Custom (gradient) Background Of Actionbar Compat

I am using Action Bar Compat so that my action bar with navigation drawer was backward compatible down to API level 9 and I want to change the background of the action bar. I copi

Solution 1:

I am currently working on the same task.

Here is my action_bar_bg.xml file in which I define the gradient for my action bar.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><shapexmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"><gradientandroid:angle="90"android:centerColor="@color/turquoise_action_bar"android:endColor="@color/dark_turquoise"android:startColor="@color/dark_turquoise" /></shape>

DeadObjectException

android:shape="line" can't be used if there is a gradient inside. I tested it; my Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 N8000 restarted, and there was a DeadObjectException.

The linear type of gradient pattern is the default value. So you don't have to declare it explicitly.

Here is my styles.xml in the values folder.

<resources><!-- Base application theme. --><stylename="AppThemeBase"parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar"><itemname="android:actionBarStyle">@style/PeopleCanAct</item><!-- Support library compatibility --><itemname="actionBarStyle">@style/MyActionBar</item></style><stylename="AppTheme"parent="AppThemeBase"><!-- All the customizations that are NOT specific to a particular API level can go here --></style><!-- ActionBar styles --><stylename="MyActionBar"parent="@style/Widget.AppCompat.Light.ActionBar.Solid.Inverse"><itemname="android:background">@drawable/action_bar_bg</item><!-- Support library compatibility --><itemname="background">@drawable/action_bar_bg</item></style></resources>

Gradient Drawable

Solution 2:

Another approach, without modifying styles.xml:

Here is our example GradientDrawable in res/drawable/ab_gradient.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><shapexmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"android:shape="rectangle"android:useLevel="false" ><gradientandroid:angle="90"android:startColor="#000000"android:endColor="#FFFFFF"android:type="linear" /></shape>

You can set it to action bar in your Activity's onCreate():

ActionBaractionBar= getActionBar();    
actionBar.setBackgroundDrawable(getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.action_bar_gradient_shape));

If you use support v7 library (your case):

// make sure to import android.support.v7.app.ActionBarActionBaractionBar= getSupportActionBar();        
actionBar.setBackgroundDrawable(getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.action_bar_gradient_shape));

Or if you use ActionBarSherlock:

// make sure to import com.actionbarsherlock.app.ActionBarActionBaractionBar= getSherlock().getActionBar();     
actionBar.setBackgroundDrawable(getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.action_bar_gradient_shape));

Solution 3:

This is an example for the action bar xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><shapexmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"><gradientandroid:angle="180"android:endColor="#BF797777"android:startColor="#A4231E35"android:type="linear" /></shape>

Instead of using android:shape="line" , in order to avoid DeadObjectException , you can set the android:angle to 180 or 0 - the effect will be the same, that is a horizontal line gradient.

Solution 4:

I also use that sample code from Android Developer and use the gradient XML as like yours.

<shape
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"android:shape="line">

I found the different of this file between yours and mine is android:shape="line" / android:shape="rectangle".

So I try to change my rectangle to line. My app also occurs the same exception and the OS is restarted. Maybe the shape is the key point.