Why was ActionBarActivity deprecated

Question

I installed Android Studio freshly and I begun coding an activity to extend ActionBarActivity and it showed that it was deprecated. So how else do I set up an actionbar for my activity. Also the Getting Started Training uses the ActionBarActivity without making reference that it has been deprecated.

Solution 1

ActionBar is deprecated ever since Toolbar was introduced. Toolbar can be seen as a 'superset' of any action bar. So the 'old' ActionBar is now an example of a Toolbar. If you want similar functionality, but without deprecation warnings do the following:

Toolbar toolbar = (Toolbar) findViewById(R.id.toolbar);
if (toolbar != null) {
    toolbar.setTitle(R.string.app_name);
    setSupportActionBar(toolbar);
}

You need to define the Toolbar in your layout xml:

<android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@+id/toolbar"
    android:minHeight="?attr/actionBarSize"
    android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:theme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Dark.ActionBar"
    android:popupTheme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Light">
</android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar>

With this new functionality you can create your own custom ActionBar and let Android do the heavy lifting. Just create your own custom view that extends from Toolbar.

---

Also, you should use AppCompatActivity instead of ActionBarActivity, it was introduced in the latest version of the appcompat library. So dont forget to update gradle

compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:22.1.1'

Solution 2

Here is the answer from the post in Android developers blog:

"ActionBarActivity has been deprecated in favor of the new AppCompatActivity."

You can read more about it there.

Solution 3

This answer give a simple way to Eliminate the error message. You can see as an add to others'.

When we change the parent Activity class: ActionBarActivity to AppCompatActivity the error message will disappear.

You can click here for more info.

Comments

[Ehtesh Choudhury]

Is it as simple as swapping out extends ActionBarActivity with extends AppCompatActivity?

[Endran]

Internally there are quite some changes, but the interface is identical. So yeah, it is as easy as just replacing the type of activity.

[Boy]

sucks that the Android Studio wizard still extends ActionBarActivity and then tells you it is deprecated. Do they even communicate internally @Google?

[Shabbir Dhangot]

Not the Perfect Solution. Your given answer for ActionBar not for ActionBarActivity. I will go with @DroidMind Solution

[Noah Herron]

does this seem like an add to anyone else?

[Muz]

Great, more work again. Same as their design to encourage everyone to use Fragments. Google's design principles are great for companies that have 10 people working on the same app.