Three-dot action overflow menu in actionbar?

Question

I noticed that in my app when I add a menu for new devices that dont have a hardware menu button it adds the three dots to the actionbar. However, I see on some apps that you can actually move those three dots to the bottom (on the software navigation) How can this be achieved? I am using actionbarsherlock as well if that makes a difference.

Answer 1

You can "achieve" this by setting your targetSdk below 14. I say "achieve", because this is bad practice. For devices that have software keys, as long as you're using a theme with the ActionBar, it will display the menu on the ActionBar. If you're using a theme without the ActionBar (non-Holo), it will display the three dots.

The three dots are hated.
The three dots are evil.
The three dots must. be. eradicated.

In short, I'd avoid it. :)

See also: Menu Button of Shame

Answer 2

So, turns out it's pretty simple, I recently implemented in my app.

The items that need to be shown in the overflow menu, nest them under one menu item as follows:

<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >

    <item
        android:id="@+id/empty"
        android:orderInCategory="101"
        android:showAsAction="always"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_action_overflow">

        <menu>        

            <item
                android:id="@+id/action_settings"
                android:orderInCategory="96"
                android:showAsAction="never"
                android:title="@string/menu_settings"
                android:icon="@drawable/ic_action_settings"/>

            <item
                android:id="@+id/action_share"
                android:orderInCategory="97"
                android:showAsAction="never"
                android:title="@string/menu_share"
                android:icon="@drawable/ic_action_share"/>

            <item
                android:id="@+id/action_rate"
                android:orderInCategory="98"
                android:showAsAction="never"
                android:title="@string/menu_rate"
                android:icon="@drawable/ic_action_important"/>

            <item
                android:id="@+id/action_feedback"
                android:orderInCategory="99"
                android:showAsAction="never"
                android:title="@string/menu_feedback"
                android:icon="@drawable/ic_action_edit"/>

            </menu>         
        </item>
</menu>

Now, edit the main activity file as follows:

package com.example.test;
//all your import statements go here

Menu mainMenu=null;

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {

    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); }

@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {     
// Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present.
getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.main, menu);
mainMenu=menu;
return true; }


//Menu press should open 3 dot menu
@Override
public boolean onKeyDown(int keyCode, KeyEvent event) {
    if (keyCode==KeyEvent.KEYCODE_MENU) {
        mainMenu.performIdentifierAction(R.id.empty, 0);
        return true; }
    return super.onKeyDown(keyCode, event); }