NullPointerException on SearchView using ActionBarSherlock

Question

I am using ActionBarSherlock and Support Library v4. This is in a `SherlockFragmentActivity'.

I am getting a Nullpointer on line 269, referenced below. I have verified SearchView is null, not SearchManager. Though, menu is also null as well, I am not sure if that is normal? Important: It is ONLY null in my Android 4.0 and 4.1 tests. In 2.3, it works great!

Here is my SearchView Code:

@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
    MenuInflater inflater = getSupportMenuInflater();
    inflater.inflate(R.menu.menu, menu);

    SearchManager searchManager = 
        (SearchManager) getSystemService(Context.SEARCH_SERVICE);
    SearchView searchView = 
        (SearchView) menu.findItem(R.id.menu_search).getActionView(); // line 269
    searchView.setSearchableInfo(
        searchManager.getSearchableInfo(getComponentName()));
    searchView.setIconifiedByDefault(true);
    searchView.setSubmitButtonEnabled(true);
    return true;
}

I have this as my menu item now.

 <item
    android:id="@+id/menu_search"
    android:actionViewClass="com.actionbarsherlock.widget.SearchView"
    android:icon="@android:drawable/ic_menu_search"
    android:showAsAction="always"
    android:title="search"/>

LogCat

FATAL EXCEPTION: main
java.lang.NullPointerException
 at com.---.---.master.MainFragmentActivity
    .setupSearchView(MainFragmentActivity.java:269)
 at com.---.---.master.MainFragmentActivity.onCreateOptionsMenu(
    MainFragmentActivity.java:258)
 at android.support.v4.app.Watson.onCreatePanelMenu(Watson.java:45)
 at com.actionbarsherlock.ActionBarSherlock.callbackCreateOptionsMenu(
    ActionBarSherlock.java:559)
 at com.actionbarsherlock.internal.ActionBarSherlockCompat.preparePanel(
    ActionBarSherlockCompat.java:479)
 at com.actionbarsherlock.internal.ActionBarSherlockCompat
    .dispatchInvalidateOptionsMenu(ActionBarSherlockCompat.java:272)
 at com.actionbarsherlock.internal.ActionBarSherlockCompat$1.run(
    ActionBarSherlockCompat.java:984)
 at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:587)
 at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:92)
 at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:123)
 at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:3683)
 at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
 at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:507)
 at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(
    ZygoteInit.java:839)
 at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:597)
 at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)

imports:

import com.actionbarsherlock.app.ActionBar;
import com.actionbarsherlock.app.SherlockFragmentActivity;
import com.actionbarsherlock.app.SherlockListFragment;
import com.actionbarsherlock.view.Menu;
import com.actionbarsherlock.view.MenuInflater;
import com.actionbarsherlock.view.MenuItem;
import com.actionbarsherlock.widget.SearchView;

import android.app.SearchManager;

Again, I get Null Pointer in ONLY the 4.0 emulator and 4.1 device. App runs great in 2.3. At one time, pre-ActionBarSherlock, using the SAME code, except importing SearchView through the normal way (not Sherlock) it worked great in 4.0. I am trying to make my app backwards compatible and is broke the newer Android versions, but works great in the older.

EDIT: It was actually Null in 2.3 and Cast Issue in 4.0+ when the menu item had android:actionViewClass="android.app.SearchView" Then I changed it to android:actionViewClass="com.actionbarsherlock.widget.SearchView" and now FIXED in 2.3 and Null in 4.0+

UPDATE: I appeared to fix it with a hack:

I added a menu-v11 folder added a duplicate file of menu.xml with one item change only: android:actionViewClass="android.app.SearchView", otherwise it is identical to the other menu.xml file.

In Java, I did this:

@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
    MenuInflater inflater = getSupportMenuInflater();
    inflater.inflate(R.menu.menu, menu);
    MenuItem searchItem = menu.findItem(R.id.menu_search);
    SearchManager searchManager = 
        (SearchManager) getSystemService(Context.SEARCH_SERVICE);

    if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT < Build.VERSION_CODES.HONEYCOMB) {
        SearchView searchView = (SearchView) searchItem.getActionView();
        searchView.setSearchableInfo(searchManager
            .getSearchableInfo(getComponentName()));
        searchView.setIconifiedByDefault(true);
        searchView.setSubmitButtonEnabled(true);
    } else if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.HONEYCOMB) {
        setupNewSearchView(searchItem, searchManager);
    }
    return true;
}


@TargetApi(Build.VERSION_CODES.HONEYCOMB)
private void setupNewSearchView(MenuItem searchItem,
        SearchManager searchManager) {
    android.widget.SearchView searchView = 
        (android.widget.SearchView) searchItem.getActionView();
    searchView.setSearchableInfo(searchManager
        .getSearchableInfo(getComponentName()));
    searchView.setIconifiedByDefault(true);
    searchView.setSubmitButtonEnabled(true);
}

Well, it works, but I'm not putting it as an answer yet because it seems like hack way of doing it. Open to better ideas?

Answer 1

There is a problem with missing attrs for v14 (and v11?) in ActionBarSherlock (or ActionBarSherlock + HoloEverywhere + Theme.Sherlock.Light.DarkActionBar ?).

Simple solution and details in the issue thread…