Custom title bar without padding (Android)

Question

So I am using the techniques in this thread to use a custom background for my titlebar. Unfortunately the framework places my layout inside a FrameLayout (title_container) which has padding as seen below.

Is there anyway to remove the grey borders? The frame layout is defined in com.android.internal.R.id.title_container, so accessing the frame by ID would be fragile.

Answer 1

There is a lenghty thread over on anddev.org that may be able to help you out

http://www.anddev.org/my_own_titlebar_backbutton_like_on_the_iphone-t4591.html

I have followed it and successfully created my own title bar which allows me to set the padding.

Xml for my title bar:

---

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout android:id="@+id/header"
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_height="38px" android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:background="@drawable/gradient">

<TextView android:id="@+id/title" android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:gravity="center_vertical" style="@style/PhoneText"
android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"
android:text="New Title" android:background="@android:color/transparent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
android:padding="5dip" android:layout_marginBottom="7px"/>

<TextView android:id="@+id/time" android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:gravity="center_vertical" style="@style/PhoneText2"
android:layout_alignParentRight="true"
android:text="Test Text" android:background="@android:color/transparent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
android:padding="4dip" android:layout_marginBottom="7px"/>
</RelativeLayout>

---

The above creates a small gray bar with text aligned to the right and left sides

Answer 2

There is actually no need to use a custom layout to customise the background image. The following code in theme.xml will work:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
    <style name="TitlebarBackgroundStyle">
        <item name="android:background">@drawable/header_bg</item>
    </style>
    <style name="Theme.OTPMain" parent="android:Theme"> 
        <item name="android:windowTitleBackgroundStyle">@style/TitlebarBackgroundStyle</item>
    </style>
</resources>

However, if you do actually want to use a custom title bar, then the following code will remove the margin:

ViewGroup v = (ViewGroup) findViewById(android.R.id.title);
v.setPadding(0, 0, 0, 0)

title_bar_background was set as the ID of the background image in the XML. I set android:scaleType="fitXY".