Android action bar not showing overflow

Question

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 your device has a menu-button, the overflow-icon won't show. What device are you on? — Reinier
– Reinier, Commented Mar 16, 2012 at 15:12
the virtual device i'm testing on has a menu button indeed, clicked it and the missing item showed up, thanks! — Mats Raemen
– Mats Raemen, Commented Mar 16, 2012 at 15:48
@Reinier I'm using ActionBarSherlock. On Galaxy Ace running 2.3 it is shown, on Galaxy SII running 4.0 it is not shown. Both have HW menu button. — Mister Smith
– Mister Smith, Commented Oct 26, 2012 at 11:26
I wanted to confirm that this had me baffled that I had the overflow icon on a nexus 7 buy not on Galaxy Note II. The Note had a menu button. Thanks! — bsautner
– bsautner, Commented Jul 26, 2013 at 17:10
@Reinier please help i facing the same issue what should i do? — rupesh
– rupesh, Commented Dec 30, 2013 at 16:35

Paul Verest · Accepted Answer · 2015-02-15 09:31:50Z

125

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());
    }
}

edited Feb 15, 2015 at 9:31

Paul Verest

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answered Oct 27, 2012 at 9:21

Atul Kaushik

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11 Comments

adamp Over a year ago

This is an awful hack that breaks consistency with the rest of the apps on the platform. Do not do this.

biorbnA Over a year ago

This seems like the lesser of two evils. The current behavior is unacceptable.

Necronet Over a year ago

It's a great way to allow to have overflow, the menu hard key should no longer be tolerated.

Bruce Over a year ago

It works great! Works even if user press the hardware menu button (which is brilliant), though you will hear the menu sound effect twice.. does anyone know how to make it only sound once?

leRobot Over a year ago

THIS IS NOT A HACK. Devs need to know what to be calling hacks as it's just not 2+2 in Android. Reflection is saving time using Java mechanisms, or else you would be passing contexts to your inner classes 24/7, or customizing AOSP to infinity. To me this solution solves the problem of having to override and include tons of AOSP custom content AND linked, private associations just for the sake of what purists consider clean. Did you know you can't force FASTSCROLL enabled consistently for small lists? Before I used reflection, this required me to copy 10+ AOSP resources, for a ONE char edit.

|

General Grievance · Accepted Answer · 2023-12-12 21:28:00Z

54

Output

Action Bar

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

Code here is largely from docs.

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

edited Dec 12, 2023 at 21:28

General Grievance

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answered Dec 12, 2013 at 6:32

Kirit Vaghela

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9 Comments

Ahmad Dwaik 'Warlock' Over a year ago

Have a look at @Reinier comment, it's true "If your device has a menu button, the overflow-icon won't show".

Kirit Vaghela Over a year ago

I test in device having menu button and overflow is showing in my case. I use android:showAsAction="always" for more item

Ahmad Dwaik 'Warlock' Over a year ago

on what device have you tested it? I've used a neo v xperia and s#

Kirit Vaghela Over a year ago

Note : Your item that inflates your overflow menu MUST showAsAction="always"

chedine Over a year ago

showAsAction is not available in the android namespace in older SDKs. Follow this link developer.android.com/training/basics/actionbar/… to overcome this. After adding this NS schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto , the above trick worked perfectly fine for me

|

LeviRockerSk8er · Accepted Answer · 2013-02-17 15:01:33Z

42

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. :)

edited Feb 17, 2013 at 15:01

answered Feb 13, 2013 at 17:46

LeviRockerSk8er

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1 Comment

ol0 Over a year ago

Nice solution, better than the menu button hack.

Lukas Batteau · Accepted Answer · 2013-02-08 12:14:25Z

26

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.

edited Feb 8, 2013 at 12:14

answered Jun 22, 2012 at 16:19

Lukas Batteau

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1 Comment

3c71 Over a year ago

Old answer, however with compatibility library just stumble across very odd results: 3 devices with hardware button, Note 3 Neo = Overflow menu is shown, menu button doesn't work, Note 1 = No overflow, menu button works, Galaxy S3, no overflow, menu button doesn't work! This is crazy.

wnafee · Accepted Answer · 2012-03-16 14:55:40Z

5

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.

answered Mar 16, 2012 at 14:55

wnafee

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4 Comments

Mats Raemen Over a year ago

I do mean the three dots. It's not like it's because of the items, because whenever changing items of order, it's the first 2 icons that are shown

Mats Raemen Over a year ago

should I provide extra information to be able to determine the actual problem?

Sparky Over a year ago

What are your minSdkVersion, targetSdkVersion, and the version you are testing on?

wnafee Over a year ago

Does your device have physical buttons for menu or are they virtual buttons like the galaxy nexus phone? I think the three dots will only show up if your phone doesn't have physical buttons.

MrSiro · Accepted Answer · 2015-04-22 08:07:09Z

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.

IlDan · Accepted Answer · 2014-03-07 15:53:45Z

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();
        }
    }
    );
}

Sagar Devanga · Accepted Answer · 2014-12-19 15:25:58Z

2

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

answered Dec 19, 2014 at 15:25

Sagar Devanga

2,82930 silver badges31 bronze badges

Comments

Remees M Syde · Accepted Answer · 2015-04-08 11:05:33Z

2

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"/>

edited Apr 8, 2015 at 11:05

Remees M Syde

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answered Sep 3, 2014 at 7:58

Rashmi Jain

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