OpenOptionsMenu not working with ActionBarSherlock Custom SubMenu

Question

In my application, I am using ActionBarSherlock 4.4.

Since ForcedOverflow has been removed from the latest version, I used the following XML code to replicate the OverflowMenu.

<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    <item
        android:id="@+id/menu_overflow"
        android:icon="@drawable/abs__ic_menu_moreoverflow_holo_dark"
        android:orderInCategory="100"
        android:showAsAction="always">
        <menu>
            <item
                android:id="@+id/action_settings"
                android:showAsAction="never"
                android:title="@string/action_settings" />
            <item
                android:id="@+id/recycleBin"
                android:showAsAction="never"
                android:title="Recycle Bin" />
        </menu>
    </item>
</menu>

Overflow is working perfectly for me now, both for Android 4.3 and 2.3.3.

My problem :

The 2.3.3 device has a hardware Menu key. I want that when the Menu Key is pressed, the Overflow OptionsMenu should be opened.

I used the following code in Activity, but it doesn't work. (I am getting the messages in my LogCat though)

@Override
    public boolean onKeyUp(int keyCode, KeyEvent event) { 
        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT < Build.VERSION_CODES.HONEYCOMB) {
            if (event.getAction() == KeyEvent.ACTION_UP &&
                keyCode == KeyEvent.KEYCODE_MENU) {
                Log.d("HomeActivity", "OpenOptionsMenu");
                openOptionsMenu();
                return true;
            }
        }
        return super.onKeyUp(keyCode, event);
    }

I looked around a lot, and tried all suggested solutions. But nowhere anyone is talking about opening a custom overflow menu using openOptionsMenu().

Am I missing something here?

Is there a way by which I can make it seem as if the parent overflow icon item android:id="@+id/menu_overflow" has been clicked ?

It would be great if someone pointed out what I am missing out here.

Answer 1

I was having the same issue as you today. I think this is because ActionBarSherlock has its own implementation of the options menu which overrides Android's one, disabling the openOptionsMenu() method in the process. Maybe it's a bug in the library?

Anyway, I solved this by overriding onKeyUp in the activity containing the menu as follows:

@Override
public boolean onKeyUp(int keyCode, KeyEvent event) {
    if (keyCode == KeyEvent.KEYCODE_MENU) {
        View v = findViewById(R.id.YOUR_MENU_VIEW_HERE);
        v.performClick();
        return true;
    }
    return super.onKeyUp(keyCode, event);
}

Hope it helps.

Answer 2

This is how I solved the issue but Ricardo's answer works as well.

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

    @Override
    public boolean onKeyUp(int keyCode, KeyEvent event) { 
        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT < Build.VERSION_CODES.HONEYCOMB) {
            if (event.getAction() == KeyEvent.ACTION_UP &&
                    keyCode == KeyEvent.KEYCODE_MENU) {
                //openOptionsMenu();
                optionsMenu.performIdentifierAction(R.id.menu_overflow, 0);
                return true;
            }
        }
        return super.onKeyUp(keyCode, event);
    }