Put a progressBar on ActionBar

I am trying to put an indeterminate ProgressBar on the actionBar. I was using an actionView to put the progressBar like Google+ app for example.

<item
    android:id="@+id/menu_progress"
    android:actionLayout="@layout/action_progress"
    android:menuCategory="container"
    android:showAsAction="always">
</item>

the problem is that the progress bar is considered as an item and therefore on a Nexus S portrait mode I have only one other item on the actionbar while on Google+ I can see two items plus the progressBar. How is it possible to put a progressbar using the android actionbar?

NOTE: The functionality below is now deprecated in the Support Library.

You need to call

requestWindowFeature(Window.FEATURE_INDETERMINATE_PROGRESS)

in your onCreate() before setting the activity's layout:

e.g.

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    requestWindowFeature(Window.FEATURE_INDETERMINATE_PROGRESS);
    ... // set layout etc

> If you are using the support library replace requestWindowFeature with supportRequestWindowFeature

And then call

setProgressBarIndeterminateVisibility(true);

on your Activity whenever you want to show the progress spinner.

My situation required updating the progress bar from a Fragment using the Android Support Library version 4.

In my "MainActivity extends ActionBarActivity" as suggested by Jokeefe:

supportRequestWindowFeature(Window.FEATURE_INDETERMINATE_PROGRESS);

before

setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

In my fragment's long running task:

onPreExecute

actionBarActivity.setSupportProgressBarIndeterminateVisibility(true);

onPostExecute

actionBarActivity.setSupportProgressBarIndeterminateVisibility(false);
menu.clear();
actionBarActivity = (ActionBarActivity)getActivity();
actionBarActivity.supportInvalidateOptionsMenu();

Not sure if this answers the OP but this is what worked for me based on the posts above. Hope this helps.

I have found an easiest one to show progress exactly how you need . I found it here . Just use one class and place your progress bar wherever you want.