Using Navigation Drawer without TitleBar or ActionBar

Question

I'm adding a Navigation Drawer to this app that I am developing and I have scoured the internet; forums, stackoverflow, android developer documentation, and still have not found a great answer for this.

I know that it is possible to do this without using either of these things. What I am wondering is how. The NsMenuAdapter model uses a title, and then there are these functions

getActionBar().setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true);
getActionBar().setHomeButtonEnabled(true);

Which are clearly looking for an action bar. I tried a couple of models that didn't work, the big one I just got done trying is located here How to Add icons adjacent to titles for Android Navigation Drawer (which is related to the link I have below, the project is from gitHub here https://github.com/gabrielemariotti/androiddev/tree/master/NavigationDrawer). Now the key thing is, I am using a custom layout (i.e. Relative Layouts mixed in with Linear Layouts) and I'm really lost on what my next step should be in order to get this to work.

Sidenote: When I only have the ListView in my main_activity.xml (the implementation for the Navigation Drawer) it does properly slide out like it is suppose to. But I cannot for the life of me figure out how to populate it with data. I basically need 3 headers with that will have clickable navigation elements in them, with icons next to the elements.

I turned to this model for most of my insight on how to do this via Relative Layouts http://gmariotti.blogspot.com/2013/05/creating-navigation-drawer.html But they use action/title bars which is what is really throwing me for a loop.

Answer 1

It's quite simple actually. Easier than with ActionBar. I'm writing the answer with almost simplest of layouts

make your xml something like this:

<android.support.v4.widget.DrawerLayout     
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:id="@+id/drawer_layout"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent" >

<!-- This is how your main page will look, just 2 buttons -->

    <RelativeLayout
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="100dp" >

        <Button
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
            android:onClick="onLeft"
            android:text="left" />

        <Button
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
            android:onClick="onRight"
            android:text="right" />
    </RelativeLayout>

<!-- Left Drawer -->
    <RelativeLayout
    android:id="@+id/whatYouWantInLeftDrawer"
    android:layout_width="240dp"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:layout_gravity="start" >

        <ListView
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="match_parent"
            android:background="@android:color/background_dark" />
    <!-- you can have many more widgets here like buttons or labels -->
    </RelativeLayout>


<!-- Right Drawer -->
    <RelativeLayout
    android:id="@+id/whatYouWantInRightDrawer"
    android:layout_width="200dp"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_gravity="right" >

        <ListView
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="match_parent"
            android:background="@android:color/holo_green_light" />
    <!-- you can have many more widgets here like buttons or labels -->
    </RelativeLayout>

</android.support.v4.widget.DrawerLayout>

Then make your activity something like this:

public class MainActivity extends Activity {

RelativeLayout leftRL;
RelativeLayout rightRL;
DrawerLayout drawerLayout;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
//      I'm removing the ActionBar.
        requestWindowFeature(Window.FEATURE_NO_TITLE);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

        leftRL = (RelativeLayout)findViewById(R.id.whatYouWantInLeftDrawer);
        rightRL = (RelativeLayout)findViewById(R.id.whatYouWantInRightDrawer);
        drawerLayout = (DrawerLayout)findViewById(R.id.drawer_layout);
    }

    public  void onLeft(View view) {
         drawerLayout.openDrawer(leftRL);
    }

    public  void onRight(View view) {
         drawerLayout.openDrawer(rightRL);
    }
}

That's it. Hope it helps.

Answer 2

I know that it is possible to do this without using either of these things. What I am wondering is how.

Step #1: Follow the instructions for using DrawerLayout, such as the steps in this training guide, skipping anything related to the action bar.

Step #2: There is no step #2.

While DrawerLayout can work with the action bar, it is not required, and actually requires additional setup.