MenuInflater doesn't show elements on ActionBar

Question

I have the following BaseActivity that I extend from all other activities of my application in order to have a shared menu, actionbar, drawer etc.

Drawer works fine, but the Menu doesn't show up on the Action bar.

Please note that the onCreateOptionsMenu is correctly called as I can see the XXX Log.e output, but The menu is not shown. I also tried copying the onCreateOptionsMenu into the MainActivity that extends my BaseActivity but still no luck.

Below is my code

import android.content.res.Configuration;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v4.app.ActionBarDrawerToggle;
import android.support.v4.view.GravityCompat;
import android.support.v4.widget.DrawerLayout;
import android.support.v7.app.ActionBarActivity;
import android.util.Log;
import android.view.Menu;
import android.view.MenuInflater;
import android.view.MenuItem;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.AdapterView;
import android.widget.ArrayAdapter;
import android.widget.ListView;


public class BaseActivity extends ActionBarActivity {
    protected DrawerLayout mDrawerLayout;
    private ListView mDrawerList;
    private ActionBarDrawerToggle mDrawerToggle;

    private CharSequence mDrawerTitle;
    private CharSequence mTitle;
    private String[] mPlanetTitles;

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

        mTitle = mDrawerTitle = getTitle();
        mPlanetTitles = getResources().getStringArray(R.array.planets_array);
        mDrawerLayout = (DrawerLayout) findViewById(R.id.drawer_layout);
        mDrawerList = (ListView) findViewById(R.id.left_drawer);

        // set a custom shadow that overlays the main content when the drawer opens
        mDrawerLayout.setDrawerShadow(R.drawable.drawer_shadow, GravityCompat.START);
        // set up the drawer's list view with items and click listener
        mDrawerList.setAdapter(new ArrayAdapter<String>(this,
                R.layout.drawer_list_item, mPlanetTitles));
        mDrawerList.setOnItemClickListener(new DrawerItemClickListener());

        // enable ActionBar app icon to behave as action to toggle nav drawer
        getActionBar().setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true);
        getActionBar().setHomeButtonEnabled(true);

        // ActionBarDrawerToggle ties together the the proper interactions
        // between the sliding drawer and the action bar app icon
        mDrawerToggle = new ActionBarDrawerToggle(
                this,                  /* host Activity */
                mDrawerLayout,         /* DrawerLayout object */
                R.drawable.ic_drawer,  /* nav drawer image to replace 'Up' caret */
                R.string.drawer_open,  /* "open drawer" description for accessibility */
                R.string.drawer_close  /* "close drawer" description for accessibility */
        ) {
            public void onDrawerClosed(View view) {
                getActionBar().setTitle(mTitle);
                invalidateOptionsMenu(); // creates call to onPrepareOptionsMenu()
            }

            public void onDrawerOpened(View drawerView) {
                getActionBar().setTitle(mDrawerTitle);
                invalidateOptionsMenu(); // creates call to onPrepareOptionsMenu()
            }
        };
        mDrawerLayout.setDrawerListener(mDrawerToggle);
    }

    public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
        Log.e("XXX","CALLED");
        MenuInflater inflater = getMenuInflater();
        inflater.inflate(R.menu.main, menu);
        return super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu);
    }

    /* Called whenever we call invalidateOptionsMenu() */
    @Override
    public boolean onPrepareOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {


        // If the nav drawer is open, hide action items related to the content view
        boolean drawerOpen = mDrawerLayout.isDrawerOpen(mDrawerList);
        menu.findItem(R.id.action_compose).setVisible(true);
        menu.findItem(R.id.action_search).setVisible(true);
        return super.onPrepareOptionsMenu(menu);
    }

    @Override
    public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
        // The action bar home/up action should open or close the drawer.
        // ActionBarDrawerToggle will take care of this.
        if (mDrawerToggle.onOptionsItemSelected(item)) {
            return true;
        }
        // Handle action buttons
        switch(item.getItemId()) {
            /*case R.id.action_websearch:
                // create intent to perform web search for this planet
                Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_WEB_SEARCH);
                intent.putExtra(SearchManager.QUERY, getActionBar().getTitle());
                // catch event that there's no activity to handle intent
                if (intent.resolveActivity(getPackageManager()) != null) {
                    startActivity(intent);
                } else {
                    Toast.makeText(this, R.string.app_not_available, Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
                }
                return true;*/
            default:
                return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
        }
    }

    /* The click listner for ListView in the navigation drawer */
    private class DrawerItemClickListener implements ListView.OnItemClickListener {
        @Override
        public void onItemClick(AdapterView<?> parent, View view, int position, long id) {
            selectItem(position);
        }
    }

    private void selectItem(int position) {

        mDrawerList.setItemChecked(position, true);
        setTitle(mPlanetTitles[position]);
        mDrawerLayout.closeDrawer(mDrawerList);
    }

    @Override
    public void setTitle(CharSequence title) {
        mTitle = title;
        getActionBar().setTitle(mTitle);
    }

    /**
     * When using the ActionBarDrawerToggle, you must call it during
     * onPostCreate() and onConfigurationChanged()...
     */

    @Override
    protected void onPostCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onPostCreate(savedInstanceState);
        // Sync the toggle state after onRestoreInstanceState has occurred.
        mDrawerToggle.syncState();
    }

    @Override
    public void onConfigurationChanged(Configuration newConfig) {
        super.onConfigurationChanged(newConfig);
        // Pass any configuration change to the drawer toggls
        mDrawerToggle.onConfigurationChanged(newConfig);
    }
}

And here is my Menu main.xml

<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    <item android:id="@+id/action_search"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_drawer"
        android:title="TEST"/>
    <item android:id="@+id/action_compose"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_drawer"
        android:title="TEST" />
</menu>

Answer 1

Try to add app name-space like this:
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"

And when add showAsAction property for every your item like this:
app:showAsAction="always"

Result main.xml:

 <menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
      xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto">
    <item android:id="@+id/action_search"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_drawer"
        android:title="TEST"
        app:showAsAction="always"/>
    <item android:id="@+id/action_compose"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_drawer"
        android:title="TEST" 
        app:showAsAction="always"/>
</menu>