CODEWITHSUNDEEP
androidandroid-5.0-lollipoptoolbarandroid-appcompat
Karnalta
Karnalta

Reputation: 538

Android - Toolbar introduced in Lollipop requires AppCompatActivity?

I am learning Android development but I am really getting confused by all the AppCompat stuff. I may be wrong, but AppCompat allows the use of modern elements like Material Design on older Android version (lower than API 21). That's cool, but for the purpose of my learning, I wanted to create a pure API 21+ application, without caring about retro compatibility.

So I could use the "native" android:Theme.Material instead of Theme.AppCompat.xxx. But when it come to Toolbar it seem that I can't use it without a AppCompatActivity...

It's really confusing for me, Google seems to release new components that are only compatible on API 21+ but you can't use them without using retro-compatible activities ??

If someone could clear things out a bit, I would greatly appreciate that.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 432

Answers (1)

CommonsWare
CommonsWare

Reputation: 1007658

But when it come to Toolbar it seem that I can't use it without a AppCompatActivity

Bear in mind that there are two Toolbar classes:

  • android.widget.Toolbar, which is available on Android 5.0+ (API Level 21+)

  • android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar, which requires appcompat-v7 and AppCompatActivity and all of that, but will work going back to API Level 14 (and, with older versions of appcompat-v7, back to API Level 7)

So, you choose the Toolbar implementation that matches your chosen environment.

Upvotes: 3

Related Questions