Develop Reference

Android application different style titles in same title bar

I have an application where the requirement is to show the application version name on the right corner of the application title bar.
Is this possible?
Note that the version name is different color and different size also.
sorry cannot post an image because of not enough reputation.... :(
It is something like
--------------------------------------------------
Application title comes here... v1.23
--------------------------------------------------

It seems like impossible to do that.
The only workaround appears to be using a custom title bar as mentioned in this post android place a textview over application title
Code below for quick help:
#Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
final boolean customTitleSupported = requestWindowFeature(Window.FEATURE_CUSTOM_TITLE);
setContentView(R.layout.main);
if ( customTitleSupported ) {
getWindow().setFeatureInt(Window.FEATURE_CUSTOM_TITLE, R.layout.mytitle);
}
final TextView myTitleText = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.myTitle);
if ( myTitleText != null ) {
myTitleText.setText("MY TITLE");
}
}
hope it helps somebody!

How to get the "up" button used on the Toolbar?

This is a short question:
I'm trying to force the action bar (used by a Toolbar) to use LTR alignment. I've succeeded making the layout itself use LTR, but not the "up" button (as I've done here, before Toolbar was introduced) .
It seems this view doesn't have an ID, and I think using getChildAt() is too risky.
Can anyone help?
The answer
Here's one way I've found to solve this, based on this answer .
I made it so that it is guarranteed to find only the "up" button, and whatever it does, it will revert back to the previous state it was before.
Here's the code:
#TargetApi(Build.VERSION_CODES.JELLY_BEAN_MR1)
#Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(final Menu menu)
{
// <= do the normal stuff of action bar menu preparetions
if(VERSION.SDK_INT>=VERSION_CODES.JELLY_BEAN_MR1&&getResources().getConfiguration().getLayoutDirection()==View.LAYOUT_DIRECTION_RTL)
{
final ArrayList<View> outViews=new ArrayList<>();
final CharSequence previousDesc=_toolbar.getNavigationContentDescription();
for(int id=0;;++id)
{
final String uniqueContentDescription=Integer.toString(id);
_toolbar.findViewsWithText(outViews,uniqueContentDescription,View.FIND_VIEWS_WITH_CONTENT_DESCRIPTION);
if(!outViews.isEmpty())
continue;
_toolbar.setNavigationContentDescription(uniqueContentDescription);
_toolbar.findViewsWithText(outViews,uniqueContentDescription,View.FIND_VIEWS_WITH_CONTENT_DESCRIPTION);
if (outViews.isEmpty())
if (BuildConfig.DEBUG)
throw new RuntimeException(
"You should call this function only when the toolbar already has views");
else
break;
outViews.get(0).setRotation(180f);
break;
}
_toolbar.setNavigationContentDescription(previousDesc);
}
//
return super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu);
}

It seems this view doesn't have an ID
You're right, the navigation view is created programmatically and never sets an id. But you can still find it by using View.findViewsWithText.
View.findViewsWithText comes with two flags:
View.FIND_VIEWS_WITH_TEXT
View.FIND_VIEWS_WITH_CONTENT_DESCRIPTION
The navigation view's default content description is "Navigate up" or the resource id is abc_action_bar_up_description for AppCompat and action_bar_up_description for the framework's, but you can easily apply your own using Toolbar.setNavigationContentDescription.
Here's an example implementation:
final Toolbar toolbar = ...;
toolbar.setNavigationContentDescription("up");
setActionBar(toolbar);
final ArrayList<View> outViews = Lists.newArrayList();
toolbar.findViewsWithText(outViews, "up", View.FIND_VIEWS_WITH_CONTENT_DESCRIPTION);
outViews.get(0).setRotation(180f);
Results

How to implement Action Bar with Fragment? [duplicate]

I would like to dynamically change the "home" icon in the ActionBar. This is easily done in v14 with ActionBar.setIcon(...), but I can't find anyway to accomplish this in previous versions.

If your actionbar works like Sherlock and is based on menu items, this is my solution:
#Override
public boolean onPrepareOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
MenuItem switchButton = menu.findItem(R.id.SwitchSearchOption);
if(searchScriptDisplayed){
switchButton.setIcon(R.drawable.menu_precedent);
}else{
switchButton.setIcon(R.drawable.icon_search);
}
return super.onPrepareOptionsMenu(menu);
}

If you are using the ActionbarCompat code provided by google, you can access the home icon via the ActionBarHelperBase.java class for API v4 onwards.
//code snippet from ActionBarHelperBase.java
...
private void setupActionBar() {
final ViewGroup actionBarCompat = getActionBarCompat();
if (actionBarCompat == null) {
return;
}
LinearLayout.LayoutParams springLayoutParams = new LinearLayout.LayoutParams(
0, ViewGroup.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT);
springLayoutParams.weight = 1;
// Add Home button
SimpleMenu tempMenu = new SimpleMenu(mActivity);
SimpleMenuItem homeItem = new SimpleMenuItem(tempMenu,
android.R.id.home, 0, mActivity.getString(R.string.app_name));
homeItem.setIcon(R.drawable.ic_home_ftn);
addActionItemCompatFromMenuItem(homeItem);
// Add title text
TextView titleText = new TextView(mActivity, null,
R.attr.actionbarCompatTitleStyle);
titleText.setLayoutParams(springLayoutParams);
titleText.setText(mActivity.getTitle());
actionBarCompat.addView(titleText);
}
...
You should be able to modify the code to the home button accessible to the activities that extend ActionBarActivity and change it that way.
Honeycomb seems a little harder and it doesn't seem to give such easy access. At a guess, its id should also be android.R.id.home so you may be able to pull that from the view in ActionBarHelperHoneycomb.java

I would say you do something like this :
getSupportActionBar().setHomeButtonEnabled(true);
getSupportActionBar().setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true);
getSupportActionBar().setHomeAsUpIndicator(R.drawable.ic_menu_drawer);
see the link How to change the icon actionBarCompat

The ActionBar will use the android:logo attribute of your manifest, if one is provided. That lets you use separate drawable resources for the icon (Launcher) and the logo (ActionBar, among other things).

ActionBarSherlock (ABS): how to customize the text of action mode close item?

I'm using ABS vers. 4 and I need to simply change the default "Done" text that is displayed besides the action mode close icon, but I really can't figure out how to do it.
I think that text needs to be customizable for at least two good reasons:
"Done" is not appropriate for all contexts (e.g. "Cancel" could be more appropriate, and I've seen some apps, such as the "My Files" app on Galaxy Tab, use it)
"Done" needs to be localized according to the user's language
Is it possible to do customize that text? If so can anyone tell me how to do it?
Thanks in advance.
EDIT
I've found a temporary workaround, that I post in the following:
private TextView getActionModeCloseTextView() {
// ABS 4.0 defines action mode close button text only for "large" layouts
if ((getResources().getConfiguration().screenLayout &
Configuration.SCREENLAYOUT_SIZE_MASK) ==
Configuration.SCREENLAYOUT_SIZE_LARGE)
{
// retrieves the LinearLayout containing the action mode close button text
LinearLayout action_mode_close_button =
(LinearLayout) getActivity().findViewById(R.id.abs__action_mode_close_button);
// if found, returns its last child
// (in ABS 4.0 there is no other way to refer to it,
// since it doesn't have an id nor a tag)
if (action_mode_close_button != null) return (TextView)
action_mode_close_button.getChildAt(action_mode_close_button.getChildCount() - 1);
}
return null;
}
That's the method I came up with. Please NOTE that it does heavily rely upon the structure of the abs__action_mode_close_item.xml of ABS 4.0.
This works for my scenario, but, as you can see, it cannot be considered sufficiently satisfying to promote it to a real "answer", that's why I only edited my previous post.
Hope that helps someone else, but I also hope that someone could share a better and cleaner solution.

You can use a theme to override the default icon:
<item name="actionModeCloseDrawable">#drawable/navigation_back</item>
<item name="android:actionModeCloseDrawable">#drawable/navigation_back</item>

I edited the code from PacificSky to be able to customize the color and font size of the close button, both in pre ICS and >ICS.
I created a method named customizeActionModeCloseButton
private void customizeActionModeCloseButton() {
int buttonId = Resources.getSystem().getIdentifier("action_mode_close_button", "id", "android");
View v = getGSActivity().findViewById(buttonId);
if (v == null) {
buttonId = R.id.abs__action_mode_close_button;
v = getGSActivity().findViewById(buttonId);
}
if (v == null)
return;
LinearLayout ll = (LinearLayout) v;
if (ll.getChildCount() > 1 && ll.getChildAt(1) != null) {
TextView tv = (TextView) ll.getChildAt(1);
tv.setText(R.string.close_action_mode);
tv.setTextColor(getResources().getColor(R.color.white));
tv.setTextSize(18);
}
}
and I call it just after calling startActionMode()
public boolean onItemLongClick(AdapterView<?> parent, View view, int position, long id) {
actionMode = getActivity().startActionMode(this);
customizeActionModeCloseButton();
return true;
}

It's been a while, but here's a slightly less hacky solution - putting it out there for posterity.
For Android versions < ICS
Put the following line in your application's strings.xml:
<string name="abs__action_mode_done">Cancel</string>
This overrides the TextView's (defined in ActionBarSherlock/res/layout-large/abs__action_mode_close_item.xml) android:text attribute.
For Android versions ICS and above
The native ActionBar functionality is used on ICS and up. You need to find and override the string associated with the done button, using the following code:
int buttonId = Resources.getSystem().getIdentifier("action_mode_close_button", "id", "android");
if (buttonId != 0)
{
View v = findViewById(buttonId);
if (v != null)
{
LinearLayout ll = (LinearLayout)v;
View child = ll.getChildAt(1);
if (child != null)
{
TextView tv = (TextView)child;
tv.setText(R.string.cancel);
}
}
}

Thanks for PacificSky's answer. It's useful for my case.
Something needs to be explained here is that findViewById(buttonId) might return null in some cases such as called in onCreateActionMode() function, because the LinearLayout for ActionMode close button not yet initialized at that time I guess.
I want to hide the action mode close button, so i just sendEmptyMessageDelayed in onCreateActionMode() and call PacificSky's 200ms later. It works for me.

Here is my approach with Java code:
private void customizeActionModeCloseButton(String title, int iconID) {
int buttonId = Resources.getSystem().getIdentifier("action_mode_close_button", "id", "android");
View v = findViewById(buttonId);
if (v == null) {
buttonId = R.id.abs__action_mode_close_button;
v = findViewById(buttonId);
}
if (v == null)
return;
LinearLayout ll = (LinearLayout) v;
if (ll.getChildCount() > 1 && ll.getChildAt(1) != null) {
//custom icon
ImageView img = (ImageView) ll.getChildAt(0);
img.setImageResource(iconID);
//custom text
TextView tv = (TextView) ll.getChildAt(1);
tv.setText(title);
tv.setTextColor(Color.WHITE);
}
}

com.actionbarsherlock.view.ActionMode contains method:
setTitle
It is used to change text near Close Icon in the ActionBar.
ActionMode is available in your com.actionbarsherlock.view.ActionMode.Callback interface implementation methods, like onCreateActionMode.
What you can do - is save incoming ActionMode reference and use it later to change title as your like. Or, if it is not dynamic - you can setup at with your constant in onCreateActionMode.

Honeycomb - customize SearchView inside the action bar

I have a field where the user can type a search query in the action bar of the application. This is declared in the action bar using a menu inflate in the Activity:
<menu
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
>
<item
android:id="#+id/action_search"
android:showAsAction="ifRoom"
android:actionViewClass="android.widget.SearchView"
android:title="#string/search"
></item>
</menu>
I need to customize the appearance of the SearchView (for instance background and text color). So far I could not find a way to do it using XML (using styles or themes).
Is my only option to do it in the code when inflating the menu?
Edit #1: I have tried programmatically but I cannot get a simple way to set the text color. Plus when I do searchView.setBackgroundResource(...) The background is set on the global widget, (also when the SearchView is iconified).
Edit #2: Not much information on the Search Developer Reference either

Seibelj had an answer that is good if you want to change the icons. But you'll need to
do it for every API version. I was using ICS with ActionBarSherlock and it didn't do justice for me but it did push me in the correct direction.
Below I change the text color and hint color. I showed how you might go about changing the
icons too, though I have no interest in that for now (and you probably want to use the default icons anyways to be consistent)
#Override
public boolean onPrepareOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
// Set up the search menu
SearchView searchView = (SearchView)menu.findItem(R.id.action_search).getActionView();
traverseView(searchView, 0);
return true;
}
private void traverseView(View view, int index) {
if (view instanceof SearchView) {
SearchView v = (SearchView) view;
for(int i = 0; i < v.getChildCount(); i++) {
traverseView(v.getChildAt(i), i);
}
} else if (view instanceof LinearLayout) {
LinearLayout ll = (LinearLayout) view;
for(int i = 0; i < ll.getChildCount(); i++) {
traverseView(ll.getChildAt(i), i);
}
} else if (view instanceof EditText) {
((EditText) view).setTextColor(Color.WHITE);
((EditText) view).setHintTextColor(R.color.blue_trans);
} else if (view instanceof TextView) {
((TextView) view).setTextColor(Color.WHITE);
} else if (view instanceof ImageView) {
// TODO dissect images and replace with custom images
} else {
Log.v("View Scout", "Undefined view type here...");
}
}

adding my take on things which is probably a little more efficient and safe across different android versions.
you can actually get a numeric ID value from a string ID name. using android's hierarchyviewer tool, you can actually find the string IDs of the things you are interested in, and then just use findViewById(...) to look them up.
the code below sets the hint and text color for the edit field itself. you could apply the same pattern for other aspects that you wish to style.
private static synchronized int getSearchSrcTextId(View view) {
if (searchSrcTextId == -1) {
searchSrcTextId = getId(view, "android:id/search_src_text");
}
return searchSrcTextId;
}
private static int getId(View view, String name) {
return view.getContext().getResources().getIdentifier(name, null, null);
}
#TargetApi(11)
private void style(View view) {
ImageView iv;
AutoCompleteTextView actv = (AutoCompleteTextView) view.findViewById(getSearchSrcTextId(view));
if (actv != null) {
actv.setHint(getDecoratedHint(actv,
searchView.getContext().getResources().getString(R.string.titleApplicationSearchHint),
R.drawable.ic_ab_search));
actv.setTextColor(view.getContext().getResources().getColor(R.color.ab_text));
actv.setHintTextColor(view.getContext().getResources().getColor(R.color.hint_text));
}
}

You can use the attribute android:actionLayout instead which lets you specify a layout to be inflated. Just have a layout with your SearchView and you won't have to modify anything really.
As to changing text style on the SearchView that is probably not possible as the SearchView is a ViewGroup. You should probably try changing text color via themes instead.

In case anyone wants to modify the views directly, here is how you can change the colors/fonts/images and customize the search box to your pleasure. It is wrapped in a try/catch in case there are differences between versions or distributions, so it won't crash the app if this fails.
// SearchView structure as we currently understand it:
// 0 => linearlayout
// 0 => textview (not sure what this does)
// 1 => image view (the search icon before it's pressed)
// 2 => linearlayout
// 0 => linearlayout
// 0 => ImageView (Search icon on the left of the search box)
// 1 => SearchView$SearchAutoComplete (Object that controls the text, subclass of TextView)
// 2 => ImageView (Cancel icon to the right of the text entry)
// 1 => linearlayout
// 0 => ImageView ('Go' icon to the right of cancel)
// 1 => ImageView (not sure what this does)
try {
LinearLayout ll = (LinearLayout) searchView.getChildAt(0);
LinearLayout ll2 = (LinearLayout) ll.getChildAt(2);
LinearLayout ll3 = (LinearLayout) ll2.getChildAt(0);
LinearLayout ll4 = (LinearLayout) ll2.getChildAt(1);
TextView search_text = (TextView) ll3.getChildAt(1);
search_text.setTextColor(R.color.search_text);
ImageView cancel_icon = (ImageView)ll3.getChildAt(2);
ImageView accept_icon = (ImageView)ll4.getChildAt(0);
cancel_icon.setBackgroundDrawable(d);
accept_icon.setBackgroundDrawable(d);
} catch (Throwable e) {
Log.e("SearchBoxConstructor", "Unable to set the custom look of the search box");
}
This example shows changing the text color and the background colors of the cancel/accept images. searchView is a SearchView object already instantiated with it's background color:
Drawable d = getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.search_widget_background);
searchView.setBackgroundDrawable(d);
Here is the drawable code:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:shape="rectangle" >
<solid android:color="#color/white" />
</shape>
Obviously, this is hacky, but it will work for now.

From ICS this is doable using themes and styles. I'm using ActionBarSherlock which makes it applicable also for HC and below.
Add a style to define "android:textColorHint":
<style name="Theme.MyHolo.widget" parent="#style/Theme.Holo">
<item name="android:textColorHint">#color/text_hint_corp_dark</item>
</style>
Apply this as "actionBarWidgetTheme" to your theme:
<style name="Theme.MyApp" parent="#style/Theme.Holo.Light.DarkActionBar">
...
<item name="android:actionBarWidgetTheme">#style/Theme.MyHolo.widget</item>
</style>
Presto! Make sure that you use getSupportActionBar().getThemedContext() (or getSupportActionBar() for ActionBarSherlock) if any widgets are initiated where you might have other themes in effect.

How do you inflate the menu xml in your Activity? if you inflate the menu by using getMenuInflator() in your Activity, then the menu and also the searchView get the themed context, that have attached to the activity.
#Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
getMenuInflater.inflate(R.menu.search_action_menu, menu);
}
if you check the source code of Activity.getMenuInflator() at API-15, you can see the themed context codes. Here it is.
*/
public MenuInflater getMenuInflater() {
// Make sure that action views can get an appropriate theme.
if (mMenuInflater == null) {
initActionBar();
if (mActionBar != null) {
mMenuInflater = new MenuInflater(mActionBar.getThemedContext());
} else {
mMenuInflater = new MenuInflater(this);
}
}
return mMenuInflater;
}