page.title=Setting Up the Action Bar

trainingnavtop=true

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<div id="tb-wrapper">
  <div id="tb">

<h2>This lesson teaches you to</h2>
<ol>
  <li><a href="#ApiLevel11">Support Android 3.0 and Above Only</a></li>
  <li><a href="#ApiLevel7">Support Android 2.1 and Above</a></li>
</ol>

<h2>You should also read</h2>
<ul>
  <li><a href="{@docRoot}tools/support-library/setup.html"
>Setting Up the Support Library</a></li>
</ul>
  </div>
</div>


<p>In its most basic form, the action bar displays the title for the activity
and the app icon on the left. Even in this simple form, the action bar
is useful for all activities to inform
users about where they are and to maintain a consistent identity for your app.</p>

<img src="{@docRoot}images/training/basics/actionbar-basic.png" height="100" alt=""/>
<p class="img-caption"><strong>Figure 1.</strong> An action bar with the app icon and
activity title.</a>

<p>Setting up a basic action bar requires that your app use an activity theme that enables
the action bar. How to request such a theme depends on which version of Android is the
lowest supported by your app. So this
lesson is divided into two sections depending on which Android
version is your lowest supported.</p>


<h2 id="ApiLevel11">Support Android 3.0 and Above Only</h2>

<p>Beginning with Android 3.0 (API level 11), the action bar is included in all
activities that use the {@link android.R.style#Theme_Holo Theme.Holo} theme (or one of its
descendants), which is the default theme when either the <a
href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/uses-sdk-element.html#target">{@code targetSdkVersion}</a> or
<a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/uses-sdk-element.html#min">{@code minSdkVersion}</a>
attribute is set to <code>"11"</code> or greater.</p>

<p>So to add the action bar to your activities, simply set either attribute to
{@code 11} or higher. For example:</p>

<pre>
&lt;manifest ... &gt;
    &lt;uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="11" ... /&gt;
    ...
&lt;/manifest&gt;
</pre>

<p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong> If you've created a custom theme, be sure it uses one
of the {@link android.R.style#Theme_Holo Theme.Holo} themes as its parent. For details,
see <a href="{@docRoot}training/basics/actionbar/styling.html">Styling the Action Bar</a>.</p>

<p>Now the {@link android.R.style#Theme_Holo Theme.Holo} theme is applied to your app and
all activities show the action bar. That's it.</p>



<h2 id="ApiLevel7">Support Android 2.1 and Above</h2>

<p>Adding the action bar when running on versions older than Android 3.0 (down to Android 2.1)
requires that you include the Android Support Library in your application.</p>

<p>To get started, read the <a href="{@docRoot}tools/support-library/setup.html"
>Support Library Setup</a> document and set up the <strong>v7 appcompat</strong>
library (once you've downloaded the library package, follow the instructions for <a
href="{@docRoot}tools/support-library/setup.html#libs-with-res">Adding libraries with
resources</a>).</p>

<p>Once you have the Support Library integrated with your app project:</p>

<ol>
  <li>Update your activity so that it extends {@link android.support.v7.app.ActionBarActivity}.
  For example:
<pre>
public class MainActivity extends ActionBarActivity { ... }
</pre>
  </li>
  <li>In your manifest file, update either the <a
  href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/application-element.html">{@code
  &lt;application>}</a> element or individual
  <a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/application-element.html">{@code &lt;activity>}</a>
  elements to use one of the {@link android.support.v7.appcompat.R.style#Theme_AppCompat
  Theme.AppCompat} themes. For example:
  <pre>&lt;activity android:theme="@style/Theme.AppCompat.Light" ... ></pre>
  <p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong> If you've created a custom theme, be sure it uses one
of the {@link android.support.v7.appcompat.R.style#Theme_AppCompat Theme.AppCompat} themes as
its parent. For details, see <a href="{@docRoot}training/basics/actionbar/styling.html">Styling
the Action Bar</a>.</p>
  </li>
</ol>

<p>Now your activity includes the action bar when running on Android 2.1 (API level 7) or higher.
</p>

<p>Remember to properly set your app's API level support in the manifest:</p>
<pre>
&lt;manifest ... &gt;
    &lt;uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="7"  android:targetSdkVersion="18" /&gt;
    ...
&lt;/manifest&gt;
</pre>