In android app Toolbar.setTitle method has no effect – application name is shown as title

Question

I'm trying to create simple application using android-support-v7:21 library.

Code snippets:
MainActivity.java

public class MainActivity extends ActionBarActivity {

    Toolbar mActionBarToolbar;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

        mActionBarToolbar = (Toolbar) findViewById(R.id.toolbar_actionbar);            
        mActionBarToolbar.setTitle("My title");
        setSupportActionBar(mActionBarToolbar);
}

activity_main.xml

<LinearLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:fitsSystemWindows="true"
    android:orientation="vertical">

    <android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar            
        android:id="@+id/toolbar_actionbar"
        android:background="@null"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="?actionBarSize"
        android:fitsSystemWindows="true" />

</LinearLayout>

But instead of "My title" on Toolbar %application name% is shown.
Seems like setTitle method has no effect.
I would like to show "My title".

UPD: Before, styles.xml was:

<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat">
    <item name="windowActionBar">false</item>
</style>

So, I thought that actionbar is not used. I add NoActionBar to style parent:

<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.NoActionBar">
    <item name="windowActionBar">false</item>
</style>

But the problem is not resolved.

Cobaltous

FWIW, I'm on api level 22, and I had the same issue if calling setTitle after calling setSupportActionBar, but it worked if calling setTitle before. As described in an answer below, after calling setSupportActionBar, the action bar takes ownership of the toolbar and calls directly on the toolbar might not work. I do realize that in your question you did in fact call setTitle before setSupportActionBar, so probably this is something that has changed recently. In any case, using getSupportActionBar().setTitle works just as well. – Coverdale

The same query asked in #15561404 – Flatt

Try it - “How set a title for Activity with ToolBar?” link.medium.com/cGVg3zVr0Z – Against

Answer 1

Found the solution:

Instead of:

mActionBarToolbar = (Toolbar) findViewById(R.id.toolbar_actionbar);            
mActionBarToolbar.setTitle("My title");
setSupportActionBar(mActionBarToolbar);

I used:

mActionBarToolbar = (Toolbar) findViewById(R.id.toolbar_actionbar);            
setSupportActionBar(mActionBarToolbar);
getSupportActionBar().setTitle("My title");

And it works.

Cobaltous

nice one, but makes no sense to work this way and not the other....welcome to android 101 – Cortie

getSupportActionBar().setTitle("My title"); may produce 'java.lang.NullPointerException' – Hurlow

@PratikButani So long as the Toolbar has been set as setSupportActionBar() before calling getSupportActionBar() why might it? – Elsyelton

AndroidStudio giving warning if u use Inspect Code. – Hurlow

Aha, easily resolved: assert getSupportActionBar() != null; – Elsyelton

For me the first snippet you pasted works but the second doesn't! – Ibnsaud

Would you please explain why? – Helenahelene

Guys did you really upvoted @PratikButani comment so many times? If you use style theme without action bar but custom support toolbar v7 and you forget to call setSupportActionBar(mToolbar) of course you will get null exeption, but if you called it then just ignore this message. Just read - developer.android.com/training/appbar/setting-up.html – Jerrilyn

Setting the title before setSupportActionBar now works for me. @Jerrilyn agree! – Flirtatious

Answer 2

For anyone who needs to set up the title through the Toolbar some time after setting the SupportActionBar, read this.

The internal implementation of the support library just checks if the Toolbar has a title (not null) at the moment the SupportActionBar is set up. If there is, then this title will be used instead of the window title. You can then set a dummy title while you load the real title.

mActionBarToolbar = (Toolbar) findViewById(R.id.toolbar_actionbar);
mActionBarToolbar.setTitle("");
setSupportActionBar(mActionBarToolbar);

later...

mActionBarToolbar.setTitle(title);

Guardrail

It works, but why this is the way it must be done makes no sense to me. Does anyone have an explanation for why this works? – Ache

@Ache It makes sense considering the design of the actionbar/toolbar interaction. The Activity should display a title, if you provide a toolbar without that title, android assumes you want the traditional Activity title control. – Culver

mActionBarToolbar.setTitle(getResources().getString(R.string.app_name)); will ensure there is a good default title while keeping the same magical effect of the answer – Horsefaced

@Bevor it works, just see how many votes this answer has... you just did something wrong – Jerrilyn

@user25, it also worked bad for me, it removed a back arrow. Then I found another solution: https://mcmap.net/q/98163/-in-android-app-toolbar-settitle-method-has-no-effect-application-name-is-shown-as-title. this.setTitle("Title"), where this - is a reference to an activity. – Coker

i enhanced this answer for those using a collapsing toolbar: #26487230 – Verbosity

Answer 3

The above answer is totally true but not working for me.

I solved my problem with the following things.

Actually My XML is like that:

<android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    android:id="@+id/confirm_order_mail_layout"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent">

    <android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout
        android:id="@+id/confirm_order_appbar_layout"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:theme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Dark.ActionBar">

        <android.support.design.widget.CollapsingToolbarLayout
            android:id="@+id/confirm_order_list_collapsing_toolbar"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="match_parent"
            android:fitsSystemWindows="true"
            app:contentScrim="?attr/colorPrimary"
            app:expandedTitleMarginEnd="64dp"
            app:expandedTitleMarginStart="48dp"
            app:layout_scrollFlags="scroll|enterAlways">

            <android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
                android:id="@+id/confirm_order_toolbar_layout"
                android:layout_width="match_parent"
                android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"
                android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"
                app:layout_scrollFlags="scroll|enterAlways"
                app:popupTheme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Light">

            </android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar>
        </android.support.design.widget.CollapsingToolbarLayout>
    </android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout>
</android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout>

I have tried all the option and after all I just removed CollapsingToolbarLayout because of i do not need to use in that particular XML So My Final XML is like:

<android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    android:id="@+id/confirm_order_mail_layout"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent">

    <android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout
        android:id="@+id/confirm_order_appbar_layout"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:theme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Dark.ActionBar">

        <android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
            android:id="@+id/confirm_order_toolbar_layout"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"
            android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"
            app:layout_scrollFlags="scroll|enterAlways"
            app:popupTheme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Light">

        </android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar>
    </android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout>
</android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout>

Now you have to use setTitle() like above answer:

mActionBarToolbar = (Toolbar) findViewById(R.id.confirm_order_toolbar_layout);            
setSupportActionBar(mActionBarToolbar);
getSupportActionBar().setTitle("My Title");

---

Now If you want to use CollapsingToolbarLayout and Toolbar together then you have to use setTitle() of CollapsingToolbarLayout

CollapsingToolbarLayout collapsingToolbarLayout = (CollapsingToolbarLayout) findViewById(R.id.confirm_order_mail_layout);
collapsingToolbarLayout.setTitle("My Title");

May it will helps you. Thank you.

Hurlow

That makes sense, removing the CollapsingToolbarLayout solved the problem – Paragraph

For me the trick with setting title for CollapsingToolbarLayout works. Thanks a lot! – Arterial

Can I change the subtitle with CollapsingToolbarLayout? – Dianndianna

Since you toolbar is nested under CollapsingToolbarLayout then it is overridden by collapsing toolbar layout. This works for me. – Geraint

Bro you save my life!!! You must both setSupportActionbar before you use collapsingToolbarLayout.seTitle("Title"); – Microseism

... collapsingToolbarLayout.setTitle("My Title"); worket for me perfectly without to remove the collapsingToolbarLayout – Warhorse

Helped me a lot... Thanks – Malefactor

Answer 4

Simply you can change any activity name by using

Activityname.this.setTitle("Title Name");

Revolution

Or simply title = "Title" in Kotlin or maybe this.setTitle("Title") in Java. – Coker

Answer 5

Try this, you can define title directly in XML:

 <android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
        android:id="@+id/toolbar"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"
        android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"
        app:title="some title"
        app:popupTheme="@style/AppTheme.PopupOverlay">

Petition

The easiest but still i need to custom titles dynamically, if you have any idea – Minier

Answer 6

To set the title for each Navbar fragment title

public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container, Bundle savedInstanceState) 
{
    myView = inflater.inflate(R.layout.second_layout, container, false);
    getActivity().setTitle("title");

    return myView;
}

Revolution

Answer 7

Try this .. this method works for me..!! hope it may help somebody..!!

<android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar  
 xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"  
 android:id="@+id/my_awesome_toolbar"  
 android:layout_width="match_parent"  
 android:layout_height="wrap_content"  
 android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"  
 android:minHeight="?attr/actionBarSize"  
 app:theme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Dark.ActionBar" >  

<TextView  
   android:id="@+id/toolbar_title"  
   android:layout_width="wrap_content"  
   android:layout_height="wrap_content"  
   android:gravity="center"  
   android:singleLine="true"  
   android:text="Toolbar Title"  
   android:textColor="@android:color/white"  
   android:textSize="18sp"  
   android:textStyle="bold" />  

</android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar>  

To display logo in toolbar try the below snippet. // Set drawable

toolbar.setLogo(ContextCompat.getDrawable(context, R.drawable.logo));

Let me know the result.

Connate

Thank you Ragu Swaminathan.. I was trying to implement SupportActionBar from appcompact activity to give a title to my activity but unable to do it beacuse i need to extend BaseGameActivity. Then i go for toolbar but title not displayed while running. Your method using textbox inside toolbar is working. Recommend it to people in same situation – Tend

toolbar has a method to set the app logo. check my updated answer – Connate

Answer 8

 getSupportActionBar().setTitle("Your Title");

Allograph

This answer is a stub and should rather be a comment, since short answers like this may be considered low quality. Once you have sufficient reputation you will be able to comment. If you don't have enough reputation, read this post on how to contribute if you don't have enough reputation yet. – Panettone

@Panettone it is an answer – Albescent

Answer 9

Please see https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=77763. Apparently it is supposed to work like that. Once you call the setSupportActionBar() method call, it then is the responsibility of the ActionBar delegate to route the call to the correct view.

Tumblebug

What's that Actionbar delegate? Here setTitle() doesn't work for toolbar neither for the support actionbar. The native actionbar is disabled in the theme. What the hell is wrong? If only the source code attachment worked in Android Studio I could trace the problem myself! – Chaldea

Answer 10

It's not just about .setTitle

more methods of Support Toolbar (Appcompat v7) in onCreate works only with

getSupportActionBar().method()

and don't work with mToolbar.method()

examples:

getSupportActionBar().setTitle("toolbar title");
getSupportActionBar().setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true);

though next methods works fine without getSupportActionBar() in onCreate

mToolbar.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
mToolbar.setNavigationOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
    @Override
    public void onClick(View v) {
        //
    }

Problem only with onCreate event, you still can use mToolbar.setTitle() later instead of annoying getSupportActionBar().setTitle(), for example if you add this in onCreate it will work (because it will be executed later, after onCreate)

mHandler.post(new Runnable() {
    @Override
    public void run() {
        mToolbar.setTitle("toolbar title");
    }
});

I prefer to use this solution https://mcmap.net/q/98163/-in-android-app-toolbar-settitle-method-has-no-effect-application-name-is-shown-as-title than https://mcmap.net/q/98163/-in-android-app-toolbar-settitle-method-has-no-effect-application-name-is-shown-as-title because if you change title many times (in different functions) it's more comfortable to use mToolbar.setTitle() than longer getSupportActionBar().setTitle() one and you don't see annoying notification about null exception like with getSupportActionBar().setTitle()

Jerrilyn

if you want to change the title many times and and using a collapsing toolbar, this will help: #26487230 – Verbosity

Answer 11

For anyone who needs to set up the title through the Toolbar some time after setting the SupportActionBar (@sorianiv) AND your Toolbar is inside a CollapsingToolbarLayout, read this:

mToolbarLayout = (CollapsingToolbarLayout) findViewById(R.id.toolbar_layout);
Toolbar toolbar = findViewById(R.id.toolbar);
//toolbar.setTitle(""); // no need to do this
//mToolbarLayout.setTitle("Title"); // if you need an initial title, do this instead
setSupportActionBar(toolbar);

Then later,

mToolbarLayout.setTitle("New Title");

Verbosity

Answer 12

I tried to rename the toolbar from the fragment

It helped me, I hope to help someone else

Activity activity = this.getActivity();
Toolbar toolbar = (Toolbar) activity.findViewById(R.id.detail_toolbar);
        if (toolbar != null) {
            activity.setTitle("Title");
        }

//toolbar.setTitle("Title"); did not give the same results

Screenshot:

Pooh

Answer 13

Application title will not show as default title on every activity, you can insert different title on every activity. On your activity file bellow the onCreate just paste a single line to set title,

@Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
        setTitle("Your Title Here");

Just change the text "Your Title Here" to your text.

Nidifugous

Answer 14

Simply use this in your adapter, Where MainActivity is your AppCompactActivity. Call it from anywhere.

((MainActivity) context).getSupportActionBar().setTitle(titles.get(position));

Sclar

Answer 15

I made it work by using -

toolbar.post(new Runnable() {
            @Override
            public void run() {
                toolbar.setTitle("My Title");
            }
        });

Judaea

You don't need to use post if you're changing title in UI thread, which I think is 90% of cases. – Oviposit

Answer 16

If you are using CollapsibleToolbarLayout along with Toolbar then you will need to set title in both the layouts

set your Toolbar as action bar in onCreate method

protected void setUpToolBar() {

    if (mToolbar != null) {
        ((HomeActivity) getActivity()).setSupportActionBar(mToolbar);
        mToolbar.setTitleTextColor(Color.WHITE);
        mToolbar.setTitle("List Detail");
        mToolbar.setNavigationOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
            @Override
            public void onClick(View v) {
                getActivity()
                        .getSupportFragmentManager().popBackStack();
            }
        });
        ((HomeActivity) getActivity()).getSupportActionBar()
                .setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true);
    }
}

Later simply update title of toolbar using setTitle method

 mToolbar .setTitle(productFromShoppingList.getProductName()); 
 mCollapsingToolbar.setTitle(productFromShoppingList.getProductName());

Claiborn

This solution works if you're finding that you can set the title once, but can't change it after that. Make sure you're setting the title of the Collapsing Toolbar. – Stanislaw

if you want to change the title after some time with collapsing toolbar, you can do this: #26487230 – Verbosity

Answer 17

I have a strange behaviour that may can help you.
This is working but it has no effect in onCreate only:

toolbar.setTitle("title");

Try to use this in onCreate:

yourActivityName.this.setTitle("title")

Averment

Answer 18

This can be done by setting the android:label attribute of your activity in the AndroidManifest.xml file:

<activity android:name="my activity"
 android:label="The Title I'd like to display" />

And then add this line to the onCreate():

getSupportActionBar().setDisplayShowTitleEnabled(true);

Ethanethane

Answer 19

To change the title for each different activity

protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_pizza);
    setTitle(getResources().getText(R.string.title));
}

Revolution

setTitle(R.string.title); Event easier, but doesn't work – Cassy

Answer 20

Try this:

Xml Code

<android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="120dp"
    android:id="@+id/tool_bar"
    android:background="@color/tablayout"
    android:theme="@style/ToolBarStyle"
    app:popupTheme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Light">
    <TextView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="@string/app_name"
        android:layout_gravity="center"
        android:id="@+id/toolbar_title"
        android:textSize="18sp"
        android:textColor="@color/white"/>
    </android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar>

Java Code

protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
    toolbar = (Toolbar) findViewById(R.id.tool_bar);
    toolbar_text = (TextView)findViewById(R.id.toolbar_title);
    setSupportActionBar(toolbar);
    getSupportActionBar().setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true);
    getSupportActionBar().setDisplayShowTitleEnabled(false);
    toolbar.setLogo(R.drawable.ic_toolbar);
}

Steerageway

Answer 21

If your goal is to set a static string in the toolbar, the easiest way to do it is to simply set the activity label in AndroidManifest.xml:

<activity android:name=".xxxxActivity"
          android:label="@string/string_id" />

The toolbar will get this string without any code. (works for me with v27 libraries.)

While

Answer 22

 public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity implements View.OnClickListener {
    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
       super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

       //custom toolbaar
       getSupportActionBar().setTitle("Abhijeet");

    }
}

Gnarl

Answer 23

Though not immediately relevant to this particular setup, I found that removing "CollapsingToolbarLayout" from my XML that was wrapping my toolbar inside of an AppBarLayout made everything work.

So, this:

      <android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content">

            <android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
                android:id="@+id/toolbar"
                android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"
                app:layout_scrollFlags="scroll|enterAlways"
                app:navigationIcon="@drawable/ic_arrow_back_white_24dp" />

        </android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout>

Instead of this:

        <android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content">

            <android.support.design.widget.CollapsingToolbarLayout
                android:layout_width="match_parent"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:id="@+id/collapsingToolbar"
                android:minHeight="?attr/actionBarSize"
                app:layout_scrollFlags="enterAlways|scroll|snap">

                <android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
                    android:id="@+id/toolbar"
                    android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"
                    app:navigationIcon="@drawable/ic_arrow_back_white_24dp" />
            </android.support.design.widget.CollapsingToolbarLayout>

        </android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout>

Then, I set the title in the activity's onCreate, before setSupportActionBar() is called.

Aurify

you could do that. if you really need the collapsing toolbar layout, check this: #26487230 – Verbosity

@Chantell Osejo this worked for me too, even I was using the same layout. Thanks – Ecklund

Answer 24

Make sure you add this option:

getSupportActionBar().setDisplayOptions(ActionBar.DISPLAY_SHOW_TITLE);

Mcdowell

Answer 25

The answer is in the documentation (which you can find here):

To use the ActionBar utility methods, call the activity's getSupportActionBar() method. This method returns a reference to an appcompat ActionBar object. Once you have that reference, you can call any of the ActionBar methods to adjust the app bar. For example, to hide the app bar, call ActionBar.hide().

That is the solution you actually found. Just thought of giving a reference to the official documentation (which apparently few tend to read).

Babb

Answer 26

In Kotlin you can do this:

import android.os.Bundle
import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity
import androidx.appcompat.widget.Toolbar

class SettingsActivity : AppCompatActivity() {

    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_settings)

        val toolbar = findViewById<Toolbar>(R.id.toolbar)
        setSupportActionBar(toolbar)
        supportActionBar?.setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true)
        supportActionBar?.setTitle(R.string.title)

    }

    override fun onSupportNavigateUp() = true.also { onBackPressed() }

}

Ertha

Answer 27

This is happening because you are using Toolbar and ActionBar both. Now as you want to use Toolbar as an action bar, the first thing you need to do is disable the decor provided action bar.

The easiest way is to have your theme extend from Theme.AppCompat.NoActionBar.

Morice

Sorry i misunderstood question. – Shirleneshirley

@HareshChhelana You posted answer but do you know what is the issue exactly? – Morice

I think which is related action bar set tile issue that y i given such ans and when you realize me this i deleted my ans so now you dont worried about my misunderstood brother. – Shirleneshirley

@PareshMayani thank you for your answer, but it doesn't resolve my problem. Please, check updated question – Cobaltous