Is it possible to show tab host on overall application in android - android

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.

Related

Android using viewPager vs using tabhost

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

Actionbarsherlock use activities or fragments

I've been working on a school project in a course for Mobile prototype for a couple of weeks when our mentor said we should change our way of navigate in the app.
Before the app started with a simple menu where the user could chose which feature to open, which could be different activities, listactivities, mapactivities, activities with custom views, ect.
We then found the ActionBarSherlock library which could help us make a nice tab bar. But should we then change our activities to be fragments (supportfragments runs 2.3.3) or can we keep it as (normal) activities? if so how to best show this under each tab.
Actionbarsherlock have been implemented successfully in our apps start activity and now we "only" need to make the navigation to the existing the activities or change them to fragments.
Do tell if this isn't clear what have described or you need any further information.
If you wish you can only use Activities with ActionBarSherlock
It all depends on what your want to achieve and the use of fragment might help you making a cleaner app.
Actionbarsherlock sample:
1° tab bar with fragment & viewpager
2° tab bar with fragment

Converting Existing App to use Tabs

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.

Android Tab Layout Design - Best Approach

I'm developing an application and I want to place two activities in a tabbed layout. I need the ability for the first activity to send an intent and programmatically switch to the second tabbed activity. This seems possible and is outlined in other posts:
Launching activities within a tab in Android
However, this approach doesn't seem advisable and it makes use of ActivityGroup, which is now deprecated. Can anyone recommend a stable solution that would meet my design needs?
You may want to take a look at ViewPager from the support library, coupled with https://github.com/JakeWharton/Android-ViewPagerIndicator/blob/master/library/src/com/viewpagerindicator/TabPageIndicator.java
It will produce a tab-like interface that you can swipe through. You can explicitly change which tab is being shown by calling viewPager.setCurrentItem(int).

ViewPager can replace ActivityGroup?

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.

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