Android: Tabs at the BOTTOM

Question

I've seen some chatter about this, but nothing definite. Is there a way to put the tabs in a TabWidget to the bottom of the screen? If so, how?

I've tried the following, but didn't work:

a) setting the tabwidget below the framelayout
b) setting the tabwidget's gravity to "bottom"

Thanks! llappall

Answer 1

Here's the simplest, most robust, and scalable solution to get tabs on the bottom of the screen.

1. In your vertical LinearLayout, put the FrameLayout above the TabWidget
2. Set layout_height to wrap_content on both FrameLayout and TabWidget
3. Set FrameLayout's android:layout_weight="1"
4. Set TabWidget's android:layout_weight="0" (0 is default, but for emphasis, readability, etc)
5. Set TabWidget's android:layout_marginBottom="-4dp" (to remove the bottom divider)

Full code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<TabHost xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@android:id/tabhost"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent">

    <LinearLayout
        android:orientation="vertical"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="fill_parent"
        android:padding="5dp">

        <FrameLayout
            android:id="@android:id/tabcontent"
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:padding="5dp"
            android:layout_weight="1"/>

        <TabWidget
            android:id="@android:id/tabs"
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_weight="0"
            android:layout_marginBottom="-4dp"/>

    </LinearLayout>

</TabHost>