How to change ActionBar's action text color using AppCompat

Question

I am trying to change the text color of a action menu item on the action bar. Using app compat. Also the overflow icon doesnt change too. Here is my custom styled styles.xml files.

res/values/styles.xml

<style name="AppTheme" parent="@style/Theme.AppCompat.Light">
    <!-- Setting values in the default namespace affects API levels 7-13 -->
    <item name="actionBarStyle">@style/MyStyledActionBar</item>
</style>

<style name="MyStyledActionBar" parent="@style/Widget.AppCompat.Light.ActionBar">
    <!-- Setting values in the default namespace affects API levels 7-13 -->
    <item name="background">@drawable/bg_action_bar</item>
    <item name="titleTextStyle">@style/MyActionBarTitleText</item>
    <item name="actionMenuTextAppearance">@style/MyActionBarMenuText</item>
    <item name="actionMenuTextColor">@style/MyActionBarMenuText</item>
    <item name="actionOverflowButtonStyle">@style/MyActionButtonOverFlow</item>
</style>

<style name="MyActionBarTitleText" parent="@style/TextAppearance.AppCompat.Widget.ActionBar.Title">
    <item name="android:textColor">@color/font_half_white</item>
</style>

<style name="MyActionBarMenuText" parent="@style/TextAppearance.AppCompat.Widget.ActionBar.Menu">
    <item name="android:textColor">@color/font_half_white</item>
</style>

<style name="MyActionButtonOverFlow" parent="@style/Widget.AppCompat.Light.ActionButton.Overflow">
    <item name="android:src">@drawable/ic_action_search</item>
</style>

res/values-14/styles.xml

<style name="AppTheme" parent="@style/Theme.AppCompat.Light">
    <!-- Setting values in the android namespace affects API levels 14+ -->
    <item name="android:actionBarStyle">@style/MyStyledActionBar</item>
</style>

<style name="MyStyledActionBar" parent="@style/Widget.AppCompat.Light.ActionBar">
    <!-- Setting values in the android namespace affects API levels 14+ -->
    <item name="android:background">@drawable/bg_action_bar</item>
    <item name="android:titleTextStyle">@style/MyActionBarTitleText</item>
    <item name="android:actionMenuTextAppearance">@style/MyActionBarMenuText</item>
    <item name="android:actionMenuTextColor">@style/MyActionBarMenuText</item>
    <item name="android:actionOverflowButtonStyle">@style/MyActionButtonOverFlow</item>
</style>

<style name="MyActionBarTitleText" parent="@style/TextAppearance.AppCompat.Widget.ActionBar.Title">
    <item name="android:textColor">@color/font_half_white</item>
</style>

<style name="MyActionBarMenuText" parent="@style/TextAppearance.AppCompat.Widget.ActionBar.Menu">
    <item name="android:textColor">@color/font_half_white</item>
</style>

<style name="MyActionButtonOverFlow" parent="@style/Widget.AppCompat.Light.Base.ActionButton.Overflow">
    <item name="android:src">@drawable/ic_action_search</item>
</style>

res/colors.xml #F3F3F3

The text color still black doesnt change to white. Has anybody successfully changed the action menu text color. Please suggest some insights. I am testing on 4.4 Nexus5 device.

Razo

Answer 1

Use

<item name="android:actionMenuTextColor">@color/font_half_white</item>
// added style directly 

Instead of

<item name="android:actionMenuTextColor">@style/MyActionButtonStyle</item>

in res/values-14/styles.xml

In res/values/styles.xml

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

I used a Red Color for testing. See the Action menu Item Home that is red in the snap

Edit:

Full Code

In res/values-14/styles.xml

<resources>

    <!--
        Base application theme for API 14+. This theme completely replaces
        AppBaseTheme from BOTH res/values/styles.xml and
        res/values-v11/styles.xml on API 14+ devices.
    -->
    <style name="AppBaseTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar">
        <!-- API 14 theme customizations can go here. -->
            <item name="android:actionMenuTextColor">@color/red</item>
    </style>

</resources>

Then in res/values/stles.xml

  <resources>
    <style name="AppBaseTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light">
        <!-- API 11 theme customizations can go here. -->
         <item name="actionMenuTextColor">@color/red</item>
    </style>

</resources>

In manifest

android:theme="@style/AppBaseTheme" >

Another snap

Hygrometric

Would you share your AppTheme style and how it is set in AndroidManifest.xml file. – Razo

<style name="AppTheme" parent="@style/Theme.AppCompat.Light"> <item name="actionBarStyle">@style/MyStyledActionBar</item> </style> – Razo

@Razo add it to AppTheme itself – Hygrometric

@Razo posted complete code. rest is upto you to fix. Also do't post links. Post the relevant code in your post. Nobody will waste time looking at an external source. – Hygrometric

worked for me but needed to put the item inside a theme that was applied per activity, not inside the theme applied for the whole app. I hate this actionbar more than anything... – Discursion

@Hygrometric is it possible to use somehow a selector for the menu item? I'd like to highlight the latest selected option. Any hint? – Natalyanataniel

@Natalyanataniel no i haven't tried it. You style your menu items. But not sure of using a selector. – Hygrometric

it is not possible I think. I ended up changing it manually :/ – Natalyanataniel

Answer 2

You can use this to change the text of the Action Bar irrespective of your appcompat version.Give the desired color's hex code and add this in the onCreate().

actionBar.setTitle(Html.fromHtml("<font color='#ff0000'>Some Title</font>"));

Jackstay

Answer 3

1. Check that in your layout xml file you don't have an android:theme attribute specified for your <Toolbar>, which would have priority over the main theme

2. Override your actionBarStyle attribute as pointed out everywhere over the internets.

Lefebvre