Q:

Android: Problems with ActionBar Customization

I've just now started to learn Android Development on my own and I'm facing a problem and I need help.
I'm learning about ActionBar. I was interested to customize the ActionBar.
The steps I've followed to change its background color and the spacing of the items are:

The idea was to have a base theme with an ActionBar. Then customize it. The code:

<!-- Base application theme. -->
<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar">
    <!-- Customize your theme here. -->
    <item name="android:actionBarStyle">@style/MyActionBarTheme</item>
</style>

<style name="MyActionBarTheme" parent="@android:style/Widget.Holo.Light.ActionBar">
    <item name="android:background">#F44336</item>
</style>

Next, in my AndroidManifest.xml I use the custom theme I've created. The code:

<application
    android:allowBackup="true"
    android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
    android:label="@string/app_name"
    android:theme="@style/AppTheme" >
    <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>
</application>

But the color of my ActionBar is still black. What am I doing wrong? Am I missing something?

A:

You are using the appcompat-v7 action bar backport. To set the color of the action bar, use colorPrimary, not android:background, in your theme.
For example, this theme sets the three major color tints:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
  <style name="Theme.Apptheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat">
    <item name="colorPrimary">@color/primary</item>
    <item name="colorPrimaryDark">@color/primary_dark</item>
    <item name="colorAccent">@color/accent</item>
  </style>
</resources>

This particular sample happens to define the color values themselves via color resources, in a res/values/colors.xml file:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
  <color name="primary">#3f51b5</color>
  <color name="primary_dark">#1a237e</color>
  <color name="accent">#ffee58</color>
</resources>

An activity that uses the custom theme then gets the primary color as the action bar background:

(from this sample project)

