Скачать или смотреть How to Add a Menu Item to Your Toolbar in Android

Struggling to display menu items on your Android toolbar? Learn how to ensure your menu item appears as an icon instead of disappearing into the overflow.
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This video is based on the question https://stackoverflow.com/q/64029097/ asked by the user 'Abdulkarim' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/14137110/ ) and on the answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/64029294/ provided by the user 'Keyur Nimavat' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/6186410/ ) at 'Stack Overflow' website. Thanks to these great users and Stackexchange community for their contributions.

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Adding a Menu Item to Your Android Toolbar: A Step-by-Step Guide

If you are developing an Android application and want to enhance your user experience, adding a menu item to the toolbar is an essential aspect. However, many developers face challenges when trying to display these menu items on the toolbar. In this guide, we'll address a common issue—making sure that your menu item appears as an icon on the toolbar instead of being hidden in the overflow menu.

Understanding the Issue

Imagine you've created a toolbar in your Android application and added a menu item, but instead of showing as an icon, it only appears as three dots (the overflow menu). This can be frustrating, especially when you want a specific menu item, such as "Edit," to be easily accessible for your users.

Here's a brief summary of what often goes wrong:

Developers use MenuInflater incorrectly.

The showAsAction property is not set correctly, causing the item to hide in the overflow menu.

To resolve this, you need to ensure your code is structured correctly.

Solution: Making Your Menu Item Visible

Step 1: Define Your Menu Item

First, confirm that your menu item is correctly defined in your XML file, which looks something like this:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

showAsAction: This attribute controls the visibility of the menu item. Using ifRoom allows it to show on the toolbar if there is space.

Step 2: Correcting onCreateOptionsMenu()

This is the critical step to ensure that your menu item is displayed properly. You should avoid using new MenuInflater(), as it creates a new instance, which is not necessary. Instead, use getMenuInflater() to inflate your menu item properly.

Here’s how to modify your onCreateOptionsMenu method:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Key Changes Made:

Use getMenuInflater(): This correctly accesses the activity’s menu inflater.

Return super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu): This ensures the menu is properly created along with any associated items.

Step 3: Debugging If the Menu Still Doesn't Appear

If, after these modifications, your menu item still appears as three dots, consider the following:

Check if showAsAction is set to always: In cases where your item should always be visible, try changing it from ifRoom to always.

Review the Toolbar Height: Ensure your toolbar is tall enough to display the icons.

Look for Conflicts: Make sure there aren’t other menu items that may be taking up space or conflicting with your toolbar's layout.

Conclusion

Adding a menu item to your Android toolbar can significantly improve the functionality of your app. By following the steps outlined above, you should be able to ensure your menu item is displayed correctly.

If you face issues along the way, don't hesitate to recheck your XML definitions and the way the onCreateOptionsMenu method is implemented in your Java class. With just a few small changes, you can create an intuitive and user-friendly toolbar.

Happy coding!