Holo Theme and API 8

Question

I have an app that must be supported from API 8+. But I also like to have my app the holo theme for(11+). I know it won't be supported as the min sdk is 8. So the only solution will be to create 2 separate apps one for 8-11 and one for 11+. Is there any better way to do this? So that I can reduce double maintenance.

Answer 1

There's no need to create two separate apps. You just need to create two definitions of theme for your app:

styles.xml in /res/values-v11 (Will be used only on API 11+)

<resources>
    <style name="app_theme" parent="android:Theme.Holo.Light"/>
</resources>

styles.xml in /res/values

<resources>
    <style name="app_theme" parent="android:Theme.Light"/>
</resources>

and then, apply it to your application in AndroidManifest.xml:

<application
        ...
        android:theme="@style/app_theme"
        >
  ...
</application>

This setup uses resource qualifiers. You can read more about them here .

Answer 2

You can try the HoloEverywhere library to use Holo theme on Android 2.1+. It also integrates well with ActionBarSherlock .