Forcing Overflow menu button on Android

Question

I am developing an application for Android 4.0.3. I have multiple fragments and I have one menu item displayed on each of them. I want to have an overflow menu button that will have 2 menu items. How do I force the appearance of the overflow menu and add menu items to it ? I am adding menu items by calling the onCreateOptionsMenu function in each fragment.

Any and all help would be appreciated. Thanks!

I can't seem to figure out how to force the display of the overflow menu button. — RagHaven
– RagHaven, Commented Jun 1, 2012 at 13:52
Not all devices will show a button on-screen. Devices or emulators with a dedicated MENU button use that instead of an on-screen button, as that is what the users of those devices will be used to. — CommonsWare
– CommonsWare, Commented Jun 1, 2012 at 14:07
UPDATE: As of KitKat (4.4), devices will show an overflow button on screen whether or not they have a physical menu button. Of course, that doesn't help for earlier Android versions, but, FYI, it is at least a fun fact. — Carl
– Carl, Commented Mar 24, 2014 at 18:29

Tony · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-01 13:54:24Z

4

To force into the overflow menu do this:

@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu)
{
   menu.add(0, 2, 0, "Item 1").setShowAsAction(MenuItem.SHOW_AS_ACTION_COLLAPSE_ACTION_VIEW);

   return true;
}

SHOW_AS_ACTION_COLLAPSE_ACTION_VIEW will force the item into either:

Android 3.0 + : The ActionBar as an overflow Android 2.3 - : The menu button

If you are wanting to recreate the menu you will need to call invalidateOptionsMenu(); This will re-create from OnCreateOptionsMenu.

answered Jun 1, 2012 at 13:54

Tony

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4 Comments

RagHaven Over a year ago

I have already tried that and it didn't work. An overflow menu button wasn't seen on the emulator.

RagHaven Over a year ago

I made an edit to my original question and I have added my code so you could see what I am exactly doing. After adding the above code you mentioned I still am not able to force the display of the overflow menu.

RagHaven Over a year ago

Commonsware is right. The emulator doesn't show the overflow button, but my tablet did. Thanks for the help!

Carl Over a year ago

You tablet probably shows the overflow button because it does not have a physical menu button.

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