Android light theme with action bar -

i want use light theme, still have actionbar visible.

from here looks should work:

<activity android:theme="@style/theme.appcompat.light" ... > 

but when add android:theme actionbar disappears.

i'm missing obvious...

edit: in case helps

from build.gradle

apply plugin: 'com.android.application'  android {     compilesdkversion 21     buildtoolsversion "21.1.2"      defaultconfig {         applicationid "com.company.app"         minsdkversion 15         targetsdkversion 21         versioncode 5         versionname "1.0"     }     buildtypes {         release {             minifyenabled true             proguardfiles getdefaultproguardfile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'         }     } }  dependencies {     compile filetree(dir: 'libs', include: ['*.jar'])     compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:22.0.0' } 

activity_main.xml:

<linearlayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"     xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"     android:id="@+id/screen_main"     android:layout_width="fill_parent"     android:layout_height="fill_parent"     android:orientation="vertical"     tools:context=".owg">      <textview android:id="@+id/textheader"         android:textsize="24sp"         android:textcolor="#006699"         android:layout_width="fill_parent"         android:layout_height="wrap_content"         android:gravity="center_horizontal"         android:visibility="visible"         />     <listview         android:id="@android:id/list"         android:layout_width="fill_parent"         android:layout_height="wrap_content"         />     <textview android:id="@android:id/empty"         android:layout_width="wrap_content"         android:layout_height="wrap_content"         android:text="empty set"         android:visibility="invisible"         />  </linearlayout> 

main.java

package com.company.app;  import android.app.alertdialog; import android.app.listactivity; import android.os.bundle; import android.widget.listview; import android.content.intent; import android.view.view;  public class main extends listactivity {      private string[] mbooks = new string[]{ "informational", "extensions" };     protected void oncreate(bundle savedinstancestate) {         super.oncreate(savedinstancestate);         setcontentview(r.layout.activity_main);         mysimplearrayadapter booksadapter = new mysimplearrayadapter(this,mbooks);          listview lv = (listview) findviewbyid(android.r.id.list);         lv.setadapter(booksadapter);     }  } 

use this:

<activity android:theme="@style/theme.appcompat.light.darkactionbar" ... > 

instead of :

<activity android:theme="@style/theme.appcompat.light" ... > 

it should work. issue here, use style without actionbar now, , there choices how action bar look(see related styles)

//use fill action bar items @override public boolean oncreateoptionsmenu(menu menu) {         menuinflater inflater = getmenuinflater();         inflater.inflate(r.menu.your_menu_name, menu);         return true; }  

or if yout want custom view actionbar

//getting action bar mactionbar = getactionbar(); 

and use

mactionbar.setcustomview(mcustomview);//view object actionbar mactionbar.setdisplayshowcustomenabled(true) 

edit: if can't see title bar can create programmatically

requestwindowfeature(window.feature_custom_title); setcontentview(r.layout.settings); activity.settitle("settings");