How to remove items from contextual action bar android

Question

I want to remove COPY, SELECT ALL and FIND from android contextual action bar and add custom menu items.

This is appearing while selecting text on webview. I am trying to add Text Highlights on webview using js.

Answer 1

In order to accomplish what you want, you will need to create an entirely new contextual action bar. This is done through creating a custom ActionMode. Within your WebView, create a nested class that implements ActionMode.Callback. You can use this as a template:

public class CustomWebView extends WebView {

    private ActionMode.Callback mActionModeCallback;

    @Override
    public ActionMode startActionMode(ActionMode mode) {
        // This block is directly from the WebView source code.
        ViewParent parent = getParent();
        if (parent == null) {
            return null;
        }

        mActionModeCallback = new CustomActionModeCallback();
        return parent.startActionModeForChild(this, mActionModeCallback);
    }

    private class CustomActionModeCallback implements ActionMode.Callback {
        // Called when the action mode is created; startActionMode() was called
        @Override
        public boolean onCreateActionMode(ActionMode mode, Menu menu) {
            // Inflate a menu resource providing context menu items
            MenuInflater inflater = mode.getMenuInflater();
            inflater.inflate(R.menu.context_menu, menu);
            return true;
        }

        // Called each time the action mode is shown.
        // Always called after onCreateActionMode, but
        // may be called multiple times if the mode is invalidated.
        @Override
        public boolean onPrepareActionMode(ActionMode mode, Menu menu) {
            // This method is called when the selection handlebars are moved.
            return false; // Return false if nothing is done
        }

        // Called when the user selects a contextual menu item
        @Override
        public boolean onActionItemClicked(ActionMode mode, MenuItem item) {

            switch (item.getItemId()) {
            case R.id.menu_button_1:
                // Do stuff
                break;
            case R.id.menu_button_2:
                // Do stuff
                break;
            default:
                // You did not handle the action, so return false
                // If you have implemented a case for every button,
                // this block should never be called.
                return false;
            }

            // If you want to close the CAB immediately after 
            // picking an action, call mode.finish().
            // If you want the CAB to persist until the user clears the selection
            // or clicks the "Done" button, simply return true.
            mode.finish(); // Action picked, so close the CAB
            return true;
        }

        // Called when the user exits the action mode
        @Override
        public void onDestroyActionMode(ActionMode mode) {
            mode = null;
        }
    }

}

---

Be sure to define a menu in your XML resources. Here is an example to go with the above template:

<!-- context_menu.xml -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >

    <item
        android:id="@+id/menu_button_1"
        android:icon="@android:drawable/menu_button_1"
        android:showAsAction="always"
        android:title="@string/menu_button_1">
    </item>
    <item
        android:id="@+id/menu_button_2"
        android:icon="@drawable/menu_button_2"
        android:showAsAction="ifRoom"
        android:title="@string/menu_button_2">
    </item>

</menu>

---

I noticed you did not explicitly state that you want to replace SHARE and WEB SEARCH. Unfortunately, this method does require you to implement all functionality on your own. However, you can dig into the source code (I would start in ActionMode.java) for those functions. Implement a new case in CustomActionModeCallback.onActionItemClicked (where you handle your button events), copy/paste the functionality from source, and add a corresponding button in your XML file. You can even use the native icon for those functions: android:icon="@android:drawable/[name_of_desired_icon]

For reference, this information is from the Android Developers website.
http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/menus.html#CAB

Answer 2

May be this helps you and also stack members... https://github.com/btate/BTAndroidWebViewSelection