android-actionbar in a ListActivity public class DisciplinesController extends ListActivity { private DisciplinesModel dbHelper; private Cursor cursor; @Override public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) { super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); setContentView(R.layout.list_action); ActionBar actionBar = (ActionBar) findViewById(R.id.actionbar); dbHelper = new DisciplinesModel(this); dbHelper.open(); if (dbHelper.fetchDisciplineCount() == 0) { dbHelper.fetch(); } cursor = dbHelper.fetchAllDisciplines(); startManagingCursor(cursor); ListAdapter adapter = new SimpleCursorAdapter(this, R.id.list, cursor, new String[] { "name" }, new int[] { R.id.discipline_name}); setListAdapter(adapter); getListView().setTextFilterEnabled(true); } } Your content must have a ListView whose id attribute is 'android.R.id.list'