Android Action Bar icons not showing up. XML not being seen?

Issue:

• Icons not showing up on action bar of new app. (Compatibility 2.1+)

Troubleshooting:

• Made sure Android Support Repository and Android Support Library Installed.


• Four search icons downloaded and placed in res/drawable/ic_action_search.png dir (referenced correctly? I've ommitted the ".png" in my code.)


• Made sure the library was added in the build.gradle(Module: app) dependency method. (Perhaps compiling the wrong thing?)


• Tried putting the action_settings item to 'always', No change, still defaults to the drop down. (This is what makes me think my xml isn't being recognized. If this doesn't work my Icon isn't going to show up.)


• I've triple checked my versions, to try to make it compatible with 2.1 and up, but I could be doing something wrong with my first app here, so maybe check here to be sure I added my libraries, am referencing them correctly and my version numbers aren't messed up.


• Made sure my titles were in place in the strings.xml


• tried adding[ app:actionViewClass="android.support.v7.widget.SearchView" ] to the items in my main_activity_actions.xml

Code files:

MainActivity.java

package com.example.alec.myapplication;

import android.support.v7.app.ActionBarActivity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.Menu;
import android.view.MenuItem;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.EditText;


public class MainActivity extends ActionBarActivity {
    public final static String EXTRA_MESSAGE = "com.mycompany.myfirstapp.MESSAGE";

    /** Called when the user clicks the Send button */
    public void sendMessage(View view) {
        Intent intent = new Intent(this, DisplayMessageActivity.class);
        EditText editText = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.edit_message);
        String message = editText.getText().toString();
        intent.putExtra(EXTRA_MESSAGE, message);
        startActivity(intent);
    }

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
    }


    @Override
    public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
        // Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present.
        getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.menu_main, menu);
        return true;
    }

    @Override
    public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
        // Handle action bar item clicks here. The action bar will
        // automatically handle clicks on the Home/Up button, so long
        // as you specify a parent activity in AndroidManifest.xml.
        int id = item.getItemId();

        //noinspection SimplifiableIfStatement
        if (id == R.id.action_settings) {
            return true;
        }

        return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
    }
}

build.gradle (Module:app)

apply plugin: 'com.android.application'

android {
    compileSdkVersion 21
    buildToolsVersion "21.1.2"

    defaultConfig {
        applicationId "com.example.alec.myapplication"
        minSdkVersion 8
        targetSdkVersion 17
        versionCode 1
        versionName "1.0"
    }
    buildTypes {
        release {
            minifyEnabled false
            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
        }
    }
}

dependencies {
    compile fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: ['*.jar'])
    //compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:21.0.3' Removed as I added the line below
    compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:18.0.+'
}

DisplayMessageActivity.java

package com.example.alec.myapplication;

import android.content.Intent;
import android.support.v7.app.ActionBarActivity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.Menu;
import android.view.MenuItem;
import android.widget.TextView;


public class DisplayMessageActivity extends ActionBarActivity {

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        //Receive the intent
        Intent intent = getIntent();
        String message = intent.getStringExtra(MainActivity.EXTRA_MESSAGE);
        //Display the message
        TextView textView = new TextView(this);
        textView.setTextSize(40);
        textView.setText(message);
        //Set the text view as the activity layout
        setContentView(textView);
    }

    @Override
    public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
        // Handle action bar item clicks here. The action bar will
        // automatically handle clicks on the Home/Up button, so long
        // as you specify a parent activity in AndroidManifest.xml.
        int id = item.getItemId();

        //noinspection SimplifiableIfStatement
        if (id == R.id.action_settings) {
            return true;
        }

        return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
    }
}

main_activity_actions.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<menu   xmlns:android="http://ift.tt/nIICcg"
        xmlns:app="http://ift.tt/GEGVYd">
    <!-- Search, should appear as action button -->
    <item android:id="@+id/action_search"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_action_search"
        android:title="@string/action_search_title"
        app:showAsAction="ifRoom"
        app:actionViewClass="android.support.v7.widget.SearchView"/>
    <!-- Settings, should always be in the overflow -->
    <item android:id="@+id/action_settings"
        android:title="@string/action_settings"
        app:showAsAction="always" />
</menu>

AndroidManifest.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://ift.tt/nIICcg"
    package="com.example.alec.myapplication" >
    <uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="7"
              android:targetSdkVersion="17"/>
    <application
        android:allowBackup="true"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:theme="@style/Theme.AppCompat.Light" >
        <activity
            android:name=".MainActivity"
            android:label="@string/app_name" >
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
        <activity
            android:name=".DisplayMessageActivity"
            android:label="@string/title_activity_display_message"
            android:parentActivityName=".MainActivity" >
            <meta-data
                android:name="android.support.PARENT_ACTIVITY"
                android:value="com.example.alec.myapplication.MainActivity" />
        </activity>
    </application>

</manifest>

strings.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>

    <string name="app_name">My First App</string>
    <string name="edit_message">Enter a message</string>
    <string name="button_send">Send</string>
    <string name="action_settings">Settings</string>
    <string name="title_activity_main">MainActivity</string>
    <string name="title_activity_display_message">My Message</string>
    <string name="hello_world">Hello world!</string>
    <string name="action_search_title">Search</string>

</resources>