Android ActionBar not showing for AppCompat v7 on API 8

Question

I'm trying to display the ActionBar on my API 8 emulator by using the v7 AppCompat library, But it's not showing. Even the Split Action Bar does not show. The user has to click the menu button to show the options. I need 4 of the options to always be visible on my screen.

EDIT::

I have android:uiOptions="splitActionBarWhenNarrow", in case it helps...

Here is my menu xml code:

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

<item
    android:id="@+id/action_twitter"
    android:icon="@drawable/ic_action_twitter_icon"
    android:orderInCategory="1"
    android:showAsAction="always"
    symagine:showAsAction="always"
    android:title="@string/twitter_desc"/>
<item
    android:id="@+id/action_share"
    android:icon="@drawable/ic_action_share"
    android:orderInCategory="5"
    android:showAsAction="always"
    symagine:showAsAction="always"
    android:title="@string/share_desc"/>
<item
    android:id="@+id/action_rightDrawer"
    android:icon="@drawable/ic_action_i"
    android:orderInCategory="6"
    android:showAsAction="always"
    symagine:showAsAction="always"
    android:title="@string/action_info"/>
<item
    android:id="@+id/action_facebook"
    android:icon="@drawable/facebook_icon"
    android:orderInCategory="2"
    android:showAsAction="always"
    symagine:showAsAction="always"
    android:title="@string/facebook_desc"/>
<item
    android:id="@+id/action_contact"
    android:orderInCategory="3"
    android:showAsAction="collapseActionView"
    symagine:showAsAction="collapseActionView"
    android:title="@string/action_contact"/>
<item
    android:id="@+id/about_us"
    android:orderInCategory="4"
    android:showAsAction="collapseActionView"
    symagine:showAsAction="collapseActionView"
    android:title="@string/action_about_us"/>

</menu>

Here is my HomeActivity Code:

@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
    // Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present.
    getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.home, menu);
    return true;
}

My custom action bar theme:

<style name="MyActionBarTheme" parent="@style/Theme.AppCompat">
    <item name="android:windowActionBarOverlay" tools:ignore="NewApi">true</item>
    <item name="android:actionBarStyle" tools:ignore="NewApi">@style/MyCustomActionBar</item>

    <!-- Support Library Compatibility -->
    <item name="windowActionBarOverlay">true</item>
    <item name="actionBarStyle">@style/MyCustomActionBar</item>
</style>
<style name="MyCustomActionBar" parent="@style/Widget.AppCompat.ActionBar">
    <item name="android:background">@android:color/transparent</item>
    <item name="android:backgroundSplit" tools:ignore="NewApi">@android:color/transparent</item>
    <item name="android:logo" tools:ignore="NewApi">@drawable/ic_logo</item>
    <item name="android:displayOptions" tools:ignore="NewApi">showHome|useLogo</item>

    <!-- Support Library Compatibility -->
    <item name="background">@android:color/transparent</item>
    <item name="backgroundSplit">@android:color/transparent</item>
    <item name="logo">@drawable/ic_logo</item>
    <item name="displayOptions">showHome|useLogo</item>
</style>

Please can anyone tell me what's the problem? I looked at some previous questions and saw that you need to add [yourapp] namespace in showAsAciton. I did that but it still didnt make a difference. Thank you for your help.

Answer 1

guys! I found the solution. Apparently I wasn't extending ActionBarActivity so the ActionBar wasn't showing on devices less than Android 3.0.

Just thought you guys should know. I was earlier extending FragmentActivity and thought that if I changed it to ActionBarActivity, my Fragments which were running would not work...

But, it turns out that ActionBarActivity extends FragmentActivity so you needn't worry of the fact that one or the other might not work. Hope this helps someone out there!

Merry Christmas!!

Answer 2

You need to use a support library like actionbarsherlock. I think this tutorial will help you.