Can't change color of status bar

Question

I am trying to theme my app to follow the material Android look. My project is a Xamarin.Android project, which targets API 23, but the minimum API target is 16. So I have to use the AppCompat library to have the same design on all APIs.

I have followed these guides: Material Theme , Beautiful Material Design with the Android Support Design Library , Android Tips: Hello AppCompatActivity, Goodbye ActionBarActivity and created these files:

• Resources/values/styles.xml:

   <resources> <style name="MyTheme" parent="MyTheme.Base"> </style> <style name="MyTheme.Base" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light"> <item name="colorPrimary">#F44336</item> <item name="colorPrimaryDark">#D32F2F</item> <item name="colorAccent">#FF4081</item> </style> </resources>

• Resources/values-v21/styles.xml

   <resources> <!-- Base application theme for API 21+. This theme replaces MyTheme from resources/values/styles.xml on API 21+ devices. --> <style name="MyTheme" parent="MyTheme.Base"> <item name="android:windowContentTransitions">true</item> <item name="android:windowAllowEnterTransitionOverlap">true</item> <item name="android:windowAllowReturnTransitionOverlap">true</item> <item name="android:windowSharedElementEnterTransition">@android:transition/move</item> <item name="android:windowSharedElementExitTransition">@android:transition/move</item> </style> </resources>

• MainActivity.cs

   using Android.App; using Android.Widget; using Android.OS; using Android.Support.V7.App; namespace TestThemeApp { [Activity(Label = "TestThemeApp", MainLauncher = true, Icon = "@drawable/icon", Theme = "@style/MyTheme")] public class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity { protected override void OnCreate(Bundle bundle) { base.OnCreate(bundle); // Set our view from the "main" layout resource SetContentView (Resource.Layout.Main); } } }

I'm just trying to make the the toolbar red, and the status bar a darker red, but the status bar color won't change. This is what it looks like:

What did I do wrong?

Answer 1

Try this in your style (Resources/values-v21/styles.xml)

 <item name="android:windowDrawsSystemBarBackgrounds">true</item> > <item name="android:statusBarColor">@color/cobalt_light</item>

I personaly prefer to handle it in the onCreate method of the activity:

if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.LOLLIPOP) {
    Window window = getWindow();
    window.addFlags(WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_DRAWS_SYSTEM_BAR_BACKGROUNDS);
    window.setStatusBarColor(getResources().getColor(R.color.gray_very_dark));
    window.setNavigationBarColor(getResources().getColor(R.color.gray_darker));
}

Answer 2

For a simple workaround you can change your primary color to the desired color of your status bar and it will change the color of your status bar automatically.

NOTE: It is a work around till you find the correct answer.

Answer 3

You'll have to add a flag at the top of the MainActivity and set the bar color at the end.

public class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity
{
    protected override void OnCreate(Bundle bundle)
    {
        // First check if the current SDK is >= 21. Else it will cause trouble
        if ((int)Build.VERSION.SdkInt >= 21)
            Window.AddFlags(WindowManagerFlags.DrawsSystemBarBackgrounds);

        base.OnCreate(bundle);

        // Set our view from the "main" layout resource
        SetContentView (Resource.Layout.Main);

        SetBarColor();
    }

    public void SetBarColor ()
    {
        if((int)Build.VERSION.SdkInt >= 21)
            Window.SetStatusBarColor(Color.ParseColor("#FF0000"));
    }
}

Answer 4

Use below code snippet to change statusbar color:

public void setStatusBarColor(Activity context, int color) {
            if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 21) {
                Window window = context.getWindow();
                window.addFlags(WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_DRAWS_SYSTEM_BAR_BACKGROUNDS);
                window.clearFlags(WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_TRANSLUCENT_STATUS);
                window.setStatusBarColor(ContextCompat.getColor(context,color));
            }
        }

Answer 5

I think that i have found the most elegant solution based on the other answers:

The only thing i changed was added the flag in the OnCreate(Bundle bundle) function:

 protected override void OnCreate(Bundle bundle)
 {
       if ((int)Build.VERSION.SdkInt >= (int)BuildVersionCodes.Lollipop)
                Window.AddFlags(Android.Views.WindowManagerFlags.DrawsSystemBarBackgrounds);

       base.OnCreate(bundle);

       // Set our view from the "main" layout resource
       SetContentView (Resource.Layout.Main);
 }  

And that's it! The style files do the rest, and on older version of android, the status bar just won't change.