How can I fix the Spinner style for Android 4.x placed on top of the Toolbar

Question

According to Android documentation, Material Design style is supported for Spinner widget.

So I decided to use it in my app placing it on top of the Toolbar.

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Answer 1

Don't implement Spinner in Xml

final ArrayAdapter spinnerAdapter = ArrayAdapter.createFromResource(getSupportActionBar().getThemedContext(),
            R.array.main_navigation_list, R.layout.spinner_text);
    spinnerAdapter.setDropDownViewResource(R.layout.spinner_dropdown_item);
    mNavigationTags = getResources().getStringArray(R.array.main_navigation_list);


    mNavigationSpinner = new Spinner(getSupportActionBar().getThemedContext());
    mNavigationSpinner.setAdapter(spinnerAdapter);

    mNavigationSpinner.setOnItemSelectedListener(this);
    mToolbar.addView(mNavigationSpinner);

This way the icon next to spinner will be white

Answer 2

I've wasted hours on this issue. As far as I can tell, the above solutions all require copy/pasting large chunks of appcompat style code to reimplement basic details like touch states.

A relatively easy way to get native-like behaviour is to inflate the view programmatically to ensure it gets the correct theme, e.g.:

// Activity has context with 'Theme.AppCompat.Light.NoActionBar'
spinner = new AppCompatSpinner(getActivity());
toolbar.addView(spinner);

To get the triangle to be white rather than colorControlNormal, I've applied a ColorStateList tint to the background:

ViewCompat.setBackgroundTintList(spinner, resources.getColorStateList(R.drawable.bg_toolbar_spinner)

bg_toolbar_spinner.xml

<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    <item android:color="@color/accent" android:state_pressed="true"/>
    <item android:color="@android:color/white"/>
</selector>

Answer 3

I spent two days on this problem, but now after reading many answers, I can post my solution. I've implemented two custom layouts for the spinner item and popup. Setting this attribute for spinner: android:background="?android:selectableItemBackground" the default spinner black arrow is hidden and we can use what we prefer. I used the method setDropDownVerticalOffset(int) to manage the popup position on pre Lollipop Android versions.

My app global theme is

<style name="AppTheme" parent="AppTheme.Base">

</style>

<style name="AppTheme.Base" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.NoActionBar">
    <item name="colorPrimary">@color/primary</item>
    <item name="colorPrimaryDark">@color/primary_dark</item>
    <item name="colorAccent">@color/accent</item>
    <item name="android:windowBackground">@color/window_background</item>
</style>

Now, the activity layout that contains the toolbar and the spinner:

activity_main.xml

<RelativeLayout
    android:layout_width="match_parent" 
    android:layout_height="match_parent"

    android:clickable="true" >

    <android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
        android:id="@+id/toolbar"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"
        android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"
        android:theme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Dark.ActionBar"
        android:elevation="4dp"
        app:popupTheme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Light" >

            <Spinner 
                android:id="@+id/spinner_rss"
                android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:theme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Light"
                android:background="?android:selectableItemBackground" />

         </android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar>
</RelativeLayout>

custom_spinner_toolbar.xml

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

<RelativeLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent" >

<TextView
    android:id="@+id/spinner_item_text"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_centerVertical="true"
    android:singleLine="true"
    android:textColor="@android:color/white"
    android:textAppearance="@style/TextAppearance.AppCompat.Title"
     />

<ImageView
    android:contentDescription="@string/content_description_arrow_dropdown"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_toRightOf="@+id/spinner_item_text"
    android:layout_toEndOf="@+id/spinner_item_text"
    android:paddingTop="6dp"
    android:src="@drawable/ic_arrow_drop_down_white_24dp" />

</RelativeLayout>

custom_spinner_dropdown_item.xml

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:orientation="vertical" >

    <CheckedTextView
        android:id="@+id/spinner_item_text"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:padding="16dp"
        android:singleLine="true"
        android:textColor="@android:color/black"
        android:textSize="16sp" />

</LinearLayout>

SpinnerAdapter.java

public class SpinnerAdapter extends BaseAdapter
{
   private Context mContext;
   private List<String> mValuesList;

   public SpinnerAdapter(Context mContext, List<String> mValuesList)
   {
       this.mContext = mContext;
       this.mValuesList = mValuesList;
   }

   @Override
   public int getCount() 
   {
       return mValuesList.size();
   }

   @Override
   public Object getItem(int position) 
   {
       return mValuesList.get(position);
   }

   @Override
   public long getItemId(int position) {
       // TODO Auto-generated method stub
       return 0;
   }

   @Override
   public View getDropDownView(int position, View view, ViewGroup parent) 
   {
      if (view == null || !view.getTag().toString().equals("DROPDOWN")) 
      {
         LayoutInflater inflater = LayoutInflater.from(mContext);
         view = inflater.inflate(R.layout.custom_spinner_dropdown_item, parent, false);
         view.setTag("DROPDOWN");
      }

      TextView textView = (TextView) view.findViewById(R.id.spinner_item_text);
      textView.setText(getTitle(position));

      return view;
  }

  @Override
  public View getView(int position, View view, ViewGroup parent) 
  { 
      if (view == null || !view.getTag().toString().equals("NON_DROPDOWN")) 
      {
         LayoutInflater inflater = LayoutInflater.from(mContext);
         view = inflater.inflate(R.layout.custom_spinner_toolbar, parent, false);
         view.setTag("NON_DROPDOWN");
      }

      TextView textView = (TextView) view.findViewById(R.id.spinner_item_text);
      textView.setText(getTitle(position));
      return view;
   }

   private String getTitle(int position) 
   {
      return position >= 0 && position < mValuesList.size() ?   mValuesList.get(position) : "";
   }
}

Finally, the relevant part of activity source code:

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) 
{
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

    mToolbar = (Toolbar) findViewById(R.id.toolbar);
    setSupportActionBar(mToolbar);

    final ActionBar actionBar = getSupportActionBar();
    actionBar.setDisplayShowTitleEnabled(false);
    actionBar.setHomeAsUpIndicator(R.drawable.ic_menu);
    actionBar.setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true);

    mSpinner = (Spinner) findViewById(R.id.spinner_rss);

    String[] items = getResources().getStringArray(R.array.spinner_rss_items);
    List<String> spinnerItems = new ArrayList<String>();

    for(int i = 0; i < items.length; i++)
    {
        spinnerItems.add(items[i]);
    }

    SpinnerAdapter adapter = new SpinnerAdapter(actionBar.getThemedContext(), spinnerItems);
    mSpinner.setAdapter(adapter);

    if(Build.VERSION.SDK_INT < Build.VERSION_CODES.LOLLIPOP)
    {
        mSpinner.setDropDownVerticalOffset(-116);
    }
}

These are the results on Lollipop and Kitkat:

Hope it helps! :)

Answer 4

Can you not do this?

Custom xml file for spinner item: your_spinner.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<TextView  
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent" 
    android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
    android:textColor="#000"         
    android:background="#FFF"
    />

Use this to show spinner items:

ArrayAdapter<String> adapter = new ArrayAdapter<String>(this, R.layout.your_spinner,list);

Then remove drop down resource.

Answer 5

Use android:dropDownVerticalOffset property inside spinner to give spacing from top.

<Spinner
        android:id="@+id/spnrLanguage"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginTop="5dp"
        android:background="@drawable/ic_dropdown"
        android:padding="5dp"
        android:spinnerMode="dropdown"
        android:dropDownVerticalOffset="50dp"
        />

Don't forgot to set android:spinnerMode="dropdown" though it won't work in spinnerMode= dialog

Answer 6

You can fix dropdown position (will show on the top of toolbar, like menu) for Android 4 using this code:

<Spinner
        android:id="@+id/spinner"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:dropDownVerticalOffset="-56dp"/>