how to Customize the Contextual Action Bar using appCompat in material design

Question

MainActivity.java

I've implemented MultiChoiceModeListener in this class and below is the code:

on listView:

listView.setMultiChoiceModeListener(MainActivity.this);
listView.setChoiceMode(listView.CHOICE_MODE_MULTIPLE_MODAL);


    @Override
    public boolean onActionItemClicked(ActionMode arg0, MenuItem arg1) {
        switch (arg1.getItemId()) {
        case R.id.save:

            // Close CAB
            arg0.finish();
            return true;

        case R.id.saveto:


            // Close CAB
            arg0.finish();
            return true;
        default:
            return false;
        }
    }

    @Override
    public boolean onCreateActionMode(ActionMode arg0, Menu arg1) {
        arg0.getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.save_menu, arg1);
        return true;

    }

    @Override
    public void onDestroyActionMode(ActionMode arg0) {
        listadaptor.removeSelection();
    }

    @Override
    public boolean onPrepareActionMode(ActionMode arg0, Menu arg1) {
        return false;
    }

    @Override
    public void onItemCheckedStateChanged(ActionMode arg0, int arg1, long arg2,
            boolean arg3) {

        final int checkedCount = listView.getCheckedItemCount();
        arg0.setTitle(checkedCount + " "+getResources().getString(R.string.selected));
        listadaptor.toggleSelection(arg1);
    }

style.xml

 <style name="AppTheme.Base" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light">
        <item name="colorPrimary">@color/colorPrimary</item>
        <item name="colorPrimaryDark">@color/colorPrimaryDark</item>
        <item name="colorAccent">@color/White</item>
        <item name="android:windowNoTitle">true</item>
        <item name="windowActionModeOverlay">true</item>
        <item name="windowActionBar">false</item>
        <item name="actionModeStyle">@style/LStyled.ActionMode</item>
    </style>

    <!-- Application theme. -->
    <style name="AppTheme" parent="AppTheme.Base">
        <!-- All customizations that are NOT specific to a particular API-level can go here. -->
    </style>

    <style name="LStyled.ActionMode" parent="@style/Widget.AppCompat.ActionMode">
        <item name="background">@color/colorPrimary</item>
    </style>

    <style name="ActionBarThemeOverlay" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light">
        <item name="android:textColorPrimary">#fff</item>
        <item name="colorControlNormal">#fff</item>
        <item name="colorControlHighlight">#3fff</item>
    </style>

    <style name="HeaderBar">
        <item name="android:background">#009688</item>
        <item name="android:textStyle">bold</item>
    </style>

    <style name="ActionBarPopupThemeOverlay" parent="ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Light">
        <item name="android:textColor">#000</item>
    </style>

below is my screenshots:

you can see both screenshots, in second screenshot, actionmode background is white and text color is also white.. i want to change it to first screenshots color which is in top.

Toname

can you explain why you give downvote to this question.? – Toname

Can't see why is down voted. Up voted. – Furfural

Did you get the answer for this? – Immerse

yeah, below accepted answer. – Toname

@Riser How you got title in white color – Away

This question has helped me a lot. Now I can put action mode over action bar and keep setMultiChoiceModeListener – Wun

Answer 1

You can change the ActionMode background through attribute actionModeStyle:

<style name="AppTheme.Base" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light">
    ....
    ....
    <item name="actionModeStyle">@style/LStyled.ActionMode</item>
</style>

<style name="LStyled.ActionMode" parent="@style/Widget.AppCompat.ActionMode">
    <item name="background">@color/color_action_mode_bg</item>
</style>

You will of course need to define a color named color_action_mode_bg:

<color name="color_action_mode_bg">#009688</color>

There are other things you can change as well. Example:

<item name="titleTextStyle">...</item>
<item name="subtitleTextStyle">...</item>
<item name="height">...</item>

To change text color of SAVE and SAVETO, add the following to AppTheme.Base:

<item name="actionMenuTextColor">@color/color_action_mode_text</item>

Kimbra

i tried this also.. check my edited style.xml file. but still not working. – Toname

@MunimJi How do you start this ActionMode? Can you share that code? If you use startActionMode(...), you'll need to change that to startSupportActionMode(...). – Kimbra

check my edited question. i added activity class code. – Toname

@MunimJi This is exactly how I have implemented multiple selection. Do you have multiple values-vXX folders? In that case, try moving <item name="actionModeStyle">@style/LStyled.ActionMode</item> from <style name="AppTheme.Base"...... to <style name="AppTheme"..... – Kimbra

@MunimJi One last try: add android:theme="@style/AppTheme.Base" to your <activity ... /> tag in android-manifest. This will test if your activity is indeed getting the correct theme. If this works, we can trace back to the actual problem. – Kimbra

did this..still not working.. you want see my whole style.xml file? – Toname

Let us continue this discussion in chat. – Kimbra

@Kimbra How to get title in white color.. mode.setTitle("Select Items"); Select items should be in white color – Away

@Away You should be able to set <item name="titleTextStyle">...</item> under LStyled.ActionMode. The value provided to titleTextStyle will be a style that inherits from TextAppearance.AppCompat.Widget.ActionMode.Title. Inside this style, override android:textColor and assign it @android:color/white. – Kimbra

how to change background color and textcolor of overflow menu items in CAB? – Spore

@MihirShah What API version(s) are you working with? And how do you start the action mode? – Kimbra

ActionMode actionMode = mActivity.startSupportActionMode(this); lollipop 5.1 api – Spore

@MihirShah Ok. What is your activity's parent theme? Theme.AppCompat? – Kimbra

<style name="AppBaseTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.NoActionBar"></style> <style name="AppTheme" parent="@style/AppBaseTheme"> <item name="actionModeStyle">@style/LStyled.ActionMode</item></style> – Spore

<style name="LStyled.ActionMode" parent="Widget.AppCompat.ActionMode"> <item name="background">@color/header_background</item> <item name="actionMenuTextColor">@color/white</item> <item name="actionOverflowButtonStyle">@style/OverflowMenu1</item> </style> <style name="OverflowMenu1" parent="Widget.AppCompat.ActionButton.Overflow"> <item name="android:background">@color/white</item> <item name="actionMenuTextColor">@color/black</item> <item name="android:textColor">@color/black</item> <!-- Required for Lollipop. --> </style> – Spore

what's mistake here for overflowmenu? not able to change background color of overflow menu and items text color. default is dark gray background and white text. i need white background and black text color for overflow menu items – Spore

@MihirShah Let's talk here: Link. – Kimbra

@Kimbra height attribute not working for me. Any one have idea how to increase the height of the actionMode? – Rockafellow

Answer 2

use actionModeBackground in your AppTheme.Base style.

<item name="actionModeBackground">@color/colorPrimary </item> (or)
<item name="android:actionModeBackground">@color/colorPrimary </item>

Coral

Works on both Lollipop and KitKat. – Pagas

how to change background color and textcolor of overflow menu items in CAB? – Spore

Answer 3

To change the Title Color of contextual action bar this was the only method that worked for me:

Write this in your activity's theme

<item name="actionModeStyle">@style/ContextualActionModeTheme</item>

Define the styles

<style name="ContextualActionModeTheme" parent="@style/Widget.AppCompat.ActionMode">
       <item name="titleTextStyle">@style/titleColor</item>
</style>
<style name="titleColor" parent="TextAppearance.AppCompat.Widget.ActionMode.Title">
       <item name="android:textColor">@color/your_color_here</item>
</style>

The title color of your contextual action bar would be changed.

Ernesternesta