How do I open the SearchView programmatically?

If you want to use support library only when necessary, do this

    MenuItem searchMenuItem = menu.findItem(R.id.action_search);
    if (Utils.hasIceCreamSandwich())
        searchMenuItem.expandActionView();
    else MenuItemCompat.expandActionView(searchMenuItem);

else simply do this

    MenuItem searchMenuItem = menu.findItem(R.id.action_search);
    MenuItemCompat.expandActionView(searchMenuItem);

Try to call expandActionView() on MenuItem, not onActionViewExpanded() on ActionView.

It works for me.

MenuItem searchMenuItem = menu.findItem(R.id.menu_search);
searchView = (SearchView) searchMenuItem.getActionView();
searchMenuItem.expandActionView();

Expand the SearchView with

searchView.setIconified(false);

and collapse it with

searchView.setIconified(true);

You need to change the value of android:showAsAction from ifRoom|collapseActionView to always. The SearchView's attribute android:iconifiedByDefault should be true, which is the default value, otherwise the user can not collapse the SearchView after it was expanded programmatically.