Adding Action items and Overflow menu items to Action Bar in Android

In this article we will create an application which will add action items and overflow menu items to action bar. This application is developed in Eclipse 3.7.2 and tested in Android api level 14. If you want to add actions items, overflow menu items  and action bar in pre Honeycomb (API level < 11 )  versions also, see the article “Adding menus to action bar in pre Honeycomb versions using Sherlock library” .

1. Create a new Android project namely “ActionBarMenu”

Figure 1 : Create new Android Project

2. Select Android build target

Figure 2 : Select Android build Target

3. Enter application details

Figure 3 : Select Android build Target

4. Download Images

From the given below links, download the files drawable-mdpi.zip, drawable-hdpi.zip and drawable-xhdpi.zip and extract to the folders drawable-mdpi, drawable-hdpi and drawable-xhdpi respectively

Adding Menus to Action Bar 6.49 KB

Download drawable-mdpi.zip

Adding Menus to Action Bar - drawable_hdpi.zip 7.44 KB

Download drawable-hdpi.zip

Adding Menus to Action Bar - drawable_xhdpi.zip 8.39 KB

Download drawable-xhdpi.zip

5. res/values/strings.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>

    <string name="hello">MainActivity</string>
    <string name="app_name">ActionBarMenu</string>

    <string name="phone">Phone</string>
    <string name="computer">Computer</string>
    <string name="gamepad">Gamepad</string>

    <string name="camera">Camera</string>
    <string name="video">Video</string>

    <string name="email">EMail</string>

</resources>

6. res/menu/items.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >
    <item
        android:id="@+id/phone"
        android:title="@string/phone"
        android:icon="@drawable/phone"
        android:showAsAction="ifRoom|withText"
    />

    <item
        android:id="@+id/computer"
        android:title="@string/computer"
        android:icon="@drawable/computer"
        android:showAsAction="ifRoom|withText"
    />

    <item
        android:id="@+id/gamepad"
        android:title="@string/gamepad"
        android:icon="@drawable/gamepad"
        android:showAsAction="ifRoom|withText"
    />

    <item
        android:id="@+id/camera"
        android:title="@string/camera"
        android:icon="@drawable/camera"
        android:showAsAction="ifRoom|withText"
    />

    <item
        android:id="@+id/video"
        android:title="@string/video"
        android:icon="@drawable/video"
        android:showAsAction="ifRoom|withText"
    />

    <item
        android:id="@+id/email"
        android:title="@string/email"
        android:icon="@drawable/email"
        android:showAsAction="ifRoom|withText"
    />
</menu>

7. src/in/wptrafficanalyzer/actionbarmenu/MainActivity.java

package in.wptrafficanalyzer.actionbarmenu;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.Menu;
import android.view.MenuInflater;
import android.view.MenuItem;
import android.widget.Toast;

public class MainActivity extends Activity {
    /** Called when the activity is first created. */
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.main);
    }

    @Override
    public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
        MenuInflater inflater = getMenuInflater();
        inflater.inflate(R.menu.items, menu);
        return super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu);
    }

    @Override
    public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {

        super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);

        switch(item.getItemId()){
            case R.id.phone:
                Toast.makeText(getBaseContext(), "You selected Phone", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
                break;

            case R.id.computer:
                Toast.makeText(getBaseContext(), "You selected Computer", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
                break;

            case R.id.gamepad:
                Toast.makeText(getBaseContext(), "You selected Gamepad", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
                break;

            case R.id.camera:
                Toast.makeText(getBaseContext(), "You selected Camera", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
                break;

            case R.id.video:
                Toast.makeText(getBaseContext(), "You selected Video", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
                break;

            case R.id.email:
                Toast.makeText(getBaseContext(), "You selected EMail", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
                break;

        }
        return true;

    }
}

8. AndroidManifest.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="in.wptrafficanalyzer.actionbarmenu"
    android:versionCode="1"
    android:versionName="1.0" >

    <uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="14" />

    <application
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name" >
        <activity
            android:name=".MainActivity"
            android:label="@string/app_name"
            android:uiOptions="splitActionBarWhenNarrow"
        >
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
    </application>

</manifest>

9. Application in Execution

Figure 4 : Action bar with action items and overflow menu in Portrait mode

Figure 5 : Action bar with action items and overflow menu in Landscape mode

Figure 6 : Action items and Overflow menu in Split Action Bar

In order to split action bar, add the attribute android:uiOptions=”splitActionBarWhenNarrow” in application element or activity element of AndroidManifest.xml.

10. Download

Add Action Items and Overflow Menu to ActionBar 203.60 KB

Download Full Source Code

11. Reference

http://developer.android.com/guide/index.html

How to hire me?

I am George Mathew, working as software architect and Android app developer at wptrafficanalyzer.in

You can hire me on hourly basis or on project basis for Android applications development.

For hiring me, please mail your requirements to info@wptrafficanalyzer.in.

My other blogs
store4js.blogspot.com

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Tags: action bar, action item, menu, overflow menu, split action bar, toast