Question

I have some problems with action bar in android. I want to have some icons on left side and on right side. On left side I want to have 2 icons and text and on right side I would like to have 6 icons, but when text is very long I want to hide some icons on right side. In standard action bar I can add items only from right to left, so I decide to create own action bar. How I can start? What I need to know to do that. Can you give me some advices or examples?

Answer 1

Its very simple. Create new class that will be extended from some layout. Inflate xml which will be have icons and buttons. And make methods for logic show\hide\set listeners and so on. I did it early but now i can say that it’s not so good idea. There are guidelines and very important to create apps as it must be.

Example from my old project :

public class ActionBar extends RelativeLayout {
    private ToggleButton buttonSave;
    private ToggleButton buttonClear;
    private ToggleButton buttonHelp;
    private ToggleButton buttonBack;
    private FrameLayout sepparator;
    private TextView textview;
    private ImageView imageViewIcon;


    public ActionBar(Context context, AttributeSet attrs) {
        super(context, attrs);

        LayoutInflater layoutInflater = (LayoutInflater)context.getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);
        layoutInflater.inflate(R.layout.actionbar, this);

        initView();
    }

    private void initView () {
        buttonSave = (ToggleButton) findViewById(R.id.actionbar_togglebutton_save);
        buttonBack = (ToggleButton) findViewById(R.id.actionbar_togglebutton_back);
        buttonHelp = (ToggleButton) findViewById(R.id.actionbar_togglebutton_help);
        textview = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.actionbar_textview);
        imageViewIcon = (ImageView) findViewById(R.id.actionbar_imageview_icon);
        buttonClear = (ToggleButton) findViewById(R.id.actionbar_togglebutton_clear);
        sepparator = (FrameLayout) findViewById(R.id.actionbar_sepparator);
    }

    public void setOnSaveButtonClickListener (OnClickListener listener) {
        buttonSave.setOnClickListener(listener);
    }

    public void setSaveButtonDrawable (Drawable d) {
        buttonSave.setBackgroundDrawable(d);
        buttonSave.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
    }

    public void setOnHelpButtonClickListener (OnClickListener listener) {
        buttonHelp.setOnClickListener(listener);
    }
    public void setHelpButtonDrawable (Drawable d) {
        buttonHelp.setBackgroundDrawable(d);
        buttonHelp.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
    }

    public void setOnBackButtonClickListener (OnClickListener listener) {
        buttonBack.setOnClickListener(listener);
    }

    public void setBackButtonDrawable (Drawable d) {
        buttonBack.setBackgroundDrawable(d);
        buttonBack.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
    }

    public void setClearButtonDrawable (Drawable d) {
        buttonClear.setBackgroundDrawable(d);
        buttonClear.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
    }

    public void setOnClearButtonClickListener (OnClickListener listener) {
        buttonClear.setOnClickListener(listener);
    }

    public void setTitle (String value) {
        textview.setText(value);
    }

    public void setIcon (int resId) {
        imageViewIcon.setImageDrawable(getResources().getDrawable(resId));
    }

    public void setOnIconClickListener (OnClickListener listener) {
        imageViewIcon.setOnClickListener(listener);
    }

    public void setSaveButtonChecked (boolean value) {
        buttonSave.setChecked(value);
    }

    public void setSeporatorVisible (int visibility) {
        sepparator.setVisibility(visibility);
    }

    public void setOnIconListener (OnClickListener listener) {
        imageViewIcon.setOnClickListener(listener);
    }
}

XML :

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout 
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="60dp"
    android:background="@drawable/avtion_bar_bg" >


    <ToggleButton 
        android:id="@+id/actionbar_togglebutton_back"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
        android:layout_centerVertical="true"
        android:visibility="gone"
        android:background="@drawable/arrow_back_button_drawable"
        android:textOn=""
        android:textOff="" />

     <ImageView 
        android:id="@+id/actionbar_imageview_icon"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
        android:layout_centerVertical="true"
        android:layout_toRightOf="@id/actionbar_togglebutton_back"
        android:layout_marginLeft="19.1dp"/>

    <TextView 
        android:id="@+id/actionbar_textview"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
        android:layout_centerVertical="true"
        android:textColor="@color/actionbar_text"
        android:textSize="16dp"
        android:layout_toRightOf="@id/actionbar_imageview_icon"
        android:layout_marginLeft="56.1dp" /> 

   <RelativeLayout 
       android:id="@+id/actionbar_relativelayout_saveconteiner"
       android:layout_width="wrap_content"
       android:layout_height="wrap_content"
       android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
       android:layout_centerVertical="true">

       <ToggleButton 
           android:id="@+id/actionbar_togglebutton_save"
           android:layout_width="wrap_content"
           android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
           android:visibility="gone"
           android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
           android:layout_centerVertical="true"
           android:background="@drawable/save_btn_drawable"
           android:textOn=""
           android:textOff=""/>

       <FrameLayout 
           android:id="@+id/actionbar_sepparator"
           android:layout_width="0.5dp"
           android:background="@color/white25transpert"
           android:layout_toLeftOf="@id/actionbar_togglebutton_save"
           android:layout_height="35dp"
           android:layout_centerInParent="true">     
       </FrameLayout>

       <ToggleButton 
           android:id="@+id/actionbar_togglebutton_clear"
           android:layout_width="wrap_content"
           android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
           android:visibility="gone"
           android:layout_toLeftOf="@id/actionbar_sepparator"
           android:layout_marginRight="4dp"
           android:layout_centerVertical="true"
           android:background="@drawable/clear_button_drawable"
           android:textOn=""
           android:textOff=""/>

   </RelativeLayout> 

   <ToggleButton 
      android:id="@+id/actionbar_togglebutton_help"
      android:layout_width="wrap_content"
      android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
      android:visibility="gone"
      android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
      android:layout_centerVertical="true"
      android:background="@drawable/save_btn_drawable"
      android:layout_marginRight="10dp"
      android:textOn=""
      android:textOff=""/>

</RelativeLayout>

Good luck!