Question

I am currently working on an android project and I am having a bit of a strange issue. Its probably something really simple I’m missing but can’t see what I’ve done wrong.

I’ve added a new menu item to my XML file and then I am trying to reference the new menu item to either show it or hide it. The menu item is being shown on the screen when I run the app so I know I have the XML correct and have the correct file but when I try and do findViewById it returns null.

Below is the code.

MenuItem mnuUpgrade;
    mnuUpgrade = (MenuItem)findViewById(R.id.mnu_upgrade);
            if (common.checkForProVersion())
            {
                //mnuUpgrade.setVisible(false);
            }
            else
            {
                //mnuUpgrade.setVisible(true);
            }

and below is my XML file

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >
    <item android:id="@+id/mnu_addLogin"
        android:title="New Login"
        android:icon="@android:drawable/ic_menu_add"
        android:showAsAction="always">
    </item>
    <item android:id="@+id/mnu_search"
        android:title="Search"
        android:icon="@android:drawable/ic_menu_search"
        android:showAsAction="always">
    </item>
    <item android:id="@+id/mnu_settings"
        android:title="Settings"
        android:showAsAction="ifRoom"
        android:icon="@android:drawable/ic_menu_manage">
    </item>
    <item android:id="@+id/mnu_upgrade"
        android:title="Upgrade"
        android:showAsAction="ifRoom"
        android:icon="@android:drawable/ic_menu_upload">
    </item>
    <item android:id="@+id/mnu_logout"
        android:title="Log out"
        android:showAsAction="ifRoom"
        android:icon="@android:drawable/ic_menu_close_clear_cancel">
    </item>
</menu>

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Answer 1

The findViewById can’t find a MenuItem. You can use the onPrepareOptionsMenu in your activity. It’s called when user tries to open the menu. You can try this:

@Override
public boolean onPrepareOptionsMenu (Menu menu) {
    MenuItem item = menu.getItem(3);
    // the number is the position of your "upgrade" item in the menu, starting from 0
    // then check for the pro version
    if(common.checkForProVersion()) {
        item.setVisible(false);
    } else {
        item.setVisible(true);
    }
}