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Frequently Asked Questions

Have a question that is not listed on this page? See the "Direct Contact" section of the support page.

What action bar library is used on pre-3.0 devices?

The widget is a custom implementation that was purpose-built to mimic the API, functionality, and look of the native action bar on 3.0+ devices.

The basis for the widget was work done on Johan Nilsson's Android-ActionBar library. The first two versions of ActionBarSherlock used his library directly for support on pre-3.0 devices and without his work the current version of the library would not be possible.

Are there any guides for setting up my project with the library?

Graham Smith was kind enough to create this very quick walkthrough of getting both the library and your project working with ActionBarSherlock:

What API level should I target if I want to use the library? Both library itself as well as your application must be built using Android 3.2 (API level 13). You may set your targetSdkVersion in the manifest to any API 11 or higher.
Why do I have to build with API level 13? Building with API level 13 will allow the library to use the native action bar classes so that they will be used when your app is run on devices using Android 3.0+. Since you will be compiling against new APIs but your app will likely be run on devices with older versions of Android extra care must be taken to either avoid using or properly check and call any methods that were introduced after your minimum SDK version.
Why do action modes not work on pre-3.0 devices? Action mode support is still being worked on for pre-3.0 devices and will be released with version 4.0 of the library.
Why doesn't the logo defined on the activity/application entry in the manifest get displayed? Despite there being support for loading the logo for activities and applications since API level 9, the underlying implementation in Android is broken and does not work at all. In order to specify a logo on these platforms you should use the abLogo attribute in a custom theme.
List and tab navigation hide the title on pre-3.0 devices. Can this be changed? Due to the relatively small space to display items on phones, this cannot currently be changed. The forthcoming version 4.0 of the library will behave more like the native Ice Cream Sandwich action bar.
Can you add functionality *X* to the action bar? As a general rule, no. If the native action bar on Android 3.0+ does not support it then it will not be supported by this library.
Why is ActionBarSherlock a library project whereas the original compatibility library is only a .jar? This library contains a custom action bar implementation for pre-3.0 devices which relies on styles, themes, layouts, and drawables in order to display properly. Due to the current limitations of Android and .jar files and the Android Developer Tools, it can not be accomplished any other way. This may change with future versions of the tools.
I found a bug, what should I do? See the support page and create an issue on GitHub, post to the Google Group, or contact me directly. Or do all three! The worst thing you can do is to not report it. Please try to include as much information as possible in your report.
Help! The action bar refuses to display. You application or activity is not using a theme from the library. See the "Parent Themes" section of the theming page.
Do I need to include the .jar file for the Android compatability library when using ActionBarSherlock? No. ActionBarSherlock is built on top of the Android compatability library and comes bundled with its class files. Including the .jar will result in a very large number of compile-time errors.
I use Proguard. Are there any lines I should include to ensure functionality of the library?

Add the following lines:

-keep class android.support.v4.app.** { *; }
-keep interface android.support.v4.app.** { *; }
-keep class com.actionbarsherlock.** { *; }
-keep interface com.actionbarsherlock.** { *; }