Android : How to change the color of the SearchView widget and how to focus cursor and keyboard automatically?

I have a SearchView in my menu. I did this so far:

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

        mMenu = menu;
        MenuInflater inflater = getMenuInflater();
        inflater.inflate(R.menu.menu_main, menu);
        searchView = (SearchView) menu.findItem(R.id.action_search).getActionView();
        searchView.setOnQueryTextListener(this);
        searchView.setOnQueryTextFocusChangeListener(new View.OnFocusChangeListener() {
            @Override
            public void onFocusChange(View view, boolean hasFocus) {
                if (hasFocus) {
                    showInputMethod(view.findFocus());
                }
            }
        });
        getSupportActionBar().setHomeAsUpIndicator(R.mipmap.menu);
        showReadArticleMenu(false);
        searchView.setBackgroundColor(getResources().getColor(R.color.test));
        searchView.setIconifiedByDefault(true);


        return true;


    }



   @Override
    public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
        // Handle presses on the action bar items
        switch (item.getItemId()) {
            case R.id.action_search:
                Log.e("SearchRequested:",String.valueOf(onSearchRequested()));
                searchView.requestFocus();



                return true;
        } 
    }

I also have overriden the onQueryTextChange and onQueryTextSubmit methods, since my Activity implements SearchView.OnQueryTextListener. Currently, how it works is: I click on the search icon in the action bar, it opens up the collapsible part, then I have to click on the grayish search widget that just appeared, then type in some text.

What I now need is two things:

1) to make the widget collapsible part white (the line, not the background), as well as the X marker to cancel it. (it's currently bluish-gray, and barely visible in my app style)

.2) I also need to automatically start the keyboard when I click on the search icon in the action bar, as well as erase the previous text from the widget. (so, when I click on the icon, I can automatically start typing the new text and just submit it via "search" or the equivalent in the keyboard)