How to create a card toolbar using appcompat v7

Question

I want to create a toolbar like the following image as proposed in the material design guidelines:

I can achieve this via using the toolbar with an relative layout:

<RelativeLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" >

        <Toolbar/>

        <LinearLayout android:layout_marginTop="-17dp" />

</RelativeLayout>

I am not sure this is the correct way or not. Any help is appreciated.

Answer 1

You can obtain it using a Toolbar as ActionBar, a CardView and another Toolbar(standalone) inside the Card.

For the Toolbar standalone inside a Card you can use something like this:

<android.support.v7.widget.CardView>

   <LinearLayout>

        <Toolbar  android:id="@+id/card_toolbar" />

        //......

   </LinearLayout>

</CardView>

Then you can inflate your menu to obtain the icon actions.

 Toolbar toolbar = (Toolbar) mActivity.findViewById(R.id.card_toolbar);
   if (toolbar != null) {
         //inflate your menu    
         toolbar.inflateMenu(R.menu.card_toolbar);
         toolbar.setOnMenuItemClickListener(new Toolbar.OnMenuItemClickListener() {
                    @Override
                    public boolean onMenuItemClick(MenuItem menuItem) {
                         //.....
                    }
                });
   }

For the toolbar used as action bar and the main layout you can use:

option1:

<RelativeLayout>

    <toolbar/>  //Main toolbar 

    <View
        android:background="@color/primary_color"
        android:layout_height="@dimen/subtoolbar_height"/>

    <CardView /> //described above

</RelativeLayout>

Option2: An extended toolbar (as actionbar) and a CardView as described above playing with margins.

Answer 2

Thanks Gabriele for all the help. Here is working code:

Activity :

public class MainActivity extends ActionBarActivity {

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_mai);

        Toolbar toolbar = (Toolbar) findViewById(R.id.card_toolbar);
        if (toolbar != null) {
            // inflate your menu
            toolbar.inflateMenu(R.menu.main);
            toolbar.setTitle("Card Toolbar");
            toolbar.setOnMenuItemClickListener(new Toolbar.OnMenuItemClickListener() {
                @Override
                public boolean onMenuItemClick(MenuItem menuItem) {
                    return true;
                }
            });
        }

        Toolbar maintoolbar = (Toolbar) findViewById(R.id.toolbar_main);
        if (maintoolbar != null) {
            // inflate your menu
            maintoolbar.inflateMenu(R.menu.main);
            maintoolbar.setOnMenuItemClickListener(new Toolbar.OnMenuItemClickListener() {
                @Override
                public boolean onMenuItemClick(MenuItem menuItem) {
                    return true;
                }
            });
        }
    }

}

Layout XML File:

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent" >

    <android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
        android:id="@+id/toolbar_main"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="@dimen/action_bar_size_x2"
        android:background="@android:color/holo_orange_dark"
        android:minHeight="?attr/actionBarSize" />

    <LinearLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:layout_below="@+id/toolbar_main"
        android:layout_marginLeft="15dp"
        android:layout_marginRight="15dp"
        android:layout_marginTop="@dimen/action_bar_size"
        android:orientation="vertical" >

        <android.support.v7.widget.CardView
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="match_parent" >

            <LinearLayout
                android:layout_width="match_parent"
                android:layout_height="match_parent"
                android:orientation="vertical" >

                <android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
                    android:id="@+id/card_toolbar"
                    android:layout_width="match_parent"
                    android:layout_height="@dimen/action_bar_size"
                    android:background="@android:color/white" />

                <View
                    android:layout_width="match_parent"
                    android:layout_height="1dp"
                    android:background="@android:color/darker_gray" />

                <TextView
                    android:layout_width="match_parent"
                    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                    android:layout_margin="10dp"
                    android:text="@string/app_name"
                    android:textSize="24sp" />
            </LinearLayout>
        </android.support.v7.widget.CardView>
    </LinearLayout>

</RelativeLayout>

Make sure your activity theme is extending Theme.AppCompat.Light.NoActionBar.

Here is what it will look like:

Few things to note:

• If you are using card elevation then you need to alter the margin top so that your card aligns with the main toolbar.
• I am still seeing 1-2 pixel margin between bottom of main toolbar and card toolbar. Not sure about what to do in this case. For now, I am aligning it manually.