In my app, I have onCreateOptionsMenu which inflates a menu that contains "contact" and "about" (information about the developer etc). I currently have a device with 5.0 Lollipop. On this device, when you press at "options"(beside of the back button) you can see the menu inflating. But on my other device with Android 6.0 pressing on "options" opens just the stack of running applications in the background, like a TaskManager. So the user has to press the 3 dots on the ActionBar to see the menu inflating.
Can I change that? Or is there anything to fix that in order to make it easy for the user to see this menu inflating by not pressing on the 3 dots in the ActionBar because on large devices this is toilsome.
I currently have a device with 5.0 Lollipop. On this device, when you press at "options"(beside of the back button) you can see the menu inflating.
Either that device was upgraded to Android 5.0 from Android 4.3, or that device is not in compliance with the Compatibility Definition Document (e.g., it is not a Google Play ecosystem device).
But on my other device with Android 6.0 pressing on "options" opens just the stack of running applications in the background, like a TaskManager.
That's because there is no MENU button on devices that ship with Android 4.4+. The button that took its place is a RECENTS button, for showing the overview screen (i.e., recently-used tasks).
Can I change that?
No.
Or is there anything to fix that in order to make it easy for the user to see this menu inflating by not pressing on the 3 dots in the ActionBar because on large devices this is toilsome.
No. If you do not like the behavior of the action bar overflow menu, do not use it.
Related
Quick question, Android related..
How do I display a working "THREE VERTICAL-DOTS" floating action button, to trigger same functionality as Android menu button that worked on Kitkat (Android-4), and all previous Android versions?
Details:
I have an Android app that uses Java Native Interface. It worked fine in Kitkat (Android 4.x series), but in Android 5.x, the menu-options button (three vertical dots) no longer responds. Originally, in Kitkat (Android 4.x), the standard Android menu button brought up the applications configuration menus. Now, in Android-5, the Menu button has been replaced with a "Recent Apps" button (this was a very poor design change - probably the worst basic re-design of a working interface I have seen in 30 years... ). Is there an easy way to use a "floating action button" or something like that, to restore functionality of the standard Android "Menu" button?
On Samsung tablets, one can tweak: "Settings / Accessibility / Dexterity and interaction / Assistant menu " to "On", and then a floating-action-button appears, which then has the three vertical-dots as one of it's optional push-buttons, if invoked. Pressing that three vertical-dots button (on the Samsung FAB (floating-action-button)), triggers the old Kitkat/Android4 menu, and at least Samsung users can alter set my app config parameters.
In my app's AndroidManifest.xml file, I have minSdkVersion="8" and the targetSDKVersion="8". I have tried setting the targetSDKVersion to higher levels, which results in a non-functional floating action button, showing three vertical dots, appearing on the screen.
There must be an obvious way to fix this damage that the Android "Material Girl Design" people did to Android Kitkat(and previous Android vers.) Android Menu Button. I've detailed a work-around for my user-base at this point, and released an new app version which offers details on the work-around - at least for Samsung phone and tablet users, but an in-app button really should just appear to allow the main app configuration menu to be triggered.
I have looked at this:
http://developer.android.com/training/appbar/setting-up.html#utility
Don't want an "Action Bar". My app is a DOS-emulator, and needs all the screen space.
I have also reviewed:
Android Options Menu in Fragment
This gets closer, but rather than trial-and-error, I would like to just jump to the solution, if possible. There must be some code or a feature selection that just fixes the little action button that appears (but does not work), when I set the targetSDKVersion="12" (or higher values), in the AndroidManifest.xml file.
My app uses SDL (Simple DirectMedia Layer) vers. 1.2 and 1.3 to control and draw the screen.
I will post the answer here when I find it. I know it is possible, because Samsung is already doing this, within its "Accessibility/ Dexterity.. /Assistant Menu" feature.
I have a custom home app a launcher
so i have control on home key back key and menu key i do what i need but on my tablet a 10.1" IPS Dual Core of Artview i have 4 button
-the back, one with a arrow
-the home, one with a little house
-the recent apps, who look like 2 superposed box (and who on press show recent app)
-the menu, 3 little point
My probleme is i wan't to do a custom think on the 3rd button but android systeme don't let me...
Anyway to do that? And if i have 4 button maybe i don't use the right keycode for the second one
I have finally found a way to do this
No doc about this do it on the onCreate of your activity
getWindow().getDecorView().setSystemUiVisibility(8);
But the 8 is a hidden flag to completly disable system UI with this your app is permanly in full screen(Be carefull if you use this bind power buton to exit app :P)
And don't forget
android.permission.EXPAND_STATUS_BAR
in your manifest
Don't k now if work in every version of android try on 4.0 4.1 and it's work for 3.x don't know.
I have application which uses Sherlock ActionBar package.
The application uses platform-specific behavior for menu (so it's 3-dot icon in ActionBar on ICS and classic menu under HW button on pre-ICS)
I had recieved report from one user with HTC One X. It appears, that One X shows some "compatibility" bar with menu button on the bottom of screen, and there is also same button in ActionBar (where it's supposed to be).
I was not able to emulate this in AVD, and I have multiple reports that this issue is not present on Galaxy Nexus or Galaxy S (they show only the icon in ActionBar).
I have no idea where to look to resolve this or how to debug it, so any help or workaround will be appreciated.
Application is built against API14, with targetSdk="11"
You have a typo:
The android:targetSdkVersion in the manifest should be the solution - it's recommended by Google to always set it to the maximum available (currently it's 19).
Some websites do show that HTC shows the huge button on old apps, but not on new ones, as shown here, so if you think it's weird/ugly, simply set the target SDK. Also make sure it's updated in the project.properties file .
With the game I'm developing, I have an in-game menu the pops up when the menu button is pressed. However, I recently found out that the newer versions of Android don't have a Menu button, but instead an Action Bar.
To note, I'm not using an actual Android menu. All I'm doing is detecting that the Menu button was pressed, and then handling the event from within the game. Which means all I need is something that the user can press, and detect that it was pressed.
So my question is, how can I support both a menu button and the newer action bar? I would like my app to support API levels 7-current.
UPDATE
Okay, after reading that article, I'd like to rephrase my question. It said that it "adds the action overflow button beside the system navigation." My manifest has android:minSdkVersion="7" android:targetSdkVersion="13" but no overflow button appears on my emulator. The emulator is API 14 with skin WSVGA
This post in the Android Developers blog has a good discussion of the design transition from the old Menu Button to use of the new Action Bar and Action Overflow list.
It also includes some specific suggestions as to how to deal with your code when transitioning from pre-level 11 to the new Action Bar. May be helpful to you but for your specific application you will need to decide if you want to display an action bar or not. If not then you may want to add a button to your game interface that duplicates the functionality of the menu button on devices that have one.
Newer versions of Android do have a Menu button (see quote below). I think you best option is to just hide the Action bar, and have your game use the menu button in the same way as on older Android versions.
Quoting from Android 4.0 Compatibility Definition
7.2.3. Navigation keys
The Home, Menu and Back functions are essential to the Android navigation paradigm.
Device implementations MUST make these functions available to the user at all times when running applications.
These functions MAY be implemented via dedicated physical buttons (such as mechanical or capacitive touch buttons), or MAY be
implemented using dedicated software keys, gestures, touch panel, etc.Android 4.0 supports both implementations.
And:
Device implementation MUST present a Menu key to applications when
targetSdkVersion <= 10 and SHOULD NOT present a Menu key when the
targetSdkVersion > 10.
I'm trying to understand what the new approach to the menu is in Honeycomb (and beyond).
If I set my version to < 11 the menu hotkey appears at the bottom and everything works as it did in pre honeycomb days.
terrific.
however, if I set my versino to 11+ then the hotkey no longer appears and now the menu button is in the top right corner... it's missing the icons, but at least the menu options still work as before.
great...
HOWEVER
if I'm running my app full screen AND it's an v11+ then my menu is simply gone.
I notice that the Kindle app offers something akin to a toggle. When you tap anywhere on the screen that isn't a button of some kind, the app flips from fullscreen mode to regular mode and the menu appears at the top.
Is this something that the App developers did manually, or is there a feature of Honeycomb that I haven't noticed that facilitates this full/non-full screen toggle for apps that have menues semi-automatically?
I dont think Honeycomb has the feature you described. It is something specific to Kindle app.