Expand Search View to use entire Action Bar (hide other things)

Question

I have a SearchView inside my ActionBar, and I want to use the entire ActionBar when the search icon is pressed, but I can only use the ActionBar free space

eg.: http://imgur.com/wnjMfWO

my menu code:

<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools" tools:context="br.com.moderna.houaiss.activity.SearchActivity" >  <item     android:id="@+id/search"     android:actionViewClass="android.widget.SearchView"     android:icon="@drawable/ic_search_white_48dp"     android:showAsAction="collapseActionView|always"     android:title="@string/search"/> <item     android:id="@+id/backWardHistory"     android:icon="@drawable/ic_arrow_back_white_48dp"     android:showAsAction="always"     android:title="@string/back_history"/> <item     android:id="@+id/forWardHistory"     android:icon="@drawable/ic_arrow_forward_white_48dp"     android:showAsAction="always"     android:title="@string/forward_history"/> <item     android:id="@+id/action_home"     android:orderInCategory="100"     android:showAsAction="never"     android:title="@string/action_home"/> <item     android:id="@+id/action_about"     android:orderInCategory="100"     android:showAsAction="never"     android:title="@string/action_about"/> <item     android:id="@+id/action_configuration"     android:orderInCategory="100"     android:showAsAction="never"     android:title="@string/action_configuration"/> <item     android:id="@+id/action_logout"     android:orderInCategory="100"     android:showAsAction="never"     android:title="@string/action_logout"/> 

I had tryed android:showAsAction="ifRoom", but I need them to be always on my ActionBar, and not inside my menu.

EDIT ------

Thanks to @Simas,

I used setOnActionExpandListener method to achieve this effect

final MenuItem searchItem = menu.findItem(R.id.search);      searchItem.setOnActionExpandListener(new OnActionExpandListener() {          @Override         public boolean onMenuItemActionExpand(final MenuItem item) {             SearchActivity.this.setItemsVisibility(menu, searchItem, false);             return true;         }          @Override         public boolean onMenuItemActionCollapse(final MenuItem item) {             SearchActivity.this.setItemsVisibility(menu, searchItem, true);             return true;         }     });   private void setItemsVisibility(final Menu menu, final MenuItem exception,         final boolean visible) {     for (int i = 0; i < menu.size(); ++i) {         MenuItem item = menu.getItem(i);         if (item != exception)             item.setVisible(visible);     } } 

Answer 1

Well you could imitate that yourself by hiding all the other items when the SearchView is expanded:

@Override public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(final Menu menu) {     getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.menu_main, menu);      final MenuItem searchItem = menu.findItem(R.id.search);     SearchView searchView = (android.widget.SearchView) searchItem.getActionView();      // Detect SearchView icon clicks     searchView.setOnSearchClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {         @Override         public void onClick(View v) {             setItemsVisibility(menu, searchItem, false);         }     });     // Detect SearchView close     searchView.setOnCloseListener(new SearchView.OnCloseListener() {         @Override         public boolean onClose() {             setItemsVisibility(menu, searchItem, true);             return false;         }     });      return super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu); }  private void setItemsVisibility(Menu menu, MenuItem exception, boolean visible) {     for (int i=0; i<menu.size(); ++i) {         MenuItem item = menu.getItem(i);         if (item != exception) item.setVisible(visible);     } } 

Answer 2

This would be a late answer but you could add this attribute to your menu item and the work is done for you.

app:showAsAction="collapseActionView|always" 

Keyword here being the collapseActionView.