How do I use tabHost for Android

Question

I have looked at posts on Stack Overflow and at tutorials on other websites, and I cannot understand how to use TabHost. Can someone please explain it to me an

Answer 1

First of all while TabHost is not deprecated, TabActivity on other hand is deprecated due to Fragment API.

There are two ways to use TabHost; using Fragment via FragmentTabHost and using TabHost.TabContentFactory.

1. Using Fragment via FragmentTabHost

This sample code show you how to use TabHost in Activity.

FragmentTabHostActivity.java

public class FragmentTabHostActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

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

        FragmentTabHost fragmentTabHost = (FragmentTabHost) findViewById(android.R.id.tabhost);
        fragmentTabHost.setup(this, getSupportFragmentManager(), android.R.id.tabcontent);
        fragmentTabHost.addTab(getTabSpec1(fragmentTabHost), Tab1Fragment.class, null);
        fragmentTabHost.addTab(getTabSpec2(fragmentTabHost), Tab2Fragment.class, null);
    }

    private TabHost.TabSpec getTabSpec1(FragmentTabHost tabHost) {
        return tabHost.newTabSpec("First Tab")
            .setIndicator("Tab1");
    }

    private TabHost.TabSpec getTabSpec2(FragmentTabHost tabHost) {
        return tabHost.newTabSpec("Second Tab")
            .setIndicator("Tab 2");
    }
}

fragment_tab_host_activity.xml

Actually by using Fragment, you can use Tab inside a Fragment (Android docs).

2. Using TabHost.ContentFactory

TabHostActivity.java

public class TabHostActivity extends AppCompatActivity implements TabHost.TabContentFactory {

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

        TabHost tabHost = (TabHost) findViewById(android.R.id.tabhost);
        tabHost.setup();

        tabHost.addTab(getTabSpec1(tabHost));
        tabHost.addTab(getTabSpec2(tabHost));
    }

    private TabHost.TabSpec getTabSpec1(TabHost tabHost) {
        return tabHost.newTabSpec("First Tab")
            .setIndicator("Tab1")
            .setContent(this);
    }

    private TabHost.TabSpec getTabSpec2(TabHost tabHost) {
        return tabHost.newTabSpec("Second Tab")
            .setIndicator("Tab 2")
            .setContent(this);
    }

    @Override
    public View createTabContent(String tag) {
        return LayoutInflater.from(this).inflate(R.layout.activity_tab_1, null);
    }
}

activity_main.xml

However, I personally recommend using newest Material Design style TabLayout class.