How to disable/hide three-dot indicator(Option menu indicator) on ICS handsets

Question

How to disable/hide three-dot indicator(Option menu indicator) on ICS handsets which does't have menu button. ?

I am running application as <uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion="5"/> in Manifest, code is compiled with 4.0. Three-dot indicator shows on every screen.

Example for preference activities i don't want show Three-dot indicator, since it does't have any menu options.

Adding android:targetSdkVersion="14" in manifest it works. However don't want hide/remove three dots button on all screens . Only in preference activities don't want to show this three dots button.

you should definitely read http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2012/01/say-goodbye-to-menu-button.html if you haven't already... — Mike Ellery, Feb 09 '12 at 22:40
Yes. I read about it. I still want to use overflow button on ICS handsets rather implementing action bar for short term to support users.It seem like there is no way to remove overflow button on certain screen not using this attribute "android:targetSdkVersion="14"" manifest. On preference activities overflow button shows even though there are no options. — Subba, Feb 09 '12 at 23:08
@user1198982 did you ever find a solution for this issue, I also want to remove it when there are no options? — MikeIsrael, May 16 '12 at 18:51
The right answer is given here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/17914017/android-4-3-menu-item-showasaction-always-ignored — user3817420, Feb 23 '15 at 22:56

score 34 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 30 '15 at 14:33

Override onPrepareOptionsMenu() in the fragment of the preference with this:

@Override
public boolean onPrepareOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
    MenuItem item= menu.findItem(R.id.menu_settings);
    item.setVisible(false);
    super.onPrepareOptionsMenu(menu);
    return true;
}

if you have more then one item set all the items visibility flag to false

and add the command setHasOptionsMenu(true); to the onCreate command

after you will set all the visibility of the items to false the menu will disappear

on activity, the only difference is the onPrepareOptionsMenu is boolean and you don't need to add the setHasOptionsMenu(true); command on the creation

For me, the it was `R.id.action_settings` rather than `R.id.menu_settings`. — Aman Deep Gautam, Sep 17 '15 at 17:18

score 27 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 11 '13 at 11:28

27

I just deleted the method :

@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(com.actionbarsherlock.view.Menu menu) {
    getSupportMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.main, menu);
    return true;
}

then that three-dot-menu goes away (:

Hope it helps.

answered Apr 11 '13 at 11:28

alicanbatur

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1

If you are using the Action Bar for other icons though, this will not work, as it disables all icons in the Action Bar. – Azurespot Jul 11 '14 at 03:49
if you want to use other buttons on this bar, don't delete the entire method, just comment this below statement //getSupportMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.main, menu); – sifr_dot_in Apr 24 '19 at 03:53

score 17 · Answer 3 · edited Jan 07 '16 at 12:55

17

 @Override
 public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
       return false;
 }

edited Jan 07 '16 at 12:55

Community

1
1

answered Feb 09 '15 at 10:53

dnocode

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HitOdessit · Answer 4 · 2012-10-03T05:51:41.337

There is no way to show/hide "three-dot" menu indicator for a single activity. You can hide this menu indicator only for entire app by specifying android:targetSdkVersion="14" (or above) in your manifest file.

However, this menu indicator is not showing on preferences activity if it extends from native android.preference.PreferenceActivity class. I have this scenario implemented in a few of my apps, and it works perfectly.

I assume you are using some custom preferences implementations which does not extends from PreferenceActivity. Android Dev Team suggests to always use PreferenceActivity for any preferences in your applications.

Changing the sdk should not be the answer, i guess. Sometimes, you should use certain sdks. — alicanbatur, May 28 '13 at 10:43

score 6 · Answer 5 · edited Jan 22 '17 at 21:18

6

Way too late to the party here, I was trying to remove all my menu items and the 3-dots(option menu indicator), I did differently than the solution given here I am surprised that nobody had told it. There is a visibility tag that can be set to false and no changing of code in activity is required visibility=false does the trick

in res / menu /..

<item
    android:id="@+id/action_settings"
    android:orderInCategory="100"
    android:showAsAction="never"
    visibility=false
    android:title="@string/action_settings"/>

edited Jan 22 '17 at 21:18

madhan kumar

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answered Jul 09 '15 at 05:59

Aniruddha K.M

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Worked for me – Saiful Islam Sajib Nov 01 '18 at 16:51

score 5 · Answer 6 · answered Oct 22 '14 at 21:22

5

override method and return false remember of not call super

 @Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
    return false;
}

answered Oct 22 '14 at 21:22

dnocode

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score 5 · Answer 7 · edited Mar 10 '15 at 13:19

5

Remove this item in res / menu / main.xml

<item
    android:id="@+id/action_settings"
    android:orderInCategory="100"
    android:showAsAction="never"
    android:title="@string/action_settings"/>

In addition: do not add an item that has showAsAction="never"- this will avoid the dots from showing. If you have more items than can not be shown at once the dots will be there again (and they are items that are flagged ifRoom).

edited Mar 10 '15 at 13:19

Francois

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answered Feb 05 '15 at 23:25

Weverton Souza

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14

Can you be a bit more verbose about what you're trying to say here? It's not clear how this answers the question. – Codeman Feb 05 '15 at 23:34
This is a good solution. Surprised that it is not upvoted more. The setvisible(false) solution did not work for me. Also you can add other action items as required. – everydayapps May 05 '15 at 14:28

score 4 · Answer 8 · answered Nov 13 '13 at 23:17

4

Following code worked for my app. Tried on Samsung Galaxy S4 (Android 4.3) and Nexus 4 (Android 4.2):

@Override
public boolean onPrepareOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
    MenuItem item= menu.findItem(R.id.action_settings);
    item.setVisible(false);
    return true;
}

answered Nov 13 '13 at 23:17

David T. Nguyen

81
5

But this will show menu icon once and when you tap on it twice it will go away right? or it just doesn't show up when activity loads? – NinjaCoder Dec 20 '13 at 13:42

score 3 · Answer 9 · answered Dec 15 '17 at 06:06

3

for hiding 3 dots in actionbar/ toolbar

 public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
        // Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present.
        getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.activity_dash_board_drawer, menu);
        return false;  //for visible 3 dots change to true, hiding false
    }

answered Dec 15 '17 at 06:06

Kishore Reddy

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Worked like charm :D – Ricardo F. Nov 10 '18 at 12:07

score 2 · Answer 10 · answered Jul 28 '14 at 16:28

You can actually change the Android targetVersion thus forcing the 3-dot menu to either hide or show. You need to override onCreate of your Activity like this :

@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    getApplicationInfo().targetSdkVersion = 10; // To enable the 3-dot menu call this code before super.OnCreate
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); 
}

@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    getApplicationInfo().targetSdkVersion = 14; // To disable the 3-dot menu call this code before super.OnCreate
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); 
}

Tested on Android 4.x.x and Android 3.0

This was the perfect solution for me (to get rid of the 3 dots). I used it on an older app, targeting 2.3, and it worked in the emulator with no problems. Worked on my 4.4 real device, and 2.3.3 real device as well. Thanks! — Richard, Sep 24 '15 at 00:00

score 2 · Answer 11 · edited Jun 07 '15 at 09:13

2

I just excluded the "onCreateOptionsMenu"-method:

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

edited Jun 07 '15 at 09:13

Cyphrags

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answered Apr 08 '15 at 21:36

GCoe

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score 2 · Answer 12 · answered Aug 04 '15 at 20:59

If you simply want to hide the button, this solution is a bit of a hack but works across all versions of Android (using AppCompat) and doesn't affect your other menu items:

styles.xml

<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light">
    ...
    <item name="android:actionOverflowButtonStyle">@style/AppTheme.Overflow</item>
    <!-- If you're using AppCompat, instead use -->
    <item name="actionOverflowButtonStyle">@style/AppTheme.Overflow</item>
</style>

<style name="AppTheme" />
<style name="AppTheme.Overflow">
    <item name="android:src">@null</item>
</style>

If you want the Overflow button hidden only on some screens, you could make this an alternate theme (change AppTheme above to AppTheme.NoOverflow) that only certain activities use :

AndroidManifest.xml

<activity android:name=".NoOverflowActivity"
          android:theme="@style/AppTheme.NoOverflow" >

This effectively just makes the icon have no width and height. I rarely recommend opposing design guidelines but in my scenario we used dedicated hardware that did not properly report a menu button was present.

+1! This was the only solution that allowed me to hide the overflow button but still manually open the Options menu :) Thanks! — Machine Tribe, Jan 04 '19 at 18:05

score 2 · Answer 13 · answered Feb 17 '17 at 05:24

Just want to improve @war_hero answer. If You wanna set the visibility on run time You can use oncreateoptions menu parameter like this

Menu overflow;

 @Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {

    getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.mymenu, menu);
    this.overflow = menu;
    return super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu);
}

and then make a function to show or hide any menu item according to the index. for e.g.

public void hideorShowMenuItems(boolean bool){
   overflow.getItem(1).setVisible(bool);
   overflow.getItem(2).setVisible(bool);
   overflow.getItem(3).setVisible(bool);
   overflow.getItem(4).setVisible(bool);
   overflow.getItem(5).setVisible(bool);
}

score 2 · Answer 14 · answered Apr 15 '17 at 22:59

Copy paste this code in main.xml in menu folder you just need to make the item android:visible="false"

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto">
    <item
        android:id="@+id/action_settings"
        android:orderInCategory="100"
        android:visible="false"
        android:title="@string/action_settings"
        app:showAsAction="never" />
</menu>

score 1 · Answer 15 · answered Jul 17 '15 at 09:06

1

Should be:

<item
    android:id="@+id/linearlayout_splash"
    android:orderInCategory="100"
    android:showAsAction="never"
    android:visible="false"
    android:title="@string/action_settings"/>

answered Jul 17 '15 at 09:06

Vachy

11
2

score 1 · Answer 16 · answered Apr 28 '16 at 09:58

If MainActivity is

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity

In MainActivity Class, Remove the below code.

@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);
    return true;
}

@Override
public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
    // Handle action bar item clicks here. The action bar will
    // automatically handle clicks on the Home/Up button, so long
    // as you specify a parent activity in AndroidManifest.xml.
    int id = item.getItemId();

    //noinspection SimplifiableIfStatement
    if (id == R.id.action_settings) {
        return true;
    }

    return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
}

score 0 · Answer 17 · answered Feb 08 '14 at 06:53

Do it like this.

@Override
public boolean onPrepareOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
    // if nav drawer is opened, hide the action items
    boolean drawerOpen = mDrawerLayout.isDrawerOpen(leftDrawer);
    return (!drawerOpen);
}

I am checking if my navigation drawer is visible I will hide the menu and vice versa. You can use it according to you requirement. Hope this helps. Happy Coding. :)

score 0 · Answer 18 · answered Apr 04 '14 at 21:16

This is how I find a solution of mine. It maybe helpful.

@Override
public boolean onKeyDown(int keycode, KeyEvent event ) {
    //KEYCODE_MENU
 if(keycode == KeyEvent.KEYCODE_MENU){
 /* AlertDialog.Builder dialogBuilder 
  = new AlertDialog.Builder(this)
  .setMessage("Test")
  .setTitle("Menu dialog");
  dialogBuilder.create().show();*/
  return true;

//  finish();
 }
 return super.onKeyDown(keycode,event);  
}

score 0 · Answer 19 · answered Sep 27 '14 at 13:42

0

I just used

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

Where R.menu.main is only an empty menu xml

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

answered Sep 27 '14 at 13:42

Analizer

1,594
16
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This is true, I didn't need any icons in the action bar – Analizer Nov 21 '14 at 10:13

How to disable/hide three-dot indicator(Option menu indicator) on ICS handsets

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