Xamarin Mobile Development for Android Cookbook

Adding action bar action items

The fundamental purpose of an action bar, besides navigation, is to present the user with a set of actions that can be performed.

How to do it...

By simply using the action bar, all the action items are added to the overflow:

1. The XML for ActionBar items is exactly the same as the options menu:

   <menu ... >
     <item
       android:id="@+id/action_refresh"
       android:icon="@drawable/ic_action_refresh"
       android:title="@string/action_refresh"/>
   </menu>

However, we can customize what items are displayed, and how they are displayed:

1. To add action items with images to the actual ActionBar property, as well as more complex items, all that is needed is an attribute in the XML, showAsAction:

   <menu ... xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto" ...