Search code examples
androidtabsactionbarsherlockxamarin.android

Do some styles disable ImageSpan in a TextView

I have an app which adds a small graphic next to the title of a tab in the action bar by using a custom view and setting an ImageSpan into the text, see below.

    private void NotifyTab ( int state )
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Notifying tab " + state );

        var tab = SupportActionBar.GetTabAt( state ).CustomView as TextView;
        String title;

        if ( ARTIST == state )
        {
            title = GetString( Resource.String.menu_artists );
        }
        else
        {
            title = GetString( Resource.String.menu_friends );
        }

        SpannableString text = new SpannableString( "  " + title );
        ImageSpan icon = new ImageSpan( this, Resource.Drawable.ico_indicator, SpanAlign.Baseline );
        text.SetSpan( icon, 0, 1, SpanTypes.InclusiveInclusive );

        tab.SetText( text, TextView.BufferType.Spannable );
    }

This code was working fine until I applied the same styling to the tab as the actionbar tabs use Widget.Sherlock.ActionBar.TabText as soon as I did this the ImageSpan stopped working.

Does anyone know what attribute causes this and if there is a workaround? I'm wondering if it's caused by the forced use of all caps, or the serif font.

Solution

  • Solved, it turns out

    <item name="android:textAllCaps">true</item>

    Is the guilty party, when removed the ImageSpan shows up. A simple workaround is to make the string resources capitalised and the problem is gone.