I have question about graphic design of android application. On this link you can see my ActionBar in my application using SherlockActionBar. But I want something like on this link. Where can I learn how to do something like that or where can I edit my ActionBar.
I would recommend against using SherlockActionBar for this. I've tried and it just seems so messy and difficult to implement.
In May 2013, Google released a new support library for this kind of Drawer Layout which uses fragments. It's very easy to implement and there are many examples showing how.
Edit:
i see now that on the link you provided, they were using the support library I referred to. However, I do suggest you take a look at the support library, specifivally v7, which will allow you to use the Action Bar in previous version of android, rather than relying on a 3rd-party software package like ABS.
Related
I see there is support for ActionBar in the Google Supplied SupportLibrary (SL_AB) - added with API 11.
http://developer.android.com/reference/android/app/ActionBar.html
I am wondering if I should use this instead of ActionBarSherlock (ABS).
Is the functionality in SL_AB comparable to ABS?
I would love to remove the external library dependency (ABS) from my project, and it seems to me this is a good approach (but not one followed by many people, and I am wondering why).
The original Support Library simply isn't that good for ActionBar usage, giving ActionBarSherlock a right to exist. Google will soon (Or is it here already?) come with a new version of this ActionBar support, as announced recently on the Google I/O 2013.
I think you're still looking at the original, not so good, library and thus you should use ActionBarSherlock.
Transferring your question to the near future, asking if you should use the new ActionBarCompat Library, or ActionBarSherlock: I would say It's more a matter of personal preference.
(Of course...) Google advises people to use this new library instead of ActionBarSherlock. However, they do bring this with the message that there is nothing wrong with ActionBarSherlock and that you shouldn't go through the trouble of replacing it in existing projects.
If you want to invest learning this new support library, it is the advised way to go. However, personally i think its a waste of time. Lots of people are already familiar with ActionBarSherlock, at lot of help, tutorials and questions about using it are on the internet to get you going and using the new lib. Probably won't even give you any real advantages.
Probably, by the time the new library is as easy to find help for, as ActionBarSherlock, people hardly need it anymore since more and more developers will drop supporting older versions that don't have an ActionBar by themselves.
I'm planning an Android app that should make use of lots of UI features that later SDK versions bring with them incl. ActionBar, ActionBar.Tabs, Swipe navigation and use of Fragments (with replace, add, FragmentTransaction etc). The app should support SDK 8 (2.2) and later.
I'm a 'bit' at a loss here on how to set this up: will I be able to use all these features with the official Android compatibility library? Or will I have to use ActionBarSherlock? Will ABS give me advantages/ be easier to implement compared to the official comp. library?
Can I use the Eclipse/ ADT navigation templates with those two librarys? Can I use them alongside each other or do I have to comit to one of them?
Lot's of questions, I know :)
will I be able to use all these features with the official Android compatibility library?
No.
Or will I have to use ActionBarSherlock?
Yes.
Will ABS give me advantages/ be easier to implement compared to the official comp. library?
It will give you a backwards-compatible action bar. The Android Support Library does not.
Can I use the Eclipse/ ADT navigation templates with those two librarys?
You can do whatever you want. You will need to replace some stuff generated by those templates.
I think using using ActionBarSherlock is the best.
Have a look at this link
I am using the ActionBarCompat project to allow for backwards compatability with the ActionBar. Before anyone says about ActionBarSherlock I decided to use this because its provided by Google and I don't want to rely on an outside created library. However, if someone can say that any new software updates will be supported by ActionBarSherlock then I may be swayed.
I must also add that using the latest CompatibilitySupport Library is a must so if I can't do that then I can't use ActionBarSherlock
My Problem
I have implemented my action bar using the ActionBarCompat library and it works on all API's.
I now need to add Tabbed navigation to allow the switching between Fragments
My Question
Is this easy to implement or do I have to add handling for this myself?
Thanks in advance
After more hunting around for an answer, I found out that its not supported in the ActionBarCompat.
I'm going to look into ActionBarSherlock. The only thing holding me back is whether or not I can incorporate the SupportMapFragment in it.
I'm writing an Android App and I'm trying to choose which compatibility library to choose to implement the ActionBar functionality.
I'm trying to choose between two libraries:
GreenDroid : https://github.com/cyrilmottier/GreenDroid
Android-Actionbar: https://github.com/johannilsson/android-actionbar
From what I could gather, AA(Android-Actionbar) seems to be simpler, and easier to style. But GreenDroid has additional features which make it the more powerful solution in general(not just for an Actionbar).
I left out ActionBarSherlock because it also supports fragments, is more complicated.
IF there are others that I missed, please share!
Use ActionBarSherlock.
It is based on ICS code, is actively developed, and will use the native actionbar when run on ICS. It also plays nicely with the compatibility library and will let your use ICS features such as the split action bar and share providers. Probably the biggest plus is that it uses exactly the same API as ICS. If you don't need fragmetns, you certainly don't have to use them.
Green Droid offers a custom look and feel, not exactly consistent with Android UI design guide lines. Android-Actiobnar is based on custom layouts and only offers basic features.
Here's a discussion (might be biased, since it's by the ABS author): http://corner.squareup.com/2012/05/actionbarsherlock-as-a-base.html
The Android-Actionbar is better, for sure.
Couldn't think of any other ones but I am sure there are.
I'm looking to create a cross-version compatible android tabbed layout.
The problem I'm running into is when implementing Google's example of TabActivity, I get a depreciation notice. The app I'm writing needs to be compatible down to 2.1, and I'm not finding a clear cut way to make it compatible.
I am aware of the versioning by folder (/layout-v4, /layout-v14, etc) but if possible I want to avoid this.
Are fragments the answer here and if so, does the Android Compatibility Layer V4 become the key to solving this problem?
I'd suggest the best approach might be to use the excellent (and free) ActionBarSherlock, so you can add Android 3+ action bar (including tabs) to apps going all the way back to v2.x versions.
I've used it on a few apps and it's pretty easy. I think it's the right approach to use the proper Action Bar interface across platform versions, and they include tabs and replace the whole TabActivity thing, which was pretty horrible anyway.
http://actionbarsherlock.com/