How to draw on ActionBar tab when using ActionBarSherlock in Android? - android-actionbar

Question

I am using ActionBarSherlock to provide ActionBars for pre HoneyComb devices.
My Activity has four fragments namely 1. User 2. Chat 3. Video 4. Extra, see image
I have created actionBar using following code:-
actionBar = getSupportActionBar();
actionBar.setNavigationMode(ActionBar.NAVIGATION_MODE_TABS);
actionBar.setTitle("Meeting");
actionBar.setDisplayShowHomeEnabled(false);
actionBar.setDisplayShowCustomEnabled(false);
actionBar.setDisplayShowTitleEnabled(false);
/* Set Custom view */
ActionBar.Tab tab = actionBar.newTab();
// tab.setText("Meeting Users");
tab.setIcon(R.drawable.users);
tab.setTabListener(this);
actionBar.addTab(tab);
tab = actionBar.newTab();
// tab.setText("Chat");
tab.setIcon(R.drawable.chat);
tab.setTabListener(this);
actionBar.addTab(tab);
tab = actionBar.newTab();
// tab.setText("Video");
tab.setIcon(R.drawable.video_call);
tab.setTabListener(this);
tab.select();
actionBar.addTab(tab);
tab = actionBar.newTab();
// tab.setText("Extra");
tab.setIcon(R.drawable.extra);
tab.setTabListener(this);
actionBar.addTab(tab);
I want to draw something on those tabs, for example draw and/OR blink on chat tab, whenever chat messages arrives and user is on some other tab.
How can I do this ? please help.

Answer 1

Use custom view for your tabs
ActionBar.Tab tab = getSupportActionBar().newTab();
tab.setCustomView(R.layout.custom_tab_view);
Then you can get views on your custom layout and make blinking

Answer 2

This is How I solved my problem, Hope it can be useful for someone else too....
First I created a CutomImageView by extending ImageView
package com.myexample.newsessionwindowsrbrdemo;
import android.content.Context;
import android.graphics.Canvas;
import android.graphics.Color;
import android.graphics.Paint;
import android.renderscript.Font.Style;
import android.widget.ImageView;
public class CustomImageView extends ImageView {
private int notificationCount;
/**
* #param context
*/
public CustomImageView(Context context) {
super(context);
notificationCount = 0;
}
public synchronized void incrementNotification() {
notificationCount--;
this.invalidate();
}
public synchronized void decrementNotification() {
notificationCount++;
this.invalidate();
}
/**
* #return the notificationCount
*/
public synchronized int getNotificationCount() {
return notificationCount;
}
/**
* #param notificationCount
* the notificationCount to set
*/
public synchronized void setNotificationCount(int notificationCount) {
this.notificationCount = notificationCount;
this.invalidate();
}
/*
* (non-Javadoc)
*
* #see android.widget.ImageView#onDraw(android.graphics.Canvas)
*/
#Override
protected void onDraw(Canvas canvas) {
System.out.println("OnDraw is called");
super.onDraw(canvas);
Paint paint = new Paint();
paint.setColor(Color.RED);
paint.setStyle(Paint.Style.FILL);
paint.setFakeBoldText(true);
paint.setTextSize(15);
canvas.drawText(String.valueOf(notificationCount), 15, 20, paint);
}
}
Then While creating tabs, I used this image as
/* Set Custom view */
mView = new CustomImageView(this);
mView.setLayoutParams(new LayoutParams(LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT,
LayoutParams.FILL_PARENT));
mView.setBackgroundResource(R.drawable.users);
ActionBar.Tab tab = actionBar.newTab();
tab.setCustomView(mView);
tab.setTabListener(this);
actionBar.addTab(tab);
Now whenever the notification changes I call increment/decrement or setter method of CustomImageView and new Notifications are displayed on the image..
Suggestions to improve this solution are really welcome...