Android Toolbar not showing

Question

currently I am using Android's new toolbar (in appcompat). It works fine until I try the following method: toolbar.bringToFront(). When I call this, the toolbar disappears. My layout:

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
tools:context=".MainActivity">

<android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
    android:id="@+id/toolbar"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="56dp"
    android:background="@color/colorPrimary"
    app:theme="@style/ToolbarTheme"
    app:popupTheme="@style/ToolbarThemePopup"
    />


<com.asdev.sechat.SlidingTabLayout
    android:id="@+id/sliding_tabs"
    android:background="@color/colorPrimary"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    />

<android.support.v4.view.ViewPager
    android:id="@+id/view_pager"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    />

Now the reason I need it in front is that the SlidingTabLayout has a shadow which covers the toolbar, and I don't want that. Anyone know how I can bring the toolbar to the top and still have it visible? Thanks.

Answer 1

Use bringToFront in your java file for toolbar will solve your problem.

Edit

This is working solution in my app

<LinearLayout
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:orientation="vertical" >

    <android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
        android:id="@+id/toolbar"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"
        android:minHeight="?attr/actionBarSize"
        app:popupTheme="@style/Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar"
        app:theme="@style/Toolbar" />

    <com.asdev.sechat.SlidingTabLayout
        android:id="@+id/sliding_tabs"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="@dimen/tab_height"
        android:background="@color/primaryColor"
        android:minHeight="@dimen/tab_height"/>

    <android.support.v4.view.ViewPager
        android:id="@+id/pager"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent" />
</LinearLayout>

Answer 2

from the docs:

Change the view's z order in the tree, so it's on top of other sibling views. This ordering change may affect layout, if the parent container uses an order-dependent layout scheme (e.g., LinearLayout). Prior to KITKAT this method should be followed by calls to requestLayout() and invalidate() on the view's parent to force the parent to redraw with the new child ordering.

https://developer.android.com/reference/android/view/View.html#bringToFront()

It makes sense that this would mess up your layout. you may have to look into a relative layout or find a different way to get rid of the shadow. or if you're min sdk 21 you could probably set the elevation on the toolbar manually.

relativelayout example:

<RelativeLayout         
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:orientation="vertical"
android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
tools:context=".MainActivity">


<com.asdev.sechat.SlidingTabLayout
    android:id="@+id/sliding_tabs"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_below="@+id/toolbar"
    android:background="@color/colorPrimary" />

<android.support.v4.view.ViewPager
    android:id="@+id/view_pager"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    android:layout_below="@id/sliding_tabs" />

<android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
    android:id="@id/toolbar"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:align_parentTop="true"
    android:layout_height="56dp"
    android:background="@color/colorPrimary"
    app:popupTheme="@style/ToolbarThemePopup"
    app:theme="@style/ToolbarTheme" />


</RelativeLayout>