Question

I would like to do the same thing than the GMail application on Honeycomb tablets.
When you click on the Refresh button, the icon is replaced by a ProgressBar.
How can I do this?

Thanks

Answer 1

Ok, I tried what Cailean suggested but it didn’t work for me. Every time I want to revert indeterminate progress to the original button it becomes unclickable, I used this layout for the progress

(actionbar_refresh_progress.xml)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<ProgressBar xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
             android:layout_width="32dp"
             android:layout_height="32dp"
             android:layout_gravity="center"/>

and this one to revert to the button

(actionbar_refresh_button.xml)

<ImageView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
           android:src="@drawable/ic_menu_refresh_holo_light"
           android:layout_height="wrap_content"
           android:layout_width="wrap_content"/>

my code was:

private void setRefreshing(boolean refreshing) {
        this.refreshing = refreshing;
        if(refreshMenuItem == null) return;
        View refreshView;
        LayoutInflater inflater = (LayoutInflater)getActionBar().getThemedContext().getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);

        if(refreshing)
            refreshView = inflater.inflate(R.layout.actionbar_refresh_progress, null);
        else
            refreshView = inflater.inflate(R.layout.actionbar_refresh_button, null);

        refreshMenuItem.setActionView(refreshView);
    }

After browsing the source of the Google IO app, especially this file: http://code.google.com/p/iosched/source/browse/android/src/com/google/android/apps/iosched/ui/HomeActivity.java i found another easier way.

Now I need only the first layout with progress and the working method looks like this:

private void setRefreshing(boolean refreshing) {
    this.refreshing = refreshing;
    if(refreshMenuItem == null) return;

    if(refreshing)
        refreshMenuItem.setActionView(R.layout.actionbar_refresh_progress);
    else
        refreshMenuItem.setActionView(null);
}

Menu item definition:

<item android:id="@+id/mail_refresh"
      android:title="Refresh"
      android:icon="@drawable/ic_menu_refresh_holo_light"
      android:showAsAction="always"/>

I hope someone finds this useful.