How to customize Android ActionBar to show a custo

Question

I'm using a custom view for the ActionBar with Tabs. My problem is the ordering of the custom view. Android is displaying it AFTER the tabs - which I do not want.

I want the custom view displayed BEFORE the tabs.

Is there a way to customize the actionBar to show the custom view before the tabs? or is this not possible?

Code:

protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

    final ActionBar bar = getActionBar();
    bar.setNavigationMode(ActionBar.NAVIGATION_MODE_TABS);

    View customActionBarView = 
        getLayoutInflater().inflate(R.layout.home_actionbar, null, true);
    ActionBar.LayoutParams lp = 
        new ActionBar.LayoutParams(LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT, 
            LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT);

    lp.gravity = Gravity.START;
    bar.setCustomView(customActionBarView, lp);
    bar.setLogo(R.drawable.logo);
    bar.setHomeButtonEnabled(true);
    bar.setDisplayShowCustomEnabled(true);

    bar.addTab(bar.newTab()
        .setText("Stuff")
        .setTabListener(new TabListener<StuffFragment>(
            this, "stuff", StuffFragment.class)));

    bar.addTab(bar.newTab()
        .setText("Friends")
        .setTabListener(new TabListener<ContactsFragment>(
            this, "friends", ContactsFragment.class)));

    bar.addTab(bar.newTab()
        .setText("Messages")
        .setTabListener(new TabListener<ConversationsFragment>(
            this, "messages", ConversationsFragment.class)));

    if (savedInstanceState != null) {
        bar.setSelectedNavigationItem(savedInstanceState.getInt("tab", 0));
    }

    bar.setDisplayOptions(ActionBar.DISPLAY_SHOW_CUSTOM | 
        ActionBar.DISPLAY_SHOW_HOME | ActionBar.DISPLAY_USE_LOGO);

    bar.setNavigationMode(ActionBar.NAVIGATION_MODE_TABS);    
}

Answer 1

This seems to be the intended behaviour when using tabs and custom views. https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=36191#c3

If you take a look at ActionBarSherlock - Tabs appearing ABOVE actionbar with custom view many other people are experiencing this as well and some people have offered solutions.

I have been unable to get any of the solutions working, but they may work for you. The trick seems to be to make sure the logo is is not set to be hidden. Call
getActionBar().setDisplayShowHomeEnabled(true) or getSupportActionBar().setDisplayShowHomeEnabled(true) if using ActionBarSherlock.

Then call:

View homeIcon = findViewById(
    Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.HONEYCOMB ? 
    android.R.id.home : R.id.abs__home);
((View) homeIcon.getParent()).setVisibility(View.GONE);
((View) homeIcon).setVisibility(View.GONE);

This will get a reference to the actionbar view that holds the logo and sets it to gone with enables the custom view to fill the entire parent view, but should keep the tabs underneath...

As I said I was unable to get this working, but some people have had success.

Good luck.