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Menus are a common user interface component in many types of applications. To provide a familiar
and consistent user experience, you should use the Menu
APIs to present user
actions and other options in your activities.
Beginning with Android 3.0 (API level 11), Android-powered devices are no longer required to provide a dedicated Menu button. With this change, Android apps should migrate away from a dependence on the traditional 6-item menu panel and instead provide an app bar to present common user actions.
Although the design and user experience for some menu items have changed, the semantics to define
a set of actions and options is still based on the Menu
APIs. This
guide shows how to create the three fundamental types of menus or action presentations on all
versions of Android:
See the section about Creating an Options Menu.
The contextual action mode displays action items that affect the selected content in a bar at the top of the screen and allows the user to select multiple items.
See the section about Creating Contextual Menus.
See the section about Creating a Popup Menu.
For all menu types, Android provides a standard XML format to define menu items.
Instead of building a menu in your activity's code, you should define a menu and all its items in an
XML menu resource. You can then
inflate the menu resource (load it as a Menu
object) in your activity or
fragment.
Using a menu resource is a good practice for a few reasons:
To define the menu, create an XML file inside your project's res/menu/
directory and build the menu with the following elements:
<menu>
Menu
, which is a container for menu items. A
<menu>
element must be the root node for the file and can hold one or more
<item>
and <group>
elements.<item>
MenuItem
, which represents a single item in a menu. This
element may contain a nested <menu>
element in order to create a submenu.<group>
<item>
elements. It allows you to
categorize menu items so they share properties such as active state and visibility. For more
information, see the section about Creating Menu Groups.Here's an example menu named game_menu.xml
:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"> <item android:id="@+id/new_game" android:icon="@drawable/ic_new_game" android:title="@string/new_game" android:showAsAction="ifRoom"/> <item android:id="@+id/help" android:icon="@drawable/ic_help" android:title="@string/help" /> </menu>
The <item>
element supports several attributes you can use to define an item's
appearance and behavior. The items in the above menu include the following attributes:
android:id
android:icon
android:title
android:showAsAction
These are the most important attributes you should use, but there are many more available. For information about all the supported attributes, see the Menu Resource document.
You can add a submenu to an item in any menu by adding a <menu>
element as the child of an <item>
. Submenus are useful when your application has a lot
of functions that can be organized into topics, like items in a PC application's menu bar (File,
Edit, View, etc.). For example:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"> <item android:id="@+id/file" android:title="@string/file" > <!-- "file" submenu --> <menu> <item android:id="@+id/create_new" android:title="@string/create_new" /> <item android:id="@+id/open" android:title="@string/open" /> </menu> </item> </menu>
To use the menu in your activity, you need to inflate the menu resource (convert the XML
resource into a programmable object) using MenuInflater.inflate()
. In the following sections, you'll see how to inflate a menu for each
menu type.
Figure 1. Options menu in the Browser.
The options menu is where you should include actions and other options that are relevant to the current activity context, such as "Search," "Compose email," and "Settings."
Where the items in your options menu appear on the screen depends on the version for which you've developed your application:
android:showAsAction="ifRoom"
to the corresponding <item>
elements (see figure
2). For more information about action items and other app bar behaviors, see the Adding the App Bar training class.
Figure 2. The Google Sheets app, showing several buttons, including the action overflow button.
You can declare items for the options menu from either your Activity
subclass or a Fragment
subclass. If both your activity and fragment(s)
declare items for the options menu, they are combined in the UI. The activity's items appear
first, followed by those of each fragment in the order in which each fragment is added to the
activity. If necessary, you can re-order the menu items with the android:orderInCategory
attribute in each <item>
you need to move.
To specify the options menu for an activity, override onCreateOptionsMenu()
(fragments provide their
own onCreateOptionsMenu()
callback). In this
method, you can inflate your menu resource (defined in XML) into the Menu
provided in the callback. For example:
override fun onCreateOptionsMenu(menu: Menu): Boolean { val inflater: MenuInflater = menuInflater inflater.inflate(R.menu.game_menu, menu) return true }
@Override public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) { MenuInflater inflater = getMenuInflater(); inflater.inflate(R.menu.game_menu, menu); return true; }
You can also add menu items using add()
and retrieve items with findItem()
to revise their
properties with MenuItem
APIs.
If you've developed your application for Android 2.3.x and lower, the system calls onCreateOptionsMenu()
to create the options menu
when the user opens the menu for the first time. If you've developed for Android 3.0 and higher,
the system calls onCreateOptionsMenu()
when
starting the activity, in order to show items to the app bar.
When the user selects an item from the options menu (including action items in the app bar),
the system calls your activity's onOptionsItemSelected()
method. This method passes the MenuItem
selected. You
can identify the item by calling getItemId()
, which returns the unique
ID for the menu item (defined by the android:id
attribute in the menu resource or with an
integer given to the add()
method). You can match
this ID against known menu items to perform the appropriate action. For example:
override fun onOptionsItemSelected(item: MenuItem): Boolean { // Handle item selection return when (item.itemId) { R.id.new_game -> { newGame() true } R.id.help -> { showHelp() true } else -> super.onOptionsItemSelected(item) } }
@Override public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) { // Handle item selection switch (item.getItemId()) { case R.id.new_game: newGame(); return true; case R.id.help: showHelp(); return true; default: return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item); } }
When you successfully handle a menu item, return true
. If you don't handle the menu
item, you should call the superclass implementation of onOptionsItemSelected()
(the default
implementation returns false).
If your activity includes fragments, the system first calls onOptionsItemSelected()
for the activity then
for each fragment (in the order each fragment was added) until one returns
true
or all fragments have been called.
Tip: Android 3.0 adds the ability for you to define the on-click
behavior for a menu item in XML, using the android:onClick
attribute. The value for the
attribute must be the name of a method defined by the activity using the menu. The method
must be public and accept a single MenuItem
parameter—when the system
calls this method, it passes the menu item selected. For more information and an example, see the Menu Resource document.
Tip: If your application contains multiple activities and
some of them provide the same options menu, consider creating
an activity that implements nothing except the onCreateOptionsMenu()
and onOptionsItemSelected()
methods. Then extend this class for each activity that should share the
same options menu. This way, you can manage one set of code for handling menu
actions and each descendant class inherits the menu behaviors.
If you want to add menu items to one of the descendant activities,
override onCreateOptionsMenu()
in that activity. Call super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu)
so the
original menu items are created, then add new menu items with menu.add()
. You can also override the super class's
behavior for individual menu items.
After the system calls onCreateOptionsMenu()
, it retains an instance of the Menu
you populate and
will not call onCreateOptionsMenu()
again unless the menu is invalidated for some reason. However, you should use onCreateOptionsMenu()
only to create the initial
menu state and not to make changes during the activity lifecycle.
If you want to modify the options menu based on
events that occur during the activity lifecycle, you can do so in
the onPrepareOptionsMenu()
method. This
method passes you the Menu
object as it currently exists so you can modify it,
such as add, remove, or disable items. (Fragments also provide an onPrepareOptionsMenu()
callback.)
On Android 2.3.x and lower, the system calls onPrepareOptionsMenu()
each time the user opens the options menu (presses the Menu
button).
On Android 3.0 and higher, the options menu is considered to always be open when menu items are
presented in the app bar. When an event occurs and you want to perform a menu update, you must
call invalidateOptionsMenu()
to request that the
system call onPrepareOptionsMenu()
.
Note:
You should never change items in the options menu based on the View
currently
in focus. When in touch mode (when the user is not using a trackball or d-pad), views
cannot take focus, so you should never use focus as the basis for modifying
items in the options menu. If you want to provide menu items that are context-sensitive to a View
, use a Context Menu.
Figure 3. Screenshots of a floating context menu (left) and the contextual action bar (right).
A contextual menu offers actions that affect a specific item or context frame in the UI. You
can provide a context menu for any view, but they are most often used for items in a ListView
, GridView
, or other view collections in which
the user can perform direct actions on each item.
There are two ways to provide contextual actions:
ActionMode
that displays a contextual action bar at the top of the
screen with action items that affect the selected item(s). When this mode is active, users
can perform an action on multiple items at once (if your app allows it).Note: The contextual action mode is available on Android 3.0 (API level 11) and higher and is the preferred technique for displaying contextual actions when available. If your app supports versions lower than 3.0 then you should fall back to a floating context menu on those devices.
To provide a floating context menu:
View
to which the context menu should be associated by
calling registerForContextMenu()
and pass
it the View
.
If your activity uses a ListView
or GridView
and
you want each item to provide the same context menu, register all items for a context menu by
passing the ListView
or GridView
to registerForContextMenu()
.
onCreateContextMenu()
method
in your Activity
or Fragment
.
When the registered view receives a long-click event, the system calls your onCreateContextMenu()
method. This is where you define the menu items, usually by inflating a menu resource. For
example:
override fun onCreateContextMenu(menu: ContextMenu, v: View, menuInfo: ContextMenu.ContextMenuInfo) { super.onCreateContextMenu(menu, v, menuInfo) val inflater: MenuInflater = menuInflater inflater.inflate(R.menu.context_menu, menu) }
@Override public void onCreateContextMenu(ContextMenu menu, View v, ContextMenuInfo menuInfo) { super.onCreateContextMenu(menu, v, menuInfo); MenuInflater inflater = getMenuInflater(); inflater.inflate(R.menu.context_menu, menu); }
MenuInflater
allows you to inflate the context menu from a menu resource. The callback method
parameters include the View
that the user selected and a ContextMenu.ContextMenuInfo
object that provides
additional information about the item selected. If your activity has several views that each provide
a different context menu, you might use these parameters to determine which context menu to
inflate.
onContextItemSelected()
.
When the user selects a menu item, the system calls this method so you can perform the appropriate action. For example:
override fun onContextItemSelected(item: MenuItem): Boolean { val info = item.menuInfo as AdapterView.AdapterContextMenuInfo return when (item.itemId) { R.id.edit -> { editNote(info.id) true } R.id.delete -> { deleteNote(info.id) true } else -> super.onContextItemSelected(item) } }
@Override public boolean onContextItemSelected(MenuItem item) { AdapterContextMenuInfo info = (AdapterContextMenuInfo) item.getMenuInfo(); switch (item.getItemId()) { case R.id.edit: editNote(info.id); return true; case R.id.delete: deleteNote(info.id); return true; default: return super.onContextItemSelected(item); } }
The getItemId()
method queries the ID for
the selected menu item, which you should assign to each menu item in XML using the android:id
attribute, as shown in the section about Defining a Menu in
XML.
When you successfully handle a menu item, return true
. If you don't handle the menu item,
you should pass the menu item to the superclass implementation. If your activity includes fragments,
the activity receives this callback first. By calling the superclass when unhandled, the system
passes the event to the respective callback method in each fragment, one at a time (in the order
each fragment was added) until true
or false
is returned. (The default
implementation for Activity
and android.app.Fragment
return false
, so you should always call the superclass when unhandled.)
The contextual action mode is a system implementation of ActionMode
that
focuses user interaction toward performing contextual actions. When a
user enables this mode by selecting an item, a contextual action bar appears at the top of
the screen to present actions the user can perform on the currently selected item(s). While this
mode is enabled, the user can select multiple items (if you allow it), deselect items, and continue
to navigate within the activity (as much as you're willing to allow). The action mode is disabled
and the contextual action bar disappears when the user deselects all items, presses the BACK button,
or selects the Done action on the left side of the bar.
Note: The contextual action bar is not necessarily associated with the app bar. They operate independently, even though the contextual action bar visually overtakes the app bar position.
For views that provide contextual actions, you should usually invoke the contextual action mode upon one of two events (or both):
How your application invokes the contextual action mode and defines the behavior for each action depends on your design. There are basically two designs:
ListView
or GridView
(allowing the user to select multiple
items and perform an action on them all).The following sections describe the setup required for each scenario.
If you want to invoke the contextual action mode only when the user selects specific views, you should:
ActionMode.Callback
interface. In its callback methods, you
can specify the actions for the contextual action bar, respond to click events on action items, and
handle other lifecycle events for the action mode.startActionMode()
when you want to show the
bar (such as when the user long-clicks the view).For example:
ActionMode.Callback
interface:
private val actionModeCallback = object : ActionMode.Callback { // Called when the action mode is created; startActionMode() was called override fun onCreateActionMode(mode: ActionMode, menu: Menu): Boolean { // Inflate a menu resource providing context menu items val inflater: MenuInflater = mode.menuInflater 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 fun onPrepareActionMode(mode: ActionMode, menu: Menu): Boolean { return false // Return false if nothing is done } // Called when the user selects a contextual menu item override fun onActionItemClicked(mode: ActionMode, item: MenuItem): Boolean { return when (item.itemId) { R.id.menu_share -> { shareCurrentItem() mode.finish() // Action picked, so close the CAB true } else -> false } } // Called when the user exits the action mode override fun onDestroyActionMode(mode: ActionMode) { actionMode = null } }
private ActionMode.Callback actionModeCallback = new 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) { 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_share: shareCurrentItem(); mode.finish(); // Action picked, so close the CAB return true; default: return false; } } // Called when the user exits the action mode @Override public void onDestroyActionMode(ActionMode mode) { actionMode = null; } };
Notice that these event callbacks are almost exactly the same as the callbacks for the options menu, except each of these also pass the ActionMode
object associated with the event. You can use ActionMode
APIs to make various changes to the CAB, such as revise the title and
subtitle with setTitle()
and setSubtitle()
(useful to indicate how many items are
selected).
Also notice that the above sample sets the actionMode
variable to null
when the
action mode is destroyed. In the next step, you'll see how it's initialized and how saving
the member variable in your activity or fragment can be useful.
startActionMode()
to enable the contextual
action mode when appropriate, such as in response to a long-click on a View
:
someView.setOnLongClickListener { view -> // Called when the user long-clicks on someView when (actionMode) { null -> { // Start the CAB using the ActionMode.Callback defined above actionMode = activity?.startActionMode(actionModeCallback) view.isSelected = true true } else -> false } }
someView.setOnLongClickListener(new View.OnLongClickListener() { // Called when the user long-clicks on someView public boolean onLongClick(View view) { if (actionMode != null) { return false; } // Start the CAB using the ActionMode.Callback defined above actionMode = getActivity().startActionMode(actionModeCallback); view.setSelected(true); return true; } });
When you call startActionMode()
, the system returns
the ActionMode
created. By saving this in a member variable, you can
make changes to the contextual action bar in response to other events. In the above sample, the
ActionMode
is used to ensure that the ActionMode
instance
is not recreated if it's already active, by checking whether the member is null before starting the
action mode.
If you have a collection of items in a ListView
or GridView
(or another extension of AbsListView
) and want to
allow users to perform batch actions, you should:
AbsListView.MultiChoiceModeListener
interface and set it
for the view group with setMultiChoiceModeListener()
. In the listener's callback methods, you can specify the actions
for the contextual action bar, respond to click events on action items, and handle other callbacks
inherited from the ActionMode.Callback
interface.setChoiceMode()
with the CHOICE_MODE_MULTIPLE_MODAL
argument.For example:
val listView: ListView = getListView() with(listView) { choiceMode = ListView.CHOICE_MODE_MULTIPLE_MODAL setMultiChoiceModeListener(object : AbsListView.MultiChoiceModeListener { override fun onItemCheckedStateChanged(mode: ActionMode, position: Int, id: Long, checked: Boolean) { // Here you can do something when items are selected/de-selected, // such as update the title in the CAB } override fun onActionItemClicked(mode: ActionMode, item: MenuItem): Boolean { // Respond to clicks on the actions in the CAB return when (item.itemId) { R.id.menu_delete -> { deleteSelectedItems() mode.finish() // Action picked, so close the CAB true } else -> false } } override fun onCreateActionMode(mode: ActionMode, menu: Menu): Boolean { // Inflate the menu for the CAB val menuInflater: MenuInflater = mode.menuInflater menuInflater.inflate(R.menu.context, menu) return true } override fun onDestroyActionMode(mode: ActionMode) { // Here you can make any necessary updates to the activity when // the CAB is removed. By default, selected items are deselected/unchecked. } override fun onPrepareActionMode(mode: ActionMode, menu: Menu): Boolean { // Here you can perform updates to the CAB due to // an <code><a href="/reference/android/view/ActionMode.html#invalidate()">invalidate()</a></code> request return false } }) }
ListView listView = getListView(); listView.setChoiceMode(ListView.CHOICE_MODE_MULTIPLE_MODAL); listView.setMultiChoiceModeListener(new MultiChoiceModeListener() { @Override public void onItemCheckedStateChanged(ActionMode mode, int position, long id, boolean checked) { // Here you can do something when items are selected/de-selected, // such as update the title in the CAB } @Override public boolean onActionItemClicked(ActionMode mode, MenuItem item) { // Respond to clicks on the actions in the CAB switch (item.getItemId()) { case R.id.menu_delete: deleteSelectedItems(); mode.finish(); // Action picked, so close the CAB return true; default: return false; } } @Override public boolean onCreateActionMode(ActionMode mode, Menu menu) { // Inflate the menu for the CAB MenuInflater inflater = mode.getMenuInflater(); inflater.inflate(R.menu.context, menu); return true; } @Override public void onDestroyActionMode(ActionMode mode) { // Here you can make any necessary updates to the activity when // the CAB is removed. By default, selected items are deselected/unchecked. } @Override public boolean onPrepareActionMode(ActionMode mode, Menu menu) { // Here you can perform updates to the CAB due to // an <code><a href="/reference/android/view/ActionMode.html#invalidate()">invalidate()</a></code> request return false; } });
That's it. Now when the user selects an item with a long-click, the system calls the onCreateActionMode()
method and displays the contextual action bar with the specified actions. While the contextual
action bar is visible, users can select additional items.
In some cases in which the contextual actions provide common action items, you might
want to add a checkbox or a similar UI element that allows users to select items, because they
might not discover the long-click behavior. When a user selects the checkbox, you
can invoke the contextual action mode by setting the respective list item to the checked
state with setItemChecked()
.
Figure 4. A popup menu in the Gmail app, anchored to the overflow button at the top-right.
A PopupMenu
is a modal menu anchored to a View
.
It appears below the anchor view if there is room, or above the view otherwise. It's useful for:
Note: This is not the same as a context menu, which is generally for actions that affect selected content. For actions that affect selected content, use the contextual action mode or floating context menu.
Spinner
that does not retain
a persistent selection.Note: PopupMenu
is available with API
level 11 and higher.
If you define your menu in XML, here's how you can show the popup menu:
PopupMenu
with its constructor, which takes the
current application Context
and the View
to which the
menu should be anchored.MenuInflater
to inflate your menu resource into the Menu
object returned by PopupMenu.getMenu()
.PopupMenu.show()
.For example, here's a button with the android:onClick
attribute
that shows a popup menu:
<ImageButton android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" android:src="@drawable/ic_overflow_holo_dark" android:contentDescription="@string/descr_overflow_button" android:onClick="showPopup" />
The activity can then show the popup menu like this:
fun showPopup(v: View) { val popup = PopupMenu(this, v) val inflater: MenuInflater = popup.menuInflater inflater.inflate(R.menu.actions, popup.menu) popup.show() }
public void showPopup(View v) { PopupMenu popup = new PopupMenu(this, v); MenuInflater inflater = popup.getMenuInflater(); inflater.inflate(R.menu.actions, popup.getMenu()); popup.show(); }
In API level 14 and higher, you can combine the two lines that inflate the menu with PopupMenu.inflate()
.
The menu is dismissed when the user selects an item or touches outside the menu
area. You can listen for the dismiss event using PopupMenu.OnDismissListener
.
To perform an
action when the user selects a menu item, you must implement the PopupMenu.OnMenuItemClickListener
interface and register it with your PopupMenu
by calling setOnMenuItemclickListener()
. When the user selects an item, the system calls the onMenuItemClick()
callback in
your interface.
For example:
fun showMenu(v: View) { PopupMenu(this, v).apply { // MainActivity implements OnMenuItemClickListener setOnMenuItemClickListener(this@MainActivity) inflate(R.menu.actions) show() } } override fun onMenuItemClick(item: MenuItem): Boolean { return when (item.itemId) { R.id.archive -> { archive(item) true } R.id.delete -> { delete(item) true } else -> false } }
public void showMenu(View v) { PopupMenu popup = new PopupMenu(this, v); // This activity implements OnMenuItemClickListener popup.setOnMenuItemClickListener(this); popup.inflate(R.menu.actions); popup.show(); } @Override public boolean onMenuItemClick(MenuItem item) { switch (item.getItemId()) { case R.id.archive: archive(item); return true; case R.id.delete: delete(item); return true; default: return false; } }
A menu group is a collection of menu items that share certain traits. With a group, you can:
setGroupVisible()
setGroupEnabled()
setGroupCheckable()
You can create a group by nesting <item>
elements inside a <group>
element in your menu resource or by specifying a group ID with the add()
method.
Here's an example menu resource that includes a group:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"> <item android:id="@+id/menu_save" android:icon="@drawable/menu_save" android:title="@string/menu_save" /> <!-- menu group --> <group android:id="@+id/group_delete"> <item android:id="@+id/menu_archive" android:title="@string/menu_archive" /> <item android:id="@+id/menu_delete" android:title="@string/menu_delete" /> </group> </menu>
The items that are in the group appear at the same level as the first item—all three items
in the menu are siblings. However, you can modify the traits of the two
items in the group by referencing the group ID and using the methods listed above. The system
will also never separate grouped items. For example, if you declare android:showAsAction="ifRoom"
for each item, they will either both appear in the action
bar or both appear in the action overflow.
Figure 5. Screenshot of a submenu with checkable items.
A menu can be useful as an interface for turning options on and off, using a checkbox for stand-alone options, or radio buttons for groups of mutually exclusive options. Figure 5 shows a submenu with items that are checkable with radio buttons.
Note: Menu items in the Icon Menu (from the options menu) cannot display a checkbox or radio button. If you choose to make items in the Icon Menu checkable, you must manually indicate the checked state by swapping the icon and/or text each time the state changes.
You can define the checkable behavior for individual menu items using the android:checkable
attribute in the <item>
element, or for an entire group with
the android:checkableBehavior
attribute in the <group>
element. For
example, all items in this menu group are checkable with a radio button:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"> <group android:checkableBehavior="single"> <item android:id="@+id/red" android:title="@string/red" /> <item android:id="@+id/blue" android:title="@string/blue" /> </group> </menu>
The android:checkableBehavior
attribute accepts either:
single
all
none
You can apply a default checked state to an item using the android:checked
attribute in
the <item>
element and change it in code with the setChecked()
method.
When a checkable item is selected, the system calls your respective item-selected callback method
(such as onOptionsItemSelected()
). It
is here that you must set the state of the checkbox, because a checkbox or radio button does not
change its state automatically. You can query the current state of the item (as it was before the
user selected it) with isChecked()
and then set the checked state with
setChecked()
. For example:
override fun onOptionsItemSelected(item: MenuItem): Boolean { return when (item.itemId) { R.id.vibrate, R.id.dont_vibrate -> { item.isChecked = !item.isChecked true } else -> super.onOptionsItemSelected(item) } }
@Override public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) { switch (item.getItemId()) { case R.id.vibrate: case R.id.dont_vibrate: if (item.isChecked()) item.setChecked(false); else item.setChecked(true); return true; default: return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item); } }
If you don't set the checked state this way, then the visible state of the item (the checkbox or radio button) will not change when the user selects it. When you do set the state, the activity preserves the checked state of the item so that when the user opens the menu later, the checked state that you set is visible.
Note: Checkable menu items are intended to be used only on a per-session basis and not saved after the application is destroyed. If you have application settings that you would like to save for the user, you should store the data using Shared Preferences.
Sometimes you'll want a menu item to launch an activity using an Intent
(whether it's an activity in your application or another application). When you know the intent you
want to use and have a specific menu item that should initiate the intent, you can execute the
intent with startActivity()
during the
appropriate on-item-selected callback method (such as the onOptionsItemSelected()
callback).
However, if you are not certain that the user's device contains an application that handles the intent, then adding a menu item that invokes it can result in a non-functioning menu item, because the intent might not resolve to an activity. To solve this, Android lets you dynamically add menu items to your menu when Android finds activities on the device that handle your intent.
To add menu items based on available activities that accept an intent:
CATEGORY_ALTERNATIVE
and/or
CATEGORY_SELECTED_ALTERNATIVE
, plus any other requirements.Menu.addIntentOptions()
. Android then searches for any applications that can perform the intent
and adds them to your menu.If there are no applications installed that satisfy the intent, then no menu items are added.
Note:
CATEGORY_SELECTED_ALTERNATIVE
is used to handle the currently
selected element on the screen. So, it should only be used when creating a Menu in onCreateContextMenu()
.
For example:
override fun onCreateOptionsMenu(menu: Menu): Boolean { super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu) // Create an Intent that describes the requirements to fulfill, to be included // in our menu. The offering app must include a category value of Intent.CATEGORY_ALTERNATIVE. val intent = Intent(null, dataUri).apply { addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_ALTERNATIVE) } // Search and populate the menu with acceptable offering applications. menu.addIntentOptions( R.id.intent_group, // Menu group to which new items will be added 0, // Unique item ID (none) 0, // Order for the items (none) this.componentName, // The current activity name null, // Specific items to place first (none) intent, // Intent created above that describes our requirements 0, // Additional flags to control items (none) null) // Array of MenuItems that correlate to specific items (none) return true }
@Override public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu){ super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu); // Create an Intent that describes the requirements to fulfill, to be included // in our menu. The offering app must include a category value of Intent.CATEGORY_ALTERNATIVE. Intent intent = new Intent(null, dataUri); intent.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_ALTERNATIVE); // Search and populate the menu with acceptable offering applications. menu.addIntentOptions( R.id.intent_group, // Menu group to which new items will be added 0, // Unique item ID (none) 0, // Order for the items (none) this.getComponentName(), // The current activity name null, // Specific items to place first (none) intent, // Intent created above that describes our requirements 0, // Additional flags to control items (none) null); // Array of MenuItems that correlate to specific items (none) return true; }
For each activity found that provides an intent filter matching the intent defined, a menu
item is added, using the value in the intent filter's android:label
as the
menu item title and the application icon as the menu item icon. The
addIntentOptions()
method returns the number of menu items added.
Note: When you call addIntentOptions()
, it overrides any and all menu items by the menu group specified in the first
argument.
You can also offer the services of your activity to other applications, so your application can be included in the menu of others (reverse the roles described above).
To be included in other application menus, you need to define an intent
filter as usual, but be sure to include the CATEGORY_ALTERNATIVE
and/or CATEGORY_SELECTED_ALTERNATIVE
values for the intent filter
category. For example:
<intent-filter label="@string/resize_image"> ... <category android:name="android.intent.category.ALTERNATIVE" /> <category android:name="android.intent.category.SELECTED_ALTERNATIVE" /> ... </intent-filter>
Read more about writing intent filters in the Intents and Intent Filters document.
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Last updated 2023-06-02 UTC.