ActionBar not working when extending ListActivity

Question

I have a confusing problem. I have a MainActivity with 2 actions : Update and Logout. The problem is when I run the activity that extends ListActivity the action bar doesn't appear. Below I have 2 images with 2 different extend types in MainActivity

Extending ActionBarActivity example

public class MainActivity extends ActionBarActivity

By extends ListActivity the result is the same as in the picture below. Basically I want to make the main activity with a ListView and an action bar so that the user is able to update and logout using the action bar. But it seems it doesn't work and i need your help. I tried searching on the web i couldn't find anything that helped.

public class MainActivity extends ListActivity

Here you can see my manifest file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="com.example.florin.statusapp" >

    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE" />
    <uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="11"
        android:targetSdkVersion="21"/>
    <application

        android:allowBackup="true"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:theme="@style/AppTheme" >
        <activity
            android:name=".MainActivity"
            android:label="@string/app_name"
             >

            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>

        </activity>
        <activity
            android:name=".RegisterActivity"
            android:label="@string/title_activity_register" >
        </activity>
        <activity
            android:name=".LoginActivity"
            android:label="@string/title_activity_login" >
        </activity>
        <activity
            android:name=".UpdateStatusActivity"
            android:label="@string/title_activity_update_status" >


        </activity>
    </application>

</manifest>

My MainActivity.java

public class MainActivity extends ListActivity{

private List<ParseObject> mStatusObjects;


@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

    // Enable Local Datastore.
    Parse.initialize(this, "foo", "bar");


    ParseUser currentUser = ParseUser.getCurrentUser();
    if (currentUser != null) {



    } else {
        // show the login screen
        Intent toLoginActivity = new Intent(MainActivity.this, LoginActivity.class);
        startActivity(toLoginActivity);

    }


}



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

@Override
public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
    // Handle action bar item clicks here. The action bar will
    // automatically handle clicks on the Home/Up button, so long
    // as you specify a parent activity in AndroidManifest.xml.
    int id = item.getItemId();

    //noinspection SimplifiableIfStatement
    switch (id) {
        case R.id.updateStatus:
            // take user to update activity
            Intent toMainActivityIntent = new Intent(MainActivity.this, UpdateStatusActivity.class);
            startActivity(toMainActivityIntent);
            break;

        case R.id.LogoutUser:
            //Log out user
            ParseUser.logOut();
            // take user to login activity
            Intent toLoginActivityIntent = new Intent(MainActivity.this, LoginActivity.class);
            startActivity(toLoginActivityIntent);
            break;
    }

    return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
}

and the menu_main.xml for the action bar:

<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    tools:context="com.example.florin.statusapp.MainActivity">
    <item android:id="@+id/updateStatus"
        android:title="Update"
        app:showAsAction="always" />

    <item
        android:id="@+id/LogoutUser"
        android:title="Logout"
        app:showAsAction="never"

        />

</menu>

Answer 1

This should be related to your theme. Action bars are only supported on themes after holo.

http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/actionbar.html#Adding

Your styles.xml probably has something like:

<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar">

You can change it to this to use the holo theme:

<style name="AppTheme" parent="android:Theme.Holo">

Answer 2

As Tachyonflux said, on API 11 and higher, the action bar is included in all activities that use Theme.Holo or one of it's descendants

Try adding the following to your AndroidManifest.xml

<activity
    android:name=".MainActivity"
    android:label="@string/app_name"
    android:theme="@android:style/Theme.Holo">

Or another Theme or your choosing. Go to the link Tachyonflux has and look at the available options. There are various default options, but you can also create your own.