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.