How to center align the ActionBar title in Android?

Question

I am trying to use the following code to center the text in the ActionBar, but it aligns itself to the left.

How do you make it appear in the center?

ActionBar actionBar = getActionBar();
actionBar.setDisplayShowTitleEnabled(true);
actionBar.setTitle("Canteen Home");
actionBar.setHomeButtonEnabled(true);
actionBar.setIcon(R.drawable.back);

This is a VERY old question. However, the only solution I see below is to create a custom action bar. So here is the solution without creating a custom action bar. http://stackoverflow.com/a/42465266/3866010 hope it helps someone — ᴛʜᴇᴘᴀᴛᴇʟ, Feb 26 '17 at 06:08
Almost 8 years after i asked this question , using the answer again :D — Sourabh Saldi, Jun 14 '20 at 05:37

score 209 · Accepted Answer · edited Nov 07 '22 at 04:03

209

To have a centered title in ABS (if you want to have this in the default ActionBar, just remove the "support" in the method names), you could just do this:

In your Activity, in your onCreate() method:

getSupportActionBar().setDisplayOptions(ActionBar.DISPLAY_SHOW_CUSTOM); 
getSupportActionBar().setCustomView(R.layout.abs_layout);

abs_layout:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_gravity="center"
    android:orientation="vertical">

    <androidx.appcompat.widget.AppCompatTextView
        android:id="@+id/tvTitle"
        style="@style/TextAppearance.AppCompat.Widget.ActionBar.Title"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:gravity="center"
        android:textColor="#FFFFFF" />

</LinearLayout>

Now you should have an Actionbar with just a title. If you want to set a custom background, set it in the Layout above (but then don't forget to set android:layout_height="match_parent").

or with:

getSupportActionBar().setBackgroundDrawable(getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.yourimage));

edited Nov 07 '22 at 04:03

r0dr1

79
8

answered Sep 12 '12 at 12:29

Ahmad

69,608
17
111
137

7

how to add custom back button image to this? – Sourabh Saldi Sep 13 '12 at 09:16
13

For me the result was the actionbar was a bit displaced to right or left depending on the action buttons I was showing. To fix it, I just set the layout_width to "WRAP_CONTENT" – alfongj Nov 18 '12 at 12:48
12

Pepillo's solution did not work for me, as the content wasn't centered anymore at all. I could solve this by adding `android:layout_gravity="center"` to the LinearLayout. – Tom Naessens Jan 15 '13 at 20:40
1

I was needed to add `ActionBar.LayoutParams` with `match_parent` parameter to get customView layout actually centered. Check out code snippet [from this answer](http://stackoverflow.com/a/11688217/624706). – Sergii Pechenizkyi Jan 28 '13 at 13:05
@plastiv hmm not a bad idea either. – Ahmad Jan 28 '13 at 14:13
@Ahmad how to tackle back navigation?? – Mitesh Shah Jan 09 '14 at 14:01
1

Note: Android support library v7 does contain a function `getSupportActionBar()`, so it's not just limited to Action Bar Sherlock – Someone Somewhere Apr 02 '14 at 22:34
2

the title doesnt change now with `setTitle` – Nezam Apr 14 '14 at 07:59
8

@Nezam it's an expected behaviour. Try `((TextView)actionBar.getCustomView().findViewById(R.id.textView1)).setText("new title");`, where textView1 is your `TextView`'s ID in your CustomView. – Sufian Apr 23 '14 at 12:40
2

how to add back button in this code? `getSupportActionBar().setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true);` not working – Apr 28 '14 at 12:57
@Jamm is it not showing or it clicks but doesn't work? – Sufian May 15 '14 at 06:43
is vertical orientation in this solution even correct?? The results don't look like it ... – Someone Somewhere Jun 11 '14 at 21:22
FYI , If you will add menu items, title will not be exactly centered. – Mohammad Imran Nov 13 '14 at 06:50
8

If there are menu items it won't be centered correctly. To really always have the title centered add "WRAP_CONTENT" to the LinearLayout and move the android:layout_gravity="center" from the TextView to the LinearLayout. – DominicM Feb 16 '15 at 14:37
same issue http://stackoverflow.com/questions/31803463/how-to-set-action-bar-title-center-in-navigation-drawer – Aditya Aug 04 '15 at 08:33
can any one tell me that after using this answer my drawer icon is not visible in my app...what is the issue? – Aditya Vyas-Lakhan Oct 24 '15 at 06:48
1

If you want to add the back button, you need to place `getsupportActionBar().setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true)` after setting the custom view – Karl Jamoralin Aug 28 '17 at 05:27
Other problem with centering horizontal can provoked by "match_parent". After replacing it with "wrap_content" – Kostadin Aug 17 '18 at 13:39
what if i am extending my class with FragmentActivity?? – Sunil Chaudhary Jul 29 '20 at 07:44

score 36 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 11 '14 at 21:33

I haven't had much success with the other answers... below is exactly what worked for me on Android 4.4.3 using the ActionBar in the support library v7. I have it set up to show the navigation drawer icon ("burger menu button")

XML

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:orientation="horizontal" >

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/actionbar_textview"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_gravity="center"
        android:maxLines="1"
        android:clickable="false"
        android:focusable="false"
        android:longClickable="false"
        android:textStyle="bold"
        android:textSize="18sp"
        android:textColor="#FFFFFF" />

</LinearLayout>

Java

//Customize the ActionBar
final ActionBar abar = getSupportActionBar();
abar.setBackgroundDrawable(getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.actionbar_background));//line under the action bar
View viewActionBar = getLayoutInflater().inflate(R.layout.actionbar_titletext_layout, null);
ActionBar.LayoutParams params = new ActionBar.LayoutParams(//Center the textview in the ActionBar !
        ActionBar.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT, 
        ActionBar.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT, 
        Gravity.CENTER);
TextView textviewTitle = (TextView) viewActionBar.findViewById(R.id.actionbar_textview);
textviewTitle.setText("Test");
abar.setCustomView(viewActionBar, params);
abar.setDisplayShowCustomEnabled(true);
abar.setDisplayShowTitleEnabled(false);
abar.setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true);
abar.setIcon(R.color.transparent);
abar.setHomeButtonEnabled(true);

Why do we need to create a `params` object?? Can we not specify the gravity in the external layout file that we're assigning to the ActionBar. — Deep Lathia, Oct 24 '19 at 14:22

ypresto · Answer 3 · 2015-10-08T12:02:07.523

Define your own custom view with title text, then pass LayoutParams to setCustomView(), as Sergii says.

ActionBar actionBar = getSupportActionBar()
actionBar.setDisplayShowCustomEnabled(true);
actionBar.setDisplayOptions(ActionBar.DISPLAY_SHOW_CUSTOM); 
actionBar.setCustomView(getLayoutInflater().inflate(R.layout.action_bar_home, null),
        new ActionBar.LayoutParams(
                ActionBar.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT,
                ActionBar.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT,
                Gravity.CENTER
        )
);

EDITED: At least for width, you should use WRAP_CONTENT or your navigation drawer, app icon, etc. WON'T BE SHOWN (custom view shown on top of other views on action bar). This will occur especially when no action button is shown.

EDITED: Equivalent in xml layout:

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal"
    android:orientation="vertical">

This doesn't require LayoutParams to be specified.

actionBar.setCustomView(getLayoutInflater().inflate(R.layout.action_bar_home, null);

score 9 · Answer 4 · edited Jun 17 '14 at 09:20

Just a quick addition to Ahmad's answer. You can't use getSupportActionBar().setTitle anymore when using a custom view with a TextView. So to set the title when you have multiple Activities with this custom ActionBar (using this one xml), in your onCreate() method after you assign a custom view:

TextView textViewTitle = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.mytext);
textViewTitle.setText(R.string.title_for_this_activity);

score 7 · Answer 5 · answered May 16 '19 at 04:55

Code here working for me.

    // Activity 
 public void setTitle(String title){
    getSupportActionBar().setHomeButtonEnabled(true);
    getSupportActionBar().setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true);
    TextView textView = new TextView(this);
    textView.setText(title);
    textView.setTextSize(20);
    textView.setTypeface(null, Typeface.BOLD);
    textView.setLayoutParams(new LinearLayout.LayoutParams(LinearLayout.LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT, LinearLayout.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT));
    textView.setGravity(Gravity.CENTER);
    textView.setTextColor(getResources().getColor(R.color.white));
    getSupportActionBar().setDisplayOptions(ActionBar.DISPLAY_SHOW_CUSTOM);
    getSupportActionBar().setCustomView(textView);
} 

// Fragment
public void setTitle(String title){
    ((AppCompatActivity)getActivity()).getSupportActionBar().setHomeButtonEnabled(true);
    ((AppCompatActivity)getActivity()).getSupportActionBar().setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true);
    TextView textView = new TextView(getActivity());
    textView.setText(title);
    textView.setTextSize(20);
    textView.setTypeface(null, Typeface.BOLD);
    textView.setLayoutParams(new LinearLayout.LayoutParams(LinearLayout.LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT, LinearLayout.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT));
    textView.setGravity(Gravity.CENTER);
    textView.setTextColor(getResources().getColor(R.color.white));
    ((AppCompatActivity)getActivity()).getSupportActionBar().setDisplayOptions(ActionBar.DISPLAY_SHOW_CUSTOM);
    ((AppCompatActivity)getActivity()).getSupportActionBar().setCustomView(textView);
}

score 4 · Answer 6 · edited Nov 18 '21 at 14:40

OK. After a lot of research, combined with the accepted answer above, I have come up with a solution that also works if you have other stuff in your action bar (back/home button, menu button). So basically I have put the override methods in a basic activity (which all other activities extend), and placed the code there. This code sets the title of each activity as it is provided in AndroidManifest.xml, and also does som other custom stuff (like setting a custom tint on action bar buttons, and custom font on the title). You only need to leave out the gravity in action_bar.xml, and use padding instead. actionBar != null check is used, since not all my activities have one.

Tested on 4.4.2 and 5.0.1

public class BaseActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
private ActionBar actionBar;
private TextView actionBarTitle;
private Toolbar toolbar;

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    getWindow().requestFeature(Window.FEATURE_CONTENT_TRANSITIONS);
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);     
    ...
    getWindow().setSoftInputMode(WindowManager.LayoutParams.SOFT_INPUT_STATE_ALWAYS_HIDDEN);

    actionBar = getSupportActionBar();
    if (actionBar != null) {
        actionBar.setElevation(0);
        actionBar.setDisplayOptions(ActionBar.DISPLAY_SHOW_CUSTOM);
        actionBar.setCustomView(R.layout.action_bar);

        LinearLayout layout = (LinearLayout) actionBar.getCustomView();
        actionBarTitle = (TextView) layout.getChildAt(0);
        actionBarTitle.setText(this.getTitle());
        actionBarTitle.setTypeface(Utility.getSecondaryFont(this));
        toolbar = (Toolbar) layout.getParent();
        toolbar.setContentInsetsAbsolute(0, 0);

        if (this.getClass() == BackButtonActivity.class || this.getClass() == AnotherBackButtonActivity.class) {
            actionBar.setHomeButtonEnabled(true);
            actionBar.setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true);
            actionBar.setDisplayShowHomeEnabled(true);
            Drawable wrapDrawable = DrawableCompat.wrap(getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.ic_back));
            DrawableCompat.setTint(wrapDrawable, getResources().getColor(android.R.color.white));
            actionBar.setHomeAsUpIndicator(wrapDrawable);
            actionBar.setIcon(null);
        }
        else {
            actionBar.setHomeButtonEnabled(false);
            actionBar.setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(false);
            actionBar.setDisplayShowHomeEnabled(false);
            actionBar.setHomeAsUpIndicator(null);
            actionBar.setIcon(null);
        }
    }

    try {
        ViewConfiguration config = ViewConfiguration.get(this);
        Field menuKeyField = ViewConfiguration.class.getDeclaredField("sHasPermanentMenuKey");
        if(menuKeyField != null) {
            menuKeyField.setAccessible(true);
            menuKeyField.setBoolean(config, false);
        }
    } catch (Exception ex) {
        // Ignore
    }
}

@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
    if (actionBar != null) {
        int padding = (getDisplayWidth() - actionBarTitle.getWidth())/2;

        MenuInflater inflater = getMenuInflater();
        if (this.getClass() == MenuActivity.class) {
            inflater.inflate(R.menu.activity_close_menu, menu);
        }
        else {
            inflater.inflate(R.menu.activity_open_menu, menu);
        }

        MenuItem item = menu.findItem(R.id.main_menu);
        Drawable icon = item.getIcon();
        icon.mutate().mutate().setColorFilter(getResources().getColor(R.color.white), PorterDuff.Mode.SRC_IN);
        item.setIcon(icon);

        ImageButton imageButton;
        for (int i =0; i < toolbar.getChildCount(); i++) {
            if (toolbar.getChildAt(i).getClass() == ImageButton.class) {
                imageButton = (ImageButton) toolbar.getChildAt(i);
                padding -= imageButton.getWidth();
                break;
            }
        }

        actionBarTitle.setPadding(padding, 0, 0, 0);
    }

    return super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu);
} ...

And my action_bar.xml is like this (if anyone is interested):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
          android:layout_width="fill_parent"
          android:layout_height="wrap_content"
          android:layout_gravity="center"
          android:orientation="horizontal">

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:textColor="@color/actionbar_text_color"
        android:textAllCaps="true"
        android:textSize="9pt"
        />

</LinearLayout>

EDIT: If you need to change the title to something else AFTER the activity is loaded (onCreateOptionsMenu has already been called), put another TextView in your action_bar.xml and use the following code to "pad" this new TextView, set text and show it:

protected void setSubTitle(CharSequence title) {

    if (!initActionBarTitle()) return;

    if (actionBarSubTitle != null) {
        if (title != null || title.length() > 0) {
            actionBarSubTitle.setText(title);
            setActionBarSubTitlePadding();
        }
    }
}

private void setActionBarSubTitlePadding() {
    if (actionBarSubTitlePaddingSet) return;
    ViewTreeObserver vto = layout.getViewTreeObserver();
    if(vto.isAlive()){
        vto.addOnGlobalLayoutListener(new ViewTreeObserver.OnGlobalLayoutListener() {
            @Override
            public void onGlobalLayout() {
                int padding = (getDisplayWidth() - actionBarSubTitle.getWidth())/2;

                ImageButton imageButton;
                for (int i = 0; i < toolbar.getChildCount(); i++) {
                    if (toolbar.getChildAt(i).getClass() == ImageButton.class) {
                        imageButton = (ImageButton) toolbar.getChildAt(i);
                        padding -= imageButton.getWidth();
                        break;
                    }
                }

                actionBarSubTitle.setPadding(padding, 0, 0, 0);
                actionBarSubTitlePaddingSet = true;
                ViewTreeObserver obs = layout.getViewTreeObserver();
                obs.removeOnGlobalLayoutListener(this);
            }
        });
    }
}

protected void hideActionBarTitle() {

    if (!initActionBarTitle()) return;

    actionBarTitle.setVisibility(View.GONE);
    if (actionBarSubTitle != null) {
        actionBarSubTitle.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
    }
}

protected void showActionBarTitle() {

    if (!initActionBarTitle()) return;

    actionBarTitle.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
    if (actionBarSubTitle != null) {
        actionBarSubTitle.setVisibility(View.GONE);
    }
}

EDIT (25.08.2016): This does not work with appcompat 24.2.0 revision (August 2016), if your activity has a "back button". I filed a bug report (Issue 220899), but I do not know if it is of any use (doubt it will be fixed any time soon). Meanwhile the solution is to check if the child's class is equal to AppCompatImageButton.class and do the same, only increase the width by 30% (e.g. appCompatImageButton.getWidth()*1.3 before subtracting this value from the original padding):

padding -= appCompatImageButton.getWidth()*1.3;

In the mean time I threw in some padding/margin checks in there:

Class<?> c;
ImageButton imageButton;
AppCompatImageButton appCompatImageButton;
for (int i = 0; i < toolbar.getChildCount(); i++) {
    c = toolbar.getChildAt(i).getClass();
    if (c == AppCompatImageButton.class) {
        appCompatImageButton = (AppCompatImageButton) toolbar.getChildAt(i);
        padding -= appCompatImageButton.getWidth()*1.3;
        padding -= appCompatImageButton.getPaddingLeft();
        padding -= appCompatImageButton.getPaddingRight();
        if (appCompatImageButton.getLayoutParams().getClass() == LinearLayout.LayoutParams.class) {
            padding -= ((LinearLayout.LayoutParams) appCompatImageButton.getLayoutParams()).getMarginEnd();
            padding -= ((LinearLayout.LayoutParams) appCompatImageButton.getLayoutParams()).getMarginStart();
        }
        break;
    }
    else if (c == ImageButton.class) {
        imageButton = (ImageButton) toolbar.getChildAt(i);
        padding -= imageButton.getWidth();
        padding -= imageButton.getPaddingLeft();
        padding -= imageButton.getPaddingRight();
        if (imageButton.getLayoutParams().getClass() == LinearLayout.LayoutParams.class) {
            padding -= ((LinearLayout.LayoutParams) imageButton.getLayoutParams()).getMarginEnd();
            padding -= ((LinearLayout.LayoutParams) imageButton.getLayoutParams()).getMarginStart();
        }
        break;
    }
}

score 4 · Answer 7 · edited Nov 18 '21 at 14:30

Without customview its able to center actionbar title. It's perfectly working for navigation drawer as well

int titleId = getResources().getIdentifier("action_bar_title", "id", "android");
TextView abTitle = (TextView) findViewById(titleId);
abTitle.setTextColor(getResources().getColor(R.color.white));

DisplayMetrics metrics = new DisplayMetrics();
getWindowManager().getDefaultDisplay().getMetrics(metrics);

abTitle.setGravity(Gravity.CENTER);
abTitle.setWidth(metrics.widthPixels);
getActionBar().setTitle("I am center now");

score 3 · Answer 8 · edited Nov 18 '21 at 14:38

After a lot of research: This actually works:

getActionBar().setDisplayOptions(ActionBar.DISPLAY_SHOW_CUSTOM);
getActionBar().setCustomView(R.layout.custom_actionbar);
 ActionBar.LayoutParams p = new ActionBar.LayoutParams(ViewGroup.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT, ViewGroup.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT);
       p.gravity = Gravity.CENTER;

You have to define custom_actionbar.xml layout which is as per your requirement e.g. :

<?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="50dp"
    android:background="#2e2e2e"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:gravity="center"
    android:layout_gravity="center">

    <ImageView
        android:id="@+id/imageView1"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:src="@drawable/top_banner"
        android:layout_gravity="center"
        />
</LinearLayout>

Simple, and it works! http://www.quotehd.com/imagequotes/authors39/tmb/clay-ogden-quote-hes-a-legend-he-deserves-respect.jpg — AndrewBramwell, Oct 19 '15 at 11:59
@AndrewBramwell getActionBar().setDisplayOptions(ActionBar.DISPLAY_SHOW_CUSTOM); is throwing a null pointer exception — Ruchir Baronia, Nov 01 '15 at 20:48

score 3 · Answer 9 · edited Apr 21 '17 at 02:14

It works nicely.

activity = (AppCompatActivity) getActivity();

activity.getSupportActionBar().setDisplayOptions(ActionBar.DISPLAY_SHOW_CUSTOM);

LayoutInflater inflater = (LayoutInflater) activity.getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);
View v = inflater.inflate(R.layout.custom_actionbar, null);

ActionBar.LayoutParams p = new ActionBar.LayoutParams(
        ViewGroup.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT,
        ViewGroup.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT,
        Gravity.CENTER);

((TextView) v.findViewById(R.id.title)).setText(FRAGMENT_TITLE);

activity.getSupportActionBar().setCustomView(v, p);
activity.getSupportActionBar().setDisplayShowTitleEnabled(true);
activity.getSupportActionBar().setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true);

Below layout of custom_actionbar:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent">

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/title"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:text="Example"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_centerInParent="true"
        android:ellipsize="end"
        android:maxLines="1"
        android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceMedium"
        android:textColor="@color/colorBlack" />

</RelativeLayout>

score 3 · Answer 10 · answered Jul 04 '18 at 11:16

Best and easiest way, specifically for those who just want text view with gravity center without any xml layout.

AppCompatTextView mTitleTextView = new AppCompatTextView(getApplicationContext());
        mTitleTextView.setSingleLine();
        ActionBar.LayoutParams layoutParams = new ActionBar.LayoutParams(ActionBar.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT, ActionBar.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT);
        layoutParams.gravity = Gravity.CENTER;
        actionBar.setCustomView(mTitleTextView, layoutParams);
        actionBar.setDisplayOptions(ActionBar.DISPLAY_SHOW_CUSTOM | ActionBar.DISPLAY_HOME_AS_UP);
        mTitleTextView.setText(text);
        mTitleTextView.setTextAppearance(getApplicationContext(), android.R.style.TextAppearance_Medium);

score 3 · Answer 11 · answered Aug 06 '19 at 09:39

A Kotlin-only solution that does not require to have changes in the XML Layouts:

//Function to call in onResume() of your activity
private fun centerToolbarText() {
    val mTitleTextView = AppCompatTextView(this)
    mTitleTextView.text = title
    mTitleTextView.setSingleLine()//Remove it if you want to allow multiple lines in the toolbar
    mTitleTextView.textSize = 25f
    val layoutParams = android.support.v7.app.ActionBar.LayoutParams(
        ActionBar.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT,
        ActionBar.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT
    )
    layoutParams.gravity = Gravity.CENTER
    supportActionBar?.setCustomView(mTitleTextView,layoutParams)
    supportActionBar?.displayOptions = ActionBar.DISPLAY_SHOW_CUSTOM
}

score 2 · Answer 12 · edited Sep 05 '14 at 08:12

2

You need to set ActionBar.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT and ActionBar.DISPLAY_HOME_AS_UP

View customView = LayoutInflater.from(this).inflate(R.layout.actionbar_title, null);
ActionBar.LayoutParams params = new ActionBar.LayoutParams(ActionBar.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT,
                ActionBar.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT, Gravity.CENTER);

getSupportActionBar().setDisplayOptions(ActionBar.DISPLAY_SHOW_CUSTOM | ActionBar.DISPLAY_SHOW_HOME | ActionBar.DISPLAY_HOME_AS_UP );

edited Sep 05 '14 at 08:12

Charlie-Blake

10,832
13
55
90

answered Aug 17 '14 at 01:11

Tom

39
2

"I'm set ActionBar.LayoutParams..." - that doesn't make sense. Also, please format your code. – sashoalm Aug 17 '14 at 01:19
Hah, plz do not beat 曲连强, his setDisplayOptions example helps me to add centered title AND show home button – djdance Aug 30 '14 at 14:32
What is "R.layout.action_bar_title"? I can't find it. – Jose Manuel Abarca Rodríguez Apr 16 '15 at 15:49
What is "R.layout.action_bar_title"? Explain it. Do I need to register that custom xml in manifests.xml – Ajay Kulkarni Dec 02 '15 at 06:48

score 2 · Answer 13 · answered Jan 17 '20 at 12:45

Here is a complete Kotlin + androidx solution, building upon the answer from @Stanislas Heili. I hope it may be useful to others. It's for the case when you have an activity that hosts multiple fragments, with only one fragment active at the same time.

In your activity:

private lateinit var customTitle: AppCompatTextView

override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
    // stuff here
    customTitle = createCustomTitleTextView()
    // other stuff here
}

private fun createCustomTitleTextView(): AppCompatTextView {
    val mTitleTextView = AppCompatTextView(this)
    TextViewCompat.setTextAppearance(mTitleTextView, R.style.your_style_or_null);

    val layoutParams = ActionBar.LayoutParams(
        ActionBar.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT,
        ActionBar.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT
    )
    layoutParams.gravity = Gravity.CENTER
    supportActionBar?.setCustomView(mTitleTextView, layoutParams)
    supportActionBar?.displayOptions = ActionBar.DISPLAY_SHOW_CUSTOM

    return mTitleTextView
}

override fun setTitle(title: CharSequence?) {
    customTitle.text = title
}

override fun setTitle(titleId: Int) {
    customTitle.text = getString(titleId)
}

In your fragments:

override fun onViewCreated(view: View, savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
    super.onViewCreated(view, savedInstanceState)

    activity?.title = "some title for fragment"
}

score 0 · Answer 14 · answered Jan 20 '14 at 18:08

The other tutorials I've seen override the whole action bar layout hiding the MenuItems. I've got it worked just doing the following steps:

Create a xml file as following:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent" >

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/title"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_centerInParent="true"
        android:ellipsize="end"
        android:maxLines="1"
        android:text="@string/app_name"
        android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceMedium"
        android:textColor="@android:color/white" />

</RelativeLayout>

And in the classe do it:

LayoutInflater inflator = (LayoutInflater) this.getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);
View v = inflator.inflate(R.layout.action_bar_title, null);

ActionBar.LayoutParams params = new ActionBar.LayoutParams(ActionBar.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT, ActionBar.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT, Gravity.CENTER);

TextView titleTV = (TextView) v.findViewById(R.id.title);
titleTV.setText("Test");

this doesn't work - maybe because I have the navigation menu button showing ? — Someone Somewhere, Jun 11 '14 at 21:15

score 0 · Answer 15 · answered Jun 28 '18 at 04:11

For Kotlin users:

Use the following code in your activity:

// Set custom action bar
supportActionBar?.displayOptions = ActionBar.DISPLAY_SHOW_CUSTOM
supportActionBar?.setCustomView(R.layout.action_bar)

// Set title for action bar
val title = findViewById<TextView>(R.id.titleTextView)
title.setText(resources.getText(R.string.app_name))

And the XML/ resource layout:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent">

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/titleTextView"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="Title"
        android:textColor="@color/black"
        android:textSize="18sp"
        app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent" />
</android.support.constraint.ConstraintLayout>

score 0 · Answer 16 · answered Oct 02 '20 at 15:38

My solution will be to keep text part of tool bar separate, to define style and say, center or whichever alignment. It can be done in XML itself. Some paddings can be specified after doing calculations when you have actions that are visible always. I have moved two attributes from toolbar to its child TextView. This textView can be provided id to be accessed from fragments.

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<androidx.coordinatorlayout.widget.CoordinatorLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:fitsSystemWindows="true">

    <com.google.android.material.appbar.AppBarLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:theme="@style/AppTheme.AppBarOverlay">

        <androidx.appcompat.widget.Toolbar
            android:id="@+id/toolbar"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"
            android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"
            app:popupTheme="@style/AppTheme.PopupOverlay" >
            <!--android:theme="@style/defaultTitleTheme"
            app:titleTextColor="@color/white"-->
            <TextView
                android:layout_width="match_parent"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:gravity="center"
                android:paddingStart="@dimen/icon_size"
                android:text="@string/title_home"
                style="@style/defaultTitleTheme"
                tools:ignore="RtlSymmetry" />
        </androidx.appcompat.widget.Toolbar>
    </com.google.android.material.appbar.AppBarLayout>

    <FrameLayout
        android:id="@+id/container"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent" />

</androidx.coordinatorlayout.widget.CoordinatorLayout>

score 0 · Answer 17 · answered Oct 13 '20 at 06:42

Here's a quick tip to center align the action:

android:label=" YourTitle"

Assuming that you have Actionbar Enable, You can add this in your activity with some space (Can be adjusted) to place the title at the center.

However, This is just diddly and unreliable method. You probably shouldn't do that. So, The best thing to do is to create a custom ActionBar. So, What you wanna do is remove the default Actionbar and use this to replace it as an ActionBar.

<androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout
        android:elevation="30dp"
        android:id="@+id/customAction"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="56dp"
        android:background="@color/colorOnMain"
        android:orientation="horizontal">
        

        <TextView
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:text="@string/app_name"
            android:textAllCaps="true"
            android:textColor="#FFF"
            android:textSize="18sp"
            android:textStyle="bold"
            app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
            app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
            app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
            app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent" />

    </androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>

I have used Constraint Layout to center the textView and used 10dp elevation with 56dp height so that it looks as same as the default ActionBar.

was looking for something like this, BINGO! – Anderson Spencer Oct 13 '20 at 06:44 — Anderson Spencer, Oct 13 '20 at 06:44

score -1 · Answer 18 · answered Feb 22 '16 at 12:42

This code will not hide back button, Same time will align the title in centre.

call this method in oncreate

centerActionBarTitle();



getSupportActionBar().setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true);
myActionBar.setIcon(new ColorDrawable(Color.TRANSPARENT));

private void centerActionBarTitle() {
    int titleId = 0;
    if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.HONEYCOMB) {
        titleId = getResources().getIdentifier("action_bar_title", "id", "android");
    } else {
        // This is the id is from your app's generated R class when 
        // ActionBarActivity is used for SupportActionBar
        titleId = R.id.action_bar_title;
    }

    // Final check for non-zero invalid id
    if (titleId > 0) {
        TextView titleTextView = (TextView) findViewById(titleId);
        DisplayMetrics metrics = getResources().getDisplayMetrics();

        // Fetch layout parameters of titleTextView 
        // (LinearLayout.LayoutParams : Info from HierarchyViewer)
        LinearLayout.LayoutParams txvPars = (LayoutParams) titleTextView.getLayoutParams();
        txvPars.gravity = Gravity.CENTER_HORIZONTAL;
        txvPars.width = metrics.widthPixels;
        titleTextView.setLayoutParams(txvPars);
        titleTextView.setGravity(Gravity.CENTER);
    }
}

java.lang.NullPointerException ;) – User May 01 '17 at 08:44 — User, May 01 '17 at 08:44

How to center align the ActionBar title in Android?

18 Answers18

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