Add ActionBar to a PreferenceActivity

Question

I am trying to make a Settings Activity using a PreferenceActivity . The problem is that the ActionBar won't show up no matter what I do.

I've tried getSupportActionBar , getActionBar , setActionBar . Nothing works. I see other apps settings with ActionBar s. Do they not use PreferenceActivity ?

Answer 1

If you are using an AppCompat theme, you have to pay attention to some points.

The PreferenceActivity doesn't extend the AppCompatActivity or the deprecated ActionBarActivity .

As solution you can create a PreferenceFragment as you are doing and use it in a standard AppCompatActivity . Of course you can use also a Toolbar .

Moreover with the new 22.1+ appcompat you can use the AppCompatDelegate to extend AppCompat's support to any Activity.

You can check this official link to AppCompatPreferenceActivity , where you can find an example of this technique.

Answer 2

By explicitly themeing SettingActivity with a theme derived from DarkActionBar, we are able to add back the Action Bar.

I did the same to have an action bar in my Settings activity and it worked for me .

1.First add a different style for your Settings Activity in styles.xml

<style name="SettingsTheme" parent="AppTheme"/>

2.Then make a seperate styles.xml for the for version 21 (v21/styles.xml) as given below

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
    <!-- Settings activity theme. -->
    <style name="SettingsTheme" parent="@android:style/Theme.Material.Light.DarkActionBar">
        <item name="android:colorPrimary">@color/sunshine_blue</item>
        <item name="android:colorPrimaryDark">@color/sunshine_dark_blue</item>
    </style>

</resources> 

3. At last in the AndroidManifest tag for your SettingsActivity you'll also want to add the settings theme:

   android:theme="@style/SettingsTheme"

This would add an action bar to your Settings activity in devices having android versions grater than or equal to 21.

Answer 3

This is what worked for me,

simply change PreferenceActivity to AppCompatActivity and in your manifest.xml file add parentActivityName for that particular activity.

AndroidManifest.xml

 <activity
            android:name=".SettingsActivity"
            android:label="@string/title_activity_settings"
            android:parentActivityName=".HomeActivity"></activity>

SettingsActivty.java

public class SettingsActivity extends AppCompatActivity implements SharedPreferences.OnSharedPreferenceChangeListener {


    @Override
    protected void onCreate(final Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        getFragmentManager().beginTransaction().replace(android.R.id.content, new MyPreferenceFragment()).commit();


    }


    public static class MyPreferenceFragment extends PreferenceFragment {
        @Override
        public void onCreate(final Bundle savedInstanceState) {
            super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
            addPreferencesFromResource(R.xml.preferences);

        }
    }