Android tabhost change text color style

Question

Trying to change tabhost text color, in this code I can change tabhost background color(not text color)

tabHost.setOnTabChangedListener(new OnTabChangeListener() {
        @Override
        public void onTabChanged(String tabId) {
          for (int i = 0; i < tabHost.getTabWidget().getChildCount(); i++) {
            tabHost.getTabWidget().getChildAt(i)
                            .setBackgroundColor(Color.parseColor("#FF0000")); // unselected
          }

          tabHost.getTabWidget().getChildAt(tabHost.getCurrentTab())
                        .setBackgroundColor(Color.parseColor("#0000FF")); // selected

        }
});

how can I change tabhost text color?

go to this: [http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11192863/the-text-color-does-not-change-tabwidget](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11192863/the-text-color-does-not-change-tabwidget) — M D, Mar 20 '14 at 12:32

Mukesh Kumar Singh · Accepted Answer · 2014-03-20T13:13:38.073

You may change color of Tabhost text as follow.

tabHost.setOnTabChangedListener(new OnTabChangeListener() {

    @Override
    public void onTabChanged(String tabId) {

        for (int i = 0; i < tabHost.getTabWidget().getChildCount(); i++) {
            tabHost.getTabWidget().getChildAt(i).setBackgroundColor(Color.parseColor("#FF0000")); // unselected
            TextView tv = (TextView) tabhost.getTabWidget().getChildAt(i).findViewById(android.R.id.title); //Unselected Tabs
            tv.setTextColor(Color.parseColor("#ffffff"));
        }

        tabHost.getTabWidget().getChildAt(tabHost.getCurrentTab()).setBackgroundColor(Color.parseColor("#0000FF")); // selected
        TextView tv = (TextView) tabhost.getCurrentTabView().findViewById(android.R.id.title); //for Selected Tab
        tv.setTextColor(Color.parseColor("#000000"))

    }
});

EDIT:

To set text color initially in your activity, you can use this code in onResume() function

TabHost tabhost = getTabHost();
    for(int i=0;i<tabhost.getTabWidget().getChildCount();i++) 
    {
        TextView tv = (TextView) tabhost.getTabWidget().getChildAt(i).findViewById(android.R.id.title);
        tv.setTextColor(Color.parseColor("#000000"));
    }

thank you it working when i click tabhost but first time color is also default.your code working only when i click some tabhost — user3345767, Mar 20 '14 at 12:40
meybe you didi not understand me. first time when i start program tabhost's text color is default(black color) and then if i click tabhost then color is changed perfect.i want to defaulf color should be my own color ,not default color — user3345767, Mar 20 '14 at 13:03
@user3345767 The color value of `"#000000"` is `black` so initially text color of text is black. you may change color i.e. `"#0000ff"` for `Blue`. etc. you can set default color `tv.setTextColor(Color.parseColor("#0000ff"))` for blue. As mention Edited part of Answer. — Mukesh Kumar Singh, Mar 20 '14 at 13:13

Will Molter · Answer 2 · 2016-08-23T20:20:43.920

12

This can actually be done using XML themes. The TabWidget uses android:textColorPrimary for the selected tab and android:textColorSecondary for the unselected ones. Thus, you can achieve a text color change like this:

In styles.xml:

<style name="TabWidgetTheme" parent="AppTheme">
    <item name="android:textColorPrimary">@color/your_primary_color</item>
    <item name="android:textColorSecondary">@color/your_secondary_color</item>
</style>

In your layout:

<TabHost
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:theme="@style/TabWidgetTheme"/>

Note that the android:theme should not be directly in the TabWidget itself, but rather the containing TabHost or similar.

edited Aug 23 '16 at 20:20

answered Aug 08 '16 at 17:30

Will Molter

510
3
10

This worked for me, but it is "android:textColorPrimary" – andrei Aug 23 '16 at 19:48
Similar properties for making the selected tab font bold ? – coding_idiot Nov 24 '16 at 00:59

Ankit Dhadse · Answer 3 · 2014-03-20T13:02:53.307

To change the text color of tabs, you need to get the view i.e TextView which is set as title of tabs and you can change it like this:

TabHost tabhost = getTabHost();
    for(int i=0;i<tabhost.getTabWidget().getChildCount();i++) 
    {
        TextView tv = (TextView) tabhost.getTabWidget().getChildAt(i).findViewById(android.R.id.title);
        tv.setTextColor(Color.parseColor("#000000"));
    }

EDIT :

Another way is to create a custom view for your tabs. when you add tabs to your tabHost

FragmentTabHost tabHost;

tabHost = (FragmentTabHost) findViewById(android.R.id.tabhost);
        tabHost.setup(this, getSupportFragmentManager(), R.id.frame);

// create customView for each tabs View tabViewHome = createTabView(tabHost.getContext(), "Home", R.drawable.ic_home);

tabHost.addTab(tabHost.newTabSpec("Home").setIndicator(tabViewHome), HomeActivity.class, null);


private static View createTabView(final Context context, final String text, int iconId)
    {
            // inflate your layout here
        View view = LayoutInflater.from(context).inflate(R.layout.tab_layout, null);
        TextView tv = (TextView) view.findViewById(R.id.tab_tv_title);
        tv.setText(text);
            tv.setTextColor(Color.RED);
        ImageView iv = (ImageView) view.findViewById(R.id.tab_background_iv_icon);
        iv.setImageResource(iconId);
        return view;
    }

and your tab_layout.xml will be like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@+id/tabsLayout"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="40dip"
    android:gravity="center"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:padding="5dip" 
    android:background="#AAE1E1E1">

     <ImageView
        android:id="@+id/tab_background_iv_icon"
        android:layout_width="30dip"
        android:layout_height="30dip"
        android:contentDescription="@string/imgDesc"
        />

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/tab_tv_title"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        //android:textColor="@drawable/tab_text_selector"
        android:textSize="8sp"
        android:textStyle="bold" />

</LinearLayout>

Hope this helps.

thank you it working when i click tabhost but first time color is also default(black color).your code working only when i click some tabhost — user3345767, Mar 20 '14 at 12:44
@user3345767 hi.. you can add custom tabHost to your application. fully customized according to your needs. you can give textColor in xml or inside .java file.. the code is as edited above. — Ankit Dhadse, Mar 20 '14 at 13:04
@AnkitDhadse i m trying to change tabbar font color and size by creating new TextView at run time but getting error that View must be removeed from the parent — Erum, Sep 15 '14 at 17:00
@ErumHannan Can you show me your code.! where are you getting your error and what is your log! Or else you can post a new question for same. — Ankit Dhadse, Sep 15 '14 at 18:57
@AnkitDhadse here is my code and its error can u pls check this http://pastie.org/9557782 — Erum, Sep 16 '14 at 04:50

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 04 '14 at 09:44

Ehi man, I used this solution for:

private void setNewTab(final String tag, final String title, final Class<?> clazz, final Bundle bundle) {
    TabHost.TabSpec tabSpec = tabHost.newTabSpec(tag);
    tabSpec.setIndicator(InfoTabView_.build(getActivity()).bind(title, false));
    tabHost.addTab(tabSpec, clazz, bundle);
}

...

bundle = new Bundle();
bundle.putSerializable(FaqFragment.ARG_FAQS, infos.getFaq());
setNewTab("faq", "Faq", FaqFragment_.class, bundle);

...


@EViewGroup(R.layout.view_info_tab)
public class InfoTabView extends RelativeLayout {

    ....

    @Override
    public void setSelected(final boolean selected) {
        if (selected)
            titleTextView.setTextColor(selectedColor);
        else
            titleTextView.setTextColor(unselectedColor);
    }
}

override setSelected is most clean way!

Android tabhost change text color style

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