Android action bar not showing overflow

Question

I have an action bar in my app with 3 items.

Only 2 can be displayed due to space issues, so I'd expect the first to be displayed and the rest to be displayed in the overflow. However in practice only the first 2 items are shown and there is no overflow detectable.

Here is the relevant code: list_menu.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" > <item android:id="@+id/menu_insert"     android:icon="@android:drawable/ic_menu_add"     android:title="@string/menu_insert"      android:showAsAction="ifRoom|withText"/> <item android:id="@+id/menu_call"     android:icon="@android:drawable/ic_menu_call"     android:title="@string/menu_call"      android:showAsAction="ifRoom|withText"/> <item android:id="@+id/menu_agenda"     android:icon="@android:drawable/ic_menu_agenda"     android:title="@string/menu_agenda"      android:showAsAction="ifRoom|withText"/> </menu> 

Activity.java

public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {     MenuInflater mi = getMenuInflater();     mi.inflate(R.menu.list_menu, menu);     return true; } 

Answer 1

If you want to show the three dots, irrespective of device menu button! then you can call this method in your application class' 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) {         Log.d(TAG, e.getLocalizedMessage());     } } 

Answer 2

Output

res/menu/menu.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >      <!-- Search / will display always -->     <item         android:id="@+id/action_search"         android:icon="@drawable/ic_action_search"         android:showAsAction="always"         android:title="@string/action_search"/>      <!-- Location Found -->     <item         android:id="@+id/action_location_found"         android:icon="@drawable/ic_action_location_found"         android:showAsAction="always"         android:title="@string/action_location_found"/>      <!-- More -->     <item         android:id="@+id/a_More"         android:icon="@drawable/ic_action_overflow"         android:showAsAction="always"         android:title="More">         <menu>              <!-- Refresh -->             <item                 android:id="@+id/action_refresh"                 android:icon="@drawable/ic_action_refresh"                 android:showAsAction="never"                 android:title="@string/action_refresh"/>              <!-- Help -->             <item                 android:id="@+id/action_help"                 android:icon="@drawable/ic_action_help"                 android:showAsAction="never"                 android:title="@string/action_help"/>              <!-- Check updates -->             <item                 android:id="@+id/action_check_updates"                 android:icon="@drawable/ic_action_refresh"                 android:showAsAction="never"                 android:title="@string/action_check_updates"/>         </menu>     </item>  </menu> 

MainActivity.java

public class MainActivity extends Activity {      @Override     protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {         super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);         setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);     }        @Override     public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {         // Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present.         MenuInflater inflater = getMenuInflater();         inflater.inflate(R.menu.menu, menu);           return super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu);     }  } 

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