How to add an additional title bar to the activity screen in android?

Question

How do i add a title bar to the screen in addition to the already existing one in android?I would also want to choose a color for this title bar.

Can you tell me how this can be done?

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 05 '11 at 08:42

This thread will get you started with building your own title bar in a xml file and using it in your activities

Here is a brief summary of the content of the link above - This is just to set the color of the text and the background of the title bar - no resizing, no buttons, just the simpliest sample

res/layout/mytitle.xml - This is the view that will represent the title bar

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<TextView
  xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
  android:id="@+id/myTitle"
  android:text="This is my new title"
  android:layout_width="fill_parent"
  android:layout_height="fill_parent"
  android:textColor="@color/titletextcolor"
   />

res/values/themes.xml - We want to keep the default android theme and just need to change the background color of the title background. So we create a theme that inherits the default theme and set the background style to our own style.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
    <style name="customTheme" parent="android:Theme"> 
        <item name="android:windowTitleBackgroundStyle">@style/WindowTitleBackground</item>   
    </style> 
</resources>

res/values/styles.xml - This is where we set the theme to use the color we want for the title background

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources> 
   <style name="WindowTitleBackground">     
        <item name="android:background">@color/titlebackgroundcolor</item>                   
    </style>
</resources>

res/values/colors.xml - Set here the color you want

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>   
    <color name="titlebackgroundcolor">#3232CD</color>
    <color name="titletextcolor">#FFFF00</color>
</resources>

In the AndroidMANIFEST.xml, set the theme attribute either in the application (for the whole application) or in the activity (only this activity) tags

<activity android:name=".CustomTitleBar" android:theme="@style/customTheme" ...
From the Activity (called CustomTitleBar) :

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

        requestWindowFeature(Window.FEATURE_CUSTOM_TITLE);
        setContentView(R.layout.main);
        getWindow().setFeatureInt(Window.FEATURE_CUSTOM_TITLE, R.layout.mytitle);

}

I have already seen this at http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2251714/set-title-background-color/2251787#2251787. This is meant for customizing the title bar. I was looking for an option through the framework to add an additional title bar.. — rogerstone, Mar 05 '11 at 11:23

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 05 '11 at 15:55

This is a real workaround but i got what i wanted.I put a textview at the top of my layout and gave the following dimensions to make it look like a title bar

<LinearLayout 
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@+id/vehicle_view"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent">

//Title bar
<TextView
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="24dip"
    android:id="@+id/title_bar_text"
    android:background="#dddddd"
    android:textColor="#150517"
    android:text="Enter Text">
 </TextView> 
.............................    //Rest of layout elements
.............................
.............................
</LinearLayout>

If someone's got a better answer for adding an additional title bar in some way without altering the layout like i did please post it i'll accept that as the answer.

How to add an additional title bar to the activity screen in android?

2 Answers2