Develop Reference

Custom views and defStyleAttr

I'm struggling with custom views defStyleAttr. (Short note I'm using a Preference as example cause it's the same way Google uses it)
So for almost every View or Preference that is provided by Android you'll have a constructor like this:
public SeekBarPreference(Context context, AttributeSet attrs) {
this(context, attrs, R.attr.seekBarPreferenceStyle);
}
This defines the default style attribute to be R.attr.seekBarPreferenceStyle.
If you now look into the definition you'll find this:
<attr name="seekBarPreferenceStyle" format="reference" />
Until now everything is clear. But this attribute is somehow linked to a theme:
<resources>
<style name="PreferenceThemeOverlay">
<!-- ... -->
<item name="seekBarPreferenceStyle">#style/Preference.SeekBarPreference.Material</item>
<!-- ... -->
</style>
<!-- ... -->
</resources>
Which then finally links a style with the needed layout resource id that will be handed over to the super class to be inflated:
<style name="Preference.SeekBarPreference.Material">
<item name="android:layout">#layout/preference_widget_seekbar_material</item>
<!-- ... -->
</style>
Unfortunately I wasn't able to find a hint on how the theme PreferenceThemeOverlay is linked to the attribute seekBarPreferenceStyle.
So how are these two linked?

I finally found an answer that explained the basics you need to know.
Custom View
For the examples I use SeekBarPreference as a custom object (Preference and View are very similar)
So in short there are two ways to set your default style.
Either set a custom theme to your activity (or the like) that links something to your custom style (seekBarPreferenceStyle) or set the style directly by the style XML attribute.
Theme
styles.xml
<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar">
<item name="seekBarPreferenceStyle">#style/LINK_TO_DEFINING_STYLE</item>
</style>
AndroidManifest.xml
<activity android:name=".SomeActivity" android:theme="#style/AppTheme">
Style attribute
some.xml
<SeekBarPreference
[...]
style="#style/LINK_TO_DEFINING_STYLE"
[...] />
Androids Way
But I wanted to know exactly how all of it is connected to then work without any style attributes in XML files for SeekBarPreference or other Preference and View objects provided by Android.
So (via Android Studio) I followed Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar down to its parent Theme.Holo.Light and look what I found there:
<!-- ... -->
<item name="seekBarPreferenceStyle">#style/Preference.Holo.SeekBarPreference</item>
<!-- ... -->
Linking to this style which links the layout resource:
<style name="Preference.Holo.SeekBarPreference">
<item name="layout">#layout/preference_widget_seekbar</item>
</style>
And to finally bring some more confusion to you again, Android seems to link a the Material style from the question instead of the Holo theme from the answer to the default theme (be it DeviceDefault or something else).
So if you got any clue on this please feel free to add to the comments :)

Unable to start activity ComponentInfo,I have no idea [duplicate]

I am trying to use a custom title to include an image button to the title bar.
I got a lot of help form this post: android: adding button to the title of the app?, but could not get it work for my ListActivity.
In a nutshell, following is what I have:
I hide the titlebar in the AndroidManifest.xml
The specify a relative layout for the custom title (workorder_list_titlebar.xml)
My Activity Class looks like the following:
public class WorkOrderListActivity extends ListActivity {
String[] orders={"WO-12022009", "WO-12302009","WO-02122010", "02152010"};
#Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
requestWindowFeature(Window.FEATURE_CUSTOM_TITLE);
this.getWindow().setFeatureInt(Window.FEATURE_CUSTOM_TITLE, R.layout.workorder_list_titlebar);
setContentView(R.layout.workorder_list);
setListAdapter(new ArrayAdapter(this,R.layout.workorder_list, R.id.label,orders));
}
}
When I ran the app, I got AndroidRuntimeException: You cannot combine custom titles with other title features.
Base on the stack trace, the exception was thrown by com.android.internal.policy.impl.PhoneWindow.requestFeature(PhoneWindow.java:183), that was triggered by setlistAdapter call.
Does anyone have the same problem with ListActivity?
Also once I manage to get this work, how do I attach listeners to the image button for it to do something?
Thanks in advance.

I had the same issue and I fix it deleting
<item name="android:windowNoTitle">true</item>
from my theme.xml

Make you create custom style in “values” folder. Make sure you code as below.
<style name="CustomTheme" parent="android:Theme">
Don't modify parent parameter.
This did work for me.

Instead of modifying your theme.xml you may also:
create a new XML style file my_theme.xml in values folder like this:
<style name="MyWindowTitleBackground">
<item name="android:background">#444444</item>
</style>
<style name="MyTheme" parent="android:Theme">
<item name="android:windowTitleBackgroundStyle">#style/MyWindowTitleBackground</item>
</style>
You may define other settings as you like in this theme.
Then just use this theme in your manifest within the activity's attributes
android:theme="#style/MyTheme"
Finally set your custom title as always in your activity.java:
final Window window = getWindow();
boolean useTitleFeature = false;
// If the window has a container, then we are not free
// to request window features.
if (window.getContainer() == null) {
useTitleFeature = window
.requestFeature(Window.FEATURE_CUSTOM_TITLE);
}
setContentView(R.layout.screen_main);
if (useTitleFeature) {
window.setFeatureInt(Window.FEATURE_CUSTOM_TITLE,
R.layout.custom_title);
// Set up the custom title
main_title = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.title_left_text);
main_title.setText(R.string.app_name);
main_title = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.title_right_text);
main_title.setText(R.string.Main_titleInfo);
}
Don't forget to define the custom_title.xml file in your layout folder. For example...
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:gravity="center_vertical" >
<TextView
android:id="#+id/title_left_text"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:ellipsize="end"
android:singleLine="true" />
<TextView
android:id="#+id/title_right_text"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:layout_centerInParent="true"
android:ellipsize="end"
android:singleLine="true"
android:textColor="#fff" />
</RelativeLayout>

I think notenking is right, that this is a problem in activities within tabs. Since some of my activities can either be stand-alone or within a tab, I've found the following helps:
final Window window = getWindow();
boolean useTitleFeature = false;
// If the window has a container, then we are not free
// to request window features.
if(window.getContainer() == null) {
useTitleFeature = window.requestFeature(Window.FEATURE_CUSTOM_TITLE);
}
setContentView(layoutId);
if (useTitleFeature) {
window.setFeatureInt(Window.FEATURE_CUSTOM_TITLE, R.layout.window_title);
}

May be you find this problem when use it in tab,for there already have a title and you can not add a custom title again.
you should add this custom title in the activity which you get the Tab

I did exactly as Sunny Dasari did but with one small change I put the # before and android in the parent attribute.
So my code looked like this.
<style name="CustomTheme" parent="#android:Theme">

To avoid crashing, you can simply add
android:theme="#style/android:Theme"
to the <Activity> tag in your AndroidManifest.xml:
<activity
android:name="test.TestActivity"
android:label="#string/app_name"
android:theme="#style/android:Theme">
This is because the styles defined in your default theme conflict with FEATURE_CUSTOM_TITLE (such as the attribute android:windowNoTitle). By using another theme, you can avoid such problems.
However, you might further need to define your own theme to change other attributes, such as android:windowTitleSize, background color, text color and font, etc. In this case, you can derive your theme from an existing theme (e.g., Theme.Light) and modify its attributes:
<resources>
<style name="CustomWindowTitleBackground">
<item name="android:background">#323331</item>
</style>
<style name="CustomTheme" parent="#style/android:Theme.Light">
<item name="android:windowNoTitle">false</item>
<item name="android:windowTitleSize">60dip</item>
<item name="android:windowTitleBackgroundStyle">#style/CustomWindowTitleBackground</item>
</style>
</resources>

Try swapping following lines:
setContentView(R.layout.workorder_list);
this.getWindow().setFeatureInt(Window.FEATURE_CUSTOM_TITLE, R.layout.workorder_list_titlebar);

I have run into this issue as well and it looks like it is an issue with what theme is applied to an activity in the AndroidManifest.xml file. If I use a theme like:
android:theme="#android:style/Theme.Holo
Then it will throw the error
android.util.AndroidRuntimeException: You cannot combine custom titles with other title features
However if I use a different theme like:
android:theme="#android:style/Theme.Black"
then it will not throw the error and subsequently will not crash. However I am trying to use a theme like Theme.Holo. I'm not sure if there is a way around this.

Since, I was trying to compile my program in android 4.0, I was facing the same problem. None of these solutions helped.So, I copied my style contents from values > styles.xml and pasted it in values-v11 styles.xml file and values-v14 styles.xml file. Bingo, the trick worked.

As a beginner most of the answers didn't help me for my case. So here is my answer.
Go to res/values folder in your android project and check for strings.xml (this file may vary in your case, something like themes.xml)
Inside the file under resource tag check whether you have style tags. If you don't find it, add the code below as mentioned below as a child to resources tag
something like below
<resources>
<style name="SomeNameHere">
<item name="android:windowNoTitle">true</item>
</style>
</resources>
if you already have style tag, just add the code below to your style tag
<item name="android:windowNoTitle">true</item>

How to avoid 'blank activity' flick during navigation

I have Android app with custom headers for every activity view.
I'm using Activities without title:
RequestWindowFeature(WindowFeatures.NoTitle);
When I'm navigating from one Activity to another, what I see is first a blank Activity with title, then my desired View without title.
What should I do in order not to see that blank Activity?

Sounds to me that a lot of stuff is going on in your OnCreate's. Try to minimize that.
Additionally you can set a Theme for your Activity which looks more like what it is going to view. My opinion on using RequestWindowFeature to hide the title or ActionBar is that it should be avoided if possible and use a theme instead.
What I would do is to create a Resources/Values/style.xml file like this:
<resources xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<style name="MyTheme.Default" parent="#android:style/Theme"></style>
<style name="MyTheme.NoTitle" parent="#android:style/Theme.NoTitleBar"></style>
</resources>
To support API 11 create a Resources/Values-v11/style.xml with:
<resources xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<style name="MyTheme.Default" parent="#android:style/Theme.Holo"></style>
<style name="MyTheme.NoTitle" parent="#android:style/Theme.Holo.NoActionBar"></style>
</resources>
And again for API 14 a Resources/Values-v14/style.xml with:
<resources xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<style name="MyTheme.Default" parent="#android:style/Theme.Holo.Light"></style>
<style name="MyTheme.NoTitle" parent="#android:style/Theme.Holo.Light.NoActionBar"></style>
</resources>
Then in all your Activities use the Theme property in the Activity flag like so:
[Activity(Label="My Activity", Theme="#style/MyTheme.NoTitle")]
public class MyActivity : Activity
{
...
}

Change Text for loading screen in ActionBar-PullToRefresh library

I have successfully implemented ActionBar-PullToRefresh in my code. Now whenever I refresh the list it shows "Loading ..." text in ActionBar.
So how to change that text in ActionBar. Do I directly change the string in the library or is there any other way to do that...

Approved approach from the samples
Source: https://github.com/chrisbanes/ActionBar-PullToRefresh/tree/master/samples
Create a theme with text overrides (e.g. ptrPullText),
that is, res/values/styles.xml:
<resources>
<style name="Theme.Holo.CustomPtrHeader" parent="android:Theme.Holo">
<item name="ptrHeaderStyle">#style/Widget.Custom.PtrHeader</item>
</style>
<style name="Widget.Custom.PtrHeader" parent="android:Widget">
<item name="ptrRefreshingText">Pulling down the internet</item>
</style>
</resources>
Apply the custom theme to your activity in AndroidManifest.xml
<activity
...
android:theme="#style/Theme.Holo.CustomPtrHeader" />
or Register you own HeaderTransformer
For the example on how to do this, please see the GridView sample.
or A little hackier way
Please note that setPullText is not on the HeaderTransformer interface, it's an instance method of DefaultHeaderTransformer:
attacher = PullToRefreshAttacher.get(this);
attacher.addRefreshableView(listView, this);
transformer = ((DefaultHeaderTransformer)attacher.getHeaderTransformer());
transformer.setRefreshingText("Pulling down the internet");

Hiding Dialog's titlebar in Android Manifest

Basically, I created an Activity inside a dialog, everthing is seems working perfectly but the problem is the title bar of a dialog is still there. Is there anyway to hide it?
And also this is the tutorial, here is the link. It is exactly what I am trying to accomplish except witout title bar.
Note: THIS IS NOT JUST AN ALERTDIALOG OR DIALOG, THIS IS AN ACTIVITY INSIDE A DIALOG which only became looks like a dialog by pasting the code below.
<activity android:label="My Dialog (activity)" android:name=".MyActivity" android:theme="#android:style/Theme.Dialog"></activity>

If ur using appcompat support v4, v7 libraries then try using
supportRequestWindowFeature(Window.FEATURE_NO_TITLE);
before setContentView and also before super.Oncreate();

You can remove the title bar programatically.
Add this line to your Activity onCreate() method.
requestWindowFeature(Window.FEATURE_NO_TITLE);
Edit:
Create a custom style that extend Theme.Dialog:
<resources>
<style name="NoTitleDialog" parent="android:Theme.Dialog">
<item name="android:windowNoTitle">true</item>
</style>`
</resources>
Then reference this theme in your activity android:theme attribute. :)

I came up with such, easiest solution:
In Manifest
android:theme="#android:style/Theme.Holo.Light.Dialog.NoActionBar">
Seems to work.

Try this :
style.xml
<style name="NoTitleActivityDialog" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.Dialog.Alert">
<item name="windowNoTitle">true</item>
</style>
AndroidManifest.xml
<activity
android:name=".DialogActivity"
android:theme="#style/NoTitleActivityDialog"/>