Why doesn't my Lollipop ActionBar show any col

Question

I wrote this SSCCE to demonstrate the problem. The emulator is NexusFive but it is customised to use API22.

SSCCE

res/values/colors.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<resources>
    <color name="primaryColor">#69F0AE</color> <!-- Light ferozi -->
    <color name="primaryColorDark">#00E676</color> <!-- Darker Ferozi -->
    <color name="accentColor">#F44336</color> <!-- Red 500 -->
</resources>

res/values/styles.xml

<resources>

    <style name="AppBaseTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat"></style>


    <style name="AppTheme" parent="AppBaseTheme">
        <item name="colorPrimary">@color/primaryColor</item>
        <item name="colorPrimaryDark">@color/primaryColorDark</item>
        <item name="colorAccent">@color/accentColor</item>
    </style>

</resources>

res/values-v21/styles.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
    <style name="AppTheme" parent="AppBaseTheme">
        <item name="android:colorPrimary">@color/primaryColor</item>
        <item name="android:colorPrimaryDark">@color/primaryColorDark</item>
        <item name="android:colorAccent">@color/accentColor</item>
    </style>
</resources>

activity_main.xml

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"

    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"

    android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"

    tools:context="practice_projects.material_design_google_now_like_searchbox_four.MainActivity" >

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="@string/hello_world" />

</RelativeLayout>

MainActivity.java

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

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

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

    @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();
        if (id == R.id.action_settings) {
            return true;
        }
        return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
    }
}

Answer 1

Try to change your theme to this:

<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.NoActionBar">
        <item name="windowNoTitle">true</item>
        <item name="android:colorPrimary">@color/primaryColor</item>
        <item name="android:colorPrimaryDark">@color/primaryColorDark</item>
        <item name="android:colorAccent">@color/accentColor</item>
        ...
</style>

Add the Toolbar to your activity_main.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"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="@dimen/abc_action_bar_default_height_material"
    android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"
    app:popupTheme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Light"
    app:theme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Dark.ActionBar" />

And from your AppCompatActivity:

    setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
    Toolbar toolbar = (Toolbar) findViewById(R.id.toolbar);
    setSupportActionBar(toolbar);

Answer 2

An AppCompatActivity will not recognize android:colorPrimary. If you are only changing these properties, it is completely unnecessary to create a v21 styles.xml. If you are customizing other properties for v21, then just move your color properties to the base theme and delete them from v21 styles.xml.

Answer 3

The parent for Materail Theme must be defined:. For Example:

<resources>
  <!-- inherit from the material theme -->
  <style name="AppTheme" parent="android:Theme.Material">
    <!-- Main theme colors -->
    <!--   your app branding color for the app bar -->
    <item name="android:colorPrimary">@color/primary</item>
    <!--   darker variant for the status bar and contextual app bars -->
    <item name="android:colorPrimaryDark">@color/primary_dark</item>
    <!--   theme UI controls like checkboxes and text fields -->
    <item name="android:colorAccent">@color/accent</item>
  </style>
</resources>