Develop Reference

Add menu in standalone toolbar?

I want to use a standalone toolbar and for that I defined a android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar in my layout.
I want to add an item in the menu and using inflateMenu the toolbar seems to work fine but the inflateMenu was added in API-21.
How can I add a menu for earlier SDKs?

If you wanna add/show menu buttons, why don't you use
#Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
// Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present.
getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.your_menu_layout, menu);
return true;
}
#Override
public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
// Handle action bar item clicks here. The action bar will
// automatically handle clicks on the Home/Up button, so long
// as you specify a parent activity in AndroidManifest.xml.
int id = item.getItemId();
//noinspection SimplifiableIfStatement
if (id == R.id.action_button1) {
return true;
}
return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
}

To use the SupportToolbar like the default one, you need to tell your Activity to use it as a normal Toolbar by using
Toolbar myToolbar = findViewById(R.id.toolbar);
setSupportActionBar(myToolbar);
After that you can use the Toolbar like a default one with Framework functionalities like onCreateOptionMenu or onOptionsItemSelected.

How to create ActionBar With Button Items Using Android?

I need to create ActionBar with left side button item looks like below mentioned Image. I tried by using huge of codes, but still I didnt get anything. Please help me to create android ActionBar with button.
I need to create like below
Image
NOTE: I don't have sample code, Moreover It's not proper because I am new developer for android.

To Add Action Buttons add this in your activity
#Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
// Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present.
getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.main, menu);
return true;
}
//and this to handle actions
#Override
public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
// Handle action bar item clicks here. The action bar will
// automatically handle clicks on the Home/Up button, so long
// as you specify a parent activity in AndroidManifest.xml.
int id = item.getItemId();
if (id == R.id.action_settings) {
return true;
}
return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
}
and this in your main.xml under menu directory
<item android:id="#+id/action_settings"
android:title="#string/action_settings"
android:icon="#drawable/icon"
android:orderInCategory="100"
app:showAsAction="always" />
To get the icon to the left see this

Add a button to the top right of action bar

Is there a way I can add a button to the top right of my ActionBar, like where the default settings Button is? I removed the settings Button but I'd like to add a custom Button in it's place.

You can add a button by editing/create the menu xml file:
<?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/action_name"
android:icon="#drawable/you_resource_here"
android:title="Text to be seen by user"
app:showAsAction="always"
android:orderInCategory="0"/>
</menu>
Then in your activity, if you created a new file your need to edit onCreateOptionsMenu
#Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
// Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present.
getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.menu_main, menu);
return true;
}
and you can edit what the actions do in the following method:
#Override
public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
// Handle action bar item clicks here. The action bar will
// automatically handle clicks on the Home/Up button, so long
// as you specify a parent activity in AndroidManifest.xml.
int id = item.getItemId();
//noinspection SimplifiableIfStatement
if (id == R.id.action_name) {
return true;
}
return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
}

This might be easier, however I use a toolbar instead:
#Override
public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
switch(item.getItemId()) {
case R.id.action_name:
//your code
break;
}
return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
}

Open the settings preferences on clicking the vertical dotted line on the upper-left corner on android app

I want to make a simple settings page, I went to Google's documentation below:
http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/settings.html
created new android testing project, then I created the PreferenceScreen xml, and PreferenceFragment class inside my mainActivity class.
I want the settings screen to appear when I press the settings icon, but instead it only shows one unclickable item named settings.
I know my question is basic, but I tried a lot to make it work with no results.
any help please?

If you want to open the settings from the Menu inside the action bar, as shown below :
First, you need to define a Menu item inside the menu.xml file for that activity :
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools" tools:context=".MainActivity">
<item android:id="#+id/action_settings" android:title="#string/action_settings"
android:orderInCategory="100" android:showAsAction="never" />
</menu>
Second, you need to infate the menu, and then the events for the menu item click can be handles using the methods shown below :
#Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
// Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present.
getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.menu_main, menu);
return true;
}
#Override
public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
// Handle action bar item clicks here. The action bar will
// automatically handle clicks on the Home/Up button, so long
// as you specify a parent activity in AndroidManifest.xml.
int id = item.getItemId();
//noinspection SimplifiableIfStatement
if (id == R.id.action_settings) {
// write code to handle the click for the settings menu item!
return true;
}
return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
}

Android: give the settings page functionality

In my app, I have an icon in the action bar. When I click on it, I get an option called Settings. However, when I click on this option, nothing happens. I have searched, but I can't find out how to utilize this option. I would like for a dialog box to open when Settingsclicked (or if another Activity opened that would be cool too), which I could then add content to. Does anyone know how I would go about this?

The solution Dave S provided works but I want to share another way you can handle this functionality.
In your Activity you can have the following code to interact with your menu:
#Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
// Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present.
getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.main, menu);
return true;
}
#Override
public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
// Handle action bar item clicks here. The action bar will
// automatically handle clicks on the Home/Up button, so long
// as you specify a parent activity in AndroidManifest.xml.
int id = item.getItemId();
if (id == R.id.action_settings) {
displaySettingsDialog();
}
return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
}
The key is to make sure you are checking for the right ID you assigned to your menu item.
If you wanted to launch a new activity (SettingsActivity) then you can replace the displaySettingsDialog() function with the following:
Intent intent = new Intent(this, SettingsActivity.class)
startActivity(intent);

Look for main.xml in your res/menu/ folder. (at least for eclipse ADT) There you can specify an onClick attribute which will call a function in your code. from there you can do whatever you want with it.
EDIT
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
tools:context=".MainActivity" >
<item
android:id="#+id/fb_login"
android:orderInCategory="100"
android:showAsAction="never"
android:title="#string/facebook_login_label"
android:onClick="showFacebookDialog"/>
</menu>
This would define the item for my MainActivity, inside which you define the onClick like so
public void showFacebookDialog(final MenuItem item)
{
...
}