Android getActionBar vs getSupportActionBar

androidandroid-actionbar

Here is my code:

if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.HONEYCOMB){

    //android.support.v7.app.ActionBar actionBar = getSupportActionBar();
    //actionBar.setTitle("Android");

    ActionBar actionBar = getActionBar();
    actionBar.setTitle("Droid");
}

While using the getSupportActionBar() my app runs just fine with kitkat and other new versions but using getActionBar results into an error.

Here is error:

Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke virtual method 'void android.app.ActionBar.hide()' on a null object reference
            at com.github.domain.geoquiz.QuizActivity.onCreate(QuizActivity.java:57)
            at android.app.Activity.performCreate(Activity.java:5933)
            at android.app.Instrumentation.callActivityOnCreate(Instrumentation.java:1105)
            at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2251)
            at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2360)
            at android.app.ActivityThread.access$800(ActivityThread.java:144)
            at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1278)
            at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:102)
            at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:135)
            at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:5221)
            at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
            at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:372

Why? From android documentations :

Caution: Be certain you import the ActionBar class (and related APIs)
from the appropriate package:

If supporting API levels lower than 11:
import android.support.v7.app.ActionBar

If supporting only API level
11 and higher: import android.app.ActionBar

Now why this app is crashing?

Best Answer

If you are using AppCompat you always have to call getSupportActionBar() no matter which Android Version your App is running.

Which Android versions do you target?

I would advise you to use the new Toolbar instead of ActionBar, because it's way more flexible to use.