Develop Reference

Action bar overflow in android

I'm trying to understand what is wrong with what I'm doing.
I'm currently following the android action bar tutorial and for some reason it's not showing me the search icon in the action bar on my device, it is going straight into my overflow.
I'm running 4.4.4 version on my device, Nexus 5. I've tried to follow several tutorials and the result was no different. I've set up new project by default using API 11 as told, I've tried to set the showAsAction to "Always".
What else could I do? Thank you for any help!
My XML menu file:
<item android:id="#+id/action_search"
android:icon="#drawable/ic_action_new"
android:title="new"
android:showAsAction="ifRoom" />
<item android:id="#+id/action_settings"
android:title="Settings"
android:showAsAction="never" />
Main activity:
#Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
}
#Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.main, menu);
return super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu);
}

Try using a namespace
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:{anynamespace}="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto">
<item android:id="#+id/action_search"
android:icon="#drawable/ic_action_new"
android:title="new"
{anynamespace}:showAsAction="always" />
</menu>
Replace the {anynamespace} parts with any word
EDIT: The tutorial suggests that you use namespaces in case you are using the Support library.

Android appcompat actionbar menu item showAsAction not working

I have a menu item that is showing up on android 4.x but not on 2.x. Here is my menu.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto" >
<item
android:id="#+id/menu_filter"
android:title="Filter"
app:showAsAction="always"/>
</menu>
This is my actionbar style
<style name="style1_actionBar" parent="#style/Widget.AppCompat.Light.ActionBar">
<item name="android:background">#color/blue_dark</item>
<item name="android:textColor">#color/white</item>
<item name="actionMenuTextAppearance">#color/white</item>
<item name="background">#color/blue_dark</item>
</style>
Any ideas?
Edit: removed double quote typo
Could it be the fact that I am showing only text, no icons? I'm kind of stuck here.

Whew, thanks for your help guys but I managed to figure it out. It wasn't a problem with the xml, it was a problem with the onCreateOptionsMenu function.
I was using this
new MenuInflater(getApplication()).inflate(R.menu.activity_wentry_editor, menu);
instead of this
MenuInflater inflater = getMenuInflater();
inflater.inflate(R.menu.activity_wentry_editor, menu);
Not entirely sure why this works but it does.

<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
**xmlns:yourapp="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"** >
<item android:id="#+id/action_search"
android:icon="#drawable/ic_action_search"
android:title="#string/action_search"
**yourapp**:showAsAction="ifRoom" />
</menu>
Please refer to the documentation. http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/actionbar.html
Using XML attributes from the support library
Notice that the showAsAction attribute above uses a custom namespace defined in the tag. This is necessary when using any XML attributes defined by the support library, because these attributes do not exist in the Android framework on older devices. So you must use your own namespace as a prefix for all attributes defined by the support library.

In my case I had to add a few lines to onCreateOptionsMenu.
Android Studio didn't let me use android:showAsAction="ifRoom" while using appCompat.
app:showAsAction="ifRoom" wasn't working and I removed it without problems.
#Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
MenuInflater inflater = getMenuInflater();
inflater.inflate(R.menu.menu, menu);
for (int i = 0; i < menu.size(); i++) {
menu.getItem(i).setShowAsAction(MenuItem.SHOW_AS_ACTION_IF_ROOM);
}
return super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu);
}

If you want your app to support action bar below 3.0 you need to use app compact v7 from the support library.
Also check the link

Using the menu in an activity that extends the AppCompact it is necessary import the app context in the XML and use it:
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto">
<!-- "Mark Favorite", should appear as action button if possible -->
<item
android:id="#+id/action_favorite"
android:icon="#drawable/ic_favorite_black_48dp"
android:title="#string/action_favorite"
app:showAsAction="ifRoom"/>
<!-- Settings, should always be in the overflow -->
<item android:id="#+id/action_settings"
android:title="#string/action_settings"
app:showAsAction="never"/>
</menu>
What you need to do basically is add xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"to the menu element in yout XML and use the showAsAction in the following format: app:showAsAction="ifRoom".
This will show the icon in the action bar, if possible.

Android 4.3 menu item showAsAction="always" ignored

I'm using the new v7 appcompat library available starting from Android 4.3 (API level 18).
Regardless of what is specified in showAsAction for a menu item, it's not shown - it always creates the overflow menu icon, and puts even a single menu item under the menu.
Trying to add menu to an activity like this:
#Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.menu_sizes, menu);
return true;
}
And here's my menu xml:
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:id="#+id/menu_add_size"
android:title="#string/menu_add_item"
android:orderInCategory="10"
android:showAsAction="always"
android:icon="#android:drawable/ic_menu_add" />
</menu>
Is it a bug of the new support library v7, or just something wrong with the code?
I've been using the similar code with ActionBarSherlock many times before.

Probably you are missing required namespace:
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:[yourapp]="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto">
<item android:id="#+id/menu_add_size"
android:title="#string/menu_add_item"
android:orderInCategory="10"
[yourapp]:showAsAction="always"
android:icon="#android:drawable/ic_menu_add" />
</menu>
Replace [yourapp] with your app name or any namespace your heart desires everywhere.
Other things worth checking:
See if your activity class extends ActionBarActivity
Check if the issue persists.
Android reference documentation: Adding Action Buttons. Here is the relevant text:
If your app is using the Support Library for compatibility on versions as low as Android 2.1, the showAsAction attribute is not available from the android: namespace. Instead this attribute is provided by the Support Library and you must define your own XML namespace and use that namespace as the attribute prefix. (A custom XML namespace should be based on your app name, but it can be any name you want and is only accessible within the scope of the file in which you declare it.)

Figured out myself. With the support library v7 the showAsAction should go under a custom namespace like this:
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:balloonberry="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto">
<item android:id="#+id/menu_add_size"
android:title="#string/menu_add_item"
android:orderInCategory="10"
balloonberry:showAsAction="always"
android:icon="#android:drawable/ic_menu_add" />
</menu>

Also make sure that you use correct inflater in ActionBarActivity.onCreateOptionsMenu() method.
Correct solution:
MenuInflater menuInflater = getMenuInflater();
menuInflater.inflate(R.menu.menu_example, menu);
Incorrect solution:
MenuInflater menuInflater = new MenuInflater(this);
menuInflater.inflate(R.menu.menu_example, menu);

For Fragments
Menus with custom namespace will prevent showAsAction from showing.
Using "android:" prefix for showAsAction will work, even though Android Studio will remark you should use a custom name space.
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:id="#+id/action_add_checkin"
android:title="Add Checkin"
android:orderInCategory="10"
android:showAsAction="always"
android:icon="#android:drawable/ic_menu_add"/>
</menu>
This is using Android SDK 22 and Support v4 fragments, in case that makes any difference.

Got the same problem, but on Android 5. I have 3 items but OS ignored my attribute "always" and showed only 2 items. Here my solution:
#Override
public void onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu, MenuInflater inflater) {
Log.d(TAG, "onCreateOptionsMenu()");
inflater.inflate(R.menu.your_menu, menu);
for (int j = 0; j < menu.size(); j++) {
MenuItem item = menu.getItem(j);
Log.d(TAG, "set flag for " + item.getTitle());
item.setShowAsActionFlags(MenuItem.SHOW_AS_ACTION_ALWAYS);
}
}

Also make sure that you have the correct path for the namespace. It will not give you an error message if it's wrong.
I had
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:myapp="http://schemas.android.com/res-auto">
instead of
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:myapp="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto">
All I knew was that it wasn't working. Not sure how I managed to forget the /apk part of the path, but it happened. No error message, just an elusive bug to track down.

In my case, I had to remove from my app's build.gradle compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:21.0.3'.
Notice: My min sdk = 14, and created project by android studio inserted my unnesessary dependancy.
After this replace you can write
android:showAsAction="always"

This might not be your case but I was using
new MenuInflater(this).inflate(R.menu.my_menu, menu);
changing it to
getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.my_menu, menu);
fixed the problem!

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<menu
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
>
<item
android:id="#id/back"
android:icon="#drawable/back"
app:showAsAction="always"
android:title="#string/back"/>
<item
android:id="#id/save"
android:icon="#drawable/le_top_btn_icon_add"
app:showAsAction="ifRoom"
android:title="#string/save"/>
</menu>
don't work,
with supportLibraryVersion = '25.1.0'
compileSdkVersion = 25
see the "Warning"
Should use app:showAsAction with the appcompat library with
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto" less... (Ctrl+F1)
When using the appcompat library,menu resources should refer to the showAsAction in the app: namespace,
not the android: namespace.
Similarly,when not using the appcompat library,
you should be using the android:showAsAction attribute.
I think the warn can be ignore.

add custom namespace like this to showAsAction and actionViewClass:
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto">
<item android:id="#+id/search"
android:title="#string/search"
android:icon="#drawable/ic_search"
app:showAsAction="collapseActionView|ifRoom"
app:actionViewClass="android.widget.SearchView" />

I have solved it by replacing
android:showAsAction="ifRoom"
with
app:showAsAction="ifRoom"
That is menuitme xml look like,
<item android:id="#+id/action_refresh"
android:title="Refresh"
android:icon="#drawable/refresh2"
app:showAsAction="ifRoom" />

The simplest way is
Modify your code by adding
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
and change this code
android:showAsAction="always"
to
app:showAsAction="always"
and finally
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto">
<item android:id="#+id/menu_add_size"
android:title="#string/menu_add_item"
android:orderInCategory="10"
app:showAsAction="always"
android:icon="#android:drawable/ic_menu_add" />
</menu>

In Addition to #petrnohejl 's answer, in Kotlin you can just use this one line without initializing it first.
override fun onCreateOptionsMenu(menu: Menu?): Boolean {
menuInflater.inflate(R.menu.options_menu, menu)
return true
}
In my case, the menu item just ignored my app:showAsAction="always" or "ifRoom" and it really annoys me for hours. Then, after I searched in StackOverflow, I realized that I'm not using the correct MenuInflater.

Android - Remove "More actions" button from the ActionBar

I have an ActionBar that should display the action buttons in a custom way. For this I created a custom view and attached it to the ActionBar.
One thing to mention is that I am using a menu.xml resoure file to load the options menu and display them on a smartphone, but do not display them on tablet, instead use a custom view. For this I market every menu item in the xml as: android:showAsAction="never"
Everything looks fine, except one little thing that still remains on the right of the ActionBar - the "More" button.
How can I remove it?
I tried this:
ActionBar bar = activity.getActionBar();
bar.removeAllTabs();
but the "more" button still remains there.
EDIT:
This is my menu.xml file:
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >
<item
android:id="#+id/menu_username"
android:icon="#drawable/menu_username"
android:orderInCategory="0"
android:showAsAction="never"
android:title="#string/menu_username">
<menu>
<item
android:id="#+id/menu_logout"
android:title="#string/menu_logout"/>
</menu>
</item>
<item
android:id="#+id/menu_settings"
android:icon="#drawable/menu_settings"
android:orderInCategory="1"
android:showAsAction="never"
android:title="#string/menu_settings"/>
<item
android:id="#+id/menu_search"
android:icon="#drawable/menu_search"
android:orderInCategory="1"
android:showAsAction="never"
android:title="#string/menu_search"/>
</menu>
Please note I still want to inflate this menu on a smartphone, but don't want to use it on a tablet.

Setting showAsAction="never" will force an menu item into the overflow. Why not check in onCreateOptionsMenu(...) that the device is a tablet, and if it is just not inflate the menu? Something like this:
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
if (getResources().getConfiguration().smallestScreenWidthDp >= 600) {
//It's a tablet, don't inflate, only create the manual view
manualMenuCreation();
} else {
getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.menu, menu);
}
return true;
}
Don't forget smallestScreenWidthDp is only available in 3.2 or above, so you'll have to take that into consideration.

Android action bar not showing overflow

I have an action bar in my app with 3 items.
Only 2 can be displayed due to space issues, so I'd expect the first to be displayed and the rest to be displayed in the overflow.
However in practice only the first 2 items are shown and there is no overflow detectable.
Here is the relevant code:
list_menu.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >
<item android:id="#+id/menu_insert"
android:icon="#android:drawable/ic_menu_add"
android:title="#string/menu_insert"
android:showAsAction="ifRoom|withText"/>
<item android:id="#+id/menu_call"
android:icon="#android:drawable/ic_menu_call"
android:title="#string/menu_call"
android:showAsAction="ifRoom|withText"/>
<item android:id="#+id/menu_agenda"
android:icon="#android:drawable/ic_menu_agenda"
android:title="#string/menu_agenda"
android:showAsAction="ifRoom|withText"/>
</menu>
Activity.java
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
MenuInflater mi = getMenuInflater();
mi.inflate(R.menu.list_menu, menu);
return true;
}

If you want to show the three dots, irrespective of device menu button! then you can call this method in your application class' onCreate method-
private void makeActionOverflowMenuShown() {
//devices with hardware menu button (e.g. Samsung Note) don't show action overflow menu
try {
ViewConfiguration config = ViewConfiguration.get(this);
Field menuKeyField = ViewConfiguration.class.getDeclaredField("sHasPermanentMenuKey");
if (menuKeyField != null) {
menuKeyField.setAccessible(true);
menuKeyField.setBoolean(config, false);
}
} catch (Exception e) {
Log.d(TAG, e.getLocalizedMessage());
}
}

Output
res/menu/menu.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >
<!-- Search / will display always -->
<item
android:id="#+id/action_search"
android:icon="#drawable/ic_action_search"
android:showAsAction="always"
android:title="#string/action_search"/>
<!-- Location Found -->
<item
android:id="#+id/action_location_found"
android:icon="#drawable/ic_action_location_found"
android:showAsAction="always"
android:title="#string/action_location_found"/>
<!-- More -->
<item
android:id="#+id/a_More"
android:icon="#drawable/ic_action_overflow"
android:showAsAction="always"
android:title="More">
<menu>
<!-- Refresh -->
<item
android:id="#+id/action_refresh"
android:icon="#drawable/ic_action_refresh"
android:showAsAction="never"
android:title="#string/action_refresh"/>
<!-- Help -->
<item
android:id="#+id/action_help"
android:icon="#drawable/ic_action_help"
android:showAsAction="never"
android:title="#string/action_help"/>
<!-- Check updates -->
<item
android:id="#+id/action_check_updates"
android:icon="#drawable/ic_action_refresh"
android:showAsAction="never"
android:title="#string/action_check_updates"/>
</menu>
</item>
</menu>
MainActivity.java
public class MainActivity extends Activity {
#Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
}
#Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
// Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present.
MenuInflater inflater = getMenuInflater();
inflater.inflate(R.menu.menu, menu);
return super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu);
}
}
Download the Action Bar Icon Set

I realize this is not an overflow menu, but it is similar.
Okay, this is simple but was hard to figure out.
You first need a menu item you want to use as the overflow inflater. Example
<item
android:id="#+id/a_More"
android:icon="#drawable/more"
android:showAsAction="always"
android:title="More">
</item>
Once you have your item, add a sub-menu containing your items you want in the overflow menu. Example:
<item
android:id="#+id/a_More"
android:icon="#drawable/more"
android:showAsAction="always"
android:title="More">
<menu>
<item
android:id="#+id/aM_Home"
android:icon="#drawable/home"
android:title="Home"/>
</menu>
</item>
On click this will inflate other items within. My application is using ActionBarSherlock 4.0 so before this will work for you, you will need to access the "SplitActionBar". (Will still work on default android Actionbar)
Here's how:
In your AndroidManifest.xml file, you need to add this code under the activity you need the overflow menu in.
android:uiOptions="splitActionBarWhenNarrow"
NOTE: Your item that inflates your overflow menu MUST showAsAction="always"
Vwola! you have an overflow menu! Hope I helped you out. :)

On devices with hardware menu buttons (Galaxy S3, stubborn as Samsung is...) the overflow menu behaves as the 'traditional' menu, by using the hardware menu button.

When you say "overflow" menu, do you mean the three dots that show up in the end to indicate that there are more items.... or do you mean the split actionbar that shows up in the bottom for overflow items?
If you mean the split action bar, you should add this to your activity's manifest file
android:uiOptions="splitActionBarWhenNarrow"
By default, the three dots overflow menu should happen automatically, so it's hard to tell what the problem is from the information you provided above.

To alway show action overflow (three dot) on actionbarcompat:
in menu file, example:
main.xml
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto" >
<item
android:id="#+id/action_settings"
android:title="#string/action_settings"
app:showAsAction="never"/>
<item
android:id="#+id/action_about"
android:title="#string/action_about"
app:showAsAction="never"/>
</menu>
and in activity file:
#Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.main, menu);
return super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu);
}
It's worked fine for me.
Tested on Google Nexus S, Samsung S3.

It appears that on devices with a menu button the overflow menu does not show in the ActionBar. Also we have no way to know if a device has a hardware menu button before API level 14 (4.0+).
This solution adds a overflow button to a android.support.v7.app.ActionBar that opens the standard options menu on pre-Honeycomb (<3.0) only, otherwise leaving it to the system. In any case you can choose between always or ifRoom for all actions.
Get the overflow icon from the Action Bar Icon Pack.
Add a menu (I'omitting some non-relevant parts as titles, ordering etc.)
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto">
<item
android:id="#+id/action_overflow"
android:orderInCategory="100"
android:icon="#drawable/ic_action_overflow"
app:showAsAction="always" />
<item
android:id="#+id/action_first"
app:showAsAction="always" />
<item
android:id="#+id/action_second"
app:showAsAction="ifRoom" />
</menu>
Remove our overflow action on 3.0+
#Override
public boolean onPrepareOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.HONEYCOMB) {
menu.removeItem(R.id.action_overflow);
}
return super.onPrepareOptionsMenu(menu);
}
Finally call Activity.openOptionsMenu() from the overflow action.
Er... no. You cannot not call openOptionsMenu() from a menu button... but if you are using AndroidAnnotations you're done easily:
#OptionsItem
void action_overflow() {
openOptionsMenuDeferred();
}
#UiThread
void openOptionsMenuDeferred() {
openOptionsMenu();
}
If not you should do something like this, I suppose
#Override
public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
if (item.getItemId() == id.action_overflow) {
openOptionsMenuDeferred();
return true;
}
}
private Handler handler = new Handler(Looper.getMainLooper());
public void openOptionsMenuDeferred() {
handler.post(new Runnable() {
#Override
public void run() {
openOptionsMenu();
}
}
);
}

Try changing the theme of the app from
Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar to Theme.AppCompat.Light

Put xmlns:your_app_name="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto" inside menu tag
and instead android:showAsAction="always" use your_app_name:showAsAction="always"
for eg
<item
android:id="#+id/action_search"
android:icon="#drawable/icon_search"
android:title="#string/search"
your_app_name:showAsAction="ifRoom"/>