Android Overflow Menu Button is not visible on some phones

Question

The app runs fine. On devices with hard options menu button the menu shows up, so i know it works. On some devices it shows the overflow button at the top-right.

I my test case the device is Asus Zenphone 5 there is no hard button, i dont get a overflow button either. But when i run the showOptionsMenu() command from a button click it displays the options menu and all related events work no issues.

Menu - Xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >
    <item android:id="@+id/select" android:title="Select" android:showAsAction="never"></item>
    <item android:id="@+id/add_kid" android:title="Add" android:showAsAction="never"></item>
</menu>

onCreate & onPrepare

@Override
    public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) 
    {

        getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.menu1, menu);
        return super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu);
    }

    @Override
    public boolean onPrepareOptionsMenu(Menu menu) 
    {
        if(!getCheckInStatus())
        {
            menu.setGroupVisible(R.id.group1,false);
        }
        else
        {
            menu.setGroupVisible(R.id.group1,true);
        }
        return super.onPrepareOptionsMenu(menu);
    }

Manifest values for the Activity

<application
        android:allowBackup="true"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:theme="@style/AppTheme" >
  .....

<activity
            android:name="com.my.package.MyActivity"
            android:configChanges="orientation|keyboard"
            android:label="@string/app_name"
            android:launchMode="singleInstance"

        >

        </activity>

I would really appreciate any help on this matter.

devices which have menu button in key pad won't show over flow menu items — Syed Raza Mehdi, May 11 '15 at 04:52
see this http://stackoverflow.com/questions/18010072/menu-items-are-not-showing-on-action-bar — Syed Raza Mehdi, May 11 '15 at 04:54
@Syed Raza Mehdi i am not intrested in the ones with hard buttons, for the other devices i am not getting the overflow menu either. — Deepak, May 13 '15 at 04:29

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered May 11 '15 at 05:27

I used to have same problem in few of my projects. I followed the steps given below which worked for me 1. extends your activity to ActionBarActivity

call the following code in 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) {
}
   }

Thanks man it was your suggestion to change it to ActionBarActivity that sparked me in the right direction. — Deepak, May 13 '15 at 07:24

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered May 11 '15 at 04:51

0

set android:showAsAction="ifRoom" in menu.xml, the button would show.

answered May 11 '15 at 04:51

Desmond Yao

545
1
4
10

Vijayadhas Chandrasekaran · Answer 3 · 2015-05-11T05:20:14.477

Try like this. This works for me..

<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >
    <item
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_action_overflow"
        android:id="@+id/moreItmes"
        android:showAsAction="never"
        android:title="@string/more">        
        <menu>           
            <item
                android:id="@+id/select"
                android:showAsAction="never"
                android:title="@string/Select"/>

            <item
               android:id="@+id/add_kid"
                android:showAsAction="never"
                android:title="@string/Add"/>
        </menu>
    </item>

</menu>

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered May 13 '15 at 07:29

As i commented in vinay's answer , the reason was that i was debugging an old program written by some one else. It seems all were Activities , but i had changed the target and compile-with to 22. Once i changed the Activity to ActionBarActivity the overflow appeared on the devices with soft menu button. While those with hard options menu button did not display it.

score -1 · Answer 5 · answered May 11 '15 at 04:51

-1

Menu - Xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >
    <item android:id="@+id/select" android:title="Select" android:showAsAction="never"></item>
    <item android:id="@+id/add_kid" android:title="Add" android:showAsAction="never"></item>
</menu>

in your menu.xml you just use showAsAction as never which represent Never place this item in the Action Bar. please refer the link for more info

answered May 11 '15 at 04:51

mcd

1,434
15
31

i use showAsAction=never because i want the menu item comming from overflow only, not as an action item. – Deepak May 13 '15 at 07:21

Android Overflow Menu Button is not visible on some phones

5 Answers5

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