CODEWITHSUNDEEP
androidandroid-activityandroid-actionbarsearchview
jhonkaman
jhonkaman

Reputation: 555

How do I properly display search icon in Activity?

I created a small test app to practice setting up the action bar in a normal Activity (not ActionBarActivity), since I'm only planning on working with API level 15 and above. I want to display the search icon on the Action Bar. If I set up the menu_main.xml file like this, I can display the search icon, but not without an error:

<menu 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"
  tools:context=".MainActivity">
<item android:id="@+id/action_search"
      android:icon="@drawable/ic_action_search"
      android:title="@string/action_search"
      android:showAsAction="ifRoom"/>
</menu>

I can get the app to run just fine in my emulator and show the icon, but an error pops while in Android Studio:

"When using the appcompat library, menu resources should refer to the showAsAction in the app: namespace, not the android: namespace. Similarly, when not using the appcompat library, you should be using the android:showAsAction attribute."

I can make the error go away by deleting the following line from the build.gradle file:

compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:22.0.0'

However, it doesn't seem like a good idea to remove the support library (although I could be wrong here). If I use the app:namespace method like the error recommends, I can get rid of the error, but then the search icon does not show up on the action bar; instead, the search option appears in the overflow menu. How can I properly display the search icon without getting an error and without removing the support library? Do I just ignore the error? Should I just stick with using an ActionBarActivity for my apps (i.e., is there a reason to try to use a normal Activity with an Action Bar or am I wasting my time)? I'm using Android Studio for this project.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 2465

Answers (3)

user3169144
user3169144

Reputation: 37

Actually I faced the same issue three days ago, have been trying many solutions found online but didn't work until now. By following the preceded comments, all i did that makes it work out for me is pasted below, hope it worked.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
        app:showAsAction="always"
  xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto">
<!-- Search / will display always -->
<item android:id="@+id/action_search"
    android:icon="@drawable/ic_action_search"
    android:title="@string/action_search"
    app:showAsAction="always"/>
</menu>

<resources>

    <!-- Base application theme. -->
    <style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar">
    <!-- Customize your theme here. -->
    </style>

</resources>

Upvotes: 0

s.d
s.d

Reputation: 29436

First, ensure that you are using app theme based on v7 library theme.

<resources>

    <!-- Application theme. -->
    <style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light">

And you use ActionBarActivity. Appcompat is not just there for backward compatibility, but also bridges some gaps for the latest material UI.

In menu.xml file, You need to use the app namespace :

<?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"
      xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
      tools:ignore="AlwaysShowAction"
    >
    <item
        android:id="@+id/menu_search"
        android:menuCategory="system"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_action_search"
        android:title="@string/search"
        app:showAsAction="always"
        />
</menu>

Notice the 

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

and the

app:showAsAction="always"

Its not using android: namespace but the v7 library resources namespace.

Also, android:showAsAction="ifRoom" does not guarantee android will show the icon always.

Upvotes: 2

Sanj
Sanj

Reputation: 850

Try changing

android:showAsAction="ifRoom"

to 

app:showAsAction="ifRoom"

Upvotes: 0

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