Action Bar Icon hidden after SearchView expands

Question

I want the icon beside the SearchView (the "cloud") stays visible even when the SearchView expands. This works properly for tablets but doesn't work in case of smaller devices like Nexus 5.

I have set the showAsAction="always" for this menu item. Also, the SearchView has this attribute: showAsAction="ifRoom".

Answer 1

What I have done for a situation like this is using a toolbar in xml while setting the theme to be NO_ACTION_BAR. Then in the toolbar (in my layout.xml file) I put a RelativeLayout. Using the leftOf=@id/someButton you should be able to keep all the buttons visible at all times.

Answer 2

try with this, works for me using appCompat v21

final MenuItem switchButton = menu.findItem(R.id.action_import);
final MenuItem searchItem = menu.findItem(R.id.action_search);

MenuItemCompat.setShowAsAction(searchItem, MenuItemCompat.SHOW_AS_ACTION_ALWAYS);
MenuItemCompat.setShowAsAction(switchButton, MenuItemCompat.SHOW_AS_ACTION_ALWAYS);