AutoCompleteTextView in action bar not working?

I am trying to use auto full text view in action bar. While I can put the automatic full action view there, whenever I start typing I don't see the suggestion dropdown. It acts like a normal edit text box.

Then, just for testing purposes, I automatically included the full text view in the app layout. But it works exactly as it is supposed to. Both auto-completed text views were initialized using the same adapter.

This is the main onCreate method.

//defining an array to be used by the array adapters

import android.support.v4.app.FragmentActivity;
import android.support.v4.view.MenuCompat;
import android.support.v4.view.MenuItemCompat;
import android.support.v7.app.ActionBar;
import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.widget.ArrayAdapter;
import android.widget.AutoCompleteTextView;

private static final String[] COUNTRIES = new String[] { "Belgium",
    "France", "France_", "Italy", "Germany", "Spain" };

protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {

    //inflating the activity layout
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.frag_map);

    //getting the action bar
    actionBar = getSupportActionBar();
    actionBar.setDisplayShowCustomEnabled(true);
    actionBar.setDisplayOptions(ActionBar.DISPLAY_SHOW_CUSTOM);
    actionBar.setCustomView(R.layout.map_screen_ab_auto_commplete);
    LayoutInflater inflator = (LayoutInflater) this
        .getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);
    View v = inflator.inflate(R.layout.map_screen_ab_auto_commplete, null);

    //Defining an adapter which will then be used by auto complete text view
    ArrayAdapter<String> adapter = new ArrayAdapter<String>(this,
        android.R.layout.simple_dropdown_item_1line, COUNTRIES);

    //setting an auto complete text view in the action bar.PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS DOES NOT WORK
        mAutocompleteView = (AutoCompleteTextView) v
        .findViewById(R.id.map_screen_auto_complete);
    mAutocompleteView.setAdapter(adapter);

    //just for checking, another auto complete text view was added. THIS WORKS
    test_ac_view = (AutoCompleteTextView) this.findViewById(R.id.test_ac_view);
    test_ac_view.setAdapter( adapter);
}

      

        
        
        
      

    

This is the main layout of the activity, which also encodes the automatic full text representation:

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent">

    <AutoCompleteTextView
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="New AutoCompleteTextView"
        android:id="@+id/test_ac_view"
        android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal" />

    <fragment
        android:id="@+id/map"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        class="com.google.android.gms.maps.SupportMapFragment"
         />

</LinearLayout>

      

        
        
        
      

    

This is an action bar layout that automatically contains a full text view.

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:orientation="vertical" android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent">

    <LinearLayout
        android:orientation="horizontal"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal">

        <AutoCompleteTextView
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:id="@+id/map_screen_auto_complete"
            android:layout_gravity="center_vertical"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:hint="Search Location" />
    </LinearLayout>
</LinearLayout>