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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-23T12:12:00+00:00

(Android 3.0+) How would I create a Spinner for use as an Action Item

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(Android 3.0+) How would I create a Spinner for use as an Action Item for Android Honeycomb’s Action Bar? I understand that the Action Bar’s LIST mode pretty much does that, but I would like to use its TAB mode instead. Since, as far as I know, I can’t have both on at the same time, I’m trying to use the spinner as an action item instead.

Here is the java:

@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
    MenuInflater inflater = getMenuInflater();
    inflater.inflate(R.menu.spin_menu, menu);
    Spinner spin = (Spinner) findViewById(R.id.spin_widget);
    ArrayAdapter<CharSequence> spinAdaptor = ArrayAdapter.createFromResource(
         this, R.array.spinlist, android.R.layout.simple_spinner_item);
    spinAdaptor.setDropDownViewResource(android.R.layout.simple_spinner_dropdown_item);
    spin.setAdapter(spinAdaptor);
    return super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu);
}

No errors appear in eclipse, but running the program results in a force close. Any suggestions for a absolute beginner?

Update – Added logcat error severity log: (At least, that’s what I think it is)

06-27 18:36:59.496: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(493): FATAL EXCEPTION: main
06-27 18:36:59.496: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(493): java.lang.NullPointerException
06-27 18:36:59.496: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(493): at me.ics.icsActivity.onCreateOptionsMenu(icsActivity.java:84)
06-27 18:36:59.496: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(493): at android.app.Activity.onCreatePanelMenu(Activity.java:2389)
06-27 18:36:59.496: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(493): at com.android.internal.policy.impl.PhoneWindow.preparePanel(PhoneWindow.java:347)
06-27 18:36:59.496: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(493): at com.android.internal.policy.impl.PhoneWindow.invalidatePanelMenu(PhoneWindow.java:647)
06-27 18:36:59.496: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(493): at com.android.internal.policy.impl.PhoneWindow$2.run(PhoneWindow.java:2581)
06-27 18:36:59.496: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(493): at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:587)
06-27 18:36:59.496: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(493): at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:92)
06-27 18:36:59.496: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(493): at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:132)
06-27 18:36:59.496: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(493): at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4025)
06-27 18:36:59.496: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(493): at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
06-27 18:36:59.496: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(493): at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:491)
06-27 18:36:59.496: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(493): at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:841)
06-27 18:36:59.496: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(493): at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:599)
06-27 18:36:59.496: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(493): at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    My guess is that you do not have a Spinner whose android:id is R.id.spin_widget.

    If you are trying to put a Spinner as an action item, as your question states, you would not get that Spinner via findViewById(), but rather by getActionView() on the MenuItem in question. Here is a sample project demonstrating this, implemented in a way that will work on Honeycomb but also successfully skips this code on older versions of Android.

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