Created basic project inAndroid Studio with minSdkVersion 21 and targetSdkVersion 25. In default project has Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar.
I wanted to understand if I can apply @android:style/Theme.Material.Light to my style but ap crashed while inflating the view with error : "You need to use a Theme.AppCompat theme (or descendant) with this activity.". So I changed AppCompatActivity to Activity hoping it should work. Got Error inflating class android.support.design.widget.TextInputLayout.
Is applying @android:style/Theme.Material.Light from Lollipop with base Activity and above not same as applying Theme.AppCompat with AppCompatActivity ?? If not same, what I am gonna miss from @android:style/Theme.Material.Light if I use compat. ??
I understood from other posts and android docs that we have to use activity and themse from AppCompat. Is this the only way ??
I tried to see if the parent styles are same..but they finally inherit different styles from ../sdk/platforms/android-25/data/res/values/themes_material.xml.
Throw some light on how they work and where to use what.