Android: Tabs at the bottom with FragmentTabHost

Question

I'm trying to put a FragmentTabHost at the bottom of the screen. Time ago, I was able to do that with regular TabHost (following this thread), but now this is not working for me.

Is there a way to do that?

Thanks!

Siddon

All the advice I've found involves using the XML layout attributes, like described in that thread. But with a FragmentTabHost, those layouts are not used. Maybe it has to be done with code? Not sure what function to call though. – Anacoluthia

If you want to follow the Android design guidelines, you shouldn't use bottom tab bars. See developer.android.com/design/patterns/pure-android.html – Mclellan

I answered in the following link .https://mcmap.net/q/411774/-fragmenttabhost-bottom-tabwidget – Sodamide

possible duplicate of FragmentTabHost bottom TabWidget – Koo

Answer 1

Finally I followed this tutorial: Android Tabs with Fragments

I gave up with FragmentTabHost, this is easier (imho) to implement, and I was able to put the tabWidget on the bottom with no effort.

Siddon

Answer 2

I finally got to the bottom of this. There is an issue with FragmentTabHost.java which will always create a TabHost element for you, no matter what you define in XML and inflate beforehand.

As such, I commented out that part of code when writing my own version of FragmentTabHost.java.

Make sure to use your new version of this in your XML layout, <com.example.app.MyFragmentTabHost

And of course inflate it:

Fragment1.java:

mTabHost = (MyFragmentTabHost) view.findViewById(android.R.id.tabhost);
mTabHost.setup(getActivity(), getChildFragmentManager(), android.R.id.tabcontent);

MyFragmentTabHost.java:

package com.example.app;

import java.util.ArrayList;

import android.content.Context;
import android.content.res.TypedArray;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.os.Parcel;
import android.os.Parcelable;
import android.support.v4.app.Fragment;
import android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager;
import android.support.v4.app.FragmentTransaction;
import android.util.AttributeSet;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.FrameLayout;
import android.widget.TabHost;

/**
 * Special TabHost that allows the use of {@link Fragment} objects for
 * its tab content.  When placing this in a view hierarchy, after inflating
 * the hierarchy you must call {@link #setup(Context, FragmentManager, int)}
 * to complete the initialization of the tab host.
 *
 */
public class MyFragmentTabHost extends TabHost
    implements TabHost.OnTabChangeListener {
private final ArrayList<TabInfo> mTabs = new ArrayList<TabInfo>();
private FrameLayout mRealTabContent;
private Context mContext;
private FragmentManager mFragmentManager;
private int mContainerId;
private TabHost.OnTabChangeListener mOnTabChangeListener;
private TabInfo mLastTab;
private boolean mAttached;

static final class TabInfo {
    private final String tag;
    private final Class<?> clss;
    private final Bundle args;
    private Fragment fragment;

    TabInfo(String _tag, Class<?> _class, Bundle _args) {
        tag = _tag;
        clss = _class;
        args = _args;
    }
}

static class DummyTabFactory implements TabHost.TabContentFactory {
    private final Context mContext;

    public DummyTabFactory(Context context) {
        mContext = context;
    }

    @Override
    public View createTabContent(String tag) {
        View v = new View(mContext);
        v.setMinimumWidth(0);
        v.setMinimumHeight(0);
        return v;
    }
}

static class SavedState extends BaseSavedState {
    String curTab;

    SavedState(Parcelable superState) {
        super(superState);
    }

    private SavedState(Parcel in) {
        super(in);
        curTab = in.readString();
    }

    @Override
    public void writeToParcel(Parcel out, int flags) {
        super.writeToParcel(out, flags);
        out.writeString(curTab);
    }

    @Override
    public String toString() {
        return "FragmentTabHost.SavedState{"
                + Integer.toHexString(System.identityHashCode(this))
                + " curTab=" + curTab + "}";
    }

    public static final Parcelable.Creator<SavedState> CREATOR
            = new Parcelable.Creator<SavedState>() {
        public SavedState createFromParcel(Parcel in) {
            return new SavedState(in);
        }

        public SavedState[] newArray(int size) {
            return new SavedState[size];
        }
    };
}

public MyFragmentTabHost(Context context) {
    // Note that we call through to the version that takes an AttributeSet,
    // because the simple Context construct can result in a broken object!
    super(context, null);
    initFragmentTabHost(context, null);
}

public MyFragmentTabHost(Context context, AttributeSet attrs) {
    super(context, attrs);
    initFragmentTabHost(context, attrs);
}

private void initFragmentTabHost(Context context, AttributeSet attrs) {
    TypedArray a = context.obtainStyledAttributes(attrs,
            new int[] { android.R.attr.inflatedId }, 0, 0);
    mContainerId = a.getResourceId(0, 0);
    a.recycle();

    super.setOnTabChangedListener(this);


    /*** REMOVE THE REST OF THIS FUNCTION ***/
    /*** findViewById(android.R.id.tabs) IS NULL EVERY TIME ***/
}

/**
 * @deprecated Don't call the original TabHost setup, you must instead
 * call {@link #setup(Context, FragmentManager)} or
 * {@link #setup(Context, FragmentManager, int)}.
 */
@Override @Deprecated
public void setup() {
    throw new IllegalStateException(
            "Must call setup() that takes a Context and FragmentManager");
}

public void setup(Context context, FragmentManager manager) {
    super.setup();
    mContext = context;
    mFragmentManager = manager;
    ensureContent();
}

public void setup(Context context, FragmentManager manager, int containerId) {
    super.setup();
    mContext = context;
    mFragmentManager = manager;
    mContainerId = containerId;
    ensureContent();
    mRealTabContent.setId(containerId);

    // We must have an ID to be able to save/restore our state.  If
    // the owner hasn't set one at this point, we will set it ourself.
    if (getId() == View.NO_ID) {
        setId(android.R.id.tabhost);
    }
}

private void ensureContent() {
    if (mRealTabContent == null) {
        mRealTabContent = (FrameLayout)findViewById(mContainerId);
        if (mRealTabContent == null) {
            throw new IllegalStateException(
                    "No tab content FrameLayout found for id " + mContainerId);
        }
    }
}

@Override
public void setOnTabChangedListener(OnTabChangeListener l) {
    mOnTabChangeListener = l;
}

public void addTab(TabHost.TabSpec tabSpec, Class<?> clss, Bundle args) {
    tabSpec.setContent(new DummyTabFactory(mContext));
    String tag = tabSpec.getTag();

    TabInfo info = new TabInfo(tag, clss, args);

    if (mAttached) {
        // If we are already attached to the window, then check to make
        // sure this tab's fragment is inactive if it exists.  This shouldn't
        // normally happen.
        info.fragment = mFragmentManager.findFragmentByTag(tag);
        if (info.fragment != null && !info.fragment.isDetached()) {
            FragmentTransaction ft = mFragmentManager.beginTransaction();
            ft.detach(info.fragment);
            ft.commit();
        }
    }

    mTabs.add(info);
    addTab(tabSpec);
}

@Override
protected void onAttachedToWindow() {
    super.onAttachedToWindow();

    String currentTab = getCurrentTabTag();

    // Go through all tabs and make sure their fragments match
    // the correct state.
    FragmentTransaction ft = null;
    for (int i=0; i<mTabs.size(); i++) {
        TabInfo tab = mTabs.get(i);
        tab.fragment = mFragmentManager.findFragmentByTag(tab.tag);
        if (tab.fragment != null && !tab.fragment.isDetached()) {
            if (tab.tag.equals(currentTab)) {
                // The fragment for this tab is already there and
                // active, and it is what we really want to have
                // as the current tab.  Nothing to do.
                mLastTab = tab;
            } else {
                // This fragment was restored in the active state,
                // but is not the current tab.  Deactivate it.
                if (ft == null) {
                    ft = mFragmentManager.beginTransaction();
                }
                ft.detach(tab.fragment);
            }
        }
    }

    // We are now ready to go.  Make sure we are switched to the
    // correct tab.
    mAttached = true;
    ft = doTabChanged(currentTab, ft);
    if (ft != null) {
        ft.commit();
        mFragmentManager.executePendingTransactions();
    }
}

@Override
protected void onDetachedFromWindow() {
    super.onDetachedFromWindow();
    mAttached = false;
}

@Override
protected Parcelable onSaveInstanceState() {
    Parcelable superState = super.onSaveInstanceState();
    SavedState ss = new SavedState(superState);
    ss.curTab = getCurrentTabTag();
    return ss;
}

@Override
protected void onRestoreInstanceState(Parcelable state) {
    SavedState ss = (SavedState)state;
    super.onRestoreInstanceState(ss.getSuperState());
    setCurrentTabByTag(ss.curTab);
}

@Override
public void onTabChanged(String tabId) {
    if (mAttached) {
        FragmentTransaction ft = doTabChanged(tabId, null);
        if (ft != null) {
            ft.commit();
        }
    }
    if (mOnTabChangeListener != null) {
        mOnTabChangeListener.onTabChanged(tabId);
    }
}

private FragmentTransaction doTabChanged(String tabId, FragmentTransaction ft) {
    TabInfo newTab = null;
    for (int i=0; i<mTabs.size(); i++) {
        TabInfo tab = mTabs.get(i);
        if (tab.tag.equals(tabId)) {
            newTab = tab;
        }
    }
    if (newTab == null) {
        throw new IllegalStateException("No tab known for tag " + tabId);
    }
    if (mLastTab != newTab) {
        if (ft == null) {
            ft = mFragmentManager.beginTransaction();
        }
        if (mLastTab != null) {
            if (mLastTab.fragment != null) {
                ft.detach(mLastTab.fragment);
            }
        }
        if (newTab != null) {
            if (newTab.fragment == null) {
                newTab.fragment = Fragment.instantiate(mContext,
                        newTab.clss.getName(), newTab.args);
                ft.add(mContainerId, newTab.fragment, newTab.tag);
            } else {
                ft.attach(newTab.fragment);
            }
        }

        mLastTab = newTab;
    }
    return ft;
}
}

Anacoluthia

I got an error at "mTabHost = (MyFragmentTabHost) view.findViewById(android.R.id.tabhost);". Can you explain why this? – Notable

Please post your question in a new thread with the code and i'll be happy to help :) – Anacoluthia

Great job! Two things: 1) It's not a "bug". Android want that ALWAYS the tabs go in the top. 2) Why don't you put this in a github's repo? – Eduino

A fix for this was merged on July 8th and should be in the next revision (>18) of the support library. – Lathy

Answer 3

Place this code after you have set up and added the tabs to your FragmentTabHost, it will remove and then add the tabs as the last child in the TabHost. (tested with android.support.v13.app.FragmentTabHost inflated from xml and set up with getChildFragmentManager() in a nested fragment )

View tabs = (TabWidget) mTabHost.findViewById(android.R.id.tabs);
ViewGroup parent = (ViewGroup) mTabHost.getChildAt(0); 
parent.removeView(tabs);
parent.addView(tabs);

Uncommonly