Is it possible to change actionbar tab indicator programmatically

Question

How can i change programmatically the selected tab indicator of my action bar ? i have read about tab styling, and Tab.setCustomView() method, but none of these helps :

Answer 1

I have succeeded to implement what i wanted by using @Padma's answer to generate my tab indicator backgrounds : i needed 5 selectors : green, yellow, blue, orange and red. So i created 5 xml drawables (tabs_selector_red.xml, tabs_selector_blue.xml, etc...) :

tabs_selector_green.xml :

    <!-- Non focused states -->
<item android:drawable="@android:color/transparent" android:state_focused="false" android:state_pressed="false" android:state_selected="false"/>
<item android:drawable="@drawable/layer_bg_selected_tabs_green" android:state_focused="false" android:state_pressed="false" android:state_selected="true"/>

<!-- Focused states -->
<item android:drawable="@android:color/transparent" android:state_focused="true" android:state_pressed="false" android:state_selected="false"/>
<item android:drawable="@drawable/layer_bg_selected_tabs_green" android:state_focused="true" android:state_pressed="false" android:state_selected="true"/>

<!-- Pressed -->
<!-- Non focused states -->
<item android:drawable="@android:color/transparent" android:state_focused="false" android:state_pressed="true" android:state_selected="false"/>
<item android:drawable="@drawable/layer_bg_selected_tabs_green" android:state_focused="false" android:state_pressed="true" android:state_selected="true"/>

<!-- Focused states -->
<item android:drawable="@android:color/transparent" android:state_focused="true" android:state_pressed="true" android:state_selected="false"/>
<item android:drawable="@drawable/layer_bg_selected_tabs_green" android:state_focused="true" android:state_pressed="true" android:state_selected="true"/>

I also created a layer-list for each xml background : layer_bg_selected_tabs_green.xml

<item>
    <shape android:shape="rectangle" >
        <solid android:color="@color/tab_green" />

        <padding android:bottom="5dp" />
    </shape>
</item>
<item>
    <shape android:shape="rectangle" >
        <solid android:color="#FFFFFF" />
    </shape>
</item>

And finally, in the Java, i switch the background dynamically buy using selected tab's custom view and index :

private static final int[] TABS_BACKGROUND = {
        R.drawable.tabs_selector_orange, R.drawable.tabs_selector_green,
        R.drawable.tabs_selector_red, R.drawable.tabs_selector_blue,
        R.drawable.tabs_selector_yellow };
/*
BLA BLA BLA
*/
@Override
public void onTabSelected(Tab tab, FragmentTransaction ft) {
    // TODO Auto-generated method stub
    RelativeLayout tabLayout = (RelativeLayout) tab.getCustomView();
    tabLayout.setBackgroundResource(TABS_BACKGROUND[tab.getPosition()]);
    tab.setCustomView(tabLayout);
/* ... */
}

Now let's add some screenshots :

Answer 2

//your tab bar should be

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    style="@style/Wrap"
    android:background="@drawable/tabs_selector"
    android:gravity="center_horizontal|bottom"
    android:minHeight="@dimen/size_fourty"
     >
    <TextView
    android:id="@+id/custom_tab_text"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent" 
    android:layout_centerInParent="true"
    android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
    android:gravity="center|center_horizontal"
    android:textStyle="bold"/>

</RelativeLayout>

//your tabs_selector.xml should like this

<!-- Non focused states -->
<item android:drawable="@drawable/layer_bg_unselected_tabs" android:state_focused="false" android:state_pressed="false" android:state_selected="false"/>
<item android:drawable="@drawable/layer_bg_selected_tabs" android:state_focused="false" android:state_pressed="false" android:state_selected="true"/>

<!-- Focused states -->
<item android:drawable="@drawable/layer_bg_unselected_tabs" android:state_focused="true" android:state_pressed="false" android:state_selected="false"/>
<item android:drawable="@drawable/layer_bg_selected_tabs" android:state_focused="true" android:state_pressed="false" android:state_selected="true"/>

<!-- Pressed -->
<!-- Non focused states -->
<item android:drawable="@drawable/layer_bg_unselected_tabs" android:state_focused="false" android:state_pressed="true" android:state_selected="false"/>
<item android:drawable="@drawable/layer_bg_selected_tabs" android:state_focused="false" android:state_pressed="true" android:state_selected="true"/>

<!-- Focused states -->
<item android:drawable="@drawable/layer_bg_unselected_tabs" android:state_focused="true" android:state_pressed="true" android:state_selected="false"/>
<item android:drawable="@drawable/layer_bg_selected_tabs" android:state_focused="true" android:state_pressed="true" android:state_selected="true"/>

// your layer_bg_unselected_tabs should be like this

<item>
    <shape android:shape="rectangle" >
        <solid android:color="@color/red" />

        <padding android:bottom="2dp" />
    </shape>
</item>
<item>
    <shape android:shape="rectangle" >
        <solid android:color="@color/gray" />
    </shape>
</item>

// your layer_bg_selected_tabs should be like this

<item>
    <shape android:shape="rectangle" >
        <solid android:color="@color/red" />

        <padding android:bottom="8dp" />
    </shape>
</item>
<item>
    <shape android:shape="rectangle" >
        <solid android:color="@color/gray" />
    </shape>
</item>