Can action overflow be anywhere other than the far right? - android

I have an application with multiple pages, all of which will be using the ActionBarSherlock on top and on the bottom. The top bar will not have any actions, all actions will be held in the bottom bar.
Every page on in my application uses 2 actions, but some also have other actions. Therefore, some pages will need the action overflow and some will not.
I want to keep the 2 actions that are always used all the way to the right to ensure that they are in the same place on every page, with the overflow button appearing in the middle sometimes.

I want to keep the 2 actions that are always used all the way to the right to ensure that they are in the same place on every page, with the overflow button appearing in the middle sometimes.
You can't do that, sorry. When present, the overflow button will always be the furthest to the right.

Overflow button is always to the right. But since it's so small, I wouldn't worry about it affecting your UX, as long as you always use a consistent order for your permanent actions.

Related

How to move android Navigation Bar to the right side of the display

I need to move the android Navigation Bar from the bottom of the display to the right side of the display.
The android app I'm working on requires the user to touch the bottom of the screen often, so I'd like to move the navigation bar to the right side of the screen. I believe this is possible, as I've seen it done in several games. The attached image shows what I'd like to achieve; when the user swipes from the bottom or top, the android bars appear at the top and RIGHT side, as opposed to the top and BOTTOM.
I've read through a lot of existing similar posts, and have tried the suggested answers, however they seem to instruct how to move a navigation DRAWER (ie a new "bar" implemented by the app) to the right side, as opposed to the BAR itself; I believe these are two different things.
Further, the information on android developer (https://developer.android.com/training/system-ui/immersive) suggests that the bar cannot be moved, it can only be temporarily hidden. If that's the case though, how are the app's such as the one in the image doing it? Any suggestions?

Dropd down tabs or drop down menus beneath ActionBar in Android

My need is to add a drop down menu like the one shown in attached image link.
http://i.imgur.com/cWtykfN.jpg
I don't know what to be used, whether it is tabs or menus. My need is when I press the last tab/menu, the sub menu should be shown and I could be able to handle the corresponding actions. Even when I handle those menus, I should be able to show the top tab/ menu without interruption.
It's called as overflow menus. Look this example, you will get an idea.
http://wptrafficanalyzer.in/blog/adding-action-items-and-overflow-menu-items-to-action-bar-in-android/
And nice explanation been given here. http://blog.stylingandroid.com/archives/1249 and for source code.ref here: https://github.com/StylingAndroid/StylingActionBar/Tree/StylingPart2
Use the ActionBar with tab-navigation-mode and if the last tab is clicked you could simply trigger a PopupMenu (even though this seems a little weird and is not what I expect to happen when I click tab).

Android ActionBar - how to check how many actionbar buttons are currently visible?

Is there any way to check how many buttons are visible, and how many are hidden in overflow?
Because, like we all know, depending on the device, a different number of buttons fits in ActionBar.
Why do I need it? I'm trying to place an arrow which will point to a particular action button. And to place it correctly, I need to know if this button is hidden in overflow, or is 3rd from the right edge?
Is there any way to check how many buttons are visible, and how many are hidden in overflow?
I don't think so. AFAIK, isVisible() will return true for items in the overflow area, as that is tied to the separate "visibility" aspect of a MenuItem.
I'm trying to place an arrow which will point to a particular action button. And to place it correctly, I need to know if this button is hidden in overflow, or is 3rd from the right edge?
No, you would need to know the pixel coordinates of the button, which will vary based on a number of factors, above and beyond whether or not it is in the overflow area, such as actual screen density.

What is the recommended navigation approach in Android for navigating between disparate activities/fragments

I am switching my Android app over to a more "proper" UX with the ActionBar etc. I have been trying to determine what the best/recommended navigation style would be.
My app has 5 activities that I currently switch between by using the menu/overflow menu.
My app has 1 main home screen that the user will spend most of their time on. The user needs a way to navigate to the other activities but none of them are really related to eachother. They are more like utility screens that a user will go to when they need to do some maintenance.
I am reading this link: http://developer.android.com/design/patterns/actionbar.html
I was first thinking to use an action bar dropdown navigation but that seems like it's not designed for navigation and more so for switching between views of the same data:
Use a spinner in the main action bar if:
You don't want to give up the vertical screen real estate for a dedicated tab bar.
The user is switching between views of the same data set (for example: calendar events viewed by day, week, or month) or data sets of the same type (such as content for two different accounts).
Then I was going to use ActionBar tabs but it says that is more for swiping between items that are used often:
Use tabs if:
You expect your app's users to switch views frequently.
You want the user to be highly aware of the alternate views.
I guess the last option is to put the actions into the overflow menu but this seems like i'm going backwards.
Can anyone offer some insight?
Thanks
I have decided to go with a side drawer as per here:
http://developer.android.com/design/patterns/actionbar.html
Open a drawer from the main action bar if:
You want to provide direct navigation to a number of views within your app which don't have direct relationships between each other.

How can I determine the relative position of option menu objects in the Android ActionBar?

In the Honeycomb ActionBar, I am trying to determine the position of the icons that appear as my ActionBar's 'showAsAction' options. Several of my icons are set to appear only if there is room. I want to include helpful comments under each icon when the application is first run. To properly position the comments , I need an idea of where these icons are.
I have called getActionBar() from the activity and the icons don't appear in the ActonBar's View. I know I can get a handle on the Menu Item through the onPrepare and the onCreate for the OptionsMenu, but they don't contain any positioning information since the ActionBar has not been rendered. Any ideas? I have also explored the onMenuVisibilityListener, but the ActionBar at that point still does not contain any information that I can use to calculate the relative positions of the option menu icons.
If there is a way to also just determine which actionbar items are actually appearing, I can calculate where to place things too.
I want to include helpful comments under each icon when the application is first run.
Then load a different menu XML resource on the first run, one that has withText along with ifRoom for android:showAsAction.
You could make this a configuration option for the user, so the user gets to choose which style to use.
If there is a way to also just determine which actionbar items are actually appearing, I can calculate where to place things too.
Except that you can't actually place anything there. The toolbar buttons take up the full action bar height.

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