Why does Android Studio always show ActionBar in app design, even when disabled?

Question

I have an application in new Android Studio 1.4 (nonetheless this issue was present at 1.3.2 as well) and I have decided to go with toolbar instead of actionbar because of the extended features.

I have set both xml and java accordingly to hide actionbar, and when compiled, it is not present, instead the toolbar is on top where ActionBar would appear. But in design view I still see it and there is no way to remove it. This bothers me, as it hides some of the designing area and I dont have enough space for all my elements.

How to remove the ActionBar (1) and have it replaced with toolbar (2) in Android Studio design, so that (3) has full height.

Here are my xml and java files, looks like a lot but they are 90% default values. I set AppTheme theme in styles.xml which is derived from Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar and in manifest I tell compiler to use AppTheme.NoActionBar for activity theme.

activity_unlock.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools" android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent" android:fitsSystemWindows="true"
    tools:context="com.example.testapp.UnlockActivity">

    <android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_width="match_parent" android:theme="@style/AppTheme.AppBarOverlay">

        <android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar android:id="@+id/toolbar"
            android:layout_width="match_parent" android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"
            android:background="@android:color/white" app:popupTheme="@style/AppTheme.PopupOverlay" />

    </android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout>

    <include layout="@layout/content_unlock" />


</android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout>

content_unlock.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto" android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent" android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    app:layout_behavior="@string/appbar_scrolling_view_behavior"
    tools:showIn="@layout/activity_unlock" tools:context="com.example.testapp.UnlockActivity">

</RelativeLayout>

UnlockActivity.java

package com.example.testapp;

import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.design.widget.FloatingActionButton;
import android.support.design.widget.Snackbar;
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar;
import android.view.View;

public class UnlockActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_unlock);
        Toolbar toolbar = (Toolbar) findViewById(R.id.toolbar);
        setSupportActionBar(toolbar);
    }

}

Android Manifest

<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="com.example.testapp">

    <application>
        <activity android:name="com.example.testapp.UnlockActivity"
                    android:label="@string/title_activity_unlock"
                android:theme="@style/AppTheme.NoActionBar"
>
                <intent-filter>
                    <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
                    <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
                </intent-filter>
        </activity>
    </application>
</manifest>

styles.xml

<resources>

    <!-- Base application theme. -->
    <style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar">
        <item name="android:windowNoTitle">true</item>
        <!--We will be using the toolbar so no need to show ActionBar-->
        <item name="android:windowActionBar">false</item>
        <!-- Set theme colors from http://www.google.com/design/spec/style/color.html#color-color-palette-->

    </style>
    <style name="AppTheme.NoActionBar">
        <item name="windowActionBar">false</item>
        <item name="windowNoTitle">true</item>
    </style>
    <style name="AppTheme.AppBarOverlay" parent="ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Dark.ActionBar" />
    <style name="AppTheme.PopupOverlay" parent="ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Light" />

</resources>

Solution 1

This was quite easy in the end. I just changed styles.xml from

 <!-- Base application theme. -->
    <style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar">

to

<!-- Base application theme. -->
    <style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.NoActionBar">

I have no idea why this affects designer view, as when launched, both versions provide identical layout without actionbar (as I use AppTheme.NoActionBar which is defined in styles.xml) I guess it is an Android Studio design rendering bug.

Solution 2

As you may instantiate a layout in any number of ways with any style you can view how your layout looks in different styles by clicking the button as shown in the image. If you don't set another style or theme in your code then the theme in your manifest will be used.

Comments

[BooleanCheese]

I wouldn't really call it a bug. The preview is just there to show you what your layout looks like. It just doesn't bother to check for thing like whether or not it should display the actionbar because that's not it's purpose.

[michnovka]

But my layout specifies windowActonBar false, so it should render without it

[michnovka]

Dead on! If I choose AppTheme.NoActionBar, it works as its supposed to look like. I just didnt see the option when I first opened this option, it was hidden under project themes.

[Andrew Gallasch]

But obviously this is just how it looks. You still need to change the theme as shown in your answer for the app itself to reflect this style!