Android - Overflow Menu and Back Button not showing in Collapsing Toolbar

Question

I'm trying to implement features from the new Design Support Library to create a parallax scrolling toolbar which looks similar to the new material design WhatsApp profile pages. However, I can't get the overflow menu and back button to show in the top corners.

I have tried using the following methods to display the back button, but none of them works.

    getSupportActionBar().setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true);
    getSupportActionBar().setHomeButtonEnabled(true);
    getSupportActionBar().setDisplayShowHomeEnabled(true);

And overwriting the onCreateOptionsMenu method for the overflow menu also didn't work.

Does anyone know how to add these toolbar icons to a CollapsingToolbar from the Design Support Library? Below is my layout xml for the activity. Thanks!

<android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
android:id="@+id/main_content"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:fitsSystemWindows="true">

<android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout
    android:id="@+id/appbar"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="256dp"
    android:theme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Dark.ActionBar"
    android:fitsSystemWindows="true">

    <android.support.design.widget.CollapsingToolbarLayout
        android:id="@+id/collapsing_toolbar"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        app:layout_scrollFlags="scroll|exitUntilCollapsed"
        android:fitsSystemWindows="true"
        app:contentScrim="@color/primary"
        app:expandedTitleMarginStart="48dp"
        app:expandedTitleMarginEnd="64dp">

        <ImageView
            android:id="@+id/backdrop"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="match_parent"
            android:src="@drawable/headerbg"
            android:scaleType="centerCrop"
            android:fitsSystemWindows="true"
            app:layout_collapseMode="parallax" />

        <android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
            android:id="@+id/toolbar"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"
            app:popupTheme="@style/Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar"
            app:layout_collapseMode="pin" />

    </android.support.design.widget.CollapsingToolbarLayout>

</android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout>

<android.support.v4.widget.NestedScrollView
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:layout_gravity="fill_vertical"
    android:layout_marginBottom="?attr/actionBarSize"
    app:layout_behavior="@string/appbar_scrolling_view_behavior">

</android.support.v4.widget.NestedScrollView>

Answer 1

I had the same issue, none from existing answers have helped me, surprising fix of my problem was in question description.

---

Solution for AppCompat Activity

So working collapsing toolbar with back button needs those few lines in controller onCreate method:

//change id to Your id
toolbar = (Toolbar) findViewById(R.id.toolbar); 
setSupportActionBar(toolbar);

//this line shows back button
getSupportActionBar().setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true); 

Manifest of this activity ( notice parentActivityName attribute ):

<activity
  android:name=".SomeActivity"
  android:parentActivityName=".MainActivity"
  android:theme="@style/AppTheme.NoActionBar"/>

Template part:

<android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:fitsSystemWindows="true"
    android:theme="@style/AppTheme.AppBarOverlay">

    <android.support.design.widget.CollapsingToolbarLayout
        android:id="@+id/collapsing_toolbar"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="200dp"
        app:layout_scrollFlags="scroll|exitUntilCollapsed"
        app:contentScrim="@color/colorPrimary"
        android:fitsSystemWindows="true"
        app:expandedTitleGravity="center_horizontal"
        >

        <android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
            android:id="@+id/toolbar"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"
            android:background="@android:color/transparent"
            app:popupTheme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Light"
            app:layout_collapseMode="pin"
            />

    </android.support.design.widget.CollapsingToolbarLayout>

</android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout>

---

Alternative solution ( also AppCompat Activity )

Controller onCreate method:

toolbar = (Toolbar) findViewById(R.id.toolbar);
setSupportActionBar(toolbar);

toolbar.setNavigationIcon(android.support.v7.appcompat.R.drawable.abc_ic_ab_back_material);
toolbar.setNavigationOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
        @Override
        public void onClick(View view) {

            onBackPressed();
        }
});

This approach uses the same manifest and template presented in first solution.