background of the back icon like this
Toolbar toolbar;
#Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
initToolbar();
}
private void initToolbar() {
toolbar = (Toolbar) findViewById(R.id.tbMaster);
setSupportActionBar(toolbar);
if (toolbar != null) {
toolbar.setBackgroundColor(getResources().getColor(R.color.base_color));
getSupportActionBar().setTitle("Title");
getSupportActionBar().setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true);
getSupportActionBar().setHomeAsUpIndicator(R.drawable.image);
}
}

Android L - Sliding menu that overlaps actionbar

I am working on Android L trying to implement a drawer menu that overlaps the action bar. I have done it the normal way where it appears under the action bar, as described here: http://www.androidhive.info/2013/11/android-sliding-menu-using-navigation-drawer/.
It was done in the google IO 2014 app and I would like to replicate it. I have been looking through the code (https://github.com/google/iosched) but I can't figure out how they done it.
Here is an image:
Does anyone have any idea how they done it?

To obtain this you have to use the new Toolbar.
You can use a layout like this:
<Toolbar xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:theme="#style/ActionBarThemeOverlay"
android:id="#+id/toolbar_actionbar"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="?android:actionBarSize" />
Then in your activity you can do:
Toolbar mActionBarToolbar = (Toolbar) mActivity.findViewById(R.id.toolbar_actionbar);
if (mActionBarToolbar != null) {
mActivity.setActionBar(mActionBarToolbar);
}
Finally you have to setup the toolbar to work with the navigation drawer:
if (mActionBarToolbar != null) {
mActionBarToolbar.setNavigationIcon(R.drawable.ic_navigation_drawer);
mActionBarToolbar.setNavigationOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
#Override
public void onClick(View view) {
if (mDrawerLayout.isDrawerOpen(Gravity.START)) {
mDrawerLayout.closeDrawer(Gravity.START);
} else {
mDrawerLayout.openDrawer(Gravity.START);
}
}
});
}
Pay attention because currently the new Toolbar class is only API-21.

Changing color of action bar doesn't work in ICS

I am changing the colour of action bar using the following code.
actionBar= getSupportActionBar();
actionBar.setBackgroundDrawable(new ColorDrawable(backgroundColor));
This works perfectly fine in onCreate() method(i.e when my activity starts).
But when I am using the same code in Android 4.1 to change color of action bar in onClick() method(i.e when user clicks say a button) then it changes the color of action bar to 'white' ONLY whatsoever be the value of backgroundColor.
In Android 2.3 it works perfectly fine in both cases, whether called from onCreate or onClick().
It seems to be dead end for me.

It seems like for Android 4.0 up to Android 4.1 (4.2 is ok) you cannot change the action bar background once the activity has started.
So I guess a solution in those cases is to restart the activity with a different background color.
Not very elegant but thats the best I can come up with.
Something like this perhaps:
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
Button btn = (Button) findViewById(R.id.btn);
if (getIntent().hasExtra("color")) {
getSupportActionBar().setBackgroundDrawable(
new ColorDrawable(getIntent().getIntExtra("color", 0)));
}
btn.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
#Override
public void onClick(View v) {
Intent it = getIntent();
it.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP);
it.putExtra("color", Color.BLUE);
startActivity(it);
}
});
}

A workaround I used to solve this problem was to maintain a reference to the ColorDrawable that was used to set the background initially. Then, to change its colour, modify the colour of the Drawable, and then tell the activity to invalidate its options, which causes the ActionBar to be redrawn. Here's my code to set the action bar color:
ColorDrawable sBackgroundDrawable;
...
#TargetApi(Build.VERSION_CODES.HONEYCOMB)
protected void setActionBarColor(int color){
if(getSherlockActivity() != null && !mCallback.isNavDrawerShowing()){
if(Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.ICE_CREAM_SANDWICH && Build.VERSION.SDK_INT <= Build.VERSION_CODES.JELLY_BEAN){
if(sBackgroundDrawable == null){
sBackgroundDrawable = new ColorDrawable(color);
getSherlockActivity().getSupportActionBar().setBackgroundDrawable(sBackgroundDrawable);
}else{
sBackgroundDrawable.setColor(color);
getSherlockActivity().invalidateOptionsMenu();
}
}else{
getSherlockActivity().getSupportActionBar().setBackgroundDrawable(new ColorDrawable(color));
}
}
}

Based off of what steve_the_kid mentioned I was able to solve this by saving the color drawable.
ColorDrawable actionBarBackground = new ColorDrawable();
#Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
getActionBar().setBackgroundDrawable(actionBarBackground());
actionBarBackground.setColor(someColor);
}
void onSomethingClick() {
actionBarBackground.setColor(someOtherColor);
}

Sorry for such a late reply,But to help others I am replying to this question after so long.
Just set the Title of the action bar or make change in the icons or menu along with changing the colorDrawables.A simple change will recreate the action bar with new color.Even if you need same title or icon every time set same title or same icon.
I hope this will help others

How to implement Action Bar with Fragment? [duplicate]

I would like to dynamically change the "home" icon in the ActionBar. This is easily done in v14 with ActionBar.setIcon(...), but I can't find anyway to accomplish this in previous versions.

If your actionbar works like Sherlock and is based on menu items, this is my solution:
#Override
public boolean onPrepareOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
MenuItem switchButton = menu.findItem(R.id.SwitchSearchOption);
if(searchScriptDisplayed){
switchButton.setIcon(R.drawable.menu_precedent);
}else{
switchButton.setIcon(R.drawable.icon_search);
}
return super.onPrepareOptionsMenu(menu);
}

If you are using the ActionbarCompat code provided by google, you can access the home icon via the ActionBarHelperBase.java class for API v4 onwards.
//code snippet from ActionBarHelperBase.java
...
private void setupActionBar() {
final ViewGroup actionBarCompat = getActionBarCompat();
if (actionBarCompat == null) {
return;
}
LinearLayout.LayoutParams springLayoutParams = new LinearLayout.LayoutParams(
0, ViewGroup.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT);
springLayoutParams.weight = 1;
// Add Home button
SimpleMenu tempMenu = new SimpleMenu(mActivity);
SimpleMenuItem homeItem = new SimpleMenuItem(tempMenu,
android.R.id.home, 0, mActivity.getString(R.string.app_name));
homeItem.setIcon(R.drawable.ic_home_ftn);
addActionItemCompatFromMenuItem(homeItem);
// Add title text
TextView titleText = new TextView(mActivity, null,
R.attr.actionbarCompatTitleStyle);
titleText.setLayoutParams(springLayoutParams);
titleText.setText(mActivity.getTitle());
actionBarCompat.addView(titleText);
}
...
You should be able to modify the code to the home button accessible to the activities that extend ActionBarActivity and change it that way.
Honeycomb seems a little harder and it doesn't seem to give such easy access. At a guess, its id should also be android.R.id.home so you may be able to pull that from the view in ActionBarHelperHoneycomb.java

I would say you do something like this :
getSupportActionBar().setHomeButtonEnabled(true);
getSupportActionBar().setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true);
getSupportActionBar().setHomeAsUpIndicator(R.drawable.ic_menu_drawer);
see the link How to change the icon actionBarCompat

The ActionBar will use the android:logo attribute of your manifest, if one is provided. That lets you use separate drawable resources for the icon (Launcher) and the logo (ActionBar, among other things).