Implementing a TabListener using the Support Library

Question

I am trying to implement Tab Navigation, but I want to make sure people that have older versions of Android can still use my application.

The app in mind ATM is fairly simple, I just want to be able to understand how to implement the layout and then I'll add the missing bits.

Anyhow, I have a Container Activity that extends Fragment Activity (to ensure compatibility), and this Activity creates a TabView using an ActionBar (I believe my problem resides here). The app will try to create three tabs and add them to the ActionBar, and I want to make sure the user can scroll back and forth using lateral navigation.

Here is TabListener I am trying to implement:

public static class TabListener<T extends Fragment> implements ActionBar.TabListener {

    private Fragment mFragment;
    private final Activity mActivity;
    private final String mTag;
    private final Class<T> mClass;

    public TabListener(Activity activity, String tag, Class<T> clz) {
        mActivity = activity;
        mTag = tag;
        mClass = clz;
    }

    public void onTabSelected(Tab tab, FragmentTransaction ft) {
        if (mFragment == null) {
            mFragment = Fragment.instantiate(mActivity, mClass.getName());
            ft.add(android.R.id.content, mFragment, mTag);
        } else {
            ft.attach(mFragment);
        }
    }

    public void onTabUnselected(Tab tab, FragmentTransaction ft) {
        if (mFragment != null) {
            ft.detach(mFragment);
        }
    }

    public void onTabReselected(Tab tab, FragmentTransaction ft) {
    }
}

Here are my imports, because I wanted to make sure I was using the support library:

import android.app.ActionBar;
import android.app.ActionBar.Tab;
import android.app.Activity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v4.app.Fragment;
import android.support.v4.app.FragmentActivity;
import android.support.v4.app.FragmentTransaction;
import android.support.v4.view.ViewPager;
import android.view.Menu;

However, Eclipse is giving me issues with the TabListener methods. It is telling me the following: "The type LayoutContainer.TabListener must implement the inherited abstract method ActionBar.TabListener.onTabSelected(ActionBar.Tab, FragmentTransaction)"

When I select Add unimplemented methods Eclipse basically adds the OnTabSelected OnTabReselected and OnTabUnselected methods, but this time, passing the non-support version of the Fragment (android..app.Fragment) as a parameter.

Any ideas on how to make another implementation of lateral navigation through the support library to ensure compatibility?

Answer 1

hmmm. while Malek's works it doesn't directly answer the question..

You can simply ignore the fragment transaction you get in the callback and use your own:

android.support.v4.app.FragmentTransaction fft = mActivity.getSupportFragmentManager().beginTransaction();

Just make sure that your activity is a FragmentActivity and you'll be able to start a new fragment transaction.

Also the replace() method in the fragmentTransaction is much more convenient than add() and remove()

Answer 2

The key is to use

import android.support.v7.app.ActionBar;

... rather than ...

import android.app.ActionBar;

That avoids the clever workaround Nelson Ramirez posted.

The following full example, based on the official documentation, was tested to work from Android 3.0, API 11

package com.example.myapp;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v4.app.Fragment;
import android.support.v4.app.FragmentTransaction;
import android.support.v7.app.ActionBar;
import android.support.v7.app.ActionBarActivity;
import android.view.*;
import android.widget.TextView;

public class NavigationTabsBasicDemoActivity extends ActionBarActivity {

    static public class TabListener<T extends Fragment> implements ActionBar
            .TabListener {

        private Fragment mFragment;
        private final Activity mActivity;
        private final String mTag;
        private final Class<T> mClass;

        /**
         * Constructor used each time a new tab is created.
         *
         * @param activity The host Activity, used to instantiate the
         *                 fragment
         * @param tag      The identifier tag for the fragment
         * @param pClass   The fragment's Class, used to instantiate the
         *                 fragment
         * @see <a
         * href="http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/actionbar
         * .html#Tabs">
         * Developers Guide > Action Bar > Adding Navigation Tabs</a>
         */
        public TabListener(Activity activity, String tag, Class<T> pClass) {
            mActivity = activity;
            mTag = tag;
            mClass = pClass;
        }

        @Override
        public void onTabSelected(ActionBar.Tab tab, FragmentTransaction ft) {
            if (mFragment == null) {
                mFragment = Fragment.instantiate(mActivity, mClass.getName());
                ft.add(android.R.id.content, mFragment, mTag);
            } else {
                // If it exists, attach it in order to show it
                ft.attach(mFragment);
            }
        }

        @Override
        public void onTabUnselected(ActionBar.Tab tab, FragmentTransaction ft) {
            if (mFragment != null) {
                // Detach the fragment, because another one is about to be
                // attached.
                ft.detach(mFragment);
            }
        }

        @Override
        public void onTabReselected(ActionBar.Tab tab, FragmentTransaction ft) {
            // Do nothing.
        }
    }


    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        // No need for setContentView() to be used, Instead  we use the root
        // android.R.id.content as the container for each fragment,
        // which is set in the TabListener

        ActionBar actionBar = getSupportActionBar();
        actionBar.setNavigationMode(ActionBar.NAVIGATION_MODE_TABS);
        actionBar.setDisplayShowTitleEnabled(true);

        ActionBar.Tab tab = actionBar.newTab().setText("Artist").setTabListener(
                new TabListener<PlaceholderFragment>(this,
                                                     "artist",
                                                     PlaceholderFragment
                                                             .class));
        actionBar.addTab(tab);

        tab = actionBar.newTab().setText("Album").setTabListener(
                new TabListener<PlaceholderFragment>(
                    this,
                    "album",
                    PlaceholderFragment.class));
        actionBar.addTab(tab);
    }

    /**
     * In this example use one Fragment but display different data based on
     * which
     * tab is shown. In production you'd probably use a separate fragment.
     */
    public static class PlaceholderFragment extends Fragment {

        public PlaceholderFragment() {
        }

        @Override
        public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container,
                                 Bundle savedInstanceState) {
            View rootView = inflater.inflate(
                    R.layout.fragment_navigation_tabs_basic_demo,
                                             container,
                                             false);
            TextView outputTextView = (TextView) rootView.findViewById(
                                        R.id.output_textView);
            outputTextView.setText("Hello " + getTag());
            return rootView;
        }
    }
}

Answer 3

actionBar = getActionBar();
actionBar.setNavigationMode(ActionBar.NAVIGATION_MODE_TABS);

actionBar.setDisplayShowHomeEnabled(false);
actionBar.setDisplayShowTitleEnabled(false);

tabA = actionBar.newTab().setText("");
tabB = actionBar.newTab().setText("");

Fragment fragmentA = new AFragmentTab();
Fragment fragmentB = new BFragmentTab();

tabA.setTabListener(new MyTabsListener(fragmentA));
tabB.setTabListener(new MyTabsListener(fragmentB));

actionBar.addTab(tabA);
actionBar.addTab(tabB);

The tab listener is as follows:

protected class MyTabsListener implements ActionBar.TabListener{
    private Fragment fragment;

    public MyTabsListener(Fragment fragment){
        this.fragment = fragment;
    }
    public void onTabSelected(Tab tab, FragmentTransaction ft){
        ft.add(R.id.layout2, fragment, null);
    }
    public void onTabReselected(Tab tab, FragmentTransaction ft) {
    }
    public void onTabUnselected(Tab tab, FragmentTransaction ft) {
        ft.remove(fragment);
    }
}

and then you make a class for each tab:

public class BFragmentTab extends Fragment {

    @Override
    public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container, Bundle savedInstanceState)
    {
        return inflater.inflate(R.layout.login, container, false);
    }
}

But keep in mind that the action bar isn't supported for android versions below 3.0 . If you want to use it in older versions I suggest you use actionBarSherlock Library.