Cannot remove Padding from Tabs when using Custom views with Tab Layout

Question

I have added a Relative Layout in Custom View and have added this in Tab Layout. I am using a white background for tabs and have not applied any padding in tabs custom layout. But then also I am getting padding on tabs due to which I am shown some grey background within tabs as if android is internally applying padding to tabs. I am trying to display three text views which I am able to do but one of them is truncating because of padding applied to tabs. Also I want to have consistent background color for tabs.

Here is my code:

activity_home.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:fitsSystemWindows="true"
    tools:context="com.customtablayoutapplication.HomeActivity">

    <android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:theme="@style/AppTheme.AppBarOverlay">

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


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

    <include layout="@layout/content_home" />


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

fragment_home.xml:

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:theme="@style/AppTheme.AppBarOverlay"
    tools:context="com.customtablayoutapplication.HomeFragment"
    tools:showIn="@layout/activity_home">

    <android.support.design.widget.TabLayout
        android:id="@+id/tabs"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        app:tabGravity="fill"
        app:tabMode="fixed" />

    <android.support.v4.view.ViewPager
        android:id="@+id/viewpager"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        app:layout_behavior="@string/appbar_scrolling_view_behavior" />

</LinearLayout>

custom_tab.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:background="@android:color/white"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:layout_gravity="center">

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/total_request_count"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
        android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
        android:text="12"
        android:textAllCaps="false"
        android:visibility="gone"
        android:textColor="@color/colorPrimaryDark"
        android:textSize="12sp" />


    <RelativeLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:layout_centerVertical="true"
        android:fitsSystemWindows="true"
        android:gravity="center">

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/request_status"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="match_parent"
            android:gravity="center"
            android:text="New Request"
            android:textAllCaps="false"
            android:textColor="@color/colorPrimaryDark"
            android:textSize="12sp" />

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/badge_icon"
            android:layout_width="13dp"
            android:layout_height="13dp"
            android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
            android:layout_alignTop="@id/request_status"
            android:layout_marginLeft="-3dp"
            android:layout_marginTop="15dp"
            android:background="@drawable/circular_text_background"
            android:clickable="false"
            android:visibility="gone" />
    </RelativeLayout>


</RelativeLayout>

HomeFragment.java:

package com.customtablayoutapplication;

import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.design.widget.TabLayout;
import android.support.v4.app.Fragment;
import android.support.v4.app.FragmentManager;
import android.support.v4.app.FragmentPagerAdapter;
import android.support.v4.view.ViewPager;
import android.view.LayoutInflater;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.ViewGroup;
import android.widget.RelativeLayout;
import android.widget.TextView;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

/**
 * A placeholder fragment containing a simple view.
 */
public class HomeFragment extends Fragment {

    private ViewPager viewPager;
    private TabLayout tabLayout;

    public HomeFragment() {
    }

    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

    }

    @Override
    public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container,
                             Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        
        View view = inflater.inflate(R.layout.fragment_home, container, false);
        viewPager = (ViewPager) view.findViewById(R.id.viewpager);
        setupViewPager(viewPager);

        tabLayout = (TabLayout) view.findViewById(R.id.tabs);
        tabLayout.setupWithViewPager(viewPager);
        setUpTabIcons();
        return view;
    }

    private void setUpTabIcons() {
        RelativeLayout tabNewRequest= (RelativeLayout) LayoutInflater.from(getActivity()).inflate(R.layout.custom_tab, null);
        TextView tabNewRequesttxt = (TextView) tabNewRequest.findViewById(R.id.request_status);
        tabNewRequesttxt.setText("New Request");
        tabLayout.getTabAt(0).setCustomView(tabNewRequest);

        RelativeLayout tabInProgress= (RelativeLayout) LayoutInflater.from(getActivity()).inflate(R.layout.custom_tab, null);
        TextView tabInProgresstxt = (TextView) tabInProgress.findViewById(R.id.request_status);
        tabInProgresstxt.setText("In Progress");
        tabLayout.getTabAt(1).setCustomView(tabInProgress);

        RelativeLayout tabWorkDone= (RelativeLayout) LayoutInflater.from(getActivity()).inflate(R.layout.custom_tab, null);
        TextView tabWorkDonetxt = (TextView) tabWorkDone.findViewById(R.id.request_status);
        tabWorkDonetxt.setText("Work Done");
        tabLayout.getTabAt(2).setCustomView(tabWorkDone);

        RelativeLayout tabDelivered= (RelativeLayout) LayoutInflater.from(getActivity()).inflate(R.layout.custom_tab, null);
        TextView tabDeliveredtxt = (TextView) tabDelivered.findViewById(R.id.request_status);
        tabDeliveredtxt.setText("Delivered");
        tabLayout.getTabAt(3).setCustomView(tabDelivered);
    }

    private void setupViewPager(ViewPager viewPager) {
        ViewPagerAdapter adapter = new ViewPagerAdapter(getChildFragmentManager());
        adapter.addFragment(new NewRequestFragment(), "New Request");
        adapter.addFragment(new InProgressFragment(), "In Progress");
        adapter.addFragment(new WorkDoneFragment(), "Work Done");
        adapter.addFragment(new DeliveredFragment(), "Delivered");
        viewPager.setAdapter(adapter);
    }

    class ViewPagerAdapter extends FragmentPagerAdapter {
        private final List<Fragment> mFragmentList = new ArrayList<>();
        private final List<String> mFragmentTitleList = new ArrayList<>();

        public ViewPagerAdapter(FragmentManager manager) {
            super(manager);
        }

        @Override
        public Fragment getItem(int position) {
            return mFragmentList.get(position);
        }

        @Override
        public int getCount() {
            return mFragmentList.size();
        }

        public void addFragment(Fragment fragment, String title) {
            mFragmentList.add(fragment);
            mFragmentTitleList.add(title);
        }

        @Override
        public CharSequence getPageTitle(int position) {
            return mFragmentTitleList.get(position);
        }
    }
}

Fixed Tab are having grey background arround white background:

Answer 1

 <android.support.design.widget.TabLayout
     android:id="@+id/tab_layout"
     android:layout_width="210dp"
     android:layout_height="28dp"
     android:layout_centerInParent="true"
     android:background="@drawable/bg_forum_tab"
     app:tabIndicatorColor="@color/colorBtnBg"
     app:tabIndicatorHeight="0dp"
     app:tabPaddingBottom="-1dp"
     app:tabPaddingEnd="-1dp"
     app:tabPaddingStart="-1dp"
     app:tabPaddingTop="-1dp"
     app:tabSelectedTextColor="@color/colorBtnBg"
     app:tabTextColor="@color/colorWhite" />

Set tabPaddingStart/tabPaddingEnd/tabPaddingTop/tabPaddingBottom like this.

Answer 2

It worked for me:

In your TabLayout you have to set tabPaddingEnd and tabPaddingStart to 0dp.

In your custom view you have to set the layout_width and layout_height to match_parent in order to fill all space with your custom color.

The TabLayout:

<android.support.design.widget.TabLayout
    android:id="@+id/tl_dashboard"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"
    android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
    app:tabGravity="fill"
    app:tabIndicatorColor="@color/colorRed"
    app:tabMode="fixed"
    app:tabPaddingStart="0dp"
    app:tabPaddingEnd="0dp"/>

And custom view:

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent">
     <!--Your widgets-->        
</RelativeLayout>

Answer 3

Through XML you can remove only the left and right paddings like that:

app:tabPaddingEnd="0dp"
app:tabPaddingStart="0dp"

Notice, that this way doesn`t work for TOP and BOTTOM paddings, but I find next solution:

When you use custom views as tab item, you need to set LayoutParams to the view and set paddings 0.

for (int i = 0; i < tabLayout.getTabCount(); i++) {           
    View tabView = LayoutInflater.from(context)
            .inflate(LayoutInflater.from(this), R.layout.item_main_tabview, null, false);

    tabView.setLayoutParams(new TableLayout.LayoutParams(ViewGroup.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT, ViewGroup.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT));
    tabView.setPadding(0, 0, 0, 0);
    tabLayout.getTabAt(i).setCustomView(tabViewBinding.getRoot());
}

Answer 4

I solved this by setting the margin & padding of your custom view's parent to zero, when adding new tabs to tab layout.

LinearLayout.LayoutParams lp = new LinearLayout.LayoutParams(ViewGroup.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT, ViewGroup.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT);
lp.setMargins(0,0,0,0);
    
TabLayout.Tab newTab = mTabsBottom.newTab().setCustomView(R.layout.view_custom_tab);
setupTabParentLayout(newTab.getCustomView(), lp);
..
..
..
private void setupTabParentLayout(View customView, LinearLayout.LayoutParams lp) {
    LinearLayout tabParent = (LinearLayout) customView.getParent();
    tabParent.setLayoutParams(lp);
    tabParent.setPadding(0,0,0,0);
}

Trick here was to use LinearLayout.LayoutParams for custom view's parent.

Answer 5

I know this is an old question but this can help someone else. Padding start and padding end is not removing space between tabs. Solution is :

android:clipToPadding="true"

<android.support.design.widget.TabLayout
    android:id="@+id/tab_layout"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="80dp"
    android:background="@color/colorGrayBackground"
    app:tabGravity="fill"
    app:tabPaddingStart="0dp"
    app:tabPaddingEnd="0dp"
    app:tabContentStart="0dp"
    app:tabIndicatorHeight="0dp"
    android:clipToPadding="true"
    app:tabMode="fixed" />

Then you can set paddings to "0dp". Hope it helps someone.

Answer 6

In case you have tried many things and none of them did work, here is what I ended up doing: just setting

android:layout_height="20dp

<FrameLayout
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content">

    <androidx.viewpager.widget.ViewPager
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_gravity="bottom"
        android:layout_height="130dp"/>

    <com.google.android.material.tabs.TabLayout
        android:layout_height="20dp"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_gravity="bottom"
        app:tabBackground="@drawable/tab_selector"
        app:tabGravity="center"
        app:tabIndicatorHeight="0dp"/>

</FrameLayout>