Easy Stylish Chip Button in Bottom Navigation Bar in Android

We all have come across apps that have a Bottom Navigation Bar. Some popular examples include Instagram, Snapchat, etc. In this article, let’s learn how to implement an easy stylish functional Bottom Navigation Bar in the Android app. For Creating a Basic Bottom Navigation bar refer to Bottom Navigation Bar in Android. A sample GIF is given below to get an idea about what we are going to do in this article. Note that we are going to implement this project using the Java language. 

Why do we need a Bottom Navigation Bar?

• It allows the user to navigate from one fragment to another easily.
• It makes it easy to view all other screens present in the app.
• User can check it easily which screen they are working at the moment.

Step by Step Implementation

Step 1: Create a New Project

To create a new project in Android Studio please refer to How to Create/Start a New Project in Android Studio. Note that select Java as the programming language.

Step 2: Adding the dependency to the build.gradle(:app) file

implementation ‘com.ismaeldivita.chipnavigation:chip-navigation-bar:1.3.4’

Step 3: Working with the activity_main.xml file

Navigate to the app > res > layout > activity_main.xml and add the below code to that file. Below is the code for the activity_main.xml file. 

XML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:id="@+id/rl_layout"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:background="#EEEEEE"
    tools:context=".MainActivity">

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/text_main"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_centerInParent="true"
        android:text="Welcome!"
        android:textColor="#000"
        android:textSize="20sp" />

    <com.ismaeldivita.chipnavigation.ChipNavigationBar
        android:id="@+id/bottom_nav_bar"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="60dp"
        android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
        android:layout_gravity="bottom"
        android:background="#fff"
        android:fadingEdge="horizontal"
        app:cnb_menuResource="@menu/menu" />

</RelativeLayout>

This is how the activity_main.xml looks like:

Step 4: Creating a menu for the Chip Navigation Bar

Go to the app > res > right-click > New > Android Resource File and in the pop-up screen choose Resource type as Menu and keep the file name as menu. Below is the code for the menu.xml file.

XML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
      xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto">

    <item
        android:id="@+id/nav_near"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_home_black_24dp"
        android:title="Home"
        app:cnb_iconColor="#2196F3"/>

    <item
        android:id="@+id/nav_new_chat"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_message_black_24dp"
        android:title="Message"
        app:cnb_iconColor="#F44336"/>

    <item
        android:id="@+id/nav_profile"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_notifications_black_24dp"
        android:title="Notify"
        app:cnb_iconColor="#4CAF50"/>

    <item
        android:id="@+id/nav_settings"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_person_black_24dp"
        android:title="Profile"
        app:cnb_iconColor="#FF9800"/>

</menu>

Step 5: Working with the MainActivity.java file

Go to the MainActivity.java file and refer to the following code. Below is the code for the MainActivity.java file. Comments are added inside the code to understand the code in more detail.

Java

import android.os.Bundle;
import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;
import com.ismaeldivita.chipnavigation.ChipNavigationBar;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

    ChipNavigationBar chipNavigationBar;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
        chipNavigationBar = findViewById(R.id.bottom_nav_bar);
    }
}

Output: