why MenuItemCompat.getActionProvider returns null?

Question

I tried to use android.support.v7.widget.ShareActionProvider on actionbar in my app. So I followed the example from android document but got some issues.
Here's my menu xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:myapp="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto" >

    <item
        android:id="@+id/action_share"
        android:orderInCategory="100"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_action_share"
        android:title="@string/action_share"
        myapp:showAsAction="ifRoom"
        myapp:actionProviderClass="android.support.v7.widget.ShareActionProvider" />

</menu>

here's my code to create the share action button:

@Override
public void onCreateOptionsMenu (Menu menu, MenuInflater inflater) {
    inflater.inflate(R.menu.share, menu);
    MenuItem shareItem = menu.findItem(R.id.action_share);
    ShareActionProvider mShareActionProvider = (ShareActionProvider)MenuItemCompat.getActionProvider(shareItem);
    mShareActionProvider.setShareIntent(getDefaultIntent());
    super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu, inflater);
}

My question is:

MenuItemCompat.getActionProvider(shareItem) always returns null for me, why's that?
When I comment those lines, the share button appears on the bar but does nothing while clicking, how to fix it(if question 1 can't be solved)?

btw, I checked codes of MenuItemCompat.getActionProvider, it looks like this method will check if the menu item implements SupportMenuItem interface and returns fail if it isn't. How could I deal with it?

I was able to repeat the scenario where MenuItemCompat would always return null. My problem was i was using the namespace android: instead of defining a namespace such as app: or myapp:. In both scenarios I verified menu.findItem was returning an instanceof SupportMenuItem. — josh527, Oct 15 '13 at 23:42
I find the reason that I make 2 mistakes, the app theme should theme.appcompat.* which I used standard holo them, and it seems that execution of onCreateOptionsMenu in fragment is before the one in activity. — hago, Oct 17 '13 at 05:37
I already use an appcompat theme and I could not understand the relevance of your second reason. The issue remains unresolved for me. See http://stackoverflow.com/questions/24219842/getactionprovider-item-does-not-implement-supportmenuitem — faizal, Jun 15 '14 at 06:14

radistao · Answer 1 · 2015-09-16T08:11:03.887

In my case it was wrong namespace in menu.xml:

<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
      xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto">
  <item android:id="@+id/menu_item_share"
        app:actionProviderClass="android.support.v7.widget.ShareActionProvider"/>

Pay attention to app:actionProviderClass="android.support.v7.widget.ShareActionProvider": it should have

correct package (~~android.widget~~ android.support.v7.widget)
correct namespace (~~android~~ app).

Unfortunatelly, the compiler compiles it without errors, only Android Studio makes notification with underlining.

score 18 · Answer 2 · edited Aug 14 '16 at 21:05

18

If someone wants to keep progaurd on and still use the code:

ShareActionProvider mShareActionProvider = (ShareActionProvider)MenuItemCompat.getActionProvider(shareItem);

Just need to add to proguard:

-keep class android.support.v7.widget.ShareActionProvider { *; }

edited Aug 14 '16 at 21:05

ElOjcar

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answered Aug 23 '15 at 13:51

yshahak

4,996
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This is the solution which worked for me. Since Android support library is now superseded by AndroidX, I had to change it to -keep class androidx.appcompat.widget.ShareActionProvider { *; }. But any idea why is the case? Since the class is explicitly being instantiated, why would proguard remove it? I don't understand. – Abhijit Jun 15 '20 at 04:42

score 17 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 07 '14 at 14:44

Here this is the only solution that works to make ShareActionProvider not null...i use set ActionProvider instead...see the code below:

@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
    getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.messages_activity_menu, menu);
    MenuItem menuItem = menu.findItem(R.id.menu_item_share);
    shareActionProvider = new ShareActionProvider(this);
    MenuItemCompat.setActionProvider(menuItem, shareActionProvider);

    return super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu);
}

@Override
public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {

    if(item.getItemId() == R.id.menu_item_share){
        onShareAction();
    }

    return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
}

private void onShareAction(){
    // Create the share Intent
    String playStoreLink = "https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=" + getPackageName();
    String yourShareText = getResources().getString(R.string.share_text) + playStoreLink;
    Intent shareIntent = ShareCompat.IntentBuilder.from(this).setType("text/plain").setText(yourShareText).getIntent();
    // Set the share Intent
    if (shareActionProvider != null) {
        shareActionProvider.setShareIntent(shareIntent);
    }
}

and...xml

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

and other things that may be checked:

the activity has to extends ActionBarActivity:

MyActivity extends ActionBarActivity

check and use this imports:

import android.support.v4.app.ShareCompat;
import android.support.v4.view.MenuItemCompat;
import android.support.v7.app.ActionBar;
import android.support.v7.app.ActionBar.OnNavigationListener;
import android.support.v7.app.ActionBarActivity;
import android.support.v7.widget.ShareActionProvider;

In AndroidManifest.xml put this line in your activity's tag attributes:

android:theme="@style/Theme.AppCompat.Light"

If you dont know how to import v7 and v4 compatibility libraries see: http://developer.android.com/tools/support-library/setup.html

`"Here this is the only solution that works to make ShareActionProvider not null"`. Well it is not true. see my answer. — yshahak, Sep 21 '15 at 10:12
you can make it easy without extends ActionBarActivity, I changed `Intent shareIntent = ShareCompat.IntentBuilder.from(this).setType("text/plain").setText(yourShareText).getIntent();` by `Intent shareIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_SEND).putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_TEXT, yourShareText).setType("text/plain");` and it works for me — JFouad, Dec 12 '16 at 19:36

Skytile · Answer 4 · 2016-01-20T19:30:33.140

12

Make sure that your class extends AppCompatActivity instead of just Activity.

Note: Edited to reflect the updated app compat library.

edited Jan 20 '16 at 19:30

answered Oct 23 '13 at 03:40

Skytile

589
5
10

`ActionBarActivity` has now been deprecated. – ban-geoengineering Jan 05 '16 at 17:23
As above, AppCompatActivity is a better choice – EnduroDave Jan 19 '16 at 20:58

score 11 · Answer 5 · answered Sep 28 '14 at 00:52

After some reading and that includes probably some of you responses, finally this issued is solved:

Share_Menu.xml. Make sure you have a custom namespace and the actionProvider class is from that custom namespace as well as the correct value: android.support.v7.widget.ShareActionProvider

<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" xmlns:myapp="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"> <item android:id="@+id/action_share" android:title="@string/action_detail_share" myapp:showAsAction="always" myapp:actionProviderClass="android.support.v7.widget.ShareActionProvider"></item> </menu>
Detail_Activity.java
2.1. Inherit from ActionBarActivity instead of Activity
2.2. Add the correct imports

import android.support.v4.app.Fragment; import android.support.v4.view.MenuItemCompat; import android.support.v7.app.ActionBarActivity; import android.support.v7.widget.ShareActionProvider;
AndroidManifest.xml Add the android:theme="@style/Theme.AppCompat.Light"

<activity android:name=".detail_activity" android:label="@string/title_activity_detail_activity" android:theme="@style/Theme.AppCompat.Light" android:parentActivityName=".main_activity" >
Build.gradle
4.1. In my case just to stay in the safe side I turn offf ProGuard in Debug.

debug { runProguard false proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro' }

4.2. Make sure that you have the following compile section in dependencies

`compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:20.0.+'`

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Dec 27 '13 at 15:24

I had the same nullPointer probleme in my app. As @josh527 stated, I forgot to define a custom xml namespace for my application. I know it was not your probleme, but some people may reach your post like me and not see that so I just wanted to spot it ;)

score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Jan 19 '14 at 18:09

1

I had the same type of error. MenuItemCompat.getActionProvider returned null.

My problem was in ProGuard. Turning ProGuard off solved it for me.

answered Jan 19 '14 at 18:09

markussvensson

1,630
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4

No need to turn the proguard off completely, just keep the search class - https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=58508 – Nir Hartmann Mar 13 '14 at 19:15
2

Just add `-keep class android.support.v7.widget.ShareActionProvider { *; }` and `-keep class android.support.v7.widget.SearchView { *; }` and everything should work – jeff_bordon Jan 13 '15 at 21:52

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Nov 03 '14 at 11:46

0

Try to add to unit of activity

import android.support.v4.view.MenuItemCompat;

I've had the same problem and it was solution.

answered Nov 03 '14 at 11:46

Den

1

score 0 · Answer 9 · edited Jan 14 '15 at 09:01

the variable: Android.Support.V7.Widget.ShareActionProvider shareActionProvider;

this.MenuInflater.Inflate(Resource.Menu.share_action_provider, menu);
var shareItem = menu.FindItem(Resource.Id.menu_item_share_action_provider_action_bar);
MenuItemCompat.SetShowAsAction (shareItem,  MenuItemCompat.ShowAsActionIfRoom);
var actionprov = new Android.Support.V7.Widget.ShareActionProvider (this);
MenuItemCompat.SetActionProvider (shareItem, actionprov);
var test =  MenuItemCompat.GetActionProvider (shareItem);
shareActionProvider = test.JavaCast<Android.Support.V7.Widget.ShareActionProvider>();
var intent = new Intent(Intent.ActionSend);
intent.SetType("text/plain");
intent.PutExtra(Intent.ExtraText, "ActionBarCompat is Awesome! Support Lib v7 #Xamarin");
shareActionProvider.SetShareIntent (intent);
return base.OnCreateOptionsMenu(menu);

this did the trick with me... i just created my own shareactionprovider ! and i set it myself, then get it... and maybe theres some code even thats not needed.. but its a lot of casting AND MAKE SURE you use the right ones all the time, if you just type "ShareActionProvider" you are in fact using V4..! instead of V7

score 0 · Answer 10 · edited Apr 12 '16 at 16:18

You should change the declaration and definition of onCreateOptionsMenu function. you have changed the function declaration from that of the base class. this means the method is not overridden.

Try this :

@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu (Menu menu) {

    inflater.inflate(R.menu.share, menu);// declare a local layout inflater
    MenuItem shareItem = menu.findItem(R.id.action_share);
    ShareActionProvider mShareActionProvider = (ShareActionProvider)MenuItemCompat.getActionProvider(shareItem);
    mShareActionProvider.setShareIntent(getDefaultIntent());
//    super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu, inflater);   <--- Remove this line or put in the first line because base class constructor should be called in the first line of the method.

return super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu);//<-- Add this line to set the menu after adding menu items
}

score 0 · Answer 11 · answered Jun 27 '19 at 14:46

0

For Android Pie the action provider class has changed again:

app:actionProviderClass="androidx.appcompat.widget.ShareActionProvider"

answered Jun 27 '19 at 14:46

qed

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score 0 · Answer 12 · answered Jul 09 '19 at 14:47

There is another potential related problem. If your MenuItem is always present in the ActionBar, using the following code:

menuItem?.setShowAsAction(MenuItem.SHOW_AS_ACTION_ALWAYS)

the resulting Menu item won't work (it will be visible, but not enabled). There are two options, either change the ShowAsAction type or call setShareIntent directly in the onCreateOptionsMenu() function:

this@MyAwesomeActivity.runOnUiThread(java.lang.Runnable {
     actionProvider.setShareIntent(shareIntent)
})

why MenuItemCompat.getActionProvider returns null?

12 Answers12

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