Can I create two contextual action bars?

Question

I'm designing an editor that will have context-specific actions on two related items, for example, insert image, clear, etc. It makes sense to show both items simultaneously on a larger display. I'd rather not require the user to switch back and forth between tabs.

Is it possible and/or recommended to have two different contextual action bars to support a configuration like this?

Answer 1

Only one at a time. The contextual action bar (a.k.a., action mode) replaces the regular action bar. Since you only have one action bar, you can only have one contextual action bar at a time. Since the user is (hopefully) only working on one "context" at a time, this (hopefully) will not be a big limitation, so long as it is visually obvious what she is performing the contextual actions upon.