Actionbar notification count icon (badge) like Google has

The question:

Is there a android standard badge or method to show action bar notification icon with a count like on Google examples?

count 3 on picture

If not, then what is the best way to make it?
I’m new to android, please help.

The Solutions:

Below are the methods you can try. The first solution is probably the best. Try others if the first one doesn’t work. Senior developers aren’t just copying/pasting – they read the methods carefully & apply them wisely to each case.

Method 1

I am not sure if this is the best solution or not, but it is what I need.

Please tell me if you know what is need to be changed for better performance or quality. In my case, I have a button.

Custom item on my menu – main.xml

<item
    android:id="@+id/badge"
    android:actionLayout="@layout/feed_update_count"
    android:icon="@drawable/shape_notification"
    android:showAsAction="always">
</item>

Custom shape drawable (background square) – shape_notification.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
   android:shape="rectangle">
    <stroke android:color="#22000000" android:width="2dp"/>
    <corners android:radius="5dp" />
    <solid android:color="#CC0001"/>
</shape>

Layout for my view – feed_update_count.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Button xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
     android:id="@+id/notif_count"
     android:layout_width="wrap_content"
     android:layout_height="wrap_content"
     android:minWidth="32dp"
     android:minHeight="32dp"
     android:background="@drawable/shape_notification"
     android:text="0"
     android:textSize="16sp"
     android:textColor="@android:color/white"
     android:gravity="center"
     android:padding="2dp"
     android:singleLine="true">    
</Button>

MainActivity – setting and updating my view

static Button notifCount;
static int mNotifCount = 0;    

@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
    MenuInflater inflater = getSupportMenuInflater();
    inflater.inflate(R.menu.main, menu);

    View count = menu.findItem(R.id.badge).getActionView();
    notifCount = (Button) count.findViewById(R.id.notif_count);
    notifCount.setText(String.valueOf(mNotifCount));
    return super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu);
}

private void setNotifCount(int count){
    mNotifCount = count;
    invalidateOptionsMenu();
}

Method 2

Edit Since version 26 of the support library (or androidx) you no longer need to implement a custom OnLongClickListener to display the tooltip. Simply call this:

TooltipCompat.setTooltipText(menu_hotlist, getString(R.string.hint_show_hot_message));

I’ll just share my code in case someone wants something like this:
enter image description here

layout/menu/menu_actionbar.xml

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

<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    ...
    <item android:id="@+id/menu_hotlist"
        android:actionLayout="@layout/action_bar_notifitcation_icon"
        android:showAsAction="always"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_bell"
        android:title="@string/hotlist" />
    ...
</menu>

layout/action_bar_notifitcation_icon.xml

Note style and android:clickable properties. these make the layout the size of a button and make the background gray when touched.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:gravity="center"
    android:layout_gravity="center"
    android:clickable="true"
    style="@android:style/Widget.ActionButton">

    <ImageView
        android:id="@+id/hotlist_bell"
        android:src="@drawable/ic_bell"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:gravity="center"
        android:layout_margin="0dp"
        android:contentDescription="bell"
        />

    <TextView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
        android:id="@+id/hotlist_hot"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:minWidth="17sp"
        android:textSize="12sp"
        android:textColor="#ffffffff"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:gravity="center"
        android:text="@null"
        android:layout_alignTop="@id/hotlist_bell"
        android:layout_alignRight="@id/hotlist_bell"
        android:layout_marginRight="0dp"
        android:layout_marginTop="3dp"
        android:paddingBottom="1dp"
        android:paddingRight="4dp"
        android:paddingLeft="4dp"
        android:background="@drawable/rounded_square"/>
</RelativeLayout>

drawable-xhdpi/ic_bell.png

A 64×64 pixel image with 10 pixel wide paddings from all sides. You are supposed to have 8 pixel wide paddings, but I find most default items being slightly smaller than that. Of course, you’ll want to use different sizes for different densities.

drawable/rounded_square.xml

Here, #ff222222 (color #222222 with alpha #ff (fully visible)) is the background color of my Action Bar.

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

<shape
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:shape="rectangle">
    <corners android:radius="2dp" />
    <solid android:color="#ffff0000" />
    <stroke android:color="#ff222222" android:width="2dp"/>
</shape>

com/ubergeek42/WeechatAndroid/WeechatActivity.java

Here we make it clickable and updatable! I created an abstract listener that provides Toast creation on onLongClick, the code was taken from from the sources of ActionBarSherlock.

private int hot_number = 0;
private TextView ui_hot = null;

@Override public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(final Menu menu) {
    MenuInflater menuInflater = getSupportMenuInflater();
    menuInflater.inflate(R.menu.menu_actionbar, menu);
    final View menu_hotlist = menu.findItem(R.id.menu_hotlist).getActionView();
    ui_hot = (TextView) menu_hotlist.findViewById(R.id.hotlist_hot);
    updateHotCount(hot_number);
    new MyMenuItemStuffListener(menu_hotlist, "Show hot message") {
        @Override
        public void onClick(View v) {
            onHotlistSelected();
        }
    };
    return super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu);
}

// call the updating code on the main thread,
// so we can call this asynchronously
public void updateHotCount(final int new_hot_number) {
    hot_number = new_hot_number;
    if (ui_hot == null) return;
    runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {
        @Override
        public void run() {
            if (new_hot_number == 0)
                ui_hot.setVisibility(View.INVISIBLE);
            else {
                ui_hot.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
                ui_hot.setText(Integer.toString(new_hot_number));
            }
        }
    });
}

static abstract class MyMenuItemStuffListener implements View.OnClickListener, View.OnLongClickListener {
    private String hint;
    private View view;

    MyMenuItemStuffListener(View view, String hint) {
        this.view = view;
        this.hint = hint;
        view.setOnClickListener(this);
        view.setOnLongClickListener(this);
    }

    @Override abstract public void onClick(View v);

    @Override public boolean onLongClick(View v) {
        final int[] screenPos = new int[2];
        final Rect displayFrame = new Rect();
        view.getLocationOnScreen(screenPos);
        view.getWindowVisibleDisplayFrame(displayFrame);
        final Context context = view.getContext();
        final int width = view.getWidth();
        final int height = view.getHeight();
        final int midy = screenPos[1] + height / 2;
        final int screenWidth = context.getResources().getDisplayMetrics().widthPixels;
        Toast cheatSheet = Toast.makeText(context, hint, Toast.LENGTH_SHORT);
        if (midy < displayFrame.height()) {
            cheatSheet.setGravity(Gravity.TOP | Gravity.RIGHT,
                    screenWidth - screenPos[0] - width / 2, height);
        } else {
            cheatSheet.setGravity(Gravity.BOTTOM | Gravity.CENTER_HORIZONTAL, 0, height);
        }
        cheatSheet.show();
        return true;
    }
}

Method 3

Just to add. If someone wants to implement a filled circle bubble, heres the code (name it bage_circle.xml):

<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:shape="ring"
    android:useLevel="false"
    android:thickness="9dp"
    android:innerRadius="0dp"
    >

    <solid
        android:color="#F00"
        />
    <stroke
        android:width="1dip"
        android:color="#FFF" />

    <padding
        android:top="2dp"
        android:bottom="2dp"/>

</shape>

You may have to adjust the thickness according to your need.

enter image description here

EDIT:
Here’s the layout for button (name it badge_layout.xml):

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

    <com.joanzapata.iconify.widget.IconButton
        android:layout_width="44dp"
        android:layout_height="44dp"
        android:textSize="24sp"
        android:textColor="@color/white"
        android:background="@drawable/action_bar_icon_bg"
        android:id="@+id/badge_icon_button"/>

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/badge_textView"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_alignTop="@id/badge_icon_button"
        android:layout_alignRight="@id/badge_icon_button"
        android:layout_alignEnd="@id/badge_icon_button"
        android:text="10"
        android:paddingEnd="8dp"
        android:paddingRight="8dp"
        android:paddingLeft="8dp"
        android:gravity="center"
        android:textColor="#FFF"
        android:textSize="11sp"
        android:background="@drawable/badge_circle"/>
</RelativeLayout>

In Menu create item:

<item
        android:id="@+id/menu_messages"
        android:showAsAction="always"
        android:actionLayout="@layout/badge_layout"/>

In onCreateOptionsMenu get reference to the Menu item:

    itemMessages = menu.findItem(R.id.menu_messages);

    badgeLayout = (RelativeLayout) itemMessages.getActionView();
    itemMessagesBadgeTextView = (TextView) badgeLayout.findViewById(R.id.badge_textView);
    itemMessagesBadgeTextView.setVisibility(View.GONE); // initially hidden

    iconButtonMessages = (IconButton) badgeLayout.findViewById(R.id.badge_icon_button);
    iconButtonMessages.setText("{fa-envelope}");
    iconButtonMessages.setTextColor(getResources().getColor(R.color.action_bar_icon_color_disabled));

    iconButtonMessages.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
        @Override
        public void onClick(View view) {
            if (HJSession.getSession().getSessionId() != null) {

                Intent intent = new Intent(getThis(), HJActivityMessagesContexts.class);
                startActivityForResult(intent, HJRequestCodes.kHJRequestCodeActivityMessages.ordinal());
            } else {
                showLoginActivity();
            }
        }
    });

After receiving notification for messages, set the count:

itemMessagesBadgeTextView.setText("" + count);
itemMessagesBadgeTextView.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
iconButtonMessages.setTextColor(getResources().getColor(R.color.white));

This code uses Iconify-fontawesome.

compile 'com.joanzapata.iconify:android-iconify-fontawesome:2.1.+'

Method 4

I don’t like ActionView based solutions,
my idea is:

create a layout with TextView, that TextView will be populated by
application
when you need to draw a MenuItem:

2.1. inflate layout

2.2. call measure() & layout() (otherwise view will be 0px x 0px, it’s too small for most use cases)

2.3. set the TextView‘s text

2.4. make “screenshot” of the view

2.6. set MenuItem‘s icon based on bitmap created on 2.4
profit!

so, result should be something like
enter image description here

create layout
here is a simple example

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<FrameLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@+id/counterPanel"
    android:layout_width="32dp"
    android:layout_height="32dp"
    android:background="@drawable/ic_menu_gallery">
    <RelativeLayout
        android:id="@+id/counterValuePanel"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" >

        <ImageView
            android:id="@+id/counterBackground"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:background="@drawable/unread_background" />

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/count"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:text="1"
            android:textSize="8sp"
            android:layout_centerInParent="true"
            android:textColor="#FFFFFF" />
    </RelativeLayout>
</FrameLayout>

@drawable/unread_background is that green TextView‘s background,
@drawable/ic_menu_gallery is not really required here, it’s just to preview layout’s result in IDE.

add code into onCreateOptionsMenu/onPrepareOptionsMenu

@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
    getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.menu_main, menu);

    MenuItem menuItem = menu.findItem(R.id.testAction);
    menuItem.setIcon(buildCounterDrawable(count, R.drawable.ic_menu_gallery));

    return true;
}

Implement build-the-icon method:

private Drawable buildCounterDrawable(int count, int backgroundImageId) {
    LayoutInflater inflater = LayoutInflater.from(this);
    View view = inflater.inflate(R.layout.counter_menuitem_layout, null);
    view.setBackgroundResource(backgroundImageId);

    if (count == 0) {
        View counterTextPanel = view.findViewById(R.id.counterValuePanel);
        counterTextPanel.setVisibility(View.GONE);
    } else {
        TextView textView = (TextView) view.findViewById(R.id.count);
        textView.setText("" + count);
    }

    view.measure(
            View.MeasureSpec.makeMeasureSpec(0, View.MeasureSpec.UNSPECIFIED),
            View.MeasureSpec.makeMeasureSpec(0, View.MeasureSpec.UNSPECIFIED));
    view.layout(0, 0, view.getMeasuredWidth(), view.getMeasuredHeight());

    view.setDrawingCacheEnabled(true);
    view.setDrawingCacheQuality(View.DRAWING_CACHE_QUALITY_HIGH);
    Bitmap bitmap = Bitmap.createBitmap(view.getDrawingCache());
    view.setDrawingCacheEnabled(false);

    return new BitmapDrawable(getResources(), bitmap);
}

The complete code is here: https://github.com/cvoronin/ActionBarMenuItemCounter

Method 5

Ok, for @AndrewS solution to work with v7 appCompat library:

<menu 
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:someNamespace="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto" >

    <item
        android:id="@+id/saved_badge"
        someNamespace:showAsAction="always"
        android:icon="@drawable/shape_notification" />

</menu>

@Override
public void onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu, MenuInflater inflater) {
    super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu, inflater);
    menu.clear();
    inflater.inflate(R.menu.main, menu);

    MenuItem item = menu.findItem(R.id.saved_badge);
    MenuItemCompat.setActionView(item, R.layout.feed_update_count);
    View view = MenuItemCompat.getActionView(item);
    notifCount = (Button)view.findViewById(R.id.notif_count);
    notifCount.setText(String.valueOf(mNotifCount));
}

private void setNotifCount(int count){
    mNotifCount = count;
    supportInvalidateOptionsMenu();
}

The rest of the code is the same.

Method 6

Try looking at the answers to these questions, particularly the second one which has sample code:

How to implement dynamic values on menu item in Android

How to get text on an ActionBar Icon?

From what I see, You’ll need to create your own custom ActionView implementation. An alternative might be a custom Drawable. Note that there appears to be no native implementation of a notification count for the Action Bar.

EDIT: The answer you were looking for, with code: Custom Notification View with sample implementation

Method 7

When you use toolbar:

....
private void InitToolbar() {
    toolbar = (Toolbar) findViewById(R.id.my_awesome_toolbar);
    toolbartitle = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.titletool);
    toolbar.inflateMenu(R.menu.show_post);
    toolbar.setOnMenuItemClickListener(this);
    Menu menu = toolbar.getMenu();
    MenuItem menu_comments = menu.findItem(R.id.action_comments);
    MenuItemCompat
            .setActionView(menu_comments, R.layout.menu_commentscount);
    View v = MenuItemCompat.getActionView(menu_comments);
    v.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {

        @Override
        public void onClick(View arg0) {
            // Your Action
        }
    });
    comment_count = (TextView) v.findViewById(R.id.count);
}

and in your load data call refreshMenu():

private void refreshMenu() {
    comment_count.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
    comment_count.setText("" + post_data.getComment_count());
}

Method 8

I found a very good solution here, I’m using it with kotlin.

First, in the drawable folder you have to create item_count.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:shape="rectangle">
<corners android:radius="8dp" />
<solid android:color="#f20000" />
<stroke
    android:width="2dip"
    android:color="#FFF" />
<padding
    android:bottom="5dp"
    android:left="5dp"
    android:right="5dp"
    android:top="5dp" />
</shape>

In your Activity_Main Layout some like:

<RelativeLayout
                    android:id="@+id/badgeLayout"
                    android:layout_width="40dp"
                    android:layout_height="40dp"
                    android:layout_toRightOf="@+id/badge_layout1"
                    android:layout_gravity="end|center_vertical"
                    android:layout_marginEnd="5dp">

                <RelativeLayout
                        android:id="@+id/relative_layout1"
                        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                        android:layout_height="wrap_content">

                    <Button
                            android:id="@+id/btnBadge"
                            android:layout_width="match_parent"
                            android:layout_height="match_parent"
                            android:background="@mipmap/ic_notification" />

                </RelativeLayout>

                <TextView
                        android:id="@+id/txtBadge"
                        android:layout_width="18dp"
                        android:layout_height="18dp"
                        android:layout_alignRight="@id/relative_layout1"
                        android:background="@drawable/item_count"
                        android:text="22"
                        android:textColor="#FFF"
                        android:textSize="7sp"
                        android:textStyle="bold"
                        android:gravity="center"/>

            </RelativeLayout>

And you can modify like:

btnBadge.setOnClickListener { view ->
        Snackbar.make(view,"badge click", Snackbar.LENGTH_LONG) .setAction("Action", null).show()
        txtBadge.text = "0"
    }

Method 9

I found better way to do it.
if you want to use something like this

Use this dependency

   compile 'com.nex3z:notification-badge:0.1.0'

create one xml file in drawable and Save it as Badge.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
  <layer-list xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">

<item>
    <shape android:shape="oval">
        <solid android:color="#66000000"/>
        <size android:width="30dp" android:height="40dp"/>
    </shape>
</item>
<item android:bottom="1dp" android:right="0.6dp">
    <shape android:shape="oval">
        <solid android:color="@color/Error_color"/>
        <size android:width="20dp" android:height="20dp"/>
    </shape>
</item>
</layer-list>

Now wherever you want to use that badge use following code in xml.
with the help of this you will be able to see that badge on top-right corner of your image or anything.

  <com.nex3z.notificationbadge.NotificationBadge
    android:id="@+id/badge"
    android:layout_toRightOf="@id/Your_ICON/IMAGE"
    android:layout_alignTop="@id/Your_ICON/IMAGE"
    android:layout_marginLeft="-16dp"
    android:layout_marginTop="-8dp"
    android:layout_width="28dp"
    android:layout_height="28dp"
    app:badgeBackground="@drawable/Badge"
    app:maxTextLength="2"
    ></com.nex3z.notificationbadge.NotificationBadge>

Now finally on yourFile.java use this 2 simple thing..
1) Define

 NotificationBadge mBadge;

2) where your loop or anything which is counting this number use this:

 mBadge.setNumber(your_LoopCount);

here, mBadge.setNumber(0) will not show anything.

Hope this help.

All methods was sourced from stackoverflow.com or stackexchange.com, is licensed under cc by-sa 2.5, cc by-sa 3.0 and cc by-sa 4.0