How can I refresh the ActionBar when onPrepareOptionsMenu switched menu entries?

android, android-actionbar, menu

Solution

My method of choice is to create a helper class. For example:

class VersionHelper
{
    static void refreshActionBarMenu(Activity activity)
    {
        activity.invalidateOptionsMenu();
    }
}

Now in your code above, replace `invalidateOptionsMenu();` with:

if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= 11)
{
    VersionHelper.refreshActionBarMenu(this);
}

Credit for this method goes to CommonsWare (search for HoneycombHelper, and check out his books - highly recommended)

Problem

Within my apps I often enable/disable menu entries and do make them visible from onPrepareOptionsMenu. Today I started to add the android:showAsAction menu attribute to some of my Android 2.x apps to show menu entries used most on the ActionBar. The ActionBar does not reflect the enable/disable and visibility immediately. I need to click on the menu dropdown on the right to see this change happen. Ok, I do understand that the menu fires onPrepareOptionsMenu. But what do I need to do to refresh the ActionBar? I think this change needs to be applied from within onOptionsItemSelected but I don't know what I should call. Here's the menu: ``` <item android:icon="@drawable/ic_menu_mapmode" android:id="@+id/men_mapview" android:showAsAction="ifRoom|withText" android:title="@string/txt_mapview" /> <item android:icon="@drawable/ic_menu_mapmode" android:id="@+id/men_satelliteview" android:showAsAction="ifRoom|withText" android:title="@string/txt_satelliteview" /> ``` Here's the onPrepareOptionsMenu: ``` @Override public boolean onPrepareOptionsMenu(final Menu menu) { MenuItem menuItemMapView = menu.findItem(R.id.men_mapview); MenuItem menuItemSatelliteView = menu.findItem(R.id.men_satelliteview); if (mapView.isSatellite()) { menuItemMapView.setEnabled(true).setVisible(true); menuItemmenuItemSatelliteView.setEnabled(false).setVisible(false); } else { menuItemMapView.setEnabled(false).setVisible(false); menuItemmenuItemSatelliteView.setEnabled(true).setVisible(true); } return super.onPrepareOptionsMenu(menu); } ``` Here's the onOptionsItemSelected ``` @Override public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(final MenuItem menuItem) { switch (menuItem.getItemId()) { case R.id.men_mapview: mapView.setSatellite(false); mapView.setStreetView(true); mapView.invalidate(); invalidateOptionsMenu(); // This works on Android 3.x devices only return true; case R.id.men_satelliteview: mapView.setSatellite(true); mapView.setStreetView(false); mapView.invalidate(); invalidateOptionsMenu(); // This works on Android 3.x devices only return true; } return super.onOptionsItemSelected(menuItem); } ``` EDIT: If I add invalidateOptionsMenu this works on Android 3.x apps but crashes on Android 2.x devices because of a missing method. What's the recommended way to do it right?

Original source