Implementing a TabListener using the Support Library

Question

I am trying to implement Tab Navigation, but I want to make sure people that have older versions of Android can still use my application.

The app in mind ATM is fai

Answer 1

The key is to use

import android.support.v7.app.ActionBar;

... rather than ...

import android.app.ActionBar;

That avoids the clever workaround Nelson Ramirez posted.

The following full example, based on the official documentation, was tested to work from Android 3.0, API 11

package com.example.myapp;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v4.app.Fragment;
import android.support.v4.app.FragmentTransaction;
import android.support.v7.app.ActionBar;
import android.support.v7.app.ActionBarActivity;
import android.view.*;
import android.widget.TextView;

public class NavigationTabsBasicDemoActivity extends ActionBarActivity {

    static public class TabListener implements ActionBar
            .TabListener {

        private Fragment mFragment;
        private final Activity mActivity;
        private final String mTag;
        private final Class mClass;

        /**
         * Constructor used each time a new tab is created.
         *
         * @param activity The host Activity, used to instantiate the
         *                 fragment
         * @param tag      The identifier tag for the fragment
         * @param pClass   The fragment's Class, used to instantiate the
         *                 fragment
         * @see 
         * Developers Guide > Action Bar > Adding Navigation Tabs
         */
        public TabListener(Activity activity, String tag, Class pClass) {
            mActivity = activity;
            mTag = tag;
            mClass = pClass;
        }

        @Override
        public void onTabSelected(ActionBar.Tab tab, FragmentTransaction ft) {
            if (mFragment == null) {
                mFragment = Fragment.instantiate(mActivity, mClass.getName());
                ft.add(android.R.id.content, mFragment, mTag);
            } else {
                // If it exists, attach it in order to show it
                ft.attach(mFragment);
            }
        }

        @Override
        public void onTabUnselected(ActionBar.Tab tab, FragmentTransaction ft) {
            if (mFragment != null) {
                // Detach the fragment, because another one is about to be
                // attached.
                ft.detach(mFragment);
            }
        }

        @Override
        public void onTabReselected(ActionBar.Tab tab, FragmentTransaction ft) {
            // Do nothing.
        }
    }


    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        // No need for setContentView() to be used, Instead  we use the root
        // android.R.id.content as the container for each fragment,
        // which is set in the TabListener

        ActionBar actionBar = getSupportActionBar();
        actionBar.setNavigationMode(ActionBar.NAVIGATION_MODE_TABS);
        actionBar.setDisplayShowTitleEnabled(true);

        ActionBar.Tab tab = actionBar.newTab().setText("Artist").setTabListener(
                new TabListener(this,
                                                     "artist",
                                                     PlaceholderFragment
                                                             .class));
        actionBar.addTab(tab);

        tab = actionBar.newTab().setText("Album").setTabListener(
                new TabListener(
                    this,
                    "album",
                    PlaceholderFragment.class));
        actionBar.addTab(tab);
    }

    /**
     * In this example use one Fragment but display different data based on
     * which
     * tab is shown. In production you'd probably use a separate fragment.
     */
    public static class PlaceholderFragment extends Fragment {

        public PlaceholderFragment() {
        }

        @Override
        public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container,
                                 Bundle savedInstanceState) {
            View rootView = inflater.inflate(
                    R.layout.fragment_navigation_tabs_basic_demo,
                                             container,
                                             false);
            TextView outputTextView = (TextView) rootView.findViewById(
                                        R.id.output_textView);
            outputTextView.setText("Hello " + getTag());
            return rootView;
        }
    }
}