MenuItemCompat.getActionView always returns null

Mohsen Afshin picture Mohsen Afshin · Aug 26, 2013 · Viewed 50.2k times · Source

I just implemented the v7 AppCompat support library but the MenuItemCompat.getActionView always return null in every Android version I tested (4.2.2, 2.3.4 ....)

The SearchView is displayed in action bar but it doesn't respond to touch actions and doesn't expand to show its EditText and is just like a simple icon.

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

    MenuItem searchItem = menu.findItem(R.id.action_search);
    SearchView searchView = (SearchView) MenuItemCompat.getActionView(searchItem);
    if (searchView != null) {
        SearchViewCompat.setOnQueryTextListener(searchView, mOnQueryTextListener);
        searchView.setIconifiedByDefault(false);
        Log.d(TAG,"SearchView not null");
    } else
        Log.d(TAG, "SearchView is null");
    }
    return super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu);
}

Menu.xml

<?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">

    <item android:id="@+id/action_search"
          app:showAsAction="always|collapseActionView"
          android:icon="@drawable/abc_ic_search"
          android:title="@string/action_bar_search"
          android:actionViewClass="android.support.v7.widget.SearchView"/>

    <item android:id="@+id/action_refresh"
          android:icon="@drawable/refresh"
          android:title="@string/action_bar_refresh"
          app:showAsAction="ifRoom"/>
</menu>

Answer

Mohsen Afshin picture Mohsen Afshin · Aug 26, 2013

Finally I found the solution.

  1. Changing namespace of actionViewClass from android:actionViewClass to app:actionViewClass

  2. Implementing android.support.v7.widget.SearchView.OnQueryTextListener interface for current activity.

  3. Directly use setOnQueryTextListener instead of SearchViewCompat.setOnQueryTextListener

    @Override
    public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
      MenuInflater inflater = getMenuInflater();
      inflater.inflate(R.menu.menu, menu);
    
      MenuItem searchItem = menu.findItem(R.id.action_search);
      SearchView searchView = (SearchView) MenuItemCompat.getActionView(searchItem);
      if (searchView != null) {
         searchView.setOnQueryTextListener(this);
      }
    
      return super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu);
    }