Display a top app bar

Create a top app bar to help users navigate and access functions in your app, using the TopAppBar composable.

Version compatibility

This implementation requires that your project minSDK be set to API level 21 or higher.

Dependencies

Create a composable for top app bar

Create a top app bar using the MediumTopAppBar composable that collapses when the user scrolls down the content area, and expands when the user scrolls back to the top of the content:

Key points about the code

  • An outer Scaffold with a TopBar set.
  • A title consisting of a single Text element.
  • A top bar with a single action defined.
  • An IconButton action with an onClick lambda to perform the action.
  • An IconButton containing an Icon that has an icon image and a content description text.
  • The scroll behavior for the Scaffold's inner content is defined as enterAlwaysScrollBehavior(). This collapses the app bar when the user pulls up the inner content, and expands the app bar when the user pulls down the inner content.
  • In addition to MediumTopBar, which contains the title, you can also use:
    • TopAppBar: use for screens that don't require a lot of navigation or actions.
    • CenterAlignedTopAppBar: use for screens that have a single primary action.Title is centered within the component.
    • MediumTopAppBar: use for screens that require a moderate amount of navigation and actions.
    • LargeTopAppBar: use for screens that require a lot of navigation and actions. Uses more padding than MediumTopAppBar and places the title beneath any additional icons.

Results

Figure 1. A medium top app bar.

Collections that contain this guide

This guide is part of these curated Quick Guide collections that cover broader Android development goals:

Find out how to use a standardized platform to build complex user interfaces. The scaffold holds together different parts of the UI, giving apps a coherent look and feel.
Quick guide collection
Learn how composable functions can enable you to easily create beautiful UI components based on the Material Design design system.
Quick guide collection

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