Android - SearchView in toolbar not expanding

Question

I'm trying to add a SearchView in my toolbar, I've added the icon, but when I press it, it's not expanding.

Here's the code:

main_menu.xml

<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.app.try.MainActivity">
    <item
        android:id="@+id/search"
        android:title="@string/search"
        android:icon="@drawable/abc_ic_search_api_mtrl_alpha"
        app:showAsAction="always"
        android:actionViewClass="android.support.v7.widget.SearchView"/>
</menu>

MainActivity.java

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

        MenuItem searchItem = menu.findItem(R.id.search);
        SearchManager searchManager= (SearchManager)getSystemService(Context.SEARCH_SERVICE);

        SearchView searchView=null;
        if (searchItem!=null) {
            Log.d("createOptionMenu","search item not null");
            searchView = (SearchView) searchItem.getActionView();
        }

        if (searchView!=null) {
            Log.d("createOptionMenu","search view not null");
            searchView.setSearchableInfo(searchManager.getSearchableInfo(getComponentName()));
        }else{
            Log.e("createOptionMenu","search view null");
        }



        return true;
    }

(this always shows the log message "search view null")

AndroidManifest.xml

...
<activity
            android:name=".MainActivity"
            android:configChanges="orientation|keyboardHidden"
            android:label="@string/app_name"
            android:screenOrientation="portrait" >

            <meta-data
                android:name="android.app.searchable"
                android:resource="@xml/searchable" />
        </activity>

        <activity
        android:name=".SearchResultActivity"
        android:label="@string/title_activity_search_result" >
        <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="android.intent.action.SEARCH" />
        </intent-filter>
...

searchable.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<searchable xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:label="@string/app_name"
    android:hint="HINTTT" />

I've tried multiple options as using the expandActionView() or the setIconified(false), but non of those works for me.

Answer 1

You should use MenuItemCompat

mSearchView = (SearchView) MenuItemCompat.getActionView(searchItem);

and for collapsing SearchView use

MenuItemCompat.collapseActionView(searchItem);

and make sure you have changed android:actionViewClass to app:actionViewClass

Answer 2

I had same problem. I just solved mine by making a minor tweak. change android:actionViewClass="android.support.v7.widget.SearchView"

to app:actionViewClass="android.support.v7.widget.SearchView"