How would I go about adding a context menu to a spinner popup?
I have a spinner that is populated by a database cursor, and I'd like to have a context menu so when the user long clicks an item they can edit or delete the item (two options in context menu).
I can't seem to find a way to register a context menu for the window that appears with the selectable items. Is there a way to, like on a list View?
Otherwise, what about having a hidden view that is registered for a context menu and then use the spinner's OnItemLongClickListener call openContextMenu for the hidden view? This seems kind of like a hack so I'd rather do it the correct way, if possible.
Or maybe I should just register the spinner for the context menu instead of having a hidden one...
Thanks!
How would I go about adding a context menu to a spinner popup?
Ideally, you wouldn't even try. Classic pop-up context menus are going to be obsolete with the new Honeycomb UI, at least for the tablet form factor, so I would not invest a ton of time in hacking them into widgets where they aren't normally used.
Moreover, users are unlikely to discover your context menu, simply because they tend not to discover context menus too often in the first place. Users tend not to experiment by randomly stabbing the screen for a second-plus to see if menus happen to pop up. The only way they will know about your context menu is if they read the fine manual, and we all know how often that happens. Hence, you need some other way for the user to do the same operations -- having them be able to edit/delete only through a non-discoverable context menu is very user-hostile. Hence, context menus are, at best, an accelerant, and not worth forcing into unexpected and unsupported places.
I have a spinner that is populated by a database cursor, and I'd like to have a context menu so when the user long clicks an item they can edit or delete the item (two options in context menu).
If you want the context menu, convert the Spinner into a ListView. Not only will this be incrementally more discoverable (some users will be used to interesting things if they long-tap on a list item), but context menus work naturally.
If you really want, you can clone Spinner (and possibly AbsSpinner or other superclasses) into your project, so you can take control over the drop-down behavior, then write something that enables a context menu on the selection dialog box. Then, you will need to bear in mind that none of that will work, most likely, with the new Spinner in Android 3.0, simply because there is no more selection dialog box.
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I want is a go from a menu that has a list of objects, if you select an option menu another list should appear.
The examples I found seemed to be for listview or webview.
There another way to make a selection from menu options?
So if I'm understanding your right, you want to launch a Context Menu from an Options Menu. You should not do this. From the android documentation:
A context menu is conceptually similar to the menu displayed when the user performs a "right-click" on a PC. You should use a context menu to provide the user access to actions that pertain to a specific item in the user interface. On Android, a context menu is displayed when the user performs a "long press" (press and hold) on an item.
You'd never do a "long press" on an Options Menu item. People just aren't used to doing that.
Try launching another activity instead or using a dialog.
If you have a fixed list of options in mind you might be looking for submenus, which are explained here: http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/menus.html
If you are looking to dynamically build a list of options with an adapter you might find AlertDialog.Builder useful along with its setAdapter method.
I would like to create a context menu (long press on a textview) that will show a list of options.
Difference from regular context menu will be, that the use is different: user will long click on the textview, menu will popup, user will not release finger, point to the menu item, release finger. This will fire the action.
Any idea how ot do it?>Can you refer me to an example
I don't know how to fully achieve it. But this might help you. You can create a context menu as shown here.
Hope this helps.
Unless you have a very specific use case, I'd recommend against changing how the user expects a context menu to behave, and stay with the default behaviour. It can lead to quite a jarring user experience.
I have a context menu on a TextView representing a user name in my app. When the context menu appears I want to have certain options such as View Statistics etc. The context menu is appearing fine and everything is working great except it's adding Input method to the context menu and I do not want it there. It's irrelevant to what the context menu is there for and there is not text entry. How can I remove this item from the context menu? I've tried removing item 0 in the context menu and adding
android:editable="false"
to the XML file to no avail. Any ideas?
How about menu.removeItem(android.R.id.switchInputMethod);?
Im pretty sure that isn't possible, the input method is how the user changes the current IME (soft keyboard) if the have multiple keyboards installed. Its a global setting.
I have a button that says "Sort" and when a user normal/short presses the button, I want a menu to appear with the various sort options. Looking around online there doesn't seem to be a straight forward answer to which route is considered best practice. I'm looking to have a menu that looks similar to this:
with icons and text.
For an example, click the Layers button in the Google Maps app. It opens a list of options on a single short click. It has a title at the top and icons for each option. (The icons aren't super crucial)
Should I use a Context Menu? If so, how do I do it without a long press. Should it be a Spinner? If so how do I change the appearance to use a button instead of the normal drop down box.
Spinners are for stateful selection, which sounds like what you want here. The user will select one sort option from a list, and there is a concept of a "current" sort that stays visible to the user.
For something like the activity picker in your screenshot, Falmarri's suggestion of an AlertDialog is reasonable. The difference between choosing a sort and the activity picker is the "stateful selection" distinction. Spinners have a concept of a currently selected item already provided for you, dialogs are more general.
http://developer.android.com/reference/android/app/AlertDialog.html
How to open the ContextMenu in Android by Clicking a Button?
A context menu is conceptually similar to the menu displayed when the user performs a "right-click" on a PC. You should use a context menu to provide the user access to actions that pertain to a specific item in the user interface.
On Android, a context menu is displayed when the user performs a "long press" (press and hold) on an item.
Alternatively, if you need a button, you can implement the menu for the view and change the content dynamically.
Your question is bad and you should feel bad, given how readily available (if cryptic) the method behind this process is. This small tutorial helped me greatly.
http://www.mikeplate.com/2010/01/21/show-a-context-menu-for-long-clicks-in-an-android-listview/