Option 1) The quick and easy way (Toolbar only)
Since appcompat-v7-r23 you can use the following attributes directly on your Toolbar or its style:
app:titleTextColor="@color/primary_text"
app:subtitleTextColor="@color/secondary_text"
If your minimum SDK is 23 and you use native Toolbar just change the namespace prefix to android.
In Java you can use the following methods:
toolbar.setTitleTextColor(Color.WHITE);
toolbar.setSubtitleTextColor(Color.WHITE);
These methods take a color int not a color resource ID!
Option 2) Override Toolbar style and theme attributes
layout/xxx.xml
<android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
android:id="@+id/toolbar"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:minHeight="?attr/actionBarSize"
android:theme="@style/ThemeOverlay.MyApp.ActionBar"
app:popupTheme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Light"
style="@style/Widget.MyApp.Toolbar.Solid"/>
values/styles.xml
<style name="Widget.MyApp.Toolbar.Solid" parent="Widget.AppCompat.ActionBar">
<item name="android:background">@color/actionbar_color</item>
<item name="android:elevation" tools:ignore="NewApi">4dp</item>
<item name="titleTextAppearance">...</item>
</style>
<style name="ThemeOverlay.MyApp.ActionBar" parent="ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.ActionBar">
<!-- Parent theme sets colorControlNormal to textColorPrimary. -->
<item name="android:textColorPrimary">@color/actionbar_title_text</item>
</style>
Help! My icons changed color too!
@PeterKnut reported this affects the color of overflow button, navigation drawer button and back button. It also changes text color of SearchView.
Concerning the icon colors: The colorControlNormal inherits from
android:textColorPrimary for dark themes (white on black)android:textColorSecondary for light themes (black on white)
If you apply this to the action bar's theme, you can customize the icon color.
<item name="colorControlNormal">#de000000</item>
There was a bug in appcompat-v7 up to r23 which required you to also override the native counterpart like so:
<item name="android:colorControlNormal" tools:ignore="NewApi">?colorControlNormal</item>
Help! My SearchView is a mess!
Note: This section is possibly obsolete.
Since you use the search widget which for some reason uses different back arrow (not visually, technically) than the one included with appcompat-v7, you have to set it manually in the app's theme. Support library's drawables get tinted correctly. Otherwise it would be always white.
<item name="homeAsUpIndicator">@drawable/abc_ic_ab_back_mtrl_am_alpha</item>
As for the search view text...there's no easy way. After digging through its source I found a way to get to the text view. I haven't tested this so please let me know in the comments if this didn't work.
SearchView sv = ...; // get your search view instance in onCreateOptionsMenu
// prefix identifier with "android:" if you're using native SearchView
TextView tv = sv.findViewById(getResources().getIdentifier("id/search_src_text", null, null));
tv.setTextColor(Color.GREEN); // and of course specify your own color
Bonus: Override ActionBar style and theme attributes
Appropriate styling for a default action appcompat-v7 action bar would look like this:
<!-- ActionBar vs Toolbar. -->
<style name="Widget.MyApp.ActionBar.Solid" parent="Widget.AppCompat.ActionBar.Solid">
<item name="background">@color/actionbar_color</item> <!-- No prefix. -->
<item name="elevation">4dp</item> <!-- No prefix. -->
<item name="titleTextStyle">...</item> <!-- Style vs appearance. -->
</style>
<style name="Theme.MyApp" parent="Theme.AppCompat">
<item name="actionBarStyle">@style/Widget.MyApp.ActionBar.Solid</item>
<item name="actionBarTheme">@style/ThemeOverlay.MyApp.ActionBar</item>
<item name="actionBarPopupTheme">@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Light</item>
</style>
