How to set android TabLayout in the bottom of the screen?

Question

My question is how I can set the new android material design TabLayout to be in the bottom of the screen, kind of like Instagram's bottom toolbar.

If you have never seen Instagram's UI here is a screenshot of it :

. If there is a better way of approaching this, please feel free to post it here (with a code example if possible), I will greatly appreciate it.

Here is my code: activity_main.xml

<android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:theme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Dark.ActionBar">

    <android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
        android:id="@+id/toolbar"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"
        android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"
        app:layout_scrollFlags="scroll|enterAlways"
        app:popupTheme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Light" />

    <android.support.design.widget.TabLayout
        android:id="@+id/tabs"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        app:tabMode="fixed"
        app:tabGravity="fill"/>
</android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout>

<android.support.v4.view.ViewPager
    android:id="@+id/viewpager"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    app:layout_behavior="@string/appbar_scrolling_view_behavior"  />

I have tried many methods and workarounds suggested by the Stack Overflow community, but none seems to work with this new implementation of tabs in android. I know this UI design does not follow android design guidelines, so please don't comment on it. This UI design is vital to my application's UX and I would appreciate getting an answer for it. Thank you!

Answer 1

I believe I have the best simple fix. Use a LinearLayout and set the height of the viewpager to be 0dp with a layout_weight="1". Make sure the LinearLayout has an orientation of vertical and that the viewpager comes before the TabLayout. Here is what mines looks like:

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

    <include layout="@layout/toolbar" android:id="@+id/main_toolbar"/>

    <android.support.v4.view.ViewPager
        android:id="@+id/viewpager"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="0dp"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        android:background="@color/white"/>

    <android.support.design.widget.TabLayout
        android:id="@+id/sliding_tabs"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:background="@color/blue"
        />

</LinearLayout>

And as a bonus, you should create your toolbar only once as toolbar.xml. So that way all you have to do is used the include tag. Makes your layout's more clean. Enjoy!

toolbar.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"
    android:minHeight="?attr/actionBarSize"
    app:popupTheme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Light"
    app:theme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Dark.ActionBar" />

Update 11.2.2016: For those of you who don't know how to inflate the toolbar, here is how. Make sure that your Activity extends AppCompatActivity so you can call setSupportActionBar() and getSupportActionBar().

Toolbar mToolbar = (Toolbar) findViewById(R.id.main_toolbar);
setSupportActionBar(mToolbar);
getSupportActionBar().setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true);

Answer 2

Better segregate both AppBarLayout and tabLayout like my code below. This way you can modify the tab bar and view pager properties independently.

<android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
        xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent">

        <android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:theme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Dark.ActionBar">

            <android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
                android:id="@+id/toolbar"
                android:layout_width="match_parent"
                android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"
                android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"
                app:layout_scrollFlags="scroll|enterAlways"
                app:popupTheme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Light" />
        </android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout>

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

            <android.support.v4.view.ViewPager
                android:id="@+id/viewpager"
                android:layout_width="match_parent"
                android:layout_height="match_parent"
                app:layout_behavior="@string/appbar_scrolling_view_behavior"
                android:layout_above="@+id/tabs"/>

            <android.support.design.widget.TabLayout
                android:id="@+id/tabs"
                android:layout_width="match_parent"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                app:tabMode="fixed"
                app:tabGravity="fill"
                android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"/>
        </RelativeLayout>
    </android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout>

Answer 3

I had a same problem on Android Studio 2.2. This is what i did,

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:layout_height="match_parent">


    <android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
        android:id="@+id/toolbar"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"
        android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"
        app:popupTheme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Light"
        app:subtitleTextColor="@color/color_white"
        android:theme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Dark.ActionBar"
        app:title="@string/call_log"
        app:titleTextColor="@color/color_white"
        />

    <RelativeLayout
        android:id="@+id/content_frame"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent" >

        <android.support.v4.view.ViewPager
            android:id="@+id/viewpager"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_above="@+id/tabLayout" />

        <android.support.design.widget.TabLayout
            android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
            android:id="@+id/tabLayout"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:minHeight="?attr/actionBarSize"/>
    </RelativeLayout>

</LinearLayout>

Answer 4

android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"

Add this setting in

android.support.design.widget.TabLayout

Answer 5

Top of the page LinearLayout settings and set android:gravity="bottom". Thats it. Here is the code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:minWidth="25px"
    android:minHeight="25px"
    android:gravity="bottom"> //Thats it.
    <android.support.design.widget.TabLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="45dp"
        android:id="@+id/tabLayout1">
        <android.support.design.widget.TabItem
        android:icon="@drawable/home"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:id="@+id/tabItem1" />
        <android.support.design.widget.TabItem
        android:icon="@drawable/mypage"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:id="@+id/tabItem2" />
        <android.support.design.widget.TabItem
        android:icon="@drawable/friends"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:id="@+id/tabItem3" />
        <android.support.design.widget.TabItem
        android:icon="@drawable/messages"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:id="@+id/tabItem4" />
        <android.support.design.widget.TabItem
        android:icon="@drawable/settings"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:id="@+id/tabItem5" />
    </android.support.design.widget.TabLayout>
</LinearLayout>

Answer 6

Replace Your TabLayout code with this

<android.support.design.widget.TabLayout
            android:id="@+id/tabs"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
            android:elevation="2dp" />