Develop Reference

How to mix styles from different themes in Android?

I am new to Android themes, so this is probably a beginners question but I just can't figure it out.
<style name="MyAppTheme" parent="android:Theme.Material">
<item name="android:colorPrimary">#color/primary</item>
<item name="android:colorPrimaryDark">#color/primary_dark</item>
</style>
I want to use the new Material theme, so I used Theme.Material with my own colorPrimary and primaryDark colors to get the action bar the way I want it. But for the context menu (the one that opens when you press the 3-dots icon in the top right corner) I want to use the Theme.Material.Light version. So I want the context menu with black text on a white background instead of white text on a gray background.
How can I do this?

I would advise against using the "Material" theme. It's not supported on older devices. However if you use AppCompat then it will achieve the same effect but with backwards compatibility.
If you create a new Activity using the template it will work as you want. Nevertheless, this is the code:
<!--Application-->
<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light">
<item name="colorPrimary">#color/colorPrimary</item>
<item name="colorPrimaryDark">#color/colorPrimaryDark</item>
<item name="colorAccent">#color/colorAccent</item>
<item name="popupTheme">#style/NewAppTheme.PopupOverlay</item>
</style>
<style name="AppTheme.PopupOverlay" parent="ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Light"/>

Add this theme to your Toolbar:
app:popupTheme="#style/myStyle"
Define backgroundcolor and textColor in your custom theme for the pop-up menu:
<style name="myStyle" parent="ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Light">
<item name="android:colorBackground">yourBackgroundColor</item>
<item name="android:textColor"yourTextcolor></item>
</style>
If you are using ActionBar then use ActionBar Generator and use the generated files in your res folder.
Hope this helps.

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.

Theming Android ActionBar: Change TabBar Background

I followed this Guide to style my ActionBar. I use fixed tabs in my app so I want to theme the tabs too.
(Note: I'm using the appcompat theme to ensure some backwards compatibility)
So I used
<style
name="CustomTheme"
parent="#style/Theme.AppCompat.Light" >
<item name="android:actionBarStyle">#style/CustomActionBar</item>
<item name="actionBarStyle">#style/CustomActionBar</item>
<item name="android:actionBarTabStyle">#style/CustomActionBarTabs</item>
<item name="actionBarTabStyle">#style/CustomActionBarTabs</item>
</style>
as my theme.
I set the ActionBar background without problems, but then I tried theming the tabs with:
<style
name="CustomActionBarTabs"
parent="#style/Widget.AppCompat.ActionBar.TabView" >
<item name="android:background">#drawable/customtheme_actionbar_tab_indicator</item>
<item name="background">#drawable/customtheme_actionbar_tab_indicator</item>
</style>
The background points to a StateList where I set different drawables for different contexts, which works kind of as expected. Except it works just for the tabs. Not for the ActionBar.
The separator and the background of the tab bar is not themed.
How can I theme those ? (The grey part)
Theme Creation Guidelines
I wonder if there are any guidelines for creating a theme that looks good ?
(good = similar to default theme, so the app fits into the android ecosystem)
Because If you look closely at the default themes you can see a small line at the bottom of the ActionBar drawable. (The part which is light green in my theme)
There may be other things which you should consider when creating a theme that looks similar to the default themes, so it would be nice to some guideline.
Also: Should the TabBar always be darker than the ActionBar ?
(If so, how much darker?)
How much brighter/darker than the ActionBar color should the image color (like the color of the overflow button in the image) be ?
Thanks in advance,
Uriel

Add this
<style
name="CustomTheme"
parent="#style/Theme.AppCompat.Light" >
.
.
.
<item name="android:actionBarTabBarStyle">#style/TabBar</item>
</style>
And then
<style name="TabBar" parent="#style/Widget.AppCompat.ActionBar.TabBar">
<item name="android:background">/** Whatever color you want, like #ffff00 **/</item>
</style>

Just incase, it may help somebody
This below worked for me
<style name="Theme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar">
<item name="actionBarTabStyle">#style/Theme.MyActionBarTab</item>
<item name="actionBarTabTextStyle">#style/Theme.MyActionBarTabText</item>
</style>
<style name="Theme.MyActionBarTab" parent="#style/Widget.AppCompat.ActionBar.TabView">
<item name="android:background">#color/gray_mask</item>
</style>
<style name="Theme.MyActionBarTabText" parent="Widget.AppCompat.Light.ActionBar.TabText">
<item name="android:textColor">#color/black</item>
<item name="android:textSize">#dimen/size_28</item>
<item name="android:gravity">center</item>
<item name="textAllCaps">false</item>
</style>

android - how to remove ActionBarDivider in Holo theme

I have an Activity with a dark ActionBar. I need to remove its vertical dividers since my icons already have "built-in" dividers.
What I've tried goes below
Activity style:
<style name="sMain" parent="#android:style/Theme.Holo">
<item name="android:icon">#android:color/transparent</item>
<item name="android:actionBarStyle">#style/MyActionBar</item>
</style>
MyActionBar:
<style name="MyActionBar" parent="android:Widget.Holo.ActionBar">
<item name="android:actionBarDivider">#null</item>
</style>
This doesn't have any effect. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong?

You need to set the android:actionBarStyle attribute as part of the activity theme, not as part of the action bar style.
So I believe this should work:
<style name="sMain" parent="#android:style/Theme.Holo">
<item name="android:icon">#android:color/transparent</item>
<item name="android:actionBarStyle">#style/MyActionBar</item>
<item name="android:actionBarDivider">#null</item>
</style>
How to tell where attributes belong? I used to struggle with this too (usually solved by trial-and-error) until I discovered the use of the android.R.styleable class! Have a look here: https://developer.android.com/reference/android/R.styleable.html
If you do a search in the page for actionBarStyle you will see it shows up as Theme_actionBarStyle, meaning it is part of the Theme style (remember there is no technical difference between a theme and a style). If you do a search on ActionBar_ you will be able to iterate through all of the attributes that can be set as part of an ActionBar style.

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.