topics/ui/menus.jd

page.title=Menus
parent.title=User Interface
parent.link=index.html
@jd:body

<div id="qv-wrapper">
<div id="qv">
  <h2>In this document</h2>
<ol>
  <li><a href="#xml">Defining a Menu in XML</a></li>
  <li><a href="#options-menu">Creating an Options Menu</a>
    <ol>
      <li><a href="#RespondingOptionsMenu">Handling click events</a></li>
      <li><a href="#ChangingTheMenu">Changing menu items at runtime</a></li>
    </ol>
  </li>
  <li><a href="#context-menu">Creating Contextual Menus</a>
    <ol>
      <li><a href="#FloatingContextMenu">Creating a floating context menu</a></li>
      <li><a href="#CAB">Using the contextual action mode</a></li>
    </ol>
  </li>
  <li><a href="#PopupMenu">Creating a Popup Menu</a>
    <ol>
      <li><a href="#PopupEvents">Handling click events</a></li>
    </ol>
  </li>
  <li><a href="#groups">Creating Menu Groups</a>
    <ol>
      <li><a href="#checkable">Using checkable menu items</a></li>
    </ol>
  </li>
  <li><a href="#intents">Adding Menu Items Based on an Intent</a>
    <ol>
      <li><a href="#AllowingToAdd">Allowing your activity to be added to other menus</a></li>
    </ol>
  </li>
</ol>

  <h2>Key classes</h2>
  <ol>
    <li>{@link android.view.Menu}</li>
    <li>{@link android.view.MenuItem}</li>
    <li>{@link android.view.ContextMenu}</li>
    <li>{@link android.view.ActionMode}</li>
  </ol>

  <h2>See also</h2>
  <ol>
    <li><a href="{@docRoot}training/appbar/index.html">Adding the App Bar</a></li>
    <li><a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/resources/menu-resource.html">Menu Resource</a></li>
    <li><a
href="http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2012/01/say-goodbye-to-menu-button.html">Say
Goodbye to the Menu Button</a></li>
  </ol>
</div>
</div>

<p>Menus are a common user interface component in many types of applications. To provide a familiar
and consistent user experience, you should use the {@link android.view.Menu} APIs to present user
actions and other options in your activities.</p>

<p>Beginning with Android 3.0 (API level 11), Android-powered devices are no longer required to
provide a dedicated <em>Menu</em> 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.</p>

<p>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 {@link android.view.Menu} APIs. This
guide shows how to create the three fundamental types of menus or action presentations on all
versions of Android:</p>

<dl>
  <dt><strong>Options menu and app bar</strong></dt>
    <dd>The <a href="#options-menu">options menu</a> is the primary collection of menu items for an
activity. It's where you should place actions that have a global impact on the app, such as
"Search," "Compose email," and "Settings."
  <p>See the section about <a href="#options-menu">Creating an Options Menu</a>.</p>
    </dd>

  <dt><strong>Context menu and contextual action mode</strong></dt>

   <dd>A context menu is a <a href="#FloatingContextMenu">floating menu</a> that appears when the
user performs a long-click on an element. It provides actions that affect the selected content or
context frame.
  <p>The <a href="#CAB">contextual action mode</a> 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.</p>
  <p>See the section about <a href="#context-menu">Creating Contextual Menus</a>.</p>
</dd>

  <dt><strong>Popup menu</strong></dt>
    <dd>A popup menu displays a list of items in a vertical list that's anchored to the view that
invoked the menu. It's good for providing an overflow of actions that relate to specific content or
to provide options for a second part of a command. Actions in a popup menu should
<strong>not</strong> directly affect the corresponding content&mdash;that's what contextual actions
are for. Rather, the popup menu is for extended actions that relate to regions of content in your
activity.
  <p>See the section about <a href="#PopupMenu">Creating a Popup Menu</a>.</p>
</dd>
</dl>


<h2 id="xml">Defining a Menu in XML</h2>

<p>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 <a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/resources/menu-resource.html">menu resource</a>. You can then
inflate the menu resource (load it as a {@link android.view.Menu} object) in your activity or
fragment.</p>

<p>Using a menu resource is a good practice for a few reasons:</p>
<ul>
  <li>It's easier to visualize the menu structure in XML.</li>
  <li>It separates the content for the menu from your application's behavioral code.</li>
  <li>It allows you to create alternative menu configurations for different platform versions,
screen sizes, and other configurations by leveraging the <a
href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/resources/index.html">app resources</a> framework.</li>
</ul>

<p>To define the menu, create an XML file inside your project's <code>res/menu/</code>
directory and build the menu with the following elements:</p>
<dl>
  <dt><code>&lt;menu></code></dt>
    <dd>Defines a {@link android.view.Menu}, which is a container for menu items. A
<code>&lt;menu></code> element must be the root node for the file and can hold one or more
<code>&lt;item></code> and <code>&lt;group></code> elements.</dd>

  <dt><code>&lt;item></code></dt>
    <dd>Creates a {@link android.view.MenuItem}, which represents a single item in a menu. This
element may contain a nested <code>&lt;menu></code> element in order to create a submenu.</dd>

  <dt><code>&lt;group></code></dt>
    <dd>An optional, invisible container for {@code &lt;item&gt;} 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 <a href="#groups">Creating Menu Groups</a>.</dd>
</dl>


<p>Here's an example menu named <code>game_menu.xml</code>:</p>
<pre>
&lt;?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?&gt;
&lt;menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"&gt;
    &lt;item android:id="@+id/new_game"
          android:icon="@drawable/ic_new_game"
          android:title="@string/new_game"
          android:showAsAction="ifRoom"/&gt;
    &lt;item android:id="@+id/help"
          android:icon="@drawable/ic_help"
          android:title="@string/help" /&gt;
&lt;/menu&gt;
</pre>

<p>The <code>&lt;item></code> 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:</p>

<dl>
  <dt>{@code android:id}</dt>
    <dd>A resource ID that's unique to the item, which allows the application to recognize the item
when the user selects it.</dd>
  <dt>{@code android:icon}</dt>
    <dd>A reference to a drawable to use as the item's icon.</dd>
  <dt>{@code android:title}</dt>
    <dd>A reference to a string to use as the item's title.</dd>
  <dt>{@code android:showAsAction}</dt>
    <dd>Specifies when and how this item should appear as an action item in the
      app bar.</dd>
</dl>

<p>These are the most important attributes you should use, but there are many more available.
For information about all the supported attributes, see the <a
href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/resources/menu-resource.html">Menu Resource</a> document.</p>

<p>You can add a submenu to an item in any menu (except a submenu) by adding a {@code &lt;menu&gt;}
element as the child of an {@code &lt;item&gt;}. 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:</p>

<pre>
&lt;?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?&gt;
&lt;menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"&gt;
    &lt;item android:id="@+id/file"
          android:title="@string/file" &gt;
        &lt;!-- "file" submenu --&gt;
        &lt;menu&gt;
            &lt;item android:id="@+id/create_new"
                  android:title="@string/create_new" /&gt;
            &lt;item android:id="@+id/open"
                  android:title="@string/open" /&gt;
        &lt;/menu&gt;
    &lt;/item&gt;
&lt;/menu&gt;
</pre>

<p>To use the menu in your activity, you need to inflate the menu resource (convert the XML
resource into a programmable object) using {@link android.view.MenuInflater#inflate(int,Menu)
MenuInflater.inflate()}. In the following sections, you'll see how to inflate a menu for each
menu type.</p>


<h2 id="options-menu">Creating an Options Menu</h2>

<div class="figure" style="width:200px;margin:0">
  <img src="{@docRoot}images/options_menu.png" height="333" alt="" />
  <p class="img-caption"><strong>Figure 1.</strong> Options menu in the
Browser, on Android 2.3.</p>
</div>

<p>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."</p>

<p>Where the items in your options menu appear on the screen depends on the version for which you've
developed your application:</p>

<ul>
  <li>If you've developed your application for <strong>Android 2.3.x (API level 10) or
lower</strong>, the contents of your options menu appear at the bottom of the screen when the user
presses the <em>Menu</em> button, as shown in figure 1. When opened, the first visible portion is
the icon
menu, which holds up to six menu items. If your menu includes more than six items, Android places
the sixth item and the rest into the overflow menu, which the user can open by selecting
<em>More</em>.</li>

  <li>If you've developed your application for <strong>Android 3.0 (API level 11) and
higher</strong>, items from the options menu are available in the
app bar. By default, the system
places all items in the action overflow, which the user can reveal with the action overflow icon on
the right side of the app bar (or by pressing the device <em>Menu</em> button, if available). To
enable
quick access to important actions, you can promote a few items to appear in the app bar by adding
{@code android:showAsAction="ifRoom"} to the corresponding {@code &lt;item&gt;} elements (see figure
2). <p>For more information about action items and other app bar behaviors, see the <a
href="{@docRoot}training/appbar/index.html">Adding the App Bar</a> training class. </p>
</li>
</ul>

<img src="{@docRoot}images/ui/actionbar.png" alt="" />
<p class="img-caption"><strong>Figure 2.</strong> App bar from the <a
href="{@docRoot}resources/samples/HoneycombGallery/index.html">Honeycomb Gallery</a> app, showing
navigation tabs and a camera action item (plus the action overflow button).</p>

<p>You can declare items for the options menu from either your {@link android.app.Activity}
subclass or a {@link android.app.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 {@code android:orderInCategory}
attribute in each {@code &lt;item&gt;} you need to move.</p>

<p>To specify the options menu for an activity, override {@link
android.app.Activity#onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu) onCreateOptionsMenu()} (fragments provide their
own {@link android.app.Fragment#onCreateOptionsMenu onCreateOptionsMenu()} callback). In this
method, you can inflate your menu resource (<a href="#xml">defined in XML</a>) into the {@link
android.view.Menu} provided in the callback. For example:</p>

<pre>
&#64;Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
    MenuInflater inflater = {@link android.app.Activity#getMenuInflater()};
    inflater.inflate(R.menu.game_menu, menu);
    return true;
}
</pre>

<p>You can also add menu items using {@link android.view.Menu#add(int,int,int,int)
add()} and retrieve items with {@link android.view.Menu#findItem findItem()} to revise their
properties with {@link android.view.MenuItem} APIs.</p>

<p>If you've developed your application for Android 2.3.x and lower, the system calls {@link
android.app.Activity#onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu) 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 {@link android.app.Activity#onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu) onCreateOptionsMenu()} when
starting the activity, in order to show items to the app bar.</p>


<h3 id="RespondingOptionsMenu">Handling click events</h3>

<p>When the user selects an item from the options menu (including action items in the app bar),
the system calls your activity's {@link android.app.Activity#onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem)
onOptionsItemSelected()} method. This method passes the {@link android.view.MenuItem} selected. You
can identify the item by calling {@link android.view.MenuItem#getItemId()}, which returns the unique
ID for the menu item (defined by the {@code android:id} attribute in the menu resource or with an
integer given to the {@link android.view.Menu#add(int,int,int,int) add()} method). You can match
this ID against known menu items to perform the appropriate action. For example:</p>

<pre>
&#64;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);
    }
}
</pre>

<p>When you successfully handle a menu item, return {@code true}. If you don't handle the menu
item, you should call the superclass implementation of {@link
android.app.Activity#onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem) onOptionsItemSelected()} (the default
implementation returns false).</p>

<p>If your activity includes fragments, the system first calls {@link
android.app.Activity#onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem) onOptionsItemSelected()} for the activity then
for each fragment (in the order each fragment was added) until one returns
{@code true} or all fragments have been called.</p>

<p class="note"><strong>Tip:</strong> Android 3.0 adds the ability for you to define the on-click
behavior for a menu item in XML, using the {@code 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 {@link android.view.MenuItem} parameter&mdash;when the system
calls this method, it passes the menu item selected. For more information and an example, see the <a
href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/resources/menu-resource.html">Menu Resource</a> document.</p>

<p class="note"><strong>Tip:</strong> If your application contains multiple activities and
some of them provide the same options menu, consider creating
an activity that implements nothing except the {@link android.app.Activity#onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu)
onCreateOptionsMenu()} and {@link android.app.Activity#onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem)
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 {@link android.app.Activity#onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu)
onCreateOptionsMenu()} in that activity. Call {@code super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu)} so the
original menu items are created, then add new menu items with {@link
android.view.Menu#add(int,int,int,int) menu.add()}. You can also override the super class's
behavior for individual menu items.</p>


<h3 id="ChangingTheMenu">Changing menu items at runtime</h3>

<p>After the system calls {@link android.app.Activity#onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu)
onCreateOptionsMenu()}, it retains an instance of the {@link android.view.Menu} you populate and
will not call {@link android.app.Activity#onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu) onCreateOptionsMenu()}
again unless the menu is invalidated for some reason. However, you should use {@link
android.app.Activity#onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu) onCreateOptionsMenu()} only to create the initial
menu state and not to make changes during the activity lifecycle.</p>

<p>If you want to modify the options menu based on
events that occur during the activity lifecycle, you can do so in
the {@link android.app.Activity#onPrepareOptionsMenu(Menu) onPrepareOptionsMenu()} method. This
method passes you the {@link android.view.Menu} object as it currently exists so you can modify it,
such as add, remove, or disable items. (Fragments also provide an {@link
android.app.Fragment#onPrepareOptionsMenu onPrepareOptionsMenu()} callback.)</p>

<p>On Android 2.3.x and lower, the system calls {@link
android.app.Activity#onPrepareOptionsMenu(Menu)
onPrepareOptionsMenu()} each time the user opens the options menu (presses the <em>Menu</em>
button).</p>

<p>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 {@link android.app.Activity#invalidateOptionsMenu invalidateOptionsMenu()} to request that the
system call {@link android.app.Activity#onPrepareOptionsMenu(Menu) onPrepareOptionsMenu()}.</p>

<p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong>
You should never change items in the options menu based on the {@link android.view.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 {@link
android.view.View}, use a <a href="#context-menu">Context Menu</a>.</p>


<h2 id="context-menu">Creating Contextual Menus</h2>

<div class="figure" style="width:420px;margin-top:-1em">
  <img src="{@docRoot}images/ui/menu-context.png" alt="" />
  <p class="img-caption"><strong>Figure 3.</strong> Screenshots of a floating context menu (left)
and the contextual action bar (right).</p>
</div>

<p>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 {@link
android.widget.ListView}, {@link android.widget.GridView}, or other view collections in which
the user can perform direct actions on each item.</p>

<p>There are two ways to provide contextual actions:</p>
<ul>
  <li>In a <a href="#FloatingContextMenu">floating context menu</a>. A menu appears as a
floating list of menu items (similar to a dialog) when the user performs a long-click (press and
hold) on a view that declares support for a context menu. Users can perform a contextual
action on one item at a time.</li>

  <li>In the <a href="#CAB">contextual action mode</a>. This mode is a system implementation of
{@link android.view.ActionMode} that displays a <em>contextual action bar</em> 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).</li>
</ul>

<p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong> 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.</p>


<h3 id="FloatingContextMenu">Creating a floating context menu</h3>

<p>To provide a floating context menu:</p>
<ol>
  <li>Register the {@link android.view.View} to which the context menu should be associated by
calling {@link android.app.Activity#registerForContextMenu(View) registerForContextMenu()} and pass
it the {@link android.view.View}.
  <p>If your activity uses a {@link android.widget.ListView} or {@link android.widget.GridView} and
you want each item to provide the same context menu, register all items for a context menu by
passing the {@link android.widget.ListView} or {@link android.widget.GridView} to {@link
android.app.Activity#registerForContextMenu(View) registerForContextMenu()}.</p>
</li>

  <li>Implement the {@link
android.view.View.OnCreateContextMenuListener#onCreateContextMenu onCreateContextMenu()} method
in your {@link android.app.Activity} or {@link android.app.Fragment}.
  <p>When the registered view receives a long-click event, the system calls your {@link
android.view.View.OnCreateContextMenuListener#onCreateContextMenu onCreateContextMenu()}
method. This is where you define the menu items, usually by inflating a menu resource. For
example:</p>
<pre>
&#64;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);
}
</pre>

<p>{@link android.view.MenuInflater} allows you to inflate the context menu from a <a
href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/resources/menu-resource.html">menu resource</a>. The callback method
parameters include the {@link android.view.View}
that the user selected and a {@link android.view.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.</p>
</li>

<li>Implement {@link android.app.Activity#onContextItemSelected(MenuItem)
onContextItemSelected()}.
  <p>When the user selects a menu item, the system calls this method so you can perform the
appropriate action. For example:</p>

<pre>
&#64;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);
    }
}
</pre>

<p>The {@link android.view.MenuItem#getItemId()} method queries the ID for
the selected menu item, which you should assign to each menu item in XML using the {@code
android:id} attribute, as shown in the section about <a href="#xml">Defining a Menu in
XML</a>.</p>

<p>When you successfully handle a menu item, return {@code 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 {@code true} or {@code false} is returned. (The default
implementation for {@link android.app.Activity} and {@code android.app.Fragment} return {@code
false}, so you should always call the superclass when unhandled.)</p>
</li>
</ol>


<h3 id="CAB">Using the contextual action mode</h3>

<p>The contextual action mode is a system implementation of {@link android.view.ActionMode} that
focuses user interaction toward performing contextual actions. When a
user enables this mode by selecting an item, a <em>contextual action bar</em> 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 <em>Done</em> action on the left side of the bar.</p>

<p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong> 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.</p>

<p>For views that provide contextual actions, you should usually invoke the contextual action mode
upon one of two events (or both):</p>
<ul>
  <li>The user performs a long-click on the view.</li>
  <li>The user selects a checkbox or similar UI component within the view.</li>
</ul>

<p>How your application invokes the contextual action mode and defines the behavior for each
action depends on your design. There are basically two designs:</p>
<ul>
  <li>For contextual actions on individual, arbitrary views.</li>
  <li>For batch contextual actions on groups of items in a {@link
android.widget.ListView} or {@link android.widget.GridView} (allowing the user to select multiple
items and perform an action on them all).</li>
</ul>

<p>The following sections describe the setup required for each scenario.</p>


<h4 id="CABforViews">Enabling the contextual action mode for individual views</h4>

<p>If you want to invoke the contextual action mode only when the user selects specific
views, you should:</p>
<ol>
  <li>Implement the {@link android.view.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.</li>
  <li>Call {@link android.app.Activity#startActionMode startActionMode()} when you want to show the
bar (such as when the user long-clicks the view).</li>
</ol>

<p>For example:</p>

<ol>
  <li>Implement the {@link android.view.ActionMode.Callback ActionMode.Callback} interface:
<pre>
private ActionMode.Callback mActionModeCallback = new ActionMode.Callback() {

    // Called when the action mode is created; startActionMode() was called
    &#64;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.
    &#64;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
    &#64;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
    &#64;Override
    public void onDestroyActionMode(ActionMode mode) {
        mActionMode = null;
    }
};
</pre>

<p>Notice that these event callbacks are almost exactly the same as the callbacks for the <a
href="#options-menu">options menu</a>, except each of these also pass the {@link
android.view.ActionMode} object associated with the event. You can use {@link
android.view.ActionMode} APIs to make various changes to the CAB, such as revise the title and
subtitle with {@link android.view.ActionMode#setTitle setTitle()} and {@link
android.view.ActionMode#setSubtitle setSubtitle()} (useful to indicate how many items are
selected).</p>

<p>Also notice that the above sample sets the {@code mActionMode} variable 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.</p>
</li>

  <li>Call {@link android.app.Activity#startActionMode startActionMode()} to enable the contextual
action mode when appropriate, such as in response to a long-click on a {@link
android.view.View}:</p>

<pre>
someView.setOnLongClickListener(new View.OnLongClickListener() {
    // Called when the user long-clicks on someView
    public boolean onLongClick(View view) {
        if (mActionMode != null) {
            return false;
        }

        // Start the CAB using the ActionMode.Callback defined above
        mActionMode = getActivity().startActionMode(mActionModeCallback);
        view.setSelected(true);
        return true;
    }
});
</pre>

<p>When you call {@link android.app.Activity#startActionMode startActionMode()}, the system returns
the {@link android.view.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
{@link android.view.ActionMode} is used to ensure that the {@link android.view.ActionMode} instance
is not recreated if it's already active, by checking whether the member is null before starting the
action mode.</p>
</li>
</ol>


<h4 id="CABforListView">Enabling batch contextual actions in a ListView or GridView</h4>

<p>If you have a collection of items in a {@link android.widget.ListView} or {@link
android.widget.GridView} (or another extension of {@link android.widget.AbsListView}) and want to
allow users to perform batch actions, you should:</p>

<ul>
  <li>Implement the {@link android.widget.AbsListView.MultiChoiceModeListener} interface and set it
for the view group with {@link android.widget.AbsListView#setMultiChoiceModeListener
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 {@link android.view.ActionMode.Callback} interface.</li>

  <li>Call {@link android.widget.AbsListView#setChoiceMode setChoiceMode()} with the {@link
android.widget.AbsListView#CHOICE_MODE_MULTIPLE_MODAL} argument.</li>
</ul>

<p>For example:</p>

<pre>
ListView listView = getListView();
listView.setChoiceMode(ListView.CHOICE_MODE_MULTIPLE_MODAL);
listView.setMultiChoiceModeListener(new MultiChoiceModeListener() {

    &#64;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
    }

    &#64;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;
        }
    }

    &#64;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;
    }

    &#64;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.
    }

    &#64;Override
    public boolean onPrepareActionMode(ActionMode mode, Menu menu) {
        // Here you can perform updates to the CAB due to
        // an {@link android.view.ActionMode#invalidate} request
        return false;
    }
});
</pre>

<p>That's it. Now when the user selects an item with a long-click, the system calls the {@link
android.widget.AbsListView.MultiChoiceModeListener#onCreateActionMode onCreateActionMode()}
method and displays the contextual action bar with the specified actions. While the contextual
action bar is visible, users can select additional items.</p>

<p>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 {@link android.widget.AbsListView#setItemChecked setItemChecked()}.</p>


<h2 id="PopupMenu">Creating a Popup Menu</h2>

<div class="figure" style="width:220px">
<img src="{@docRoot}images/ui/popupmenu.png" alt="" />
<p><strong>Figure 4.</strong> A popup menu in the Gmail app, anchored to the overflow
button at the top-right.</p>
</div>

<p>A {@link android.widget.PopupMenu} is a modal menu anchored to a {@link android.view.View}.
It appears below the anchor view if there is room, or above the view otherwise. It's useful for:</p>
<ul>
  <li>Providing an overflow-style menu for actions that <em>relate to</em> specific content (such as
Gmail's email headers, shown in figure 4).
    <p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong> This is not the same as a context menu, which is
generally for actions that <em>affect</em> selected content. For actions that affect selected
content, use the <a href="#CAB">contextual action mode</a> or <a
href="#FloatingContextMenu">floating context menu</a>.</p></li>
  <li>Providing a second part of a command sentence (such as a button marked "Add"
that produces a popup menu with different "Add" options).</li>
  <li>Providing a drop-down similar to {@link android.widget.Spinner} that does not retain
a persistent selection.</li>
</ul>


<p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong> {@link android.widget.PopupMenu} is available with API
level 11 and higher.</p>

<p>If you <a href="#xml">define your menu in XML</a>, here's how you can show the popup menu:</p>
<ol>
  <li>Instantiate a {@link android.widget.PopupMenu} with its constructor, which takes the
current application {@link android.content.Context} and the {@link android.view.View} to which the
menu should be anchored.</li>
  <li>Use {@link android.view.MenuInflater} to inflate your menu resource into the {@link
android.view.Menu} object returned by {@link
android.widget.PopupMenu#getMenu() PopupMenu.getMenu()}.</li>
  <li>Call {@link android.widget.PopupMenu#show() PopupMenu.show()}.</li>
</ol>

<p>For example, here's a button with the {@link android.R.attr#onClick android:onClick} attribute
that shows a popup menu:</p>

<pre>
&lt;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" />
</pre>

<p>The activity can then show the popup menu like this:</p>

<pre>
public void showPopup(View v) {
    PopupMenu popup = new PopupMenu(this, v);
    MenuInflater inflater = popup.getMenuInflater();
    inflater.inflate(R.menu.actions, popup.getMenu());
    popup.show();
}
</pre>

<p>In API level 14 and higher, you can combine the two lines that inflate the menu with {@link
android.widget.PopupMenu#inflate PopupMenu.inflate()}.</p>

<p>The menu is dismissed when the user selects an item or touches outside the menu
area. You can listen for the dismiss event using {@link
android.widget.PopupMenu.OnDismissListener}.</p>

<h3 id="PopupEvents">Handling click events</h3>

<p>To perform an
action when the user selects a menu item, you must implement the {@link
android.widget.PopupMenu.OnMenuItemClickListener} interface and register it with your {@link
android.widget.PopupMenu} by calling {@link android.widget.PopupMenu#setOnMenuItemClickListener
setOnMenuItemclickListener()}. When the user selects an item, the system calls the {@link
android.widget.PopupMenu.OnMenuItemClickListener#onMenuItemClick onMenuItemClick()} callback in
your interface.</p>

<p>For example:</p>

<pre>
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();
}

&#64;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;
    }
}
</pre>


<h2 id="groups">Creating Menu Groups</h2>

<p>A menu group is a collection of menu items that share certain traits. With a group, you
can:</p>
<ul>
  <li>Show or hide all items with {@link android.view.Menu#setGroupVisible(int,boolean)
setGroupVisible()}</li>
  <li>Enable or disable all items with {@link android.view.Menu#setGroupEnabled(int,boolean)
setGroupEnabled()}</li>
  <li>Specify whether all items are checkable with {@link
android.view.Menu#setGroupCheckable(int,boolean,boolean) setGroupCheckable()}</li>
</ul>

<p>You can create a group by nesting {@code &lt;item&gt;} elements inside a {@code &lt;group&gt;}
element in your menu resource or by specifying a group ID with the {@link
android.view.Menu#add(int,int,int,int) add()} method.</p>

<p>Here's an example menu resource that includes a group:</p>

<pre>
&lt;?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?&gt;
&lt;menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"&gt;
    &lt;item android:id="@+id/menu_save"
          android:icon="@drawable/menu_save"
          android:title="@string/menu_save" /&gt;
    &lt;!-- menu group --&gt;
    &lt;group android:id="@+id/group_delete"&gt;
        &lt;item android:id="@+id/menu_archive"
              android:title="@string/menu_archive" /&gt;
        &lt;item android:id="@+id/menu_delete"
              android:title="@string/menu_delete" /&gt;
    &lt;/group&gt;
&lt;/menu&gt;
</pre>

<p>The items that are in the group appear at the same level as the first item&mdash;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 {@code
android:showAsAction="ifRoom"} for each item, they will either both appear in the action
bar or both appear in the action overflow.</p>


<h3 id="checkable">Using checkable menu items</h3>

<div class="figure" style="width:200px">
  <img src="{@docRoot}images/radio_buttons.png" height="333" alt="" />
  <p class="img-caption"><strong>Figure 5.</strong> Screenshot of a submenu with checkable
items.</p>
</div>

<p>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.</p>

<p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong> 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.</p>

<p>You can define the checkable behavior for individual menu items using the {@code
android:checkable} attribute in the {@code &lt;item&gt;} element, or for an entire group with
the {@code android:checkableBehavior} attribute in the {@code &lt;group&gt;} element. For
example, all items in this menu group are checkable with a radio button:</p>

<pre>
&lt;?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?&gt;
&lt;menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"&gt;
    &lt;group android:checkableBehavior="single"&gt;
        &lt;item android:id="@+id/red"
              android:title="@string/red" /&gt;
        &lt;item android:id="@+id/blue"
              android:title="@string/blue" /&gt;
    &lt;/group&gt;
&lt;/menu&gt;
</pre>

<p>The {@code android:checkableBehavior} attribute accepts either:
<dl>
  <dt>{@code single}</dt>
    <dd>Only one item from the group can be checked (radio buttons)</dd>
  <dt>{@code all}</dt>
    <dd>All items can be checked (checkboxes)</dd>
  <dt>{@code none}</dt>
    <dd>No items are checkable</dd>
</dl>

<p>You can apply a default checked state to an item using the {@code android:checked} attribute in
the {@code &lt;item&gt;} element and change it in code with the {@link
android.view.MenuItem#setChecked(boolean) setChecked()} method.</p>

<p>When a checkable item is selected, the system calls your respective item-selected callback method
(such as {@link android.app.Activity#onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem) 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 {@link android.view.MenuItem#isChecked()} and then set the checked state with
{@link android.view.MenuItem#setChecked(boolean) setChecked()}. For example:</p>

<pre>
&#64;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);
    }
}
</pre>

<p>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.</p>

<p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong>
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 <a
href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/data/data-storage.html#pref">Shared Preferences</a>.</p>


<h2 id="intents">Adding Menu Items Based on an Intent</h2>

<p>Sometimes you'll want a menu item to launch an activity using an {@link android.content.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 {@link android.app.Activity#startActivity(Intent) startActivity()} during the
appropriate on-item-selected callback method (such as the {@link
android.app.Activity#onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem) onOptionsItemSelected()} callback).</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>To add menu items based on available activities that accept an intent:</p>
<ol>
  <li>Define an
intent with the category {@link android.content.Intent#CATEGORY_ALTERNATIVE} and/or
{@link android.content.Intent#CATEGORY_SELECTED_ALTERNATIVE}, plus any other requirements.</li>
  <li>Call {@link
android.view.Menu#addIntentOptions(int,int,int,ComponentName,Intent[],Intent,int,MenuItem[])
Menu.addIntentOptions()}. Android then searches for any applications that can perform the intent
and adds them to your menu.</li>
</ol>

<p>If there are no applications installed
that satisfy the intent, then no menu items are added.</p>

<p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong>
{@link android.content.Intent#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 {@link
android.app.Activity#onCreateContextMenu(ContextMenu,View,ContextMenuInfo)
onCreateContextMenu()}.</p>

<p>For example:</p>

<pre>
&#64;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;
}</pre>

<p>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 <code>android:label</code> as the
menu item title and the application icon as the menu item icon. The
{@link android.view.Menu#addIntentOptions(int,int,int,ComponentName,Intent[],Intent,int,MenuItem[])
addIntentOptions()} method returns the number of menu items added.</p>

<p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong> When you call {@link
android.view.Menu#addIntentOptions(int,int,int,ComponentName,Intent[],Intent,int,MenuItem[])
addIntentOptions()}, it overrides any and all menu items by the menu group specified in the first
argument.</p>


<h3 id="AllowingToAdd">Allowing your activity to be added to other menus</h3>

<p>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).</p>

<p>To be included in other application menus, you need to define an intent
filter as usual, but be sure to include the {@link android.content.Intent#CATEGORY_ALTERNATIVE}
and/or {@link android.content.Intent#CATEGORY_SELECTED_ALTERNATIVE} values for the intent filter
category. For example:</p>
<pre>
&lt;intent-filter label="&#64;string/resize_image">
    ...
    &lt;category android:name="android.intent.category.ALTERNATIVE" />
    &lt;category android:name="android.intent.category.SELECTED_ALTERNATIVE" />
    ...
&lt;/intent-filter>
</pre>

<p>Read more about writing intent filters in the
<a href="/guide/components/intents-filters.html">Intents and Intent Filters</a> document.</p>

<p>For a sample application using this technique, see the
<a href="{@docRoot}resources/samples/NotePad/src/com/example/android/notepad/NoteEditor.html">Note
Pad</a> sample code.</p>