title: Toolbar as self-managed ActionBar vs Toolbar as framework managed ActionBar
body: <p>Alright, I am trying to understand what I would lose if I use <code>Toolbar</code> as a self-managed <code>ActionBar</code> and not use <a href="http://developer.android.com/reference/android/support/v7/app/AppCompatActivity.html#setSupportActionBar(android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar)" rel="nofollow">setSupportActionBar</a>.</p>
  
  <p>AFAIK, all that <code>ActionBar</code> does is, provide placeholders for logo, navigation and menu items and also let <code>Fragments</code> add/customize the menu items. </p>
  
  <p>The same functionality could be achieved using <code>Toolbar.setLogo()</code>, <code>Toolbar.setNavigationIcon()</code>, <code>Toolbar.setNavigationOnClickListener()</code> and <code>Toolbar.inflateMenu()</code> apis. Of course, directing the menu handling logic to <code>Fragments</code> might be lost but I think that is not that big of deal if the <code>Activity</code> knows which <code>Fragment</code> is on top and changes the menu items accordingly.</p>
  
  <p>I am trying to make sure :</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>If I can achieve every <code>ActionBar</code> capability just by using <code>Toolbar</code> and <code>MenuItems</code> (and not using <code>setSupportActionBar()</code>).</li>
  <li>Is it ok to not have an exhaustive knowledge of <code>ActionBar</code> apis. Some of the <code>ActionBar</code> apis are very confusing. Using <code>setHomeAsUp</code> api to show hamburger icon, back icon etc., doesn't feel right. If someone starts learning android today, do they even need to understand the framework's <code>ActionBar</code> apis?</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p><strong>Update</strong> : In the article <a href="http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2015/05/android-design-support-library.html" rel="nofollow">Android Design Support Library</a> under section <code>CoordinatorLayout and the app bar</code>, I learnt that the new paradigm <em>app bar</em> is a replacement for the action bar paradigm. I think action bar will soon be deprecated and we should get used to the new <em>app bar</em> paradigm which covers the new material design user experiences.</p>