(#) Usage of `showAsAction=always` !!! WARNING: Usage of `showAsAction=always` This is a warning. Id : `AlwaysShowAction` Summary : Usage of `showAsAction=always` Severity : Warning Category : Usability Platform : Android Vendor : Android Open Source Project Feedback : https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/new?component=192708 Since : Initial Affects : Kotlin and Java files and resource files Editing : This check runs on the fly in the IDE editor Implementation : [Source Code](https://cs.android.com/android-studio/platform/tools/base/+/mirror-goog-studio-main:lint/libs/lint-checks/src/main/java/com/android/tools/lint/checks/AlwaysShowActionDetector.java) Tests : [Source Code](https://cs.android.com/android-studio/platform/tools/base/+/mirror-goog-studio-main:lint/libs/lint-tests/src/test/java/com/android/tools/lint/checks/AlwaysShowActionDetectorTest.java) Copyright Year : 2012 Using `showAsAction="always"` in menu XML, or `MenuItem.SHOW_AS_ACTION_ALWAYS` in Java code is usually a deviation from the user interface style guide.Use `ifRoom` or the corresponding `MenuItem.SHOW_AS_ACTION_IF_ROOM` instead. If `always` is used sparingly there are usually no problems and behavior is roughly equivalent to `ifRoom` but with preference over other `ifRoom` items. Using it more than twice in the same menu is a bad idea. This check looks for menu XML files that contain more than two `always` actions, or some `always` actions and no `ifRoom` actions. In Java code, it looks for projects that contain references to `MenuItem.SHOW_AS_ACTION_ALWAYS` and no references to `MenuItem.SHOW_AS_ACTION_IF_ROOM`. !!! Tip This lint check has an associated quickfix available in the IDE. (##) Example Here is an example of lint warnings produced by this check: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~text res/menu-land/actions.xml:6:Warning: Prefer "ifRoom" instead of "always" [AlwaysShowAction] android:showAsAction="always|collapseActionView" ------------------------------------------------ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here is the source file referenced above: `res/menu-land/actions.xml`: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~xml linenumbers <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"> <item android:id="@+id/menu_search" android:showAsAction="always|collapseActionView" android:actionViewClass="android.widget.SearchView" /> <group android:id="@+id/reader_items"> <item android:id="@+id/menu_table_of_contents" android:showAsAction="always" android:actionLayout="@layout/action_table_of_contents" /> <item android:id="@+id/menu_settings" android:showAsAction="always" /> <item android:id="@+id/menu_mode" android:showAsAction="never" /> <item android:id="@+id/menu_buy" android:showAsAction="never" /> <item android:id="@+id/menu_about" android:showAsAction="never" /> <item android:id="@+id/menu_share" android:showAsAction="never" /> <item android:id="@+id/menu_keep" android:checkable="true" android:showAsAction="never" /> <item android:id="@+id/menu_d" android:showAsAction="never" /> <item android:id="@+id/menu_help" android:showAsAction="never" /> </group> <group android:id="@+id/search_items"> <item android:id="@+id/menu_table_of_contents" android:showAsAction="always" android:actionLayout="@layout/action_table_of_contents" /> <item android:id="@+id/menu_search_exit" android:showAsAction="never" /> </group> </menu> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You can also visit the [source code](https://cs.android.com/android-studio/platform/tools/base/+/mirror-goog-studio-main:lint/libs/lint-tests/src/test/java/com/android/tools/lint/checks/AlwaysShowActionDetectorTest.java) for the unit tests for this check to see additional scenarios. The above example was automatically extracted from the first unit test found for this lint check, `AlwaysShowActionDetector.testXmlMenus`. To report a problem with this extracted sample, visit https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/new?component=192708. (##) Suppressing You can suppress false positives using one of the following mechanisms: * Adding the suppression attribute `tools:ignore="AlwaysShowAction"` on the problematic XML element (or one of its enclosing elements). You may also need to add the following namespace declaration on the root element in the XML file if it's not already there: `xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"`. * Using a suppression annotation like this on the enclosing element: ```kt // Kotlin @Suppress("AlwaysShowAction") fun method() { problematicStatement() } ``` or ```java // Java @SuppressWarnings("AlwaysShowAction") void method() { problematicStatement(); } ``` * Using a suppression comment like this on the line above: ```kt //noinspection AlwaysShowAction problematicStatement() ``` * Using a special `lint.xml` file in the source tree which turns off the check in that folder and any sub folder. A simple file might look like this: ```xml <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <lint> <issue id="AlwaysShowAction" severity="ignore" /> </lint> ``` Instead of `ignore` you can also change the severity here, for example from `error` to `warning`. You can find additional documentation on how to filter issues by path, regular expression and so on [here](https://googlesamples.github.io/android-custom-lint-rules/usage/lintxml.md.html). * In Gradle projects, using the DSL syntax to configure lint. For example, you can use something like ```gradle lintOptions { disable 'AlwaysShowAction' } ``` In Android projects this should be nested inside an `android { }` block. * For manual invocations of `lint`, using the `--ignore` flag: ``` $ lint --ignore AlwaysShowAction ...` ``` * Last, but not least, using baselines, as discussed [here](https://googlesamples.github.io/android-custom-lint-rules/usage/baselines.md.html).