Actionbar notification count icon (badge) like Google has

Question

I am not sure if this is the best solution or not, but it is what I need.

Please tell me if you know what is need to be changed for better performance or quality. In my case, I have a button.

Custom item on my menu - main.xml

<item
    android:id="@+id/badge"
    android:actionLayout="@layout/feed_update_count"
    android:icon="@drawable/shape_notification"
    android:showAsAction="always">
</item>

Custom shape drawable (background square) - shape_notification.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
   android:shape="rectangle">
    <stroke android:color="#22000000" android:width="2dp"/>
    <corners android:radius="5dp" />
    <solid android:color="#CC0001"/>
</shape>

Layout for my view - feed_update_count.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Button xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
     android:id="@+id/notif_count"
     android:layout_width="wrap_content"
     android:layout_height="wrap_content"
     android:minWidth="32dp"
     android:minHeight="32dp"
     android:background="@drawable/shape_notification"
     android:text="0"
     android:textSize="16sp"
     android:textColor="@android:color/white"
     android:gravity="center"
     android:padding="2dp"
     android:singleLine="true">    
</Button>

MainActivity - setting and updating my view

static Button notifCount;
static int mNotifCount = 0;    

@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
    MenuInflater inflater = getSupportMenuInflater();
    inflater.inflate(R.menu.main, menu);

    View count = menu.findItem(R.id.badge).getActionView();
    notifCount = (Button) count.findViewById(R.id.notif_count);
    notifCount.setText(String.valueOf(mNotifCount));
    return super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu);
}

private void setNotifCount(int count){
    mNotifCount = count;
    invalidateOptionsMenu();
}

Edit Since version 26 of the support library (or androidx) you no longer need to implement a custom OnLongClickListener to display the tooltip. Simply call this:

TooltipCompat.setTooltipText(menu_hotlist, getString(R.string.hint_show_hot_message));

---

I'll just share my code in case someone wants something like this:

• layout/menu/menu_actionbar.xml

  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
  
  <menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
      ...
      <item android:id="@+id/menu_hotlist"
          android:actionLayout="@layout/action_bar_notifitcation_icon"
          android:showAsAction="always"
          android:icon="@drawable/ic_bell"
          android:title="@string/hotlist" />
      ...
  </menu>
  

• layout/action_bar_notifitcation_icon.xml

  Note style and android:clickable properties. these make the layout the size of a button and make the background gray when touched.

  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
  <RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
      android:layout_width="wrap_content"
      android:layout_height="fill_parent"
      android:orientation="vertical"
      android:gravity="center"
      android:layout_gravity="center"
      android:clickable="true"
      style="@android:style/Widget.ActionButton">
  
      <ImageView
          android:id="@+id/hotlist_bell"
          android:src="@drawable/ic_bell"
          android:layout_width="wrap_content"
          android:layout_height="wrap_content"
          android:gravity="center"
          android:layout_margin="0dp"
          android:contentDescription="bell"
          />
  
      <TextView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
          android:id="@+id/hotlist_hot"
          android:layout_width="wrap_content"
          android:minWidth="17sp"
          android:textSize="12sp"
          android:textColor="#ffffffff"
          android:layout_height="wrap_content"
          android:gravity="center"
          android:text="@null"
          android:layout_alignTop="@id/hotlist_bell"
          android:layout_alignRight="@id/hotlist_bell"
          android:layout_marginRight="0dp"
          android:layout_marginTop="3dp"
          android:paddingBottom="1dp"
          android:paddingRight="4dp"
          android:paddingLeft="4dp"
          android:background="@drawable/rounded_square"/>
  </RelativeLayout>
  

• drawable-xhdpi/ic_bell.png

  A 64x64 pixel image with 10 pixel wide paddings from all sides. You are supposed to have 8 pixel wide paddings, but I find most default items being slightly smaller than that. Of course, you'll want to use different sizes for different densities.

• drawable/rounded_square.xml

  Here, #ff222222 (color #222222 with alpha #ff (fully visible)) is the background color of my Action Bar.

  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
  
  <shape
      xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
      android:shape="rectangle">
      <corners android:radius="2dp" />
      <solid android:color="#ffff0000" />
      <stroke android:color="#ff222222" android:width="2dp"/>
  </shape>
  

• com/ubergeek42/WeechatAndroid/WeechatActivity.java

  Here we make it clickable and updatable! I created an abstract listener that provides Toast creation on onLongClick, the code was taken from from the sources of ActionBarSherlock.

  private int hot_number = 0;
  private TextView ui_hot = null;
  
  @Override public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(final Menu menu) {
      MenuInflater menuInflater = getSupportMenuInflater();
      menuInflater.inflate(R.menu.menu_actionbar, menu);
      final View menu_hotlist = menu.findItem(R.id.menu_hotlist).getActionView();
      ui_hot = (TextView) menu_hotlist.findViewById(R.id.hotlist_hot);
      updateHotCount(hot_number);
      new MyMenuItemStuffListener(menu_hotlist, "Show hot message") {
          @Override
          public void onClick(View v) {
              onHotlistSelected();
          }
      };
      return super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu);
  }
  
  // call the updating code on the main thread,
  // so we can call this asynchronously
  public void updateHotCount(final int new_hot_number) {
      hot_number = new_hot_number;
      if (ui_hot == null) return;
      runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {
          @Override
          public void run() {
              if (new_hot_number == 0)
                  ui_hot.setVisibility(View.INVISIBLE);
              else {
                  ui_hot.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
                  ui_hot.setText(Integer.toString(new_hot_number));
              }
          }
      });
  }
  
  static abstract class MyMenuItemStuffListener implements View.OnClickListener, View.OnLongClickListener {
      private String hint;
      private View view;
  
      MyMenuItemStuffListener(View view, String hint) {
          this.view = view;
          this.hint = hint;
          view.setOnClickListener(this);
          view.setOnLongClickListener(this);
      }
  
      @Override abstract public void onClick(View v);
  
      @Override public boolean onLongClick(View v) {
          final int[] screenPos = new int[2];
          final Rect displayFrame = new Rect();
          view.getLocationOnScreen(screenPos);
          view.getWindowVisibleDisplayFrame(displayFrame);
          final Context context = view.getContext();
          final int width = view.getWidth();
          final int height = view.getHeight();
          final int midy = screenPos[1] + height / 2;
          final int screenWidth = context.getResources().getDisplayMetrics().widthPixels;
          Toast cheatSheet = Toast.makeText(context, hint, Toast.LENGTH_SHORT);
          if (midy < displayFrame.height()) {
              cheatSheet.setGravity(Gravity.TOP | Gravity.RIGHT,
                      screenWidth - screenPos[0] - width / 2, height);
          } else {
              cheatSheet.setGravity(Gravity.BOTTOM | Gravity.CENTER_HORIZONTAL, 0, height);
          }
          cheatSheet.show();
          return true;
      }
  }
  

Just to add. If someone wants to implement a filled circle bubble, heres the code (name it bage_circle.xml):

<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:shape="ring"
    android:useLevel="false"
    android:thickness="9dp"
    android:innerRadius="0dp"
    >

    <solid
        android:color="#F00"
        />
    <stroke
        android:width="1dip"
        android:color="#FFF" />

    <padding
        android:top="2dp"
        android:bottom="2dp"/>

</shape>

You may have to adjust the thickness according to your need.

EDIT: Here's the layout for button (name it badge_layout.xml):

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content">

    <com.joanzapata.iconify.widget.IconButton
        android:layout_width="44dp"
        android:layout_height="44dp"
        android:textSize="24sp"
        android:textColor="@color/white"
        android:background="@drawable/action_bar_icon_bg"
        android:id="@+id/badge_icon_button"/>

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/badge_textView"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignTop="@id/badge_icon_button"
        android:layout_alignRight="@id/badge_icon_button"
        android:layout_alignEnd="@id/badge_icon_button"
        android:text="10"
        android:paddingEnd="8dp"
        android:paddingRight="8dp"
        android:paddingLeft="8dp"
        android:gravity="center"
        android:textColor="#FFF"
        android:textSize="11sp"
        android:background="@drawable/badge_circle"/>
</RelativeLayout>

In Menu create item:

<item
        android:id="@+id/menu_messages"
        android:showAsAction="always"
        android:actionLayout="@layout/badge_layout"/>

In onCreateOptionsMenu get reference to the Menu item:

    itemMessages = menu.findItem(R.id.menu_messages);

    badgeLayout = (RelativeLayout) itemMessages.getActionView();
    itemMessagesBadgeTextView = (TextView) badgeLayout.findViewById(R.id.badge_textView);
    itemMessagesBadgeTextView.setVisibility(View.GONE); // initially hidden

    iconButtonMessages = (IconButton) badgeLayout.findViewById(R.id.badge_icon_button);
    iconButtonMessages.setText("{fa-envelope}");
    iconButtonMessages.setTextColor(getResources().getColor(R.color.action_bar_icon_color_disabled));

    iconButtonMessages.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
        @Override
        public void onClick(View view) {
            if (HJSession.getSession().getSessionId() != null) {

                Intent intent = new Intent(getThis(), HJActivityMessagesContexts.class);
                startActivityForResult(intent, HJRequestCodes.kHJRequestCodeActivityMessages.ordinal());
            } else {
                showLoginActivity();
            }
        }
    });

After receiving notification for messages, set the count:

itemMessagesBadgeTextView.setText("" + count);
itemMessagesBadgeTextView.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
iconButtonMessages.setTextColor(getResources().getColor(R.color.white));

This code uses Iconify-fontawesome.

compile 'com.joanzapata.iconify:android-iconify-fontawesome:2.1.+'

I don't like ActionView based solutions, my idea is:

1. create a layout with TextView, that TextView will be populated by application

2. when you need to draw a MenuItem:

   2.1. inflate layout

   2.2. call measure() & layout() (otherwise view will be 0px x 0px, it's too small for most use cases)

   2.3. set the TextView's text

   2.4. make "screenshot" of the view

   2.6. set MenuItem's icon based on bitmap created on 2.4

3. profit!

so, result should be something like

1. create layout here is a simple example

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<FrameLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@+id/counterPanel"
    android:layout_width="32dp"
    android:layout_height="32dp"
    android:background="@drawable/ic_menu_gallery">
    <RelativeLayout
        android:id="@+id/counterValuePanel"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" >

        <ImageView
            android:id="@+id/counterBackground"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:background="@drawable/unread_background" />

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/count"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:text="1"
            android:textSize="8sp"
            android:layout_centerInParent="true"
            android:textColor="#FFFFFF" />
    </RelativeLayout>
</FrameLayout>

@drawable/unread_background is that green TextView's background, @drawable/ic_menu_gallery is not really required here, it's just to preview layout's result in IDE.

2. add code into onCreateOptionsMenu/onPrepareOptionsMenu

   @Override
   public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
       getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.menu_main, menu);
   
       MenuItem menuItem = menu.findItem(R.id.testAction);
       menuItem.setIcon(buildCounterDrawable(count, R.drawable.ic_menu_gallery));
   
       return true;
   }
   

3. Implement build-the-icon method:

   private Drawable buildCounterDrawable(int count, int backgroundImageId) {
       LayoutInflater inflater = LayoutInflater.from(this);
       View view = inflater.inflate(R.layout.counter_menuitem_layout, null);
       view.setBackgroundResource(backgroundImageId);
   
       if (count == 0) {
           View counterTextPanel = view.findViewById(R.id.counterValuePanel);
           counterTextPanel.setVisibility(View.GONE);
       } else {
           TextView textView = (TextView) view.findViewById(R.id.count);
           textView.setText("" + count);
       }
   
       view.measure(
               View.MeasureSpec.makeMeasureSpec(0, View.MeasureSpec.UNSPECIFIED),
               View.MeasureSpec.makeMeasureSpec(0, View.MeasureSpec.UNSPECIFIED));
       view.layout(0, 0, view.getMeasuredWidth(), view.getMeasuredHeight());
   
       view.setDrawingCacheEnabled(true);
       view.setDrawingCacheQuality(View.DRAWING_CACHE_QUALITY_HIGH);
       Bitmap bitmap = Bitmap.createBitmap(view.getDrawingCache());
       view.setDrawingCacheEnabled(false);
   
       return new BitmapDrawable(getResources(), bitmap);
   }
   

The complete code is here: https://github.com/cvoronin/ActionBarMenuItemCounter

Ok, for @AndrewS solution to work with v7 appCompat library:

<menu 
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:someNamespace="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto" >

    <item
        android:id="@+id/saved_badge"
        someNamespace:showAsAction="always"
        android:icon="@drawable/shape_notification" />

</menu>

.

@Override
public void onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu, MenuInflater inflater) {
    super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu, inflater);
    menu.clear();
    inflater.inflate(R.menu.main, menu);

    MenuItem item = menu.findItem(R.id.saved_badge);
    MenuItemCompat.setActionView(item, R.layout.feed_update_count);
    View view = MenuItemCompat.getActionView(item);
    notifCount = (Button)view.findViewById(R.id.notif_count);
    notifCount.setText(String.valueOf(mNotifCount));
}

private void setNotifCount(int count){
    mNotifCount = count;
    supportInvalidateOptionsMenu();
}

The rest of the code is the same.

Try looking at the answers to these questions, particularly the second one which has sample code:

How to implement dynamic values on menu item in Android

How to get text on an ActionBar Icon?

From what I see, You'll need to create your own custom ActionView implementation. An alternative might be a custom Drawable. Note that there appears to be no native implementation of a notification count for the Action Bar.

EDIT: The answer you were looking for, with code: Custom Notification View with sample implementation