openOptionsMenu function not working in ICS?

Question

Im using action bar compability library. Im trying to open the options menu from a button with openOptionsMenu() function but it does nothing.

Menu shows as usual when pressing the menu key on my phone. What is wrong here?

public class ReadActivity extends ActionBarActivity {

    ...

    @Override
    public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
        boolean value;
        MenuInflater menuInflater = getMenuInflater();
        menuInflater.inflate(R.menu.read, menu);
        value = super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu);

        if (Helper.SupportsNewApi()) {
            getActionBar().hide();
        } else {
            ((View) ((LinearLayout) findViewById(R.id.actionbar_compat))
                    .getParent()).setVisibility(View.GONE);
        }

        return value;
    }

    @Override
    public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
        switch (item.getItemId()) {
        case android.R.id.home:
            finish();
            break;
        case R.id.menu_search:
            // Toast.makeText(this, "Tapped search", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
            break;
        case R.id.menu_bookmark:
            // selectText();
            // setFullScreen(false);
            break;
        case R.id.menu_day_night_mode:
            break;
        case R.id.menu_settings:
            break;
        case R.id.menu_zoom_in:
            showOverlay(false);
            break;
        case R.id.menu_zoom_out:
            showOverlay(false);
            break;
        case R.id.menu_table_of_contents:
            Intent tocIntent = new Intent(this, TocActivity.class);
            int GET_SECTION_REFERENCE = 1;
            startActivityForResult(tocIntent, GET_SECTION_REFERENCE);
            break;
        case R.id.menu_overflow:
            Toast.makeText(this, "Tapped overflow", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();

            //closeOptionsMenu();
            openOptionsMenu(); //tried the below aswell, no results
            //getWindow().openPanel(Window.FEATURE_OPTIONS_PANEL, null);
            break;
        }
        return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
    }


    @Override //disable volume buttons
    public boolean onKeyDown(int keyCode, KeyEvent event) {
        if (!menuShown && (keyCode == 25 || keyCode == 24)) {
            return true;
        }
        return super.onKeyDown(keyCode, event);
    }

    @Override
    public boolean onKeyUp(int keyCode, KeyEvent event) {
        Log.d(tag, "Keycode is = "+keyCode);
        if (keyCode == 82) {
            if (!menuShown) {
                //openOptionsMenu();
                showOverlay(true);
            } else {
                showOverlay(false);
            }


                    //don't want it to open when pressing menu
            return true;
        } else if (keyCode == 4 && menuShown) {
            showOverlay(false);
            return true;
        } else if (keyCode == 25 && !menuShown) {
            prevPage();
            return true;
        } else if (keyCode == 24 && !menuShown) {
            nextPage();
            return true;
        }

        return super.onKeyUp(keyCode, event);
    }

}

Answer 1

To shed some light on this sad development by google. Google obviously wishes everybody to embrace the new ActionBar. They could have achieved that by making the ActionBar easier to use than the old menu system. That is however not how they planned the transition. No, they thought it would make sense to harras programmers by making the old menus impossible to use but without providing proper backward compatibility.

Below is the code taken from com.android.internal.policy.impl, which is supposed to create the optionsMenu panel. As you see, the code simply refuses to create an options Panel. Allthough, the ability is obviously there. So, to answer your question: forget it, Google doesn't want you to use that optionsPanel anymore.

 // Don't open an options panel for honeycomb apps on xlarge devices.
 // (The app should be using an action bar for menu items.)
 if (st.featureId == FEATURE_OPTIONS_PANEL) {
            Context context = getContext();
            Configuration config = context.getResources().getConfiguration();
            boolean isXLarge = (config.screenLayout & Configuration.SCREENLAYOUT_SIZE_MASK) ==
                    Configuration.SCREENLAYOUT_SIZE_XLARGE;
            boolean isHoneycombApp = context.getApplicationInfo().targetSdkVersion >=
                    android.os.Build.VERSION_CODES.HONEYCOMB;

            if (isXLarge && isHoneycombApp) {
                return;
            }
        }

Answer 2

android:targetSdkVersion="10" in manifest helped me. openOptionsMenu() works as expected now on ICS+. In addition, there is "overflow" menu button appears at the bottom of screen (on device buttons panel).

ps: I use NoTitleBar theme (NoActionBar for sdk 11 and higher) +ViewPagerIndicator by Jake Wharton.