ShareActionProvider without any action bar in android

android, android-actionbar, android-intent, android-layout

Solution

You don't need an Action Bar to share content. In fact, even with an Action Bar, most apps don't use the `ShareActionProvider` because visually designers hate it and it doesn't support a lot of the latest share features on a users device (like direct sharing to contacts). Instead you should use `Intent.createChooser` to create a more robust share dialog.

Intent sendIntent = new Intent();
sendIntent.setAction(Intent.ACTION_SEND);
sendIntent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_TEXT, "This is my text to send.");
sendIntent.setType("text/plain");
startActivity(Intent.createChooser(sendIntent, getResources().getText(R.string.send_to)));

http://developer.android.com/training/sharing/send.html

An even better way to Share from anywhere in your app is to use `ShareCompat`. Here is a quick example:

ShareCompat.IntentBuilder.from(this)
           .setType("text/plain")
           .setText("I'm sharing!")
           .startChooser();

Other examples can be found here: https://android.googlesource.com/platform/development/+/master/samples/Support4Demos/src/com/example/android/supportv4/app/SharingSupport.java

Problem

I do not want an action bar in my app and still want to have that share button that is provided by the action bar. This is done when action bar is there. ``` public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) { getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.main, menu); ShareActionProvider provider = (ShareActionProvider) menu.findItem(R.id.menu_share).getActionProvider(); if (provider != null) { Intent shareIntent = new Intent(); shareIntent.setAction(Intent.ACTION_SEND); shareIntent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_TEXT, "hi"); shareIntent.setType("text/plain"); provider.setShareIntent(shareIntent); } return true; } ``` And the menu.xml is kept in menu folder. Where as I want a share button of my own in my xml where other layouts are also defined. any help?

Original source