ActionBarCompat - how to use it

Question

I'm trying to use ActionBarCompat on my own project. I've already opened the sample project (http://developer.android.com/resources/samples/ActionBarCompat/index.html), But I don't know how to implement it on my own.

I can't find any tutorial of some kind. Should I make this project as a library? Can someone give me some directions, please.

It looks like sometime in the past year, Google's removed the online version of their ActionBarCompat sample (and every other sample). Is there anywhere to link to for an updated link? — , May 22 '13 at 14:58

score 22 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 25 '12 at 14:12

22

As for implementation, just stick to the sample code provided under the MainActivity.java class. You can find it here or under <your local android-sdks folder>/samples/android-15/ActionBarCompat/src/com/example/android/actionbarcompat/MainActivity.java. In general, all you need to do is the following:

Code a menu resource where you declare the items for the action bar (See http://developer.android.com/resources/samples/ActionBarCompat/res/menu/main.html)
Code an Activity that extends ActionBarActivity
Override onCreateOptionsMenu() so that it inflates the menu you coded in step #1
Override onOptionsItemSelected() so that you handle the event when the user taps any of the ActionBar items you defined in step #1.

I think it makes sense to build an Android Library project out of the ActionBarCompat code; then you can just reference it from your custom Android project. Remember it's licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.

answered Apr 25 '12 at 14:12

Andrés Pachon

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Great to the point to-do-list! Thanks I followed your list, set ActionBarCompat to be a library project as you recommended. Everything worked, but the app logo. It was always the logo of the ActionBarCompat app until I found out that it is (kind of) hard-coded in ActionBarCompat named ic_home(.png) Thus I would add one additional point to the list: 5. Create an icon in your project's "drawable" folders with the name ic-home(.png) – Addi Jun 27 '12 at 22:41
Andres how do I make this into a library? Also the link about is now broken. Any pointers? – StuStirling Dec 04 '12 at 16:37
@DiscoS2 If you want to make this into a library, you just have to designate it as a library in the IDE. In Eclipse you go to project settings > android, scroll down and check 'library'. In IntelliJ, you designate the module as a library. – IgorGanapolsky Feb 07 '13 at 22:07

score 9 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 28 '13 at 00:44

This answer describes how to use the new ActionBarCompat library (July 2013).

In Android Studio, open build.gradle and add this:

dependencies {
    compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:18.0.+'
}

In Eclipse, create a library project based on the code in sdk\extras\android\support\v7\appcompat and add it to your project.

Activities have to extend ActionBarActivity.

import android.support.v4.view.MenuItemCompat;
import android.support.v7.app.ActionBarActivity;
import android.support.v7.widget.SearchView;
import android.support.v7.app.ActionBar;
import android.view.Menu;
import android.view.MenuItem;

public class MainActivity extends ActionBarActivity {

    ActionBar ab;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
        ab = getSupportActionBar();
        ab.setTitle("Test");
    }

    @Override
    public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
        getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.main, menu);

        MenuItem searchItem = menu.findItem(R.id.action_search);
        SearchView searchView = 
                    (SearchView) MenuItemCompat.getActionView(searchItem);

        return super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu);
    }
}

Themes have to be (or extend) one of the Theme.AppCompat themes, for example:

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

Source: How to add ActionBarCompat to your project, blog post by Gabriele Mariotti

ActionBarCompat - how to use it

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