I'm designing an editor that will have context-specific actions on two related items, for example, insert image, clear, etc. It makes sense to show both items simultaneously on a larger display. I'd rather not require the user to switch back and forth between tabs.
Is it possible and/or recommended to have two different contextual action bars to support a configuration like this?
Only one at a time. The contextual action bar (a.k.a., action mode) replaces the regular action bar. Since you only have one action bar, you can only have one contextual action bar at a time. Since the user is (hopefully) only working on one "context" at a time, this (hopefully) will not be a big limitation, so long as it is visually obvious what she is performing the contextual actions upon.
Related
When you put a lot of action items on the action bar, some of them get to be inserted into the overflow menu, or become available by clicking on the menu button (if present).
Is there a way to be notified when this occurs? Maybe even know which items got to be into the overflow menu (or available via the menu button) ?
Again, I don't ask how to put items there and I don't need to get explanation about how to define action items. I ask how to know when and which items get to be there.
You cannot decide which item to be into Action overflow menu but you can decide which to be shown always on Action bar.
You can also use "always" to declare that an item always appear as
an action button. However, you should not force an item to appear in
the action bar this way. Doing so can create layout problems on
devices with a narrow screen. It's best to instead use "ifRoom" to
request that an item appear in the action bar, but allow the system to
move it into the overflow when there's not enough room. However, it
might be necessary to use this value if the item includes an action
view that cannot be collapsed and must always be visible to provide
access to a critical feature.
http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/actionbar.html
I am looking for creating an dvd library in android, The design is having navigation drawer for quick navigation, and one action bar which is having only new DVD list count i.e. 4 in image(which is dynamically updated).
Let me share you
First Thing which make confusion for me
why do i need action BAR ? (to just display new items and navigation drawer icon)
I am not sure on which pattern i should follow. I need your input for this. If I need to go with this approach how to achieve custom action bar with navigation drawer on activity.
IMO there's no reason not to adhere to the actionbar pattern.
You anyway need a place where to trigger the open/close of the drawer from. Having the actionbar matches the guidelines and makes the usage of the app intuitive for the user (as it is already used to the pattern).
Also having the actionbar allows you to brand your app more (by keeping keeping the app logo always visible and styling the action bar with your brand colors) and to keep consistency in case you need to add actions in one of the low-level screens (or in the main one, maybe in a future release)
To add the counter to the action bar, see the actionview section at http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/actionbar.html
It is possible to have a split Action Bar only in Action Mode?
My application have only the top action bar, but it's Contextual Action Bar needs to be splitted in two (top/bottom).
I found this:
The contextual action bar is not necessarily associated with the action bar. They operate independently, even though the contextual action bar visually overtakes the action bar position.
on http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/menus.html#CAB. So i think it's possible, but how?
I'm pretty confident it's not possible - and even if it is - i would cringe to see the hack.
The cab is a crafty beast that offers a lot of convenience out of the box but doesn't like to be tampered with.
The platform takes care of you fantastically by placing a CAB at the bottom if required or collapsing items , but as far as UI designs go, you should avoid relying on the bottom bar.
see https://stackoverflow.com/a/8609144/1593156 .
I would like to override (add more buttons that would take me to several activities/fragments) to the system Navigation Bar on a tablet (according to this android ui-overview it is a "Combined bar" (for tablets)
Is there a way to do this?
I couldn't find a Navigation class in the android.app package, like ActionBar.
If adding buttons to the combined/navigation bar is not possible, I think there are several options, but I'd like to explore this first:
- use the action bar on top instead
- add a bottom bar above the navigation bar (not really fine, since it would be on top of the combined bar), like they are showing here:
Action Bar
Thanks a lot,
Cristian
Is there a way to do this?
No. The only thing you can add to the system bar are Notifications, which are not meant for this sort of navigation.
If adding buttons to the combined/navigation bar is not possible, I think there are several options, but I'd like to explore this first: - use the action bar on top instead - add a bottom bar above the navigation bar (not really fine, since it would be on top of the combined bar), like they are showing here: Action Bar
If you are referring to the section titled "Layout Considerations for Split Action Bars", that is referred to as a "split action bar", and can be enabled on an <activity> via android:uiOptions="splitActionBarWhenNarrow". However, that will only take effect for -small/-normal screens in portrait orientation. Your buttons will automatically be placed in the action bar at the top of the screen in other circumstances.
I am currently planning the honeycomb update for my app and i am wondering how to use the Action Bar correctly. My first question is if it is possible to hide the App-Icon and Title from the Action Bar.
And is there any kind of Design guidline for the Honeycomb-UI yet?
Yes, you can hide the app icon and title. You can also replace the app icon with a wider logo image for your activity.
The app icon/logo at the left is collectively treated as a "home" affordance. You can optionally ask the system to display it as "up." When tapped, this should take the user either to a home/landing page for your app or one level up in the app's navigation hierarchy, respectively.
This complements the system back button by providing a consistent way for the user to move around your app when the history associated with the back button might be complex. (For example, the user might have been deep-linked into your app through a notification or an intent from another application.) By using this pattern your app won't need to hijack the normal behavior of the back button in special cases for convenience.
The action bar does double duty in the form of action modes. The two APIs are orthogonal but the resulting UI occupies the same screen real estate. An action mode presents a set of contextually relevant options to the user as a customized action bar. For example, a user might select several items from a list at a time. The app might present an action mode to let the user take a bulk action on the set of all selected items such as delete or share.
Action modes are a great way to present contextual actions that doesn't stop the user from interacting with the rest of the UI the way that popup menus do.
Design guidelines will hopefully be published "soon." :)