How to create Context Menu(Floating Menu) in Android Application

In Android application, menus are the common user interface components which gives user a dynamic user experience. The other details about menus are:

• android.view.Menu is class which provides the functionality of menu.
• Till the Android version 2.3 , dedicated menu hardware button is provided for the menu option.
• After Android version 3.0 and higher, no dedicated button is provided but instead another ways are provided according to type of menu to access the menu.
• There are three types of Menus or action used in all version of menus.
1. Option menu and action bar-It is presented by action bar as a combination of on-screen action bar and overflow options.
2. Context menu and contextual action mode-It is presented by contextual action mode for enabling the menu and selected item.
3. Pop up menu

Lets learn how to create context menu in in Android application.

• First start your eclipse and select new -> project and click next.
• Now fill with following details:
• Project name- ContextMenu
• Application name-ContextMenu
• package name-context.menu
• Minimum required SDK- select android 3.0
• tick on create custom laucher icon.
• Name the activity -Context_menu
• tick on create project in workspace.

• Now after doing this open the context_menu.xml you will see the following code.

 <RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"  
   xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"  
   android:layout_width="match_parent"  
   android:layout_height="match_parent" >  
   <TextView  
     android:layout_width="wrap_content"  
     android:layout_height="wrap_content"  
     android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"  
     android:layout_centerVertical="true"  
     android:text="@string/hello_world"  
     tools:context=".Context_menu" />  
 </RelativeLayout>  

• Just replace the codein context_menu.xml with the code given below.here we have added the grid view to the linear layout.

 <LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"  
  android:orientation="vertical"  
  android:layout_width="fill_parent"  
  android:layout_height="fill_parent"  
  >  
 <GridView  
   android:id="@+id/grid"  
   android:layout_width="fill_parent"  
   android:layout_height="fill_parent"  
   android:numColumns="2"  
   android:columnWidth="100dp"  
   android:stretchMode="columnWidth"  
   android:gravity="center"/>  
 </LinearLayout>  

• Now Open the MainActivity.java and replace the whole existing code with the given one.

 package context.menu;  
 import android.app.Activity;  
 import android.os.Bundle;  
 import android.view.ContextMenu;  
 import android.view.ContextMenu.ContextMenuInfo;  
 import android.view.MenuItem;  
 import android.view.View;  
 import android.widget.ArrayAdapter;  
 import android.widget.Toast;  
 import android.widget.GridView;  
 public class MainActivity extends Activity {  
   GridView gridView;  
   String[] listContent = {  
      "January",  
      "February",  
      "March",  
      "April",  
      "May",  
      "June",  
      "July",  
      "August",  
      "September",  
      "October",  
      "November",  
      "December"  
  };  
  /** Called when the activity is first created. */  
  @Override  
  public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {  
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);  
    setContentView(R.layout.context_menu);  
    gridView = (GridView)findViewById(R.id.grid);  
    ArrayAdapter<String> adapter= new ArrayAdapter<String>(this,  
       android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1,  
       listContent);  
    gridView.setAdapter(adapter);  
    registerForContextMenu(gridView);   
  }  
  @Override  
  public void onCreateContextMenu(ContextMenu menu, View v,ContextMenuInfo menuInfo) {  
      super.onCreateContextMenu(menu, v, menuInfo);  
           menu.setHeaderTitle("Context Menu");  
           menu.add(0, v.getId(), 0, "Action 1");  
           menu.add(0, v.getId(), 0, "Action 2");  
      }  
  @Override  
      public boolean onContextItemSelected(MenuItem item) {  
         if(item.getTitle()=="Action 1"){function1(item.getItemId());}  
       else if(item.getTitle()=="Action 2"){function2(item.getItemId());}  
       else {return false;}  
      return true;  
      }  
  public void function1(int id){  
       Toast.makeText(this, "function 1 called", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();  
  }  
  public void function2(int id){  
       Toast.makeText(this, "function 2 called", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();  
  }  
 }   

• Now in MainActivity.java we have added many lines so lets understand it:
• android.view.ContextMenu -is a extension of menus for the context menus.
• android.view.ContextMenu.ContextMenuInfo- is a interface gives additional info regarding the context menu.
• android.view.MenuItem-an interface for direct access to previously created menu item.
• android.view.View-for providing view to layout ,here grid view.
• android.widget.ArrayAdapter-it is a concrete base adapter which is backed by an array of arbitrary objects.
• android.widget.Toast-for a view containing little message for user.
• the setAdapter() method sets custom adapter as source to for all item to be displayed in the grid.
• To show context menu on long click most developer wants to callregisterForContextMenu(View) and overrideonCreateContextMenu(ContextMenu,View,ContextMenu.ContextMenu.ContextMenuInfo).
• Now after overriding the function onCreateContextMenu() we have added to menu item ie. Action1 and Action2.
• onContextItemSelected() is overrided for performing the appropriate operation.

• Now lets learn the project ,after running the project you will see the grid view(image 1)  and then put a long click on  any item, then Context Menu item will appear and  you can press any option(image 2).

image 1

image 2