Question

I have read looked through some code that implements tabs on the bottom of the app’s page. And there is no deprecated method/class inside the code, and to me it is a very easy and clean way to implements tabs.

But I heard the new way of implementing tabs is to use fragments.

So, which one is better? And why?

XML:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical" >

    <TabHost
        android:id="@+id/edit_item_tab_host"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="fill_parent" >

        <TabWidget
            android:id="@android:id/tabs"
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_gravity="bottom" />


            <FrameLayout
                android:id="@android:id/tabcontent"
                android:layout_width="fill_parent"
                android:layout_height="fill_parent"
                android:paddingTop="65px" >

            <LinearLayout
                android:id="@+id/edit_item_date_tab"
                android:layout_width="fill_parent"
                android:layout_height="fill_parent"
                android:orientation="vertical"
                android:padding="5px" >

                <TextView
                    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                    android:text="date"
                    android:textStyle="bold" />

            </LinearLayout>

            <LinearLayout
                android:id="@+id/edit_item_geocontext_tab"
                android:layout_width="fill_parent"
                android:layout_height="fill_parent"
                android:orientation="vertical"
                android:padding="5px" >

                <TextView
                    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                    android:text="lieu"
                    android:textStyle="bold" />
            </LinearLayout>

            <LinearLayout
                android:id="@+id/edit_item_text_tab"
                android:layout_width="fill_parent"
                android:layout_height="fill_parent"
                android:orientation="vertical"
                android:padding="5px" >
            </LinearLayout>
        </FrameLayout>
    </TabHost>

</LinearLayout>

MainActivity class:

import android.app.Activity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.widget.TabHost;
import android.widget.TabHost.TabSpec;

public class MainActivity extends Activity {
    /** Called when the activity is first created. */
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.main);



        TabHost tab_host = (TabHost) findViewById(R.id.edit_item_tab_host);
        // don't forget this setup before adding tabs from a tabhost using a xml view or you'll get an nullpointer exception
        tab_host.setup(); 

        TabSpec ts1 = tab_host.newTabSpec("TAB_DATE");
        ts1.setIndicator("tab1");
        ts1.setContent(R.id.edit_item_date_tab);
        tab_host.addTab(ts1);

        TabSpec ts2 = tab_host.newTabSpec("TAB_GEO");
        ts2.setIndicator("tab2");
        ts2.setContent(R.id.edit_item_geocontext_tab);
        tab_host.addTab(ts2);

        TabSpec ts3 = tab_host.newTabSpec("TAB_TEXT");
        ts3.setIndicator("tab3");
        ts3.setContent(R.id.edit_item_text_tab);
        tab_host.addTab(ts3);

        tab_host.setCurrentTab(0);




        }
}

Answer 1

A TabHost cannot contain fragments (well, it can but it’s really tricky) so I wouldn’t recommend to use it today.

Fragments are the way to go, and if you want to implement the new Tab mechanism (which is integrated to the “new” ActionBar available on Android 3.0) and still support old android versions there is ActionBarSherlock, an open-source project which facilitate the use of the action bar design pattern across all versions of Android with a single API.

A lot of popular apps uses this project nowadays (including Google apps) so it’s worth looking at.