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Android Menus (Options, Context, Popup)

In android, Menu is a part of user interface (UI) component which is used to handle some
common functionality around the application. By using Menus in our applications, we can
provide better and consistent user experience throughout the application.

We can use Menu APIs to represent user actions and other options in our android application
activities.

Following is the pictorial representation of using menus in android application.

In android, we can define a Menu in separate XML file and use that file in our activities or
fragments based on our requirements.

Define an Android Menu in XML File

For all menu types, Android provides a standard XML format to define menu items. Instead of
building a menu in our activity's code, we should define a menu and all its items in an XML menu
resource and load menu resource as a Menu object in our activity or fragment.

In android, to define menu, we need to create a new folder menu inside of our project resource
directory (res/menu/) and add a new XML file to build the menu with the following elements.

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 Element Description

<menu> It’s a root element to define a Menu in XML file and it will hold one or more and
elements.

<item> It is used to create a menu item and it represent a single item in menu. This element
may contain a nested <menu> element in order to create a submenu.

<group> It’s an optional and invisible for <item> elements. It is used to categorize the menu
items so they share properties such as active state and visibility.

Following is the example of defining a menu in XML file (menu_example.xml).

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:id="@+id/mail"
android:icon="@drawable/ic_mail"
android:title="@string/mail" />
<item android:id="@+id/upload"
android:icon="@drawable/ic_upload"
android:title="@string/upload"
android:showAsAction="ifRoom" />
<item android:id="@+id/share"
android:icon="@drawable/ic_share"
android:title="@string/share" />
</menu>

The <item> element in menu supports different type of attributes to define item’s behaviour
and appearance. Following are the some of commonly used <item> attributes in android
applications.

Attribute Description

android:id It is used to uniquely identify element in application.

android:icon It is used to set the item's icon from drawable folder.

android:title It is used to set the item's title

android:showAsAction It is used to specify how the item should appear as an action item in the
app bar.

In case if we want to add submenu in menu item, then we need to add a <menu> element as
the child of an <item>. Following is the example of defining a submenu in menu item.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:id="@+id/file"
android:title="@string/file" >
<!-- "file" submenu -->
<menu>
<item android:id="@+id/create_new"
android:title="@string/create_new" />
<item android:id="@+id/open"
android:title="@string/open" />
</menu>
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 </item>
</menu>

Load Android Menu from an Activity

Once we are done with creation of menu, we need to load the menu resource from
our activity using MenuInflater.inflate() like as shown below.

@Override
public void onCreateContextMenu(ContextMenu menu, View v, ContextMenuInfo
menuInfo) {
super.onCreateContextMenu(menu, v, menuInfo);
MenuInflater inflater = getMenuInflater();
inflater.inflate(R.menu.menu_example, menu);
}

If we observe above code we are calling our menu using MenuInflater.inflate() method in the
form of R.menu.menu_file_name. Here our xml file name is menu_example.xml so we used file
name menu_example.

Handle Android Menu Click Events

In android, we can handle a menu item click events using ItemSelected() event based on the
menu type. Following is the example of handling a context menu item click event
using onContextItemSelected().

@Override
public boolean onContextItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
switch (item.getItemId()) {
case R.id.mail:
// do something
return true;
case R.id.share:
// do something
return true;
default:
return super.onContextItemSelected(item);
}
}

If we observe above code, the getItemId() method will get the id of selected menu item based
on that we can perform our actions.

Android Different Types of Menus

In android, we have a three fundamental type of Menus available to define a set of options and
actions in our android applications.

Following are the commonly used Menus in android applications.

 Options Menu
 Context Menu
 Popup Menu
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Android Options Menu

In android, Options Menu is a primary collection of menu items for an activity and it is useful to
implement actions that have a global impact on the app, such as Settings, Search, etc.

Android Context Menu

In android, Context Menu is a floating menu that appears when the user performs a long click
on an element and it is useful to implement an actions that effect the selected content or context
frame.

Android Popup Menu

In android, Popup Menu displays a list of items in a vertical list that’s anchored to the view that
invoked the menu and it’s useful for providing an overflow of actions that related to specific
content.

Questions:

1. How to create “menu” in Android, what are the different items of “menu”?
2. What are the commonly used <item> attributes in android applications for “menu”?
3. How to call the method “MenuInflater.inflate()” for “menu”? Write the code.
4. What is the method to handle a menu item click events? Write the code.
5. Why to use onContextItemSelected()?