How to Set a Custom Font in the ActionBar Title?

How (if possible) could I set a custom font in a ActionBar title text(only - not the tab text) with a font in my assets folder? I don't want to use the android:logo option.

You can do this using a custom TypefaceSpan class. It's superior to the customView approach indicated above because it doesn't break when using other Action Bar elements like expanding action views.

The use of such a class would look something like this:

SpannableString s = new SpannableString("My Title");
s.setSpan(new TypefaceSpan(this, "MyTypeface.otf"), 0, s.length(),
        Spannable.SPAN_EXCLUSIVE_EXCLUSIVE);

// Update the action bar title with the TypefaceSpan instance
ActionBar actionBar = getActionBar();
actionBar.setTitle(s);

The custom TypefaceSpan class is passed your Activity context and the name of a typeface in your assets/fonts directory. It loads the file and caches a new Typeface instance in memory. The complete implementation of TypefaceSpan is surprisingly simple:

/**
 * Style a {@link Spannable} with a custom {@link Typeface}.
 * 
 * @author Tristan Waddington
 */
public class TypefaceSpan extends MetricAffectingSpan {
      /** An <code>LruCache</code> for previously loaded typefaces. */
    private static LruCache<String, Typeface> sTypefaceCache =
            new LruCache<String, Typeface>(12);
 
    private Typeface mTypeface;
 
    /**
     * Load the {@link Typeface} and apply to a {@link Spannable}.
     */
    public TypefaceSpan(Context context, String typefaceName) {
        mTypeface = sTypefaceCache.get(typefaceName);
 
        if (mTypeface == null) {
            mTypeface = Typeface.createFromAsset(context.getApplicationContext()
                    .getAssets(), String.format("fonts/%s", typefaceName));
 
            // Cache the loaded Typeface
            sTypefaceCache.put(typefaceName, mTypeface);
        }
    }
 
    @Override
    public void updateMeasureState(TextPaint p) {
        p.setTypeface(mTypeface);

        // Note: This flag is required for proper typeface rendering
        p.setFlags(p.getFlags() | Paint.SUBPIXEL_TEXT_FLAG);
    }
 
    @Override
    public void updateDrawState(TextPaint tp) {
        tp.setTypeface(mTypeface);

        // Note: This flag is required for proper typeface rendering
        tp.setFlags(tp.getFlags() | Paint.SUBPIXEL_TEXT_FLAG);
    }
}

Simply copy the above class into your project and implement it in your activity's onCreate method as shown above.

I agree that this isn't completely supported, but here's what I did. You can use a custom view for your action bar (it will display between your icon and your action items). I'm using a custom view and I have the native title disabled. All of my activities inherit from a single activity, which has this code in onCreate:

this.getActionBar().setDisplayShowCustomEnabled(true);
this.getActionBar().setDisplayShowTitleEnabled(false);

LayoutInflater inflator = LayoutInflater.from(this);
View v = inflator.inflate(R.layout.titleview, null);

//if you need to customize anything else about the text, do it here.
//I'm using a custom TextView with a custom font in my layout xml so all I need to do is set title
((TextView)v.findViewById(R.id.title)).setText(this.getTitle());

//assign the view to the actionbar
this.getActionBar().setCustomView(v);

And my layout xml (R.layout.titleview in the code above) looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:background="@android:color/transparent" >
    
<com.your.package.CustomTextView
    	android:id="@+id/title"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_centerVertical="true"
            android:layout_marginLeft="10dp"
            android:textSize="20dp"
            android:maxLines="1"
            android:ellipsize="end"
            android:text="" />
</RelativeLayout>

int titleId = getResources().getIdentifier("action_bar_title", "id",
			"android");
	TextView yourTextView = (TextView) findViewById(titleId);
	yourTextView.setTextColor(getResources().getColor(R.color.black));
	yourTextView.setTypeface(face);

From Android Support Library v26 + Android Studio 3.0 onwards, this process has become easy as a flick!!

Follow these steps to change the font of Toolbar Title:

1. Read Downloadable Fonts & select any font from the list (my recommendation) or load a custom font to res > font as per Fonts in XML

2. In res > values > styles , paste the following (use your imagination here!)

   <style name="TitleBarTextAppearance" parent="android:TextAppearance">
       <item name="android:fontFamily">@font/your_desired_font</item>
       <item name="android:textSize">23sp</item>
       <item name="android:textStyle">bold</item>
       <item name="android:textColor">@android:color/white</item>
   </style>
   

3. Insert a new line in your Toolbar properties app:titleTextAppearance="@style/TextAppearance.TabsFont" as shown below

   <android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
       android:id="@+id/toolbar"
       android:layout_width="match_parent"
       android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"
       android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"
       app:titleTextAppearance="@style/TitleBarTextAppearance"
       app:popupTheme="@style/AppTheme.PopupOverlay"/>
   

4. Enjoy Custom Actionbar Title font styling!!

The Calligraphy library let's you set a custom font through the app theme, which would also apply to the action bar.

<style name="AppTheme" parent="android:Theme.Holo.Light.DarkActionBar">
<item name="android:textViewStyle">@style/AppTheme.Widget.TextView</item>
</style>

<style name="AppTheme.Widget"/>

<style name="AppTheme.Widget.TextView" parent="android:Widget.Holo.Light.TextView">
   <item name="fontPath">fonts/Roboto-ThinItalic.ttf</item>
</style>

All it takes to activate Calligraphy is attaching it to your Activity context:

@Override
protected void attachBaseContext(Context newBase) {
    super.attachBaseContext(new CalligraphyContextWrapper(newBase));
}

The default custom attribute is fontPath, but you may provide your own custom attribute for the path by initializing it in your Application class with CalligraphyConfig.Builder. Usage of android:fontFamily has been discouraged.

It's an ugly hack but you can do it like this (since action_bar_title is hidden) :

    try {
        Integer titleId = (Integer) Class.forName("com.android.internal.R$id")
                .getField("action_bar_title").get(null);
        TextView title = (TextView) getWindow().findViewById(titleId);
        // check for null and manipulate the title as see fit
    } catch (Exception e) {
        Log.e(TAG, "Failed to obtain action bar title reference");
    }

This code is for post-GINGERBREAD devices but this can be easily extended to work with actionbar Sherlock as well

P.S. Based on @pjv comment there's a better way to find action bar title id

final int titleId = 
    Resources.getSystem().getIdentifier("action_bar_title", "id", "android");

    ActionBar actionBar = getSupportActionBar();
    TextView tv = new TextView(getApplicationContext());
    Typeface typeface = ResourcesCompat.getFont(this, R.font.monotype_corsiva);
    RelativeLayout.LayoutParams lp = new RelativeLayout.LayoutParams(
            RelativeLayout.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT, // Width of TextView
            RelativeLayout.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT); // Height of TextView
    tv.setLayoutParams(lp);
    tv.setText("Your Text"); // ActionBar title text
    tv.setTextSize(25);
    tv.setTextColor(Color.WHITE);
    tv.setTypeface(typeface, typeface.ITALIC);
    actionBar.setDisplayOptions(ActionBar.DISPLAY_SHOW_CUSTOM);
    actionBar.setCustomView(tv);
   

Following code will work for all the versions. I did checked this in a device with gingerbread as well as on JellyBean device

 private void actionBarIdForAll()
    {
        int titleId = 0;

        if(Build.VERSION.SDK_INT>=Build.VERSION_CODES.HONEYCOMB)
        {
            titleId = getResources().getIdentifier("action_bar_title", "id", "android");
        }
        else
        {
          // This is the id is from your app's generated R class when ActionBarActivity is used for SupportActionBar

            titleId = R.id.action_bar_title;
        }

        if(titleId>0)
        {
            // Do whatever you want ? It will work for all the versions.

            // 1. Customize your fonts
            // 2. Infact, customize your whole title TextView

            TextView titleView = (TextView)findViewById(titleId);
            titleView.setText("RedoApp");
            titleView.setTextColor(Color.CYAN);
        }
    }

use new toolbar in support library design your actionbar as your own or use below code

Inflating Textview is not an good option try Spannable String builder

Typeface font2 = Typeface.createFromAsset(getAssets(), "fonts/<your font in assets folder>");   
SpannableStringBuilder SS = new SpannableStringBuilder("MY Actionbar Tittle");
SS.setSpan (new CustomTypefaceSpan("", font2), 0, SS.length(),Spanned.SPAN_EXCLUSIVE_INCLUSIVE);
actionBar.setTitle(ss);

copy below class

public class CustomTypefaceSpan extends TypefaceSpan{
	
	private final Typeface newType;

	public CustomTypefaceSpan(String family, Typeface type) {
	    super(family);
	    newType = type;
	}

	@Override
	public void updateDrawState(TextPaint ds) {
	    applyCustomTypeFace(ds, newType);
	}

	@Override
	public void updateMeasureState(TextPaint paint) {
	    applyCustomTypeFace(paint, newType);
	}

	private static void applyCustomTypeFace(Paint paint, Typeface tf) {
	    int oldStyle;
	    Typeface old = paint.getTypeface();
	    if (old == null) {
	        oldStyle = 0;
	    } else {
	        oldStyle = old.getStyle();
	    }

	    int fake = oldStyle & ~tf.getStyle();
	    if ((fake & Typeface.BOLD) != 0) {
	        paint.setFakeBoldText(true);
	    }

	    if ((fake & Typeface.ITALIC) != 0) {
	        paint.setTextSkewX(-0.25f);
	    }

	    paint.setTypeface(tf);
	}

}

If you want to set typeface to all the TextViews in the entire Activity you can use something like this:

public static void setTypefaceToAll(Activity activity)
{
	View view = activity.findViewById(android.R.id.content).getRootView();
	setTypefaceToAll(view);
}

public static void setTypefaceToAll(View view)
{
	if (view instanceof ViewGroup)
	{
		ViewGroup g = (ViewGroup) view;
		int count = g.getChildCount();
		for (int i = 0; i < count; i++)
			setTypefaceToAll(g.getChildAt(i));
	}
	else if (view instanceof TextView)
	{
		TextView tv = (TextView) view;
		setTypeface(tv);
	}
}

public static void setTypeface(TextView tv)
{
	TypefaceCache.setFont(tv, TypefaceCache.FONT_KOODAK);
}

And the TypefaceCache:

import java.util.TreeMap;

import android.graphics.Typeface;
import android.widget.TextView;

public class TypefaceCache {

    //Font names from asset:
	public static final String FONT_ROBOTO_REGULAR = "fonts/Roboto-Regular.ttf";
	public static final String FONT_KOODAK = "fonts/Koodak.ttf";
	
    private static TreeMap<String, Typeface> fontCache = new TreeMap<String, Typeface>();

    public static Typeface getFont(String fontName) {
        Typeface tf = fontCache.get(fontName);
        if(tf == null) {
            try {
                tf = Typeface.createFromAsset(MyApplication.getAppContext().getAssets(), fontName);
            }
            catch (Exception e) {
                return null;
            }
            fontCache.put(fontName, tf);
        }
        return tf;
    }
    
    public static void setFont(TextView tv, String fontName)
    {
    	tv.setTypeface(getFont(fontName));
    }
}

I just did the following inside the onCreate() function:

TypefaceSpan typefaceSpan = new TypefaceSpan("font_to_be_used");
SpannableString str = new SpannableString("toolbar_text");
str.setSpan(typefaceSpan,0, str.length(), Spanned.SPAN_EXCLUSIVE_EXCLUSIVE);
getSupportActionBar().setTitle(str);

I am using the Support Libraries, if you are not using them I guess you should switch to getActionBar() instead of getSupportActionBar().

In Android Studio 3 you can add custom fonts following this instructions https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/look-and-feel/fonts-in-xml.html and then use your newly added font in "font_to_be_used"

Try using This

TextView headerText= new TextView(getApplicationContext());
RelativeLayout.LayoutParams lp = new RelativeLayout.LayoutParams(ActionBar.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT, ActionBar.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT);
headerText.setLayoutParams(lp);
headerText.setText("Welcome!");
headerText.setTextSize(20);
headerText.setTextColor(Color.parseColor("#FFFFFF"));
Typeface tf = Typeface.createFromAsset(getAssets(), "fonts/wesfy_regular.ttf");
headerText.setTypeface(tf);
getSupportActionBar().setDisplayOptions(ActionBar.DISPLAY_SHOW_CUSTOM);
getSupportActionBar().setCustomView(headerText);

To add to @Sam_D's answer, I had to do this to make it work:

this.setTitle("my title!");
((TextView)v.findViewById(R.id.title)).setText(this.getTitle());
TextView title = ((TextView)v.findViewById(R.id.title));
title.setEllipsize(TextUtils.TruncateAt.MARQUEE);
title.setMarqueeRepeatLimit(1);
// in order to start strolling, it has to be focusable and focused
title.setFocusable(true);
title.setSingleLine(true);
title.setFocusableInTouchMode(true);
title.requestFocus();

It seems like overkill - referencing v.findViewById(R.id.title)) twice - but that's the only way it would let me do it.

To update the correct answer.

firstly : set the title to false, because we are using custom view

    actionBar.setDisplayShowTitleEnabled(false);

secondly : create titleview.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
   android:layout_width="match_parent"
   android:layout_height="match_parent"
   android:background="@android:color/transparent" >

    <TextView
       android:id="@+id/title"
       android:layout_width="wrap_content"
       android:layout_height="wrap_content"
       android:layout_centerVertical="true"
       android:layout_marginLeft="10dp"
       android:textSize="20dp"
       android:maxLines="1"
       android:ellipsize="end"
       android:text="" />

</RelativeLayout>

Lastly :

//font file must be in the phone db so you have to create download file code
//check the code on the bottom part of the download file code.

   TypeFace font = Typeface.createFromFile("/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/"   
    + BuildConfig.APPLICATION_ID + "/files/" + "font name" + ".ttf");

    if(font != null) {
        LayoutInflater inflator = LayoutInflater.from(this);
        View v = inflator.inflate(R.layout.titleview, null);
        TextView titleTv = ((TextView) v.findViewById(R.id.title));
        titleTv.setText(title);
        titleTv.setTypeface(font);
        actionBar.setCustomView(v);
    } else {
        actionBar.setDisplayShowTitleEnabled(true);
        actionBar.setTitle("  " + title); // Need to add a title
    }

DOWNLOAD FONT FILE : because i am storing the file into cloudinary so I have link on it to download it.

/**downloadFile*/
public void downloadFile(){
    String DownloadUrl = //url here
    File file = new File("/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/" + BuildConfig.APPLICATION_ID + "/files/");
    File[] list = file.listFiles();
    if(list == null || list.length <= 0) {
        BroadcastReceiver onComplete = new BroadcastReceiver() {
            @Override
            public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
                try{
                    showContentFragment(false);
                } catch (Exception e){
                }
            }
        };

        registerReceiver(onComplete, new IntentFilter(DownloadManager.ACTION_DOWNLOAD_COMPLETE));
        DownloadManager.Request request = new DownloadManager.Request(Uri.parse(DownloadUrl));
        request.setVisibleInDownloadsUi(false);
        request.setDestinationInExternalFilesDir(this, null, ModelManager.getInstance().getCurrentApp().getRegular_font_name() + ".ttf");
        DownloadManager manager = (DownloadManager) getSystemService(Context.DOWNLOAD_SERVICE);
        manager.enqueue(request);
    } else {
        for (File files : list) {
            if (!files.getName().equals("font_name" + ".ttf")) {
                BroadcastReceiver onComplete = new BroadcastReceiver() {
                    @Override
                    public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
                        try{
                            showContentFragment(false);
                        } catch (Exception e){
                        }
                    }
                };

                registerReceiver(onComplete, new IntentFilter(DownloadManager.ACTION_DOWNLOAD_COMPLETE));
                DownloadManager.Request request = new DownloadManager.Request(Uri.parse(DownloadUrl));
                request.setVisibleInDownloadsUi(false);
                request.setDestinationInExternalFilesDir(this, null, "font_name" + ".ttf");
                DownloadManager manager = (DownloadManager) getSystemService(Context.DOWNLOAD_SERVICE);
                manager.enqueue(request);
            } else {
                showContentFragment(false);
                break;
            }
        }
    }
}

No custom textview is required!

First, disable the title in the toobar in your java code : getSupportActionBar().setDisplayShowTitleEnabled(false);

Then, simply add a TextView inside the toolbar :

<android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"
    app:popupTheme="@style/AppTheme.PopupOverlay">
    
	<TextView
		android:layout_width="wrap_content"
		android:layout_height="wrap_content"
		android:text="@string/app_name"
		android:textSize="18sp"
		android:fontFamily="@font/roboto" />

	</android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar>

We need to use reflections for achieving this

final int titleId = activity.getResources().getIdentifier("action_bar_title", "id", "android");

    final TextView title;
    if (activity.findViewById(titleId) != null) {
        title = (TextView) activity.findViewById(titleId);
        title.setTextColor(Color.BLACK);
        title.setTextColor(configs().getColor(ColorKey.GENERAL_TEXT));
        title.setTypeface(configs().getTypeface());
    } else {
        try {
            Field f = bar.getClass().getDeclaredField("mTitleTextView");
            f.setAccessible(true);
            title = (TextView) f.get(bar);
            title.setTextColor(Color.BLACK);
            title.setTypeface(configs().getTypeface());
        } catch (NoSuchFieldException e) {
        } catch (IllegalAccessException e) {
        }
    }

TRY THIS

public void findAndSetFont(){
        getActionBar().setTitle("SOME TEST TEXT");
        scanForTextViewWithText(this,"SOME TEST TEXT",new SearchTextViewInterface(){

            @Override
            public void found(TextView title) {
                
            } 
        });
    }

public static void scanForTextViewWithText(Activity activity,String searchText, SearchTextViewInterface searchTextViewInterface){
    if(activity == null|| searchText == null || searchTextViewInterface == null)
        return;
    View view = activity.findViewById(android.R.id.content).getRootView();
    searchForTextViewWithTitle(view, searchText, searchTextViewInterface);
}

private static void searchForTextViewWithTitle(View view, String searchText, SearchTextViewInterface searchTextViewInterface)
{
    if (view instanceof ViewGroup)
    {
        ViewGroup g = (ViewGroup) view;
        int count = g.getChildCount();
        for (int i = 0; i < count; i++)
            searchForTextViewWithTitle(g.getChildAt(i), searchText, searchTextViewInterface);
    }
    else if (view instanceof TextView)
    {
        TextView textView = (TextView) view;
        if(textView.getText().toString().equals(searchText))
            if(searchTextViewInterface!=null)
                searchTextViewInterface.found(textView);
    }
}
public interface SearchTextViewInterface {
    void found(TextView title);
}