Hey everyone, I just updated my Gmail app and noticed this cool new feature. When you swipe down from the top of the screen, it triggers a refresh. It’s not like the usual spinner you see in other apps. Instead, there’s this neat animation in the action bar.
I’m trying to add something similar to my own app, but I’m not sure where to start. Does anyone know what this refresh style is called? Or maybe you could point me in the right direction for some tutorials or documentation?
I’ve played around with SwipeRefreshLayout before, but this seems different. It’s smoother and looks more integrated with the app’s design. Any tips or resources would be super helpful!
Thanks in advance for your help. I’m really excited to learn how to implement this in my own projects!
As someone who’s implemented this in a few projects, I can tell you it’s a bit tricky but totally doable. What Gmail’s using is a custom implementation of the pull-to-refresh pattern, likely built on top of Android’s CoordinatorLayout and AppBarLayout.
The key is to create a custom behavior that responds to scroll events. You’ll want to override onStartNestedScroll and onNestedPreScroll methods to detect the pull gesture. Then, use a ValueAnimator to control the appearance and disappearance of your refresh indicator.
One tip: use a state machine to manage the different stages of the refresh (pulling, refreshing, resetting). This keeps your code clean and makes it easier to add those smooth transitions.
For the action bar animation, you might want to look into MotionLayout. It’s perfect for complex, interconnected animations like this.
It’s a fair bit of work, but the end result is worth it. Your users will love the polished feel it adds to your app.
The feature you’re describing is indeed an enhanced version of the pull-to-refresh pattern. While SwipeRefreshLayout is a good starting point, Gmail’s implementation likely uses custom animations and potentially the MotionLayout for smoother transitions.
To achieve a similar effect, you might want to look into creating a custom RefreshView that extends View or ViewGroup. This allows for more control over the animation and appearance. You’ll need to handle touch events, calculate the drag distance, and trigger the refresh action when a threshold is reached.
For the action bar animation, consider using ObjectAnimator or ValueAnimator to create the desired effect. The key is to make the refresh indicator feel like an integral part of your app’s UI rather than a separate element.
Remember to keep the refresh action asynchronous to maintain a responsive UI. Good luck with your implementation!
hey there! i’ve messed with this before. it’s called the ‘pull-to-refresh’ pattern. you can use the SwipeRefreshLayout, but customize it to match Gmail’s style. try tweaking the progress view and overriding some methods. google’s material design docs might help too. good luck with ur project!