Android TabLayout Android Design

I had to collect information from various sources to put together a functioning TabLayout. The following is presented as a complete use case that can be modified as needed.

Make sure the module build.gradle file contains a dependency on com.android.support:design.

dependencies {
    compile 'com.android.support:design:23.1.1'
}

In my case, I am creating an About activity in the application with a TabLayout. I added the following section to AndroidMainifest.xml. Setting the parentActivityName allows the home arrow to take the user back to the main activity.

<!-- android:configChanges="orientation|screenSize" makes the activity not reload when the orientation changes. -->
<activity
    android:name=".AboutActivity"
    android:label="@string/about_app"
    android:theme="@style/MyApp.About"
    android:parentActivityName=".MainActivity"
    android:configChanges="orientation|screenSize" >

    <!-- android.support.PARENT_ACTIVITY is necessary for API <= 15. -->
    <meta-data
        android:name="android.support.PARENT_ACTIVITY"
        android:value=".MainActivity" />
</activity>

styles.xml contains the following entries. This app has a white AppBar for the main activity and a blue AppBar for the About activity. We need to set colorPrimaryDark for the About activity so that the status bar above the AppBar is blue.

<style name="MyApp" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.NoActionBar">
    <item name="colorAccent">@color/blue</item>
</style>

<style name="MyApp.About" />

<!-- ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Dark.ActionBar" makes the text and the icons in the AppBar white. -->
<style name="MyApp.DarkAppBar" parent="ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Dark.ActionBar" />

<style name="MyApp.AppBarOverlay" parent="ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.ActionBar" />

<style name="MyApp.PopupOverlay" parent="ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Light" />

There is also a styles.xml (v19). It is located at src/main/res/values-v19/styles.xml. This file is only applied if the API of the device is >= 19.

<!-- android:windowTranslucentStatus requires API >= 19.  It makes the system status bar transparent.
  When it is specified the root layout should include android:fitsSystemWindows="true".
  colorPrimaryDark goes behind the status bar, which is then darkened by the overlay. -->
<style name="MyApp.About">
    <item name="android:windowTranslucentStatus">true</item>
    <item name="colorPrimaryDark">@color/blue</item>
</style>

AboutActivity.java contains the following code. In my case I have a fixed number of tabs (7) so I could remove all the code dealing with dynamic tabs.

import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.design.widget.TabLayout;
import android.support.v4.app.Fragment;
import android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager;
import android.support.v4.app.FragmentPagerAdapter;
import android.support.v4.view.ViewPager;
import android.support.v7.app.ActionBar;
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar;

public class AboutActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.about_coordinatorlayout);

        // We need to use the SupportActionBar from android.support.v7.app.ActionBar until the minimum API is >= 21.
        Toolbar supportAppBar = (Toolbar) findViewById(R.id.about_toolbar);
        setSupportActionBar(supportAppBar);

        // Display the home arrow on supportAppBar.
        final ActionBar appBar = getSupportActionBar();
        assert appBar != null;// This assert removes the incorrect warning in Android Studio on the following line that appBar might be null.
        appBar.setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true);

        //  Setup the ViewPager.
        ViewPager aboutViewPager = (ViewPager) findViewById(R.id.about_viewpager);
        assert aboutViewPager != null; // This assert removes the incorrect warning in Android Studio on the following line that aboutViewPager might be null.
        aboutViewPager.setAdapter(new aboutPagerAdapter(getSupportFragmentManager()));

        // Setup the TabLayout and connect it to the ViewPager.
        TabLayout aboutTabLayout = (TabLayout) findViewById(R.id.about_tablayout);
        assert aboutTabLayout != null; // This assert removes the incorrect warning in Android Studio on the following line that aboutTabLayout might be null.
        aboutTabLayout.setupWithViewPager(aboutViewPager);
    }

    public class aboutPagerAdapter extends FragmentPagerAdapter {
        public aboutPagerAdapter(FragmentManager fm) {
            super(fm);
        }

        @Override
        // Get the count of the number of tabs.
        public int getCount() {
            return 7;
        }

        @Override
        // Get the name of each tab.  Tab numbers start at 0.
        public CharSequence getPageTitle(int tab) {
            switch (tab) {
                case 0:
                    return getString(R.string.version);

                case 1:
                    return getString(R.string.permissions);

                case 2:
                    return getString(R.string.privacy_policy);

                case 3:
                    return getString(R.string.changelog);

                case 4:
                    return getString(R.string.license);

                case 5:
                    return getString(R.string.contributors);

                case 6:
                    return getString(R.string.links);

                default:
                    return "";
            }
        }

        @Override
        // Setup each tab.
        public Fragment getItem(int tab) {
            return AboutTabFragment.createTab(tab);
        }
    }
}

AboutTabFragment.java is used to populate each tab. In my case, the first tab has a LinearLayout inside of a ScrollView and all the others have a WebView as the root layout.

import android.os.Build;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v4.app.Fragment;
import android.view.LayoutInflater;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.ViewGroup;
import android.webkit.WebView;
import android.widget.TextView;

public class AboutTabFragment extends Fragment {
    private int tabNumber;

    // AboutTabFragment.createTab stores the tab number in the bundle arguments so it can be referenced from onCreate().
    public static AboutTabFragment createTab(int tab) {
        Bundle thisTabArguments = new Bundle();
        thisTabArguments.putInt("Tab", tab);
        AboutTabFragment thisTab = new AboutTabFragment();
        thisTab.setArguments(thisTabArguments);
        return thisTab;
    }

    @Override
    public void onCreate (Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

        // Store the tab number in tabNumber.
        tabNumber = getArguments().getInt("Tab");
    }

    @Override
    public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container, Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        View tabLayout;

        // Load the about tab layout.  Tab numbers start at 0.
        if (tabNumber == 0) {
            // Setting false at the end of inflater.inflate does not attach the inflated layout as a child of container.
            // The fragment will take care of attaching the root automatically.
            tabLayout = inflater.inflate(R.layout.about_tab_version, container, false);
        } else { // load a WebView for all the other tabs.  Tab numbers start at 0.
            // Setting false at the end of inflater.inflate does not attach the inflated layout as a child of container.
            // The fragment will take care of attaching the root automatically.
            tabLayout = inflater.inflate(R.layout.about_tab_webview, container, false);
            WebView tabWebView = (WebView) tabLayout;

            switch (tabNumber) {
                case 1:
                tabWebView.loadUrl("file:///android_asset/about_permissions.html");
                    break;

                case 2:
                    tabWebView.loadUrl("file:///android_asset/about_privacy_policy.html");
                    break;

                case 3:
                    tabWebView.loadUrl("file:///android_asset/about_changelog.html");
                    break;

                case 4:
                    tabWebView.loadUrl("file:///android_asset/about_license.html");
                    break;

                case 5:
                    tabWebView.loadUrl("file:///android_asset/about_contributors.html");
                    break;

                case 6:
                    tabWebView.loadUrl("file:///android_asset/about_links.html");
                    break;

                default:
                    break;
            }
        }

        return tabLayout;
    }
}

about_coordinatorlayout.xml is as follows:

<!-- android:fitsSystemWindows="true" moves the AppBar below the status bar.
  When it is specified the theme should include <item name="android:windowTranslucentStatus">true</item>
  to make the status bar a transparent, darkened overlay. -->
<android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout
    android:id="@+id/about_coordinatorlayout"
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:fitsSystemWindows="true" >

    <!-- the LinearLayout with orientation="vertical" moves the ViewPager below the AppBarLayout. -->
    <LinearLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:orientation="vertical" >

        <!-- We need to set android:background="@color/blue" here or any space to the right of the TabLayout on large devices will be white. -->
        <android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout
            android:id="@+id/about_appbarlayout"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:background="@color/blue"
            android:theme="@style/MyApp.AppBarOverlay" >

            <!-- android:theme="@style/PrivacyBrowser.DarkAppBar" makes the text and icons in the AppBar white. -->
            <android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
                android:id="@+id/about_toolbar"
                android:layout_width="match_parent"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:background="@color/blue"
                android:theme="@style/MyApp.DarkAppBar"
                app:popupTheme="@style/MyApp.PopupOverlay" />

            <android.support.design.widget.TabLayout
                android:id="@+id/about_tablayout"
                xmlns:android.support.design="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:layout_width="match_parent"
                android.support.design:tabBackground="@color/blue"
                android.support.design:tabTextColor="@color/light_blue"
                android.support.design:tabSelectedTextColor="@color/white"
                android.support.design:tabIndicatorColor="@color/white"
                android.support.design:tabMode="scrollable" />
        </android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout>

        <!-- android:layout_weight="1" makes about_viewpager fill the rest of the screen. -->
        <android.support.v4.view.ViewPager
            android:id="@+id/about_viewpager"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="0dp"
            android:layout_weight="1" />
    </LinearLayout>
</android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout>

about_tab_version.xml is as follows:

<!-- The ScrollView allows the LinearLayout to scroll if it exceeds the height of the page. -->
<ScrollView
    android:id="@+id/about_version_scrollview"
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_width="match_parent" >

    <LinearLayout
        android:id="@+id/about_version_linearlayout"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:orientation="vertical"
        android:padding="16dp" >

        <!-- Include whatever content you want in this tab here. -->

    </LinearLayout>
</ScrollView>

And about_tab_webview.xml:

<!-- This WebView displays inside of the tabs in AboutActivity. -->
<WebView
    android:id="@+id/about_tab_webview"
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent" />

There are also entries in strings.xml

<string name="about_app">About App</string>
<string name="version">Version</string>
<string name="permissions">Permissions</string>
<string name="privacy_policy">Privacy Policy</string>
<string name="changelog">Changelog</string>
<string name="license">License</string>
<string name="contributors">Contributors</string>
<string name="links">Links</string>

And colors.xml

<color name="blue">#FF1976D2</color>
<color name="light_blue">#FFBBDEFB</color>
<color name="white">#FFFFFFFF</color>

src/main/assets contains the HTML files referenced in AboutTabFragemnt.java.


I've just managed to setup new TabLayout, so here are the quick steps to do this (ノ◕ヮ◕)ノ*:・゚✧

  1. Add dependencies inside your build.gradle file:

    dependencies {
        compile 'com.android.support:design:23.1.1'
    }
    
  2. Add TabLayout inside your layout

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
          android:layout_width="match_parent"
          android:layout_height="match_parent"
          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.support.design.widget.TabLayout
            android:id="@+id/tab_layout"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"/>
    
        <android.support.v4.view.ViewPager
            android:id="@+id/pager"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="match_parent"/>
    
    </LinearLayout>
    
  3. Setup your Activity like this:

    import android.os.Bundle;
    import android.support.design.widget.TabLayout;
    import android.support.v4.app.Fragment;
    import android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager;
    import android.support.v4.app.FragmentPagerAdapter;
    import android.support.v4.view.ViewPager;
    import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
    import android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar;
    
    public class TabLayoutActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
    
        @Override
        protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
            super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
            setContentView(R.layout.activity_pull_to_refresh);
    
            Toolbar toolbar = (Toolbar) findViewById(R.id.toolbar);
            TabLayout tabLayout = (TabLayout) findViewById(R.id.tab_layout);
            ViewPager viewPager = (ViewPager) findViewById(R.id.pager);
    
            if (toolbar != null) {
                setSupportActionBar(toolbar);
            }
    
            viewPager.setAdapter(new SectionPagerAdapter(getSupportFragmentManager()));
            tabLayout.setupWithViewPager(viewPager);
        }
    
        public class SectionPagerAdapter extends FragmentPagerAdapter {
    
            public SectionPagerAdapter(FragmentManager fm) {
                super(fm);
            }
    
            @Override
            public Fragment getItem(int position) {
                switch (position) {
                    case 0:
                        return new FirstTabFragment();
                    case 1:
                    default:
                        return new SecondTabFragment();
                }
            }
    
            @Override
            public int getCount() {
                return 2;
            }
    
            @Override
            public CharSequence getPageTitle(int position) {
                switch (position) {
                    case 0:
                        return "First Tab";
                    case 1:
                    default:
                        return "Second Tab";
                }
            }
        }
    
    }