Is there any alternative to nested Fragments?

Question

I've read around that nesting Fragments should be avoided (eg. here), but I can't see how to do the following:

I'm working on a tab application (android:minSdkVersion="12") with the following UI:

The search bar is always here and the user can navigate through several menu options ('home', 'gallery'...). My idea was to use a BaseActivity with a layout containing the search bar and a FrameLayout in which I would load the Fragment corresponding to the user navigation choice.

My issue is that in the 'Home' Fragment I have several tabs, which I wanted to implement the same way, i.e. with a layout containing the tab bar and a FrameLayout in which I would load the corresponding Fragment, and this leads to nested Fragment...

I know that instead of the BaseActivity I could use several activities and include the search bar in every layout, but it would make it appear and disappear every time the user would change activities...

EDIT

I also need a fixed footer, so I cannot use action bar as proposed by CommonsWare in his answer.

Anybody could help?

Answer 1

There is Nested Fragments!!!!!!! in the new support library version(support library v4 , version 11)

Answer 2

You can use ViewPager and the FragmentPagerAdapter for this. ViewPager allows users to swipe between views or (in your case) Fragments. To show tablike-controls, use ViewPagerIndicator.

Using the layout you described, instead of loading a Fragment into the FrameLayout, inflate it with a layout like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical">

    <com.viewpagerindicator.TabPageIndicator
        android:id="@+id/viewpagerIndicator"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_width="match_parent" />
    <android.support.v4.view.ViewPager
        android:id="@+id/viewpager"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="0dp"
        android:layout_weight="1" />

</LinearLayout>

Next, assign a FragmentPagerAdapter to your ViewPager, which will then load your Fragments.

Also take a look at my answer here. It gives a more detailed example. Note however that it extends PagerAdapter, instead of the FragmentPagerAdapter you should be using.