Null pointer in SearchView AppCompatActivity?

You are getting NullPointerException because below line is returning null.

SManager.getSearchableInfo (getComponentName ()

You need

1 - Declare an activity (which should perform a search) to accept the ACTION_SEARCH intent in the target-filter element .

2 - Specify the search configuration to be used in the metadata item .

Assuming you are searching in MainActivity (which is AppCompatActivity as you want), see below example :

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_my_main);
}


@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
    // Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present.
    getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.my_main, menu);

    MenuItem searchMenuItem = menu.findItem(R.id.action_search);
    SearchView searchViewAction = (SearchView) MenuItemCompat
            .getActionView(searchMenuItem);

    // Get the SearchView and set the searchable configuration
    SearchManager searchManager = (SearchManager) getSystemService(Context.SEARCH_SERVICE);
    SearchableInfo searchableInfo = searchManager 
            .getSearchableInfo(getComponentName());
    searchViewAction.setSearchableInfo(searchableInfo);
    searchViewAction.setIconifiedByDefault(false);

    return true;

}

@Override
public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
    // Handle action bar item clicks here. The action bar will
    // automatically handle clicks on the Home/Up button, so long
    // as you specify a parent activity in AndroidManifest.xml.
    int id = item.getItemId();
    if (id == R.id.action_settings) {
        return true;
    }
    return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
}
}

      

        
        
        
      

    

AndroidManifest.xml

 <application
    android:allowBackup="true"
    android:icon="@drawable/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>

          <intent-filter>
             <action android:name="android.intent.action.SEARCH" />
          </intent-filter>

          <meta-data
               android:name="android.app.searchable"
               android:resource="@xml/searchable" />

    </activity>

</application>

      

        
        
        
      

    

menu / activity _main.xml

<item
    android:id="@+id/action_search"
    app:actionViewClass="android.support.v7.widget.SearchView"
    app:showAsAction="ifRoom"
    android:title="@string/action_search"/>

      

        
        
        
      

    

Res /xml/searchable.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<searchable xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:label="@string/app_label"
    android:hint="@string/search_hint" >
</searchable>

      

        
        
        
      

    

Hope this solves your problem and see here for help .