CODEWITHSUNDEEP
android
Zaixer
Zaixer

Reputation: 151

Add items to ActionBar in code, using AppCompat

I have a base class for my activities where I add the common action bar items.

public class BaseActivity extends ActionBarActivity
{
    @Override
    public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
        MenuInflater menuInflater = getMenuInflater();
        menuInflater.inflate(R.menu.menu, menu);
        return true;

In the activities where I extend my base activity I want to add some further items to the action bar.

public class ListActivity extends BaseActivity
{
    @Override
    public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
        addRefreshItemToMenu(menu);
        return super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu);
    }

    private void addRefreshItemToMenu(Menu menu) {
        MenuItem refreshMenuItem = menu.add(R.string.menu_item_refresh);
        refreshMenuItem.setIcon(R.drawable.ic_action_refresh);
        refreshMenuItem.setShowAsAction(MenuItem.SHOW_AS_ACTION_ALWAYS);

However MenuItem.setShowAsAction require API level 11, which is a problem since I use minSdkVersion="8".

How can I make this work using AppCompat?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 142

Answers (2)

Libin
Libin

Reputation: 17085

Create a separate menu xml for your ListActivity with showAsAction="always"

   <menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto">
  <item android:id="@+id/action_refresh"
       android:title="@string/menu_item_refresh"
       android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
       android:orderInCategory="100"
      app:showAsAction="always" />
 </menu>

And, inflate this menu on your ListActivity which extends the BaseActivity. 

   @Override
   public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu){
      // menu only for this Activity
      getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.main_activity_actions, menu);
      // all other menus in BaseActivity will be added
    return super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu);
   }

This will make sure you have the new menu only for this Activity and the common menus in the BaseActivity

Upvotes: 1

neworld
neworld

Reputation: 7793

You must use MenuItemCompat, because MenuItem.SHOW_AS_ACTION_ALWAYS appear only in API 11.

Upvotes: 1

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