Creating a SearchView that looks like the material design guidelines

Question

It is actually quite easy to do this, if you are using android.support.v7 library.

Step - 1

Declare a menu item

<item android:id="@+id/action_search"
    android:title="Search"
    android:icon="@drawable/abc_ic_search_api_mtrl_alpha"
    app:showAsAction="ifRoom|collapseActionView"
    app:actionViewClass="android.support.v7.widget.SearchView" />

Step - 2

Extend AppCompatActivity and in the onCreateOptionsMenu setup the SearchView.

import android.support.v7.widget.SearchView;

...

public class YourActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

    ...

    @Override
    public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
        getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.menu_home, menu);
        // Retrieve the SearchView and plug it into SearchManager
        final SearchView searchView = (SearchView) MenuItemCompat.getActionView(menu.findItem(R.id.action_search));
        SearchManager searchManager = (SearchManager) getSystemService(SEARCH_SERVICE);
        searchView.setSearchableInfo(searchManager.getSearchableInfo(getComponentName()));
        return true;
    }

    ... 

}

Result

After a week of puzzling over this. I think I've figured it out.
I'm now using just an EditText inside of the Toolbar. This was suggested to me by oj88 on reddit.

I now have this:


First inside onCreate() of my activity I added the EditText with an image view on the right hand side to the Toolbar like this:

    // Setup search container view
    searchContainer = new LinearLayout(this);
    Toolbar.LayoutParams containerParams = new Toolbar.LayoutParams(ViewGroup.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT, ViewGroup.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT);
    containerParams.gravity = Gravity.CENTER_VERTICAL;
    searchContainer.setLayoutParams(containerParams);

    // Setup search view
    toolbarSearchView = new EditText(this);
    // Set width / height / gravity
    int[] textSizeAttr = new int[]{android.R.attr.actionBarSize};
    int indexOfAttrTextSize = 0;
    TypedArray a = obtainStyledAttributes(new TypedValue().data, textSizeAttr);
    int actionBarHeight = a.getDimensionPixelSize(indexOfAttrTextSize, -1);
    a.recycle();
    LinearLayout.LayoutParams params = new LinearLayout.LayoutParams(0, actionBarHeight);
    params.gravity = Gravity.CENTER_VERTICAL;
    params.weight = 1;
    toolbarSearchView.setLayoutParams(params);

    // Setup display
    toolbarSearchView.setBackgroundColor(Color.TRANSPARENT);
    toolbarSearchView.setPadding(2, 0, 0, 0);
    toolbarSearchView.setTextColor(Color.WHITE);
    toolbarSearchView.setGravity(Gravity.CENTER_VERTICAL);
    toolbarSearchView.setSingleLine(true);
    toolbarSearchView.setImeActionLabel("Search", EditorInfo.IME_ACTION_UNSPECIFIED);
    toolbarSearchView.setHint("Search");
    toolbarSearchView.setHintTextColor(Color.parseColor("#b3ffffff"));
    try {
        // Set cursor colour to white
        // https://stackoverflow.com/a/26544231/1692770
        // https://github.com/android/platform_frameworks_base/blob/kitkat-release/core/java/android/widget/TextView.java#L562-564
        Field f = TextView.class.getDeclaredField("mCursorDrawableRes");
        f.setAccessible(true);
        f.set(toolbarSearchView, R.drawable.edittext_whitecursor);
    } catch (Exception ignored) {
    }

    // Search text changed listener
    toolbarSearchView.addTextChangedListener(new TextWatcher() {
        @Override
        public void beforeTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int count, int after) {
        }

        @Override
        public void onTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int before, int count) {
            Fragment mainFragment = getFragmentManager().findFragmentById(R.id.container);
            if (mainFragment != null && mainFragment instanceof MainListFragment) {
                ((MainListFragment) mainFragment).search(s.toString());
            }
        }

        @Override
        public void afterTextChanged(Editable s) {
            // https://stackoverflow.com/a/6438918/1692770
            if (s.toString().length() <= 0) {
                toolbarSearchView.setHintTextColor(Color.parseColor("#b3ffffff"));
            }
        }
    });
    ((LinearLayout) searchContainer).addView(toolbarSearchView);

    // Setup the clear button
    searchClearButton = new ImageView(this);
    Resources r = getResources();
    int px = (int) TypedValue.applyDimension(TypedValue.COMPLEX_UNIT_DIP, 16, r.getDisplayMetrics());
    LinearLayout.LayoutParams clearParams = new LinearLayout.LayoutParams(ViewGroup.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT, ViewGroup.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT);
    clearParams.gravity = Gravity.CENTER;
    searchClearButton.setLayoutParams(clearParams);
    searchClearButton.setImageResource(R.drawable.ic_close_white_24dp); // TODO: Get this image from here: https://github.com/google/material-design-icons
    searchClearButton.setPadding(px, 0, px, 0);
    searchClearButton.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
        @Override
        public void onClick(View v) {
            toolbarSearchView.setText("");
        }
    });
    ((LinearLayout) searchContainer).addView(searchClearButton);

    // Add search view to toolbar and hide it
    searchContainer.setVisibility(View.GONE);
    toolbar.addView(searchContainer);

This worked, but then I came across an issue where onOptionsItemSelected() wasn't being called when I tapped on the home button. So I wasn't able to cancel the search by pressing the home button. I tried a few different ways of registering the click listener on the home button but they didn't work.

Eventually I found out that the ActionBarDrawerToggle I had was interfering with things, so I removed it. This listener then started working:

    toolbar.setNavigationOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
        @Override
        public void onClick(View v) {
            // toolbarHomeButtonAnimating is a boolean that is initialized as false. It's used to stop the user pressing the home button while it is animating and breaking things.
            if (!toolbarHomeButtonAnimating) {
                // Here you'll want to check if you have a search query set, if you don't then hide the search box.
                // My main fragment handles this stuff, so I call its methods.
                FragmentManager fragmentManager = getFragmentManager();
                final Fragment fragment = fragmentManager.findFragmentById(R.id.container);
                if (fragment != null && fragment instanceof MainListFragment) {
                    if (((MainListFragment) fragment).hasSearchQuery() || searchContainer.getVisibility() == View.VISIBLE) {
                        displaySearchView(false);
                        return;
                    }
                }
            }

            if (mDrawerLayout.isDrawerOpen(findViewById(R.id.navigation_drawer)))
                mDrawerLayout.closeDrawer(findViewById(R.id.navigation_drawer));
            else
                mDrawerLayout.openDrawer(findViewById(R.id.navigation_drawer));
        }
    });

So I can now cancel the search with the home button, but I can't press the back button to cancel it yet. So I added this to onBackPressed():

    FragmentManager fragmentManager = getFragmentManager();
    final Fragment mainFragment = fragmentManager.findFragmentById(R.id.container);
    if (mainFragment != null && mainFragment instanceof MainListFragment) {
        if (((MainListFragment) mainFragment).hasSearchQuery() || searchContainer.getVisibility() == View.VISIBLE) {
            displaySearchView(false);
            return;
        }
    }

I created this method to toggle visibility of the EditText and menu item:

public void displaySearchView(boolean visible) {
    if (visible) {
        // Stops user from being able to open drawer while searching
        mDrawerLayout.setDrawerLockMode(DrawerLayout.LOCK_MODE_LOCKED_CLOSED);

        // Hide search button, display EditText
        menu.findItem(R.id.action_search).setVisible(false);
        searchContainer.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);

        // Animate the home icon to the back arrow
        toggleActionBarIcon(ActionDrawableState.ARROW, mDrawerToggle, true);

        // Shift focus to the search EditText
        toolbarSearchView.requestFocus();

        // Pop up the soft keyboard
        new Handler().postDelayed(new Runnable() {
            public void run() {
                toolbarSearchView.dispatchTouchEvent(MotionEvent.obtain(SystemClock.uptimeMillis(), SystemClock.uptimeMillis(), MotionEvent.ACTION_DOWN, 0, 0, 0));
                toolbarSearchView.dispatchTouchEvent(MotionEvent.obtain(SystemClock.uptimeMillis(), SystemClock.uptimeMillis(), MotionEvent.ACTION_UP, 0, 0, 0));
            }
        }, 200);
    } else {
        // Allows user to open drawer again
        mDrawerLayout.setDrawerLockMode(DrawerLayout.LOCK_MODE_UNLOCKED);

        // Hide the EditText and put the search button back on the Toolbar.
        // This sometimes fails when it isn't postDelayed(), don't know why.
        toolbarSearchView.postDelayed(new Runnable() {
            @Override
            public void run() {
                toolbarSearchView.setText("");
                searchContainer.setVisibility(View.GONE);
                menu.findItem(R.id.action_search).setVisible(true);
            }
        }, 200);

        // Turn the home button back into a drawer icon
        toggleActionBarIcon(ActionDrawableState.BURGER, mDrawerToggle, true);

        // Hide the keyboard because the search box has been hidden
        InputMethodManager imm = (InputMethodManager) getSystemService(Context.INPUT_METHOD_SERVICE);
        imm.hideSoftInputFromWindow(toolbarSearchView.getWindowToken(), 0);
    }
}

I needed a way to toggle the home button on the toolbar between the drawer icon and the back button. I eventually found the method below in this SO answer. Though I modified it slightly to made more sense to me:

private enum ActionDrawableState {
    BURGER, ARROW
}

/**
 * Modified version of this, https://stackoverflow.com/a/26836272/1692770<br>
 * I flipped the start offset around for the animations because it seemed like it was the wrong way around to me.<br>
 * I also added a listener to the animation so I can find out when the home button has finished rotating.
 */
private void toggleActionBarIcon(final ActionDrawableState state, final ActionBarDrawerToggle toggle, boolean animate) {
    if (animate) {
        float start = state == ActionDrawableState.BURGER ? 1.0f : 0f;
        float end = Math.abs(start - 1);
        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.HONEYCOMB) {
            ValueAnimator offsetAnimator = ValueAnimator.ofFloat(start, end);
            offsetAnimator.setDuration(300);
            offsetAnimator.setInterpolator(new AccelerateDecelerateInterpolator());
            offsetAnimator.addUpdateListener(new ValueAnimator.AnimatorUpdateListener() {
                @Override
                public void onAnimationUpdate(ValueAnimator animation) {
                    float offset = (Float) animation.getAnimatedValue();
                    toggle.onDrawerSlide(null, offset);
                }
            });
            offsetAnimator.addListener(new Animator.AnimatorListener() {
                @Override
                public void onAnimationStart(Animator animation) {

                }

                @Override
                public void onAnimationEnd(Animator animation) {
                    toolbarHomeButtonAnimating = false;
                }

                @Override
                public void onAnimationCancel(Animator animation) {

                }

                @Override
                public void onAnimationRepeat(Animator animation) {

                }
            });
            toolbarHomeButtonAnimating = true;
            offsetAnimator.start();
        }
    } else {
        if (state == ActionDrawableState.BURGER) {
            toggle.onDrawerClosed(null);
        } else {
            toggle.onDrawerOpened(null);
        }
    }
}

This works, I've managed to work out a few bugs that I found along the way. I don't think it's 100% but it works well enough for me.

EDIT: If you want to add the search view in XML instead of Java do this:

toolbar.xml:

<android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar 
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    android:id="@+id/toolbar"
    contentInsetLeft="72dp"
    contentInsetStart="72dp"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"
    android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"
    android:elevation="4dp"
    android:minHeight="?attr/actionBarSize"
    app:contentInsetLeft="72dp"
    app:contentInsetStart="72dp"
    app:popupTheme="@style/ActionBarPopupThemeOverlay"
    app:theme="@style/ActionBarThemeOverlay">

    <LinearLayout
        android:id="@+id/search_container"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:gravity="center_vertical"
        android:orientation="horizontal">

        <EditText
            android:id="@+id/search_view"
            android:layout_width="0dp"
            android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:background="@android:color/transparent"
            android:gravity="center_vertical"
            android:hint="Search"
            android:imeOptions="actionSearch"
            android:inputType="text"
            android:maxLines="1"
            android:paddingLeft="2dp"
            android:singleLine="true"
            android:textColor="#ffffff"
            android:textColorHint="#b3ffffff" />

        <ImageView
            android:id="@+id/search_clear"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_gravity="center"
            android:paddingLeft="16dp"
            android:paddingRight="16dp"
            android:src="@drawable/ic_close_white_24dp" />
    </LinearLayout>
</android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar>

onCreate() of your Activity:

    searchContainer = findViewById(R.id.search_container);
    toolbarSearchView = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.search_view);
    searchClearButton = (ImageView) findViewById(R.id.search_clear);

    // Setup search container view
    try {
        // Set cursor colour to white
        // https://stackoverflow.com/a/26544231/1692770
        // https://github.com/android/platform_frameworks_base/blob/kitkat-release/core/java/android/widget/TextView.java#L562-564
        Field f = TextView.class.getDeclaredField("mCursorDrawableRes");
        f.setAccessible(true);
        f.set(toolbarSearchView, R.drawable.edittext_whitecursor);
    } catch (Exception ignored) {
    }

    // Search text changed listener
    toolbarSearchView.addTextChangedListener(new TextWatcher() {
        @Override
        public void beforeTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int count, int after) {
        }

        @Override
        public void onTextChanged(CharSequence s, int start, int before, int count) {
            Fragment mainFragment = getFragmentManager().findFragmentById(R.id.container);
            if (mainFragment != null && mainFragment instanceof MainListFragment) {
                ((MainListFragment) mainFragment).search(s.toString());
            }
        }

        @Override
        public void afterTextChanged(Editable s) {
        }
    });

    // Clear search text when clear button is tapped
    searchClearButton.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
        @Override
        public void onClick(View v) {
            toolbarSearchView.setText("");
        }
    });

    // Hide the search view
    searchContainer.setVisibility(View.GONE);

I know its a old thread but still posting the library I just made. Hope this might help someone.

https://github.com/Shahroz16/material-searchview

The first screenshot in your question is not a public widget. The support SearchView (android.support.v7.widget.SearchView) mimics Android 5.0 Lollipop's SearchView (android.widget.SearchView). Your second screenshot is used by other material designed apps like Google Play.

The SearchView in your first screenshot is used in Drive, YouTube and other closed source Google Apps. Fortunately, it is also used in the Android 5.0 Dialer. You can try to backport the view, but it uses some 5.0 APIs.

The classes which you will want to look at are:

SearchEditTextLayout, AnimUtils, and DialtactsActivity to understand how to use the View. You will also need resources from ContactsCommon.

Best of luck.

Here's my attempt at doing this:

Step 1: Create a style named SearchViewStyle

<style name="SearchViewStyle" parent="Widget.AppCompat.SearchView">
    <!-- Gets rid of the search icon -->
    <item name="searchIcon">@drawable/search</item>
    <!-- Gets rid of the "underline" in the text -->
    <item name="queryBackground">@null</item>
    <!-- Gets rid of the search icon when the SearchView is expanded -->
    <item name="searchHintIcon">@null</item>
    <!-- The hint text that appears when the user has not typed anything -->
    <item name="queryHint">@string/search_hint</item>
</style>

Step 2: Create a layout named simple_search_view_item.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<android.support.v7.widget.SearchView
    android:layout_gravity="end"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    style="@style/SearchViewStyle"
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" />  

Step 3: Create a menu item for this search view

<?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
        app:actionLayout="@layout/simple_search_view_item"
        android:title="@string/search"
        android:icon="@drawable/search"
        app:showAsAction="always" />
</menu>  

Step 4: Inflate the menu

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

Result:

The only thing I wasn't able to do was to make it fill the entire width of the Toolbar. If someone could help me do that then that'd be golden.

To achieve desired look of SearchView, you can use styles.

First, you need to create style for your SearchView, which should look something like this:

<style name="CustomSearchView" parent="Widget.AppCompat.SearchView">
    <item name="searchIcon">@null</item>
    <item name="queryBackground">@null</item>
</style>

Whole list of attributes you can find at this article, under the "SearchView" section.

Secondly, you need to create a style for your Toolbar, which is used as ActionBar:

<style name="ToolbarSearchView" parent="Base.ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Dark.ActionBar">
    <item name="searchViewStyle">@style/CustomSearchView</item>
</style>

And finally you need to update your Toolbar theme attribute this way:

<android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    android:id="@+id/toolbar"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"
    app:theme="@style/ToolbarSearchView" />

Result:

NOTE: You need to change your Toolbar theme attribute directly. If you'll just update your main theme searchViewStyle attribute it wouldn't affect your Toolbar.