The Titanium binding of an Android Options Menu.

Starting with Release 3.3.0, the Menu and MenuItems APIs are used to create the action items for the action bar. Action items can appear in either the action bar or the action bar's overflow menu.

To create action items with JavaScript, assign a callback function to the activity's onCreateOptionsMenu property. The activity's menu object is passed in to the onCreateOptionsMenu function when the menu is created. Use the Menu's add() method to create new action items.

In Alloy you can use <Menu> and <MenuItem> elements to create an options menu.

<Menu id="menu" platform="android">
    <!-- Cannot specify node text.  Use attributes only. -->
    <MenuItem id="saveitem" title="Save" icon="item1.png" onClick="doSave" />
    <MenuItem id="closeitem" title="Close" icon="item1.png" onClick="doClose" />
</Menu>

To switch menu items dynamically, call invalidateOptionsMenu, which causes the onCreateOptionsMenu callback to be called again.

Menus on Tab Groups

Prior to Titanium 3.0, menu items could be added to the individual windows of a tab group.

Starting in Titanium 3.0, menus must be added to tab groups using the tab group's activity. These changes were required to support the Android 3.0 action bar.

The TabGroup activity is available using TabGroup.getActivity. However, unlike a window's activity it is not currently possible to set properties on the tab group's activity before the tab group is opened. To add a menu to a tab group, set the onCreateOptionsMenu property to the tab group's open event listener, and then call invalidateOptionsMenu to force the changes to take effect.

tabGroup.addEventListener("open", function(e) {
    var activity = globals.tabs.getActivity();
    activity.onCreateOptionsMenu = function(e) {
        var menuItem = e.menu.add({
            title : "Add Task",
            showAsAction : Ti.Android.SHOW_AS_ACTION_ALWAYS,
            icon : "add_icon.png"
        });
        menuItem.addEventListener("click", function(e) {
            //
        });
    }
    activity.invalidateOptionsMenu();
});

Application Notes for Release 3.2.x and earlier

If you are using Release 3.2.x and earlier, the options menu is presented differently based on the Android version and application settings.

On Android devices prior to Android 3.0 (API level 11), the menu is always presented as an options menu, which is displayed when the Menu button is pressed.

On Android 3.0 and later, menu items can be displayed as action items in the action bar. To enable this, the application must be built with a theme that supports the action bar, such as the Holo theme. (See Android Themes in the Titanium Guides for information on setting your application's theme.)

For menu items displayed in the menu, the onCreateOptionsMenu function is called once, and the onPrepareOptionsMenu callback function is called each time the menu is opened. The onPrepareOptionsMenu function can be used to switch menu items dynamically.

Further Reading

See also:

• Menus in the Android Developer Guides.

• Action Bar in the Android Developer Guides.

• Menu in the Android Developer Reference.

Examples

Creating a Simple Menu

This sample creates an Android menu that displays a menu item named "Item 1", which logs a debug message when clicked.

If the action bar is in use, the menu item will be displayed as an action item if there is room in the action bar.

var win = Ti.UI.createWindow({
  fullscreen: true
});

var activity = win.activity;

activity.onCreateOptionsMenu = function(e){
  var menu = e.menu;
  var menuItem = menu.add({
    title: "Item 1",
    icon:  "item1.png",
    showAsAction: Ti.Android.SHOW_AS_ACTION_IF_ROOM
  });
  menuItem.addEventListener("click", function(e) {
    Ti.API.debug("I was clicked");
  });
};

win.open();

Creating a Dynamic Menu

This sample creates an Android menu that displays a menu item named "Login" or "Logout", depending on the value of a loggedIn Boolean variable. Click on the item to toggle the variable's value.

var win = Ti.UI.createWindow({
  fullscreen: true
});
var LOGIN = 1, LOGOUT = 2;
var loggedIn = false;

var activity = win.activity;

activity.onCreateOptionsMenu = function(e){
  var menu = e.menu;
  var login = menu.add({ title: "Login", itemId: LOGIN });
  login.setIcon("login.png");
  login.addEventListener("click", function(e) {
    loggedIn = true;
    // In Android 3.0 and above we need to call invalidateOptionsMenu() for menu changes at runtime
    win.activity.invalidateOptionsMenu();
  });
  var logout = menu.add({ title: "Logout", itemId: LOGOUT });
  logout.setIcon("logout.png");
  logout.addEventListener("click", function(e) {
    loggedIn = false;
    // In Android 3.0 and above we need to call invalidateOptionsMenu() for menu changes at runtime
    win.activity.invalidateOptionsMenu();
  });
};

activity.onPrepareOptionsMenu = function(e) {
  var menu = e.menu;
  menu.findItem(LOGIN).setVisible(!loggedIn);
  menu.findItem(LOGOUT).setVisible(loggedIn);
};
win.open();

Alloy XML Markup

Previous simple menu example as an Alloy view.

Due to the way menus are created in Alloy, menus created using Alloy markup are not displayed until the options menu is invalidated. To force menus (or action items) to be displayed, call invalidateOptionsMenu from the open event listener of the window or tab group where the menu is defined.

index.xml:

<Alloy>
    <!-- Create a heavyweight window to use the Android menu. -->
    <Window id="win" fullscreen="true" onOpen="doOpen">

        <!-- The Menu tag adds the Android menu. -->
        <Menu id="menu" platform="android">

            <!-- Cannot specify node text.  Use attributes only. -->
            <MenuItem id="menuItem" title="Item 1" icon="item1.png" onClick="doClick" showAsAction="Ti.Android.SHOW_AS_ACTION_IF_ROOM" />
        </Menu>

        <!-- Place additional views here -->
    </Window>
</Alloy>

index.js:

function doClick(e) {
    Ti.API.info("Menu item clicked: " + e.source.title);
}

// Ensure menu is displayed
function doOpen(e) {
    $.win.invalidateOptionsMenu();
}

• 1.5

var listener = function() { Ti.API.info("Event listener called."); }
window.addEventListener('click', listener);

window.removeEventListener('click', listener);