Customized Tabs/Views - TabHost or ActivityGroup?

I am building a tabbed application. Things work wonderfully with TabHost. Unfortunately, my team lead does not like the look of the tabs. He doesn't like the tiny icon and the gaps between the tabs. So, I either need to modify TabHost or use an ActivityGroup.

My first attempt was at changing TabHost.

Here is the drawable for one of my tabs:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"&gt;
    <!-- When selected, use grey -->
    <item android:drawable="@drawable/ic_tab_timeline_grey"
          android:state_selected="true" />
    <!-- When not selected, use white-->
    <item android:drawable="@drawable/ic_tab_timeline_white" />
    <!-- This is a state-list drawable, which you will apply as the tab image. When the tab state changes, the tab icon will automatically switch between the images defined here.  -->
</selector>

I initialize the tab in my main activity:

// Initialize a TabSpec for each tab and add it to the TabHost
intent = new Intent().setClass(this, TimelineActivity.class);
spec = tabHost.newTabSpec("timeline") .setIndicator("",
                  res.getDrawable(R.drawable.ic_tab_timeline))
              .setContent(intent);
tabHost.addTab(spec);

(Note that I set the Indicator to blanks.)

Then, I set the background image:

TabWidget tw = getTabWidget();
//changeTabWidgetStyle(tw);
View tempView = tabHost.getTabWidget().getChildAt(0);
tempView.setBackgroundDrawable(getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.timeline_on));

This successfully sets the background to my desired image. However, my tab still has the tiny icon, which overlays my background image. How can I get rid of the icon? I tried setting the Drawable to null when I initialize the tab, but this causes my app to crash.

Even if I can get this to work, it looks like I will still have spaces between the tabs. How can I get rid of those?

If this doesn't work, I may have to go with an ActivityGroup. I would rather not, though, because that seems more complicated.

I'm using this example: http://efreedom.com/Question/1-3265265/Android-Using-ActivityGroup-Embed-Activities

LocalActivityManager mgr = getLocalActivityManager(); 

Intent i = new Intent(this, SomeActivity.class); 

Window w = mgr.startActivity("unique_per_activity_string", i); 
View wd = w != null ? w.getDecorView() : null; 

if(wd != null) { 
    mSomeContainer.addView(wd); 
}

I can get the "tabs" to change and inflate layouts, but I can't add the local activity. I'm not sure what sort of "container" to add the view to. What should my xml layout look like?

ansaurus

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Customized Tabs/Views - TabHost or ActivityGroup?

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