How can I implement custom Action Bar with custom buttons in Android?

Question

I want to implement custom ActionBar which must look like this:

So questions:

1. How can I implement a button like custom view: just some image?
2. How can I draw a line on the top of the ActionBar?
3. And how can I implement buttons without separator lines: add tabs on the ActionBar or what?

Answer 1

Please write following code in menu.xml file:

<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
      xmlns:my_menu_tutorial_app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
      xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
      tools:context="com.example.mymenus.menu_app.MainActivity">
<item android:id="@+id/item_one"
      android:icon="@drawable/menu_icon"
      android:orderInCategory="l01"
      android:title="Item One"
      my_menu_tutorial_app:showAsAction="always">
      <!--sub-menu-->
      <menu>
          <item android:id="@+id/sub_one"
                android:title="Sub-menu item one" />
          <item android:id="@+id/sub_two"
                android:title="Sub-menu item two" />
      </menu>

Also write this java code in activity class file:

public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item)
{
    super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
    Toast.makeText(this, "Menus item selected: " +
        item.getTitle(), Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
    switch (item.getItemId())
    {
        case R.id.sub_one:
            isItemOneSelected = true;
            supportInvalidateOptionsMenu();
            return true;
        case MENU_ITEM + 1:
            isRemoveItem = true;
            supportInvalidateOptionsMenu();
            return true;
        default:
            return false;
    }
}

This is the easiest way to display menus in action bar.

Answer 2

This is pretty much as close as you'll get if you want to use the ActionBar APIs. I'm not sure you can place a colorstrip above the ActionBar without doing some weird Window hacking, it's not worth the trouble. As far as changing the MenuItems goes, you can make those tighter via a style. It would be something like this, but I haven't tested it.

<style name="MyTheme" parent="android:Theme.Holo.Light">
    <item name="actionButtonStyle">@style/MyActionButtonStyle</item>
</style>

<style name="MyActionButtonStyle" parent="Widget.ActionButton">
    <item name="android:minWidth">28dip</item>
</style>

Here's how to inflate and add the custom layout to your ActionBar.

    // Inflate your custom layout
    final ViewGroup actionBarLayout = (ViewGroup) getLayoutInflater().inflate(
            R.layout.action_bar,
            null);

    // Set up your ActionBar
    final ActionBar actionBar = getActionBar();
    actionBar.setDisplayShowHomeEnabled(false);
    actionBar.setDisplayShowTitleEnabled(false);
    actionBar.setDisplayShowCustomEnabled(true);
    actionBar.setCustomView(actionBarLayout);

    // You customization
    final int actionBarColor = getResources().getColor(R.color.action_bar);
    actionBar.setBackgroundDrawable(new ColorDrawable(actionBarColor));

    final Button actionBarTitle = (Button) findViewById(R.id.action_bar_title);
    actionBarTitle.setText("Index(2)");

    final Button actionBarSent = (Button) findViewById(R.id.action_bar_sent);
    actionBarSent.setText("Sent");

    final Button actionBarStaff = (Button) findViewById(R.id.action_bar_staff);
    actionBarStaff.setText("Staff");

    final Button actionBarLocations = (Button) findViewById(R.id.action_bar_locations);
    actionBarLocations.setText("HIPPA Locations");

Here's the custom layout:

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:enabled="false"
    android:orientation="horizontal"
    android:paddingEnd="8dip" >

    <Button
        android:id="@+id/action_bar_title"
        style="@style/ActionBarButtonWhite" />

    <Button
        android:id="@+id/action_bar_sent"
        style="@style/ActionBarButtonOffWhite" />

    <Button
        android:id="@+id/action_bar_staff"
        style="@style/ActionBarButtonOffWhite" />

    <Button
        android:id="@+id/action_bar_locations"
        style="@style/ActionBarButtonOffWhite" />

</LinearLayout>

Here's the color strip layout: To use it, just use merge in whatever layout you inflate in setContentView.

<FrameLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="@dimen/colorstrip"
    android:background="@android:color/holo_blue_dark" />

Here are the Button styles:

<style name="ActionBarButton">
    <item name="android:layout_width">wrap_content</item>
    <item name="android:layout_height">wrap_content</item>
    <item name="android:background">@null</item>
    <item name="android:ellipsize">end</item>
    <item name="android:singleLine">true</item>
    <item name="android:textSize">@dimen/text_size_small</item>
</style>

<style name="ActionBarButtonWhite" parent="@style/ActionBarButton">
    <item name="android:textColor">@color/white</item>
</style>

<style name="ActionBarButtonOffWhite" parent="@style/ActionBarButton">
    <item name="android:textColor">@color/off_white</item>
</style>

Here are the colors and dimensions I used:

<color name="action_bar">#ff0d0d0d</color>
<color name="white">#ffffffff</color>
<color name="off_white">#99ffffff</color>

<!-- Text sizes -->
<dimen name="text_size_small">14.0sp</dimen>
<dimen name="text_size_medium">16.0sp</dimen>

<!-- ActionBar color strip -->
<dimen name="colorstrip">5dp</dimen>

If you want to customize it more than this, you may consider not using the ActionBar at all, but I wouldn't recommend that. You may also consider reading through the Android Design Guidelines to get a better idea on how to design your ActionBar.

If you choose to forgo the ActionBar and use your own layout instead, you should be sure to add action-able Toasts when users long press your "MenuItems". This can be easily achieved using this Gist.

Answer 3

1 You can use a drawable

<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    <item android:id="@+id/menu_item1"
        android:icon="@drawable/my_item_drawable"
        android:title="@string/menu_item1"
        android:showAsAction="ifRoom" />
</menu>

2 Create a style for the action bar and use a custom background:

<resources>
    <!-- the theme applied to the application or activity -->
    <style name="CustomActivityTheme" parent="@android:style/Theme.Holo">
        <item name="android:actionBarStyle">@style/MyActionBar</item>
        <!-- other activity and action bar styles here -->
    </style>
    <!-- style for the action bar backgrounds -->
    <style name="MyActionBar" parent="@android:style/Widget.Holo.ActionBar">
        <item name="android:background">@drawable/background</item>
        <item name="android:backgroundStacked">@drawable/background</item>
        <item name="android:backgroundSplit">@drawable/split_background</item>
    </style>
</resources>

3 Style again android:actionBarDivider

The android documentation is very usefull for that.