B4A Library AppCompat - Make Material Design apps compatible with older Android versions

johndb · Feb 7, 2015

Is there a way of changing the background and text color of the ACPopupMenu?
The reason why I'm asking is that I'm using the ACToolBarDark where the overflow menu background is dark with white text. When I use the ACPopupMenu the menu is displayed with white background and black text. It would be nice to have the popup match the overflow for consistency.

SCIS · Feb 13, 2015

Hi Corwin,
I've followed your instructions step by step.
Every time I debug the app I get this error:

Compiling generated Java code. Error
javac 1.8.0_31
src\b4a\example\main.java:16: error: package android.support.v7.app does not exist
public class main extends android.support.v7.app.ActionBarActivity implements B4AActivity{

I can't figure out what the problem is.

corwin42 · Feb 13, 2015

Did you really copy the android-support-v7-appcompat.jar to the custom libs folder?

SCIS · Feb 13, 2015

Yes, I copied the files to the custom libs folder.

lemonisdead · Feb 13, 2015

Hello @corwin42 : sorry to insert my question before your reply.
I have noticed that the Activity_ActionBarHomeClick event is reached only if I have added a Menu item. If I don't add a Menu item to the Activity, when I press the UpIndicator, nothing happens.
Please could you confirm that's the wanted behavior ? Many thanks

johndb · Feb 14, 2015

johndb said:
Is there a way of changing the background and text color of the ACPopupMenu?
The reason why I'm asking is that I'm using the ACToolBarDark where the overflow menu background is dark with white text. When I use the ACPopupMenu the menu is displayed with white background and black text. It would be nice to have the popup match the overflow for consistency.

Since there isn't a response to my question, I'm assuming that changing the text and background color of the ACPopupMenu isn't possible?

corwin42 · Feb 16, 2015

johndb said:
Since there isn't a response to my question, I'm assuming that changing the text and background color of the ACPopupMenu isn't possible?

You cannot change it directly from code but you can add a style for it in xml. See this Stackoverflow answer for how to do it.

lemonisdead said:
Hello @corwin42 : sorry to insert my question before your reply.
I have noticed that the Activity_ActionBarHomeClick event is reached only if I have added a Menu item. If I don't add a Menu item to the Activity, when I press the UpIndicator, nothing happens.
Please could you confirm that's the wanted behavior ? Many thanks

No, this is a bug.
Workaround should be:
Call ToolBar.InitMenuListener and then use the ToolBar_NavigationItemClick event.

SCIS said:
Yes, I copied the files to the custom libs folder.

Have you checked the AppCompat library in the IDE? It seems that the android-support-v7-appcompat library is not added to your project.

migrec · Mar 3, 2015

Hey @corwin42,
The flat button is nice, but it's more for dialogs (according to google: http://www.google.com/design/spec/components/buttons.html#)
Will Appcompat support the raised button soon? because that is the "real" material button.

corwin42 · Mar 9, 2015

migrec said:
Hey @corwin42,
The flat button is nice, but it's more for dialogs (according to google: http://www.google.com/design/spec/components/buttons.html#)
Will Appcompat support the raised button soon? because that is the "real" material button.

I searched for a nice "Raised Button" library but I haven't found a really nice one. If I find one it may be added to the AppCompat library.

Edit: With the new version of the support library (v22.1) it seems that we can just use normal buttons as raised buttons. AppCompat library will be updated to support this.

corwin42 · Apr 22, 2015

Google just released a bigger update to v22.1 for the support library with many additions/changes to the AppCompat classes.

The wrapper library provided here is still working with this new support library. Just be sure to copy the new jar files (android-support-v4.jar, android-support-v7.jar) to your custom libs folder and be sure that your #AdditionalRes parameter points to the new resource files.

There may be an issue with your theme which will cause the app to crash at start. See explanation in first post how to fix this.

There are many enhancements to the AppCompat part and I will update the AppCompat wrapper library soon. It will then support more views and the additional resources for the wrapper will be not necessary anymore. Overall Google added some nice features and resolved many issues and now it looks a bit more complete.

Peter Simpson · Apr 22, 2015

Hello @corwin42,
I updated to Support library version 22.1 and yes you're correct, all my reassembled apps just stopped working full stop and would not even start correctly. To get all my apps running again I just did the following.

1. I copied the updated android-support-v4.jar and android-support-v7.jar files from extras\android\support\v7\appcompat\libs to my additional libraries folder.
2. I added the following to my theme xml file, I did not add 'Theme.AppCompat.NoActionBar'.

B4X:

'I just added 2 lines
    <item name="windowActionBar">false</item>
    <item name="windowNoTitle">true</item>

The following does not matter but I also set my Android jar file to platforms\android-22\android.jar and set android:targetSdkVersion="22". I set my Android jar file to 22 after everything started working again.

Hmm the spinner looks better too, I'm sure of it

Ramezanpour2 · May 17, 2015

im want to add an edittext for search in ACToolBarLight ...help me

Ramezanpour2 · May 17, 2015

How to work with ACSearchview (im initializing but cant show?)

corwin42 · May 18, 2015

Added an example to the first post which shows how to use the SearchView.

rbirago · May 21, 2015

Surely I mismatch something...but I don't understand what!!!!
I've tried to run "ACTToolbarExample", but it doesn't work.
I followed the instructions (see snap0). Well:
As you can see points 1. and 2. seems ok (see snap1).
3. Android Support Library seems ok (see snap2, snap3).
4. In my AddLibraries are the same versions (snap1)
5. In the example project I changed only the two AdditionalRes and (6.) the version 22 is used (snap 4).

So, it doesn't work (snap5). Where is my mistake?

Thank you in advance

corwin42 · May 21, 2015

rbirago said:
Surely I mismatch something...but I don't understand what!!!!
I've tried to run "ACTToolbarExample", but it doesn't work.
I followed the instructions (see snap0). Well:
As you can see points 1. and 2. seems ok (see snap1).
3. Android Support Library seems ok (see snap2, snap3).
4. In my AddLibraries are the same versions (snap1)
5. In the example project I changed only the two AdditionalRes and (6.) the version 22 is used (snap 4).

So, it doesn't work (snap5). Where is my mistake?

Thank you in advance

See the info about support library v22.1 in first post. You have to change the theme file.

rbirago · May 21, 2015

great! it works! Thank you (I must learn to read BETTER ALL the posts).

migrec · Jun 6, 2015

Hey @corwin42, I've changed the theme file to this:

HTML:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
- <resources>
- <style name="MyAppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar">
  <item name="colorPrimary">#FF9800</item>
  <item name="colorPrimaryDark">#F57C00</item>
  <item name="colorAccent">#FFA726</item>
  <item name="windowNoTitle">true</item>
  <item name="windowActionBar">false</item>
  </style>
  </resources>

...because I have the support library at 22.2
but it throws this error:

B4X:

Installing file.
PackageAdded: package:b4a.example
java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to start activity ComponentInfo{b4a.example/b4a.example.main}: android.util.AndroidRuntimeException: requestFeature() must be called before adding content
    at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1967)
    at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1992)
    at android.app.ActivityThread.access$600(ActivityThread.java:127)
    at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1158)
    at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
    at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:137)
    at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4441)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:511)
    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:784)
    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:551)
    at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)
Caused by: android.util.AndroidRuntimeException: requestFeature() must be called before adding content
    at com.android.internal.policy.impl.PhoneWindow.requestFeature(PhoneWindow.java:229)
    at b4a.example.main.onCreate(main.java:50)
    at android.app.Activity.performCreate(Activity.java:4465)
    at android.app.Instrumentation.callActivityOnCreate(Instrumentation.java:1049)
    at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1931)
    ... 11 more

I have hard to believe that it should be the same type of difference from 22.1 to 22.2?

So what could be wrong?

corwin42 · Jun 15, 2015

My guess is that you have set

B4X:

#IncludeTitle: False

Leave it to True. The title will be disabled in the Theme.

Inman · Jun 17, 2015

Peter Simpson said:
Hello @corwin42,
I updated to Support library version 22.1 and yes you're correct, all my reassembled apps just stopped working full stop and would not even start correctly. To get all my apps running again I just did the following.

1. I copied the updated android-support-v4.jar and android-support-v7.jar files from extras\android\support\v7\appcompat\libs to my additional libraries folder.
2. I added the following to my theme xml file, I did not add 'Theme.AppCompat.NoActionBar'.

B4X:

'I just added 2 lines <item name="windowActionBar">false</item> <item name="windowNoTitle">true</item>

The following does not matter but I also set my Android jar file to platforms\android-22\android.jar and set android:targetSdkVersion="22". I set my Android jar file to 22 after everything started working again.

Hmm the spinner looks better too, I'm sure of it

I updated to 22.2 and started getting the same error. I changed theme.xml to this format and that fixed it.

B4X:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<resources>
    <style name="MyAppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar">
       <item name="colorPrimary">#FF9800</item>
 <item name="colorPrimaryDark">#F57C00</item>
 <item name="colorAccent">#FFA726</item>
    </style>

    <style name="MyAppTheme.NoActionBar">
    <!-- Both of these are needed -->
    <item name="windowActionBar">false</item>
    <item name="windowNoTitle">true</item>
</style>
</resources>

B4A Library AppCompat - Make Material Design apps compatible with older Android versions

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