CODEWITHSUNDEEP
androidxmlsearchandroid-actionbar
TheGalax
TheGalax

Reputation: 71

Android Search icon not showing up on Action Bar

I was following this tutorial on Android when i came across a problem. As mentioned in topic my search icon isn't showing up on the action bar. I had problem with that step. http://developer.android.com/training/basics/actionbar/adding-buttons.html I think i have done everything the same but still nothing shows up. I've seen other people having similar problem but their answers didn't work for me.

The worst thing is unlike others people problems related to search icon not showing up, mine isn't even showing up on overflow while theirs is. Maybe it can guide someone to what's my issue.

main_activity_actions.xml code below

<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto" >

    <!-- Search, should appear as action button -->
    <item
        android:id="@+id/action_search"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_action_search"
        android:title="@string/action_search"
        app:showAsAction="ifRoom"/>
    <!-- Settings, should always be in the overflow -->
    <item
        android:id="@+id/action_settings"
        android:title="@string/action_settings"
        app:showAsAction="never"/>

</menu>

main.xml

<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto" >

    <!-- Search, should appear as action button -->
    <item
        android:id="@+id/action_search"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_action_search"
        android:title="@string/action_search"
        app:showAsAction="ifRoom"/>
    <!-- Settings, should always be in the overflow -->
    <item
        android:id="@+id/action_settings"
        android:title="@string/action_settings"
        app:showAsAction="never"/>

</menu>

activity.main.xml

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:orientation="horizontal" >

    <EditText
        android:id="@+id/edit_message"
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        android:hint="@string/edit_message" />

    <Button
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:hint="@string/button_send"
        android:onClick="sendMessage" />

</LinearLayout>

MainActivity.java

public class MainActivity extends ActionBarActivity {

    public final static String EXTRA_MESSAGE = "com.pawel.androidapp.MESSAGE";

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
    }

    @Override
    public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {

        // Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present.
        getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.main_activity_actions, menu);
        return super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu);
    }

    @Override
    public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
        // Handle action bar item clicks here.
        switch(item.getItemId())
        {
        case R.id.action_search:
            openSearch();
            return true;
        case R.id.action_settings:
            openSettings();
            return true;
        default:
            return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
        }
    }

    private void openSearch() {
        Toast.makeText(this, "Search pressed", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
    }

    private void openSettings() {
        startActivity(new Intent(android.provider.Settings.ACTION_SETTINGS));       
    }

    public void sendMessage(View view) {
        Intent intent = new Intent(this, DisplayMessageActivity.class);
        EditText editText = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.edit_message);
        String message = editText.getText().toString();
        intent.putExtra(EXTRA_MESSAGE, message);
        startActivity(intent);
    }

}

androidapp manifest

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="com.pawel.androidapp"
    android:versionCode="1"
    android:versionName="1.0" >

    <uses-sdk
        android:minSdkVersion="11"
        android:targetSdkVersion="21" />

    <application
        android:allowBackup="true"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:theme="@style/Theme.AppCompat" >
        <activity
            android:name=".MainActivity"
            android:label="@string/app_name" >
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
        <activity
            android:name=".DisplayMessageActivity"
            android:label="@string/title_activity_display_message"
            android:parentActivityName="com.pawel.myfirstapp.MainActivity" >
            <meta-data
                android:name="android.support.PARENT_ACTIVITY"
                android:value="com.pawel.androidapp.MainActivity" />
        </activity>

    </application>

</manifest>

Upvotes: 2

Views: 4945

Answers (6)

Prasanth P
Prasanth P

Reputation: 11

I had the ditto problem and i did not change anything in the code as others suggest above. I had downloaded the Action Pack icons from Android URL "http://developer.android.com/design/downloads/index.html#action-bar-icon-pack" and this has two folders named "Core Icons" and "Action Bar Icons". I used the icon ic_action_search from within the "Core Icons" folder and that caused the problem. I replaced the icon at "drawable" folder with the one from "Action Bar Icons/Holo Dark" and it was working the way intended. That was a moment of relief for a android developer. :)

Upvotes: 1

Peter Tsoi
Peter Tsoi

Reputation: 11

I have same problem, I got the answer after exchanging below 3 "android" to "app":

<menu xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto">
<!-- Search, should appear as action button -->
<item android:id="@+id/action_search"
    android:icon="@drawable/ic_action_search"
    android:title="@string/action_search"
    app:showAsAction="ifRoom"
    android:orderInCategory="100" />
<!-- Settings, should always be in the overflow -->
<item android:id="@+id/action_settings"
    android:title="@string/action_settings"
    app:showAsAction="always"
    android:orderInCategory="101" />
</menu>

Upvotes: 1

Jason Morgan
Jason Morgan

Reputation: 61

I had the same problem. You're using minSdkVersion="11" which is when the ActionBar APIs were defined. (http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/actionbar.html)

The line I had wrong was: app:showAsAction="ifRoom"

I had looked at the development tutorials which are illustrating use of the Support Library and my line looked the same as yours. I changed it to this: android:showAsAction="ifRoom"

and it worked. Use the "android" namespace instead of the "app" namespace. (https://developer.android.com/training/basics/actionbar/adding-buttons.html)

Upvotes: 1

user965422
user965422

Reputation: 87

I tested your code in my project and I found that the issue was in the Manifest file.

android:theme="@style/Theme.AppCompat" >

Change it to:

android:theme="@style/Theme.AppCompat.Light" >

Upvotes: 0

mmlooloo
mmlooloo

Reputation: 18977

you have missed:

app:actionViewClass="android.support.v7.widget.SearchView"

from your item.

Upvotes: 0

James Lockhart
James Lockhart

Reputation: 1040

It's more than likely down to 

app:showAsAction="ifRoom"

You're basically saying only show the icon if there is room available to show it. So try :

app:showAsAction="always"

See http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/resources/menu-resource.html for more.

Edit :

Sorry, I've just noticed that you're using the namespace http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto for this attribute.

Does it work if you change it to :

android:showAsAction="always"

Upvotes: 0

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