The menu item isn't showing in the ActionBar, only in overflow menu

Question

I have exactly the same problem as in these threads:

No actions or icons showing on the actionbar; only in overflow

Menu items won't show up in the actiobar

No one has offered a solution, so I want to bring it up again.

I have a xml-file, my_menu.xml, that look like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >
    <item
        android:id="@+id/delete"
        android:showAsAction="ifRoom|withText"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_delete_image"
        android:title="delete"/>
</menu>

My activity extends ActionBarActivity and implements these methods:

@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
            getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.my_menu, menu);
            return true;
}

@Override
public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {

            switch(item.getItemId()) {
                case R.id.delete:
                    //delete something
                    break;
            }

            return(true);
}

In my book: "A value of ifRoom means that the menu item will appear in the action bar if there is space for it" - I have tested to use ifRoom, ifRoom|withText and always, but the item always ends up in the overflow menu. I have tested the application on different devices, and it's plenty of room. Do anyone have a solution to this?

Hank

Answer 1

My activity extends ActionBarActivity

As is covered in the documentation, if you are using the appcompat_v7 backport of the action bar, and its associated ActionBarActivity, your menu resource needs to have showAsAction in a namespace custom to your app:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
      xmlns:yourapp="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto" >
    <item
        android:id="@+id/delete"
        yourapp:showAsAction="ifRoom|withText"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_delete_image"
        android:title="delete"/>
</menu>

Here is a complete sample project demonstrating the use of the appcompat_v7 action bar.

Answer 2

Try changing it to

<item
        android:id="@+id/delete"
        android:showAsAction="always|withText"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_delete_image"
        android:title="delete"/>

Hope this will help you.