In my Android application I have had to use a tab layout and I want to choose a one from folowing scenarios. they are
using viewPager
using tab host
what are the advantages of viewPager over tabhost. Which one is better. And I'm targeting the android 4.2. Thank You!
It actually depends on what you want and the type of content you are putting in application.
ViewPager:
It is supported in lower API with support library and Sherlock library is always there.
Using ViewPager will give a fresh and distinctive feel to the app. For this you'll need to use fragments. Which are complicated but great in terms of performance and are replacable(a superb feature).
ViewPager
TabHost:
This is achievable using both Fragments and Activities. Although in favour of FragmentTabHost, TabActivity has been deprecated. However if you are not experienced with Fragments, use Activities, but you can always migrate to fragments later. FragmentTabHost
You should check out different tutorials and implement both of them, then decide. You should learn fragments if you embark on using ViewPager. For which, Check this
This blog has numerous examples of tabs. It can help you decide.
I found it very painful to customize tab host such as increasing indicator height, have to create 9 draw batch and customize background and many things.
With tab layout, only one line of code https://developer.android.com/reference/android/support/design/widget/TabLayout.html#setSelectedTabIndicatorHeight(int)
So, I recommend using view pager with tab layout that provides the same UX. Tab host is not deprecated, but it will happen soon, I guess :P
Related
If you are using an Actionbar with Tabs for navigation, should we be using fragments only?
When I'm looking at the developer site, I only see examples where they are switching Fragments, not Activities. The guidelines tell us to use a ViewPager when using tabs, so you should use Fragments to make that work.
The problem is that these fragments will contain quite a lot. They should have other fragments as well. Nested fragments. These are supported when using the Support Library (or targetting api level 17).
My main concern is how the communication will run between the fragments at the bottom of the hierarchy. Will it all run through that one Activity?
You won't have problems. Just treat your fragments as something independent that will be placed in a container. That fragment can have more fragments and so on.
Some people are developing fragment based applications with a single Activity and sometimes makes sense, however I don't like that approach much.
That said, just use all the fragments you need. If you have complex data to pass between fragments you could use the activity to host it and access it in your fragments.
I have the following tutorials on creating tabs in Android. It is found here and here.
The first one uses FragmentTabHost and the second one uses TabHost in creating the tab with the use of fragments. I have a difficulty in trying to identify its difference and implication on its performance.
I tried to search but failed to find the answer. Can anyone help me here? Thanks.
I have a difficulty in trying to identify its difference and
implication on its performance.
As it's name suggest a FragmentTabHost is a special case of TabHost specifically built to handle tab fragments. As you can see from the official guide it's quite easy to use the FragmentTabHost with fragments, compare this to the tutorial that you linked to and you'll see the(quite big) difference(which makes it easier to make errors).
There isn't a performance difference other than a performance problem introduced by working with the fragments themselves(which shouldn't happen if they are built right).
It's kind of the same difference between an Activity and a ListActivity, one(the ListActivity) makes it easier to work in a specific scenario(content using a ListView) through some convenience methods(getListView(), getListAdapter() etc).
I have an existing app that is using a Dashboard style pattern where there's a main menu, and clicking icons on the main menu drive start different activities... In order to navigate to a different function, you need to go back to the Dashboard menu and select another icon.
I want to change my application to a tabbed format similar to the one below with Icons:
What type of View is being used below? Is this a FragmentActivity? Also, what is the best approach to go about conversion? I have a bunch of layouts with listviews in linear/relative layouts... Will I be able to reuse any existing code? I want also to be able to use the solution with Android 2.1 and up if possible.
Thanks!
In the image you provided, it looks to be a TabHost that is used (which can be within a normal Activity or a Fragment Activity) and will be available for Android 2.1 and beyond when using the Android Support library. Based upon your description, you most likely have an Activity per each of your items that you will probably want to convert into a different Fragment. This may take a little time, but a Fragment is very similar to a normal activity in many ways, so once you start getting used to it, converting over the old Activities should be a breeze.
If you plan on using these tabs and you follow the Android design UI guidelines, you may want to use the TabHost in conjunction with a ViewPager. There is a great tutorial for this online that also allows for backward compatibility (down to at least 2.1) found here: http://thepseudocoder.wordpress.com/2011/10/13/android-tabs-viewpager-swipe-able-tabs-ftw/
Support library for fragments/viewpager: http://developer.android.com/tools/extras/support-library.html
More info about a TabHost and using Tabs with fragments can be found here:
http://developer.android.com/reference/android/widget/TabHost.html
http://thepseudocoder.wordpress.com/2011/10/04/android-tabs-the-fragment-way/
You can use TabLayout and a TabActivity to achieve layout in picture. Bad news is these are deprecated as of Android 3.0. Google advises to use fragments instead of these.
Can I implement a tab host which will remain in overall application and works through out the application .
and
Also can i implement the tab host on the top and on the bottom of the same activity.
Any tutorial any help please....
Thanks
This is possible if you use Activity Group. But still it is deprecated and hence you cannot use it for newer versions of android. But still, you can go through what it is and try to implement it.
ActivityGroup Example
http://blog.henriklarsentoft.com/2010/07/android-tabactivity-nested-activities/
http://gamma-point.com/content/android-how-have-multiple-activities-under-single-tab-tabactivity
So now since Activity Groups are deprecated what is the alternate strategy we can make use of? Here is the solution for this problem.
Go for fragments or Views.
I have pasted the comment which I recieved from Commonsware regarding the ActivityGroup.
You never needed ActivityGroup to use tabs. You can put views in tabs, for example (github.com/commonsguy/cw-android/tree/master/Fancy/Tab). Going forward, tabs are in the action bar on Honeycomb, typically using fragments. You can achieve the same functionality on previous versions of Android using ActionBarSherlock.
I am doing an application similar to Viber or Linphone, a SIP application basically. I have a main tabhost at the bottom of the screen. And inside each tab I set different activities(for example the historic). I have done this using ActivityGroup. Is that the right approach? As I have seen that ActivityGroup is deprecated, but I dont want to use fragments(most of phones dont support API 11). I have seen the ViewPager component, could be also an alternative? I guess I can change the event onFlip with my finger for the onClick on a specific botton. Am I doing it right using Activitygroup, or should I change to another component?
Usually the kind of thing you are describing can be done using a simple TabActivity.
I'm not sure why you decided to use ActivityGroup, but regarding your hesitation related to fragments - you can use the Compatibility library, which will give you fragment support for older platforms, albeit with some limitations.