Keep the actionbar displayed in when changing PreferenceScreen

Question

I'm trying to display a actionbar in my preference screen. In order to do so I added the following code in my SettingActivity

public class PreferencesActivity extends ActionBarActivity {

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.preferences_activity);
        getFragmentManager().beginTransaction()
                .replace(R.id.container, new PreferencesFragment()).commit();

            getSupportActionBar().setDisplayOptions(ActionBar.DISPLAY_SHOW_TITLE | ActionBar.DISPLAY_SHOW_HOME | ActionBar.DISPLAY_HOME_AS_UP);
            getSupportActionBar().setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true);
    }
}

then the rest of my code in PreferencesFragment. This works fine, but as soon as I press on a PreferenceScreen preference, the actionbar is hidden. If I go back to the preference main screen I can see it again. Any idea how to keep the actionbar displayed (and updated with the PreferenceScreen label) ?

Edit: Looking at the PreferenceScreen code it looks like a full screen Dialog is opened when the PreferenceScreen is clicked on. Because my preference has a title the Dialog should display a title as well... but it doesn't

    // Set the title bar if title is available, else no title bar
    final CharSequence title = getTitle();
    Dialog dialog = mDialog = new Dialog(context, context.getThemeResId());
    if (TextUtils.isEmpty(title)) {
        dialog.getWindow().requestFeature(Window.FEATURE_NO_TITLE);
    } else {
        dialog.setTitle(title);
    }

Answer 1

I created PreferenceCompatActivity that is an AndroidX-compatible drop-in replacement for the old PreferenceActivity.

It uses a compat fragment internally. Be sure to use the import only the androidx.preference.XXX classes instead of the android.preference.XXX ones.

public class PreferenceCompatActivity extends AppCompatActivity implements AppCompatCallback, PreferenceFragmentCompat.OnPreferenceStartScreenCallback {

    private PreferenceFragmentCompat fragment;

    public void addPreferencesFromResource(@XmlRes int preferencesResId) {
        fragment = new RootPreferencesFragment(preferencesResId);
        getSupportFragmentManager().beginTransaction().replace(android.R.id.content, fragment).commitNow();
    }

    public PreferenceManager getPreferenceManager() {
        return fragment.getPreferenceManager();
    }

    public PreferenceScreen getPreferenceScreen() {
        return fragment.getPreferenceScreen();
    }

    public Preference findPreference(CharSequence key) {
        return fragment.findPreference(key);
    }

    @Override
    public boolean onPreferenceStartScreen(PreferenceFragmentCompat caller, PreferenceScreen pref) {
        LowerPreferencesFragment lowerFragment = new LowerPreferencesFragment(pref);
        getSupportFragmentManager().beginTransaction().replace(android.R.id.content, lowerFragment).addToBackStack("lower").commit();
        return true;
    }

    public static class RootPreferencesFragment extends PreferenceFragmentCompat {

        private int preferencesResId;

        public RootPreferencesFragment(int preferencesResId) {
            this.preferencesResId = preferencesResId;
        }

        @Override
        public void onCreatePreferences(Bundle savedInstanceState, String rootKey) {
            addPreferencesFromResource(preferencesResId);
        }
    }

    public static class LowerPreferencesFragment extends PreferenceFragmentCompat {

        private PreferenceScreen prefs;

        public LowerPreferencesFragment() {
        }

        public LowerPreferencesFragment(PreferenceScreen prefs) {
            this.prefs = prefs;
        }

        @Override
        public void onCreatePreferences(Bundle savedInstanceState, String rootKey) {
            if (prefs != null) {
                setPreferenceScreen(prefs);
                prefs = null;
            }
        }
    }
}

Or see this gist.

Answer 2

Since google sadly didn't fixed it until now, there is actually one much easier solution:

1. Set your SettingsActivity class to extend from just "Activity".

   public class SettingsActivity extends Activity { ...

2. Create a new Theme in your v21/styles folder for your SettingsActivty and set the parent to "Theme.Material.*"

   <style name="CustomThemeSettings" parent="android:Theme.Material"> <item name="android:colorPrimary">@color/...</item> <item name="android:colorPrimaryDark">@color/...</item> <item name="android:colorAccent">@color/...</item> </style>

3. Set your new theme in your Manifest.xml file:

   <activity android:name=".SettingsActivity" android:label="@string/title_activity_settingsactivity" android:theme="@style/CustomThemeSettings" > </activity>

4. It just works :)

5. (Optional) If you want to provide Material Design support for older Devices
   you can put the SettingsActivity in an v21+ folder and create a other SettingsActivity for older devices which has the parent AppCompat.

Answer 3

Had the same issue. Nested PreferenceScreens did not have an ActionBar. After stepping through the code, it appears to be caused by a conflict between AppCompatActivity and PreferenceScreen.

On one hand AppCompatActivity provides its own action bar, and therefore requires a theme descending from Theme.AppCompat which specifies windowNoTitle = true somewhere (could not pinpoint exactly where). On the other -- PreferenceScreen uses platform Dialog with the activity theme (rather than sub-theme, e.g., dialogTheme). Could be a bug.

If you don't care about Theme.AppCompat, here's a simple workaround that works on API 21+:

• use android.preference.PreferenceActivity as the base class for your activity

• create a theme for that activity:

  <!-- This theme is used to show ActionBar on sub-PreferenceScreens -->
  <style name="PreferenceTheme" parent="">
    <item name="android:windowActionBar">true</item>
    <item name="android:windowNoTitle">false</item>
  </style>
  

• specify android:theme="@style/PreferenceTheme" for this activity in the AndroidManifest.xml

What you'll get is more like a standard window title than a full ActionBar. I haven't yet figured out how to add a working back button, etc.

If you want to remain compatible with AppCompatActivity and the related themes, you'll need to request FEATURE_NO_TITLE on the activity window. Otherwise, you'll end up with two action bars (the built-in on top, and the support on bottom) in the top-level PreferenceScreen.

Answer 4

I finally managed to find a way to do this. It's kind of ugly but it works.

First I add an the same Intent to every PreferenceScreen definition in my preferences.xml file (make sure to update the value of the extra parameter)

        <PreferenceScreen
            android:key="pref1"
            android:summary="Summary1"
            android:title="Title1" >
            <intent
                android:action="android.intent.action.VIEW"
                android:targetPackage="my.package"
                android:targetClass="my.package.activity.PreferencesActivity" >
                <extra android:name="page" android:value="pref1" />
            </intent>
...

</PreferenceScreen>

BTW my.package.activity.PreferencesActivity is my current Preference Activity

Then I add an intent-filter in the Manifest

        <activity
            android:name=".activity.PreferencesActivity"
            android:configChanges="keyboardHidden|orientation|screenSize"
            android:label="@string/settings" >
            <intent-filter android:label="Pref" >
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />
                <category android:name="android.intent.category.PREFERENCE" />
            </intent-filter>
  </activity>

I add some code in the PreferenceActivity to handle this

   @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.preferences_activity);

        this.fragment = new PreferencesFragment();
        this.fragment.setActivityIntent(getIntent());
        getFragmentManager().beginTransaction()
                .replace(R.id.container, this.fragment).commit();
    }

Finally I add the following code in my PreferencesFragment class

    public void setActivityIntent(final Intent activityIntent) {
 if (activityIntent != null) {
                        if (Intent.ACTION_VIEW.equals(activityIntent.getAction())) {

                        if (intent.getExtras() != null) {
                            final String page = intent.getExtras().getString("page");
                            if (!TextUtils.isEmpty(page)) {
                                openPreferenceScreen(page);
                            }
                        }
                    }
    }

private void openPreferenceScreen(final String screenName) {
    final Preference pref = findPreference(screenName);
    if (pref instanceof PreferenceScreen) {
        final PreferenceScreen preferenceScreen = (PreferenceScreen) pref;
        ((PreferencesActivity) getActivity()).setTitle(preferenceScreen.getTitle());
        setPreferenceScreen((PreferenceScreen) pref);
    }
}

Answer 5

Note: Only for API>=14

Source1 and Source2

PreferenceActivity1.java

public class PreferenceActivity1 extends android.preference.PreferenceActivity {
@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    addPreferencesFromResource(R.xml.pref1);

}

@Override
protected void onPostCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onPostCreate(savedInstanceState);

    LinearLayout root = (LinearLayout)findViewById(android.R.id.list).getParent().getParent().getParent();
    Toolbar bar = (Toolbar) LayoutInflater.from(this).inflate(R.layout.settings_toolbar, root, false);
    root.addView(bar, 0); // insert at top
    bar.setNavigationOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
        @Override
        public void onClick(View v) {
            finish();
        }
    });
}
}

PreferenceActivity2.java

public class PreferenceActivity2 extends android.preference.PreferenceActivity {
@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    addPreferencesFromResource(R.xml.pref2);
}
@Override
protected void onPostCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onPostCreate(savedInstanceState);

    LinearLayout root = (LinearLayout)findViewById(android.R.id.list).getParent().getParent().getParent();
    Toolbar bar = (Toolbar) LayoutInflater.from(this).inflate(R.layout.settings_toolbar, root, false);
    root.addView(bar, 0); // insert at top
    bar.setNavigationOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
        @Override
        public void onClick(View v) {
            finish();
        }
    });
}
}

settings_toolbar.xml(layout)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
android:id="@+id/toolbar"
app:theme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Dark.ActionBar"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:minHeight="?attr/actionBarSize"
app:navigationContentDescription="@string/abc_action_bar_up_description"
android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"
app:navigationIcon="?attr/homeAsUpIndicator"
app:title="@string/app_name"
/>

pref1.xml(xml)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<PreferenceScreen xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:theme="@android:style/Theme.Light" >

<PreferenceCategory android:title="Main Preferences" >
    <CheckBoxPreference
        android:key="wifi enabled"
        android:title="WiFi" />
</PreferenceCategory>

<PreferenceScreen
    android:key="key1"
    android:summary=""
    android:title="Wifi Settings" >
    <intent
        android:action="android.intent.action.VIEW"
        android:targetClass="com.example.PreferenceActivity2"
        android:targetPackage="com.example" />
</PreferenceScreen>

</PreferenceScreen>

pref2.xml(xml)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<PreferenceScreen xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:theme="@android:style/Theme.Light" >

<PreferenceCategory android:title="Wifi Settings" >
    <CheckBoxPreference
        android:key="prefer wifi"
        android:title="Prefer WiFi" />
</PreferenceCategory>

</PreferenceScreen>

Manifest

<application
    android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
    android:label="@string/app_name" >
    <activity
        android:name="com.example.PreferenceActivity1"
        android:label="@string/app_name" >
        <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
            <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
        </intent-filter>
    </activity>
    <activity
        android:name="com.example.PreferenceActivity2"
        android:label="@string/app_name" >
        <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />
            <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
        </intent-filter>
    </activity>
</application>

Result

Answer 6

As you mentioned in the question the fullscreen Dialog might be a problem.

Try to change the Dialog style to:

<style name="Theme.Holo.Dialog">

or to style which has these properties:

<item name="windowActionBar">true</item>
<item name="windowNoTitle">false</item>

Here you can read how to get reference to the Dialog.

Answer 7

but as soon as I press on a PreferenceScreen preference, the actionbar is hidden. If I go back to the preference main screen I can see it again.

I guess you are launching a new activity when clicked on the preference

Your Preference fragment should look like this

    public static class PreferencesFragment extends PreferenceFragment {

    public PlaceholderFragment() {
    }

    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        addPreferencesFromResource(R.xml.your_preferences);
    }
}

Then sample your_preferences as below

<PreferenceScreen xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:layout_width="fill_parent" >

<PreferenceCategory
    android:title="@string/pref_category_title">
    <PreferenceScreen
        android:title="@string/title"
        android:summary="@string/summary">

        <intent
            android:targetClass="com.your.package.Youractivity "
            android:targetPackage="com.your.package"/>

    </PreferenceScreen>
    <PreferenceScreen
        android:title="@string/another_title">
        <intent
            android:targetClass="com.your.package.activity2"
            android:targetPackage="com.your.package.activity"/>
    </PreferenceScreen>
</PreferenceCategory>

And finally the main thing Youractivity should extend from ActionBarActivity

    public class Youractivity extends ActionBarActivity {
}

The above code works for me.

Answer 8

I have made an app that does have an action bar in the preferences activity. I can't seem to see the key to doing that, although I do remember it took me some time to nail it right.

It seems like our codes are quite similar. The only thing that gets to my attention is this import: import android.support.v7.app.ActionBarActivity;

Let me know if that helps any

public class SettingsActivity extends ActionBarActivity {


    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {

        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

        getFragmentManager().beginTransaction().replace(android.R.id.content, new PrefsFragment() ).commit();
    } // End of onCreate



    static public class PrefsFragment extends PreferenceFragment {

        @Override
        public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
            super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

            addPreferencesFromResource(R.xml.preferences);  // Load the preferences from an XML resource


        }

    }  // end of PrefsFragment

}

Addition: do you have this in your styles.xml?

<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar">
</style>