Is it just me, or do Hudl's not have a functional MENU button?

[Guest Lister Of Smeg]

Hi All,

Since Google deemed it worthy to remove physical buttons on our lovely Android devices (thankfully my phone still has them), in favour of virtual keys that take precious sceen space up.... :( lol

Has anyone else noticed the Menu button on our Hudl's dont fuction like they do on other devices...??

See here: http://www.whatsapp.com/faq/android/21228643  for what I mean.



Under previous devices, holding this button down would bring up the Settings for that App.... However I am yet to find this on Hudl, just keeps bringing up Recents!!

Cheers, Lister

[Guest hippy dave]

The three dots, as seen on the right of your image, appear somewhere when the app has menu options.

[Guest Lister Of Smeg]

Hi HippyDave,

Thanks for the prompt reply, yeah I did know about those being an option too...

However, I also thought (certainly with other devices) that the second in from the right, under the letter Andro_i_d also acted as a Menu button... As I've tried a couple of Launchers, namely the Tesco one and other from the Store, and normally you can press that to get to the Menu. Only these Launchers dont seem to have 3... (dots) that I can see. And so just wondered if I was missing something?

I see the dots in some Apps though, so at least that'll work for those... :)

Thanks, Lister

[Guest hippy dave]

I don't know, I guess you must be right about other devices, but my only other android gadget is a phone with a hardware menu button :) If an app doesn't have the three dots tho, then there's no menu to open, so the button wouldn't do anything anyway. Edit: not sure about launchers tho, hmm.

Edited October 30, 2013 by hippy dave

[Guest Michealtbh]

3 dots only appear on the nav bar on poorly coded or old apps, I haven't seen it in any apps in a long time, it's not a common occurrence

[Guest SifJar]

If you really need or want it, http://repo.xposed.info/module/it.tnx.xposednavbarmod

It should automatically appear when needed though.

[Guest Lister Of Smeg]

Hi SifJar,

Ah, thats interesting... May give that a shot actually as I already have Xposed installed on this Tablet (tweaks for mum) so one more wont hurt ;) lol

See if the dots/menu comes back on Apps, like Launchers...

 

Thanks, Lister

[Guest SifJar]

On a little further reading, it seems like this is something different, and doesn't actually make the 3-dot button appear in the nav bar like I thought at first. Probably not useful to you after all. Apologies.

[Guest gwladys]

Whether or not the soft menu button (the 3 dots) appears in the action bar depends on the build options of the running app. If the programmer who wrote it set the android:targetSdkVersion to 10 or less, then the button will be present.

[Guest SifJar]

Found another module that might be applicable: http://repo.xposed.info/module/com.spazedog.xposed.additionsgb

 

This one allows you to remap each button, including long press. So you should be able to map long press app switcher button > menu button. Not 100% sure if it works with soft keys as well as hardware keys, but I can't see anything to say it shouldn't.

 

If this does work, it should give you exactly what you're looking for.

 

Whether or not the soft menu button (the 3 dots) appears in the action bar depends on the build options of the running app. If the programmer who wrote it set the android:targetSdkVersion to 10 or less, then the button will be present.

Yeah, but the OP wants to have a way of pressing a "menu" button regardless of the build options, and that's what this thread is about. I mistakenly thought the first module I suggested forced the 3 dots button to appear at all times (i.e. by ignoring the targetSdkVersion property, or by overwriting it to 10 for all apps or something). That wasn't exactly what the OP wanted though, whereas the module I suggest in this post should make the device act as described in the OP.

 

EDIT: @OP: BTW, from the looks of that WhatsApp help page, holding the app switcher button on devices with soft keys never triggers the menu. That's talking about devices with hardware keys, but no menu key. ;)

Edited October 30, 2013 by SifJar

[Guest Lister Of Smeg]

Hi All,

Apologies for the delay getting back.... But yes, SifJar is correct... I am just always use to Android devices (especially the older ones) and certainly with the software I use to always have access to Settings via a Menu button...

It took me a while to figure out where Google had moved it, when I used my HP Touchpad (running WebOS, and Android, and Ubuntu) of which of course has how hardware buttons. And so in Android they are emulated via the softbuttons in the OS. It was only after researching that thankfully I came across the WhatsApp website that explained how to now bring back Menu button via soft-button.

Hence the example of that website....

However, all other devices/Android versions, whether it be hardware or software buttons, all Apps I use (especially Launchers) always have a Settings screen that you can get too....

And so I found it odd that the Tesco-Launcher does not have such a feature. So you can't choose how many screens, icons, and so on... It is what it is.... :( lol

However, I have replaced it with Go Launcher HD now, and all seems fine... Has a Menu button top right (not 3x dots either, has its own weird one???? lol)

But yeah just found it odd that the soft-key that Google has now mapped to in every other device/software, doesnt apply to The Hudl....

Thanks for all your input and help, to the guys who contributed...

Lister

[Guest SifJar]

But yeah just found it odd that the soft-key that Google has now mapped to in every other device/software, doesnt apply to The Hudl....

I don't think it is that way in other devices though. I have never encountered long-pressing the app switcher button to trigger the menu. As I mentioned above, it looks like that is only on devices with hardware keys. On all devices with soft-keys, the 3-dot menu button will appear in the nav bar if and when required, so there is no need for any other method of triggering the menu.