Android Menu – Types, Implementation and Examples

In this article, we will cover yet another exciting topic called Android Menu. Without a menu, your application seems to have more minor interactions. Android Menu is a part of your user interface and provides users with a list of available options from which they can choose. Based on their selection, the proper functionality is performed.

For example, suppose you are using a tourism app, then you would have a menu containing the options as Trains, Flights, Hotel, Support, etc.

Types of Android Menu

Let us explore the three types of menu provided by Android:

1. Android Options Menu

The options menu is usually present in the action bar. You can find several options listed in the options menu through which you can make a selection.

For example,

2. Android Popup Menu

Popup Menu is a menu that appears over your view and covers your view. Below you can find an example of the same.

3. Android Contextual Menu

Contextual Menu appears when you long-press over a view element. Its position is not fixed and usually appears just beside the element you did a long press.

For example,

Defining a Menu in XML

Android provides you with a feature to style your menu according to your needs. Let’s see a few things which would help you to design the menu layout.

You first need to create a menu directory in the res directory. After that, create a file called sample_menu.xml file in your menu directory.

Below you can find some of the essential elements of the menu.

<element>	Description
<menu>	This is the root element of your sample_menu.xml file It contains several options inside it. It can contain several other elements.
<items>	Item tag is used to define the options present in your menu.  Inside the item tag, you can have another menu tag to create a submenu. The <item> can’t exist alone, it should be present inside a <menu> tag.
<group>	You can use it to create sections in your menu. It allows you to group menu items with similar functionalities or properties.  It is an optional element but yet a useful one.

To make the above points clear, you can go through the below example.

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    <item
        android:id="@+id/new_group"
        android:title="New Group" />
    <item
        android:id="@+id/new_broad"
        android:title="New Broadcast" />
    <item
        android:id="@+id/search"
        android:title="Search" />
    <item
        android:id="@+id/settings"
        android:title="Settings" />
    <item
        android:id="@+id/account"
        android:title="Account" />
</menu>

Attributes involved in Android Menu

Like any other UI element, even the menu has some attributes to style it and provide additional functionalities. These attributes are applied to the <item> element.

Attribute Name	Description
android:id	It is used to identify the menu item uniquely.
android:icon	If you wish to show an icon as your item then you can use the icon attribute.
android:title	Whatever be the name of your option needs to be provided using the title attribute.
android:showAsAction	Using the showAsAction attribute, you need to specify when and where the option should be visible.

Implementation of Menu in Android

The implementation of the Android Menu is quite simple and just requires a bit of knowledge of XML. I hope you are clear with the above points and are ready to implement them in your Android Studio.

Step 1: Start your Android Studio, select a new project, and then provide your application with a name.

Step 2: Now, create a menu directory in your res directory. In this folder, create a file named sample_menu.xml and paste the below code there.

Code: sample_menu.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    <item
        android:id="@+id/new_group"
        android:title="New Group" />
    <item
        android:id="@+id/new_broad"
        android:title="New Broadcast" />
    <item
        android:id="@+id/search"
        android:title="Search" />
    <item
        android:id="@+id/settings"
        android:title="Settings" />
    <item
        android:id="@+id/account"
        android:title="Account" />
</menu>

Step 3: Now go back to your MainActivity.kt file and paste the code below.

Code: MainActivity.kt

package com.techvidvan.techvidvanmenu

import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity
import android.os.Bundle
import android.view.Menu
import android.view.MenuInflater
import android.view.MenuItem
import android.widget.Toast

class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity()
{
    //Kotlin Code to create options menu in android
    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)
    }

    //Overriding the onCreateOptionsMenu
    override fun onCreateOptionsMenu(menu: Menu): Boolean {
        //Creating an object of MenuInflater
        val inflater: MenuInflater = menuInflater
        //Calling the sample menu using inflater
        inflater.inflate(R.menu.sample_menu, menu)
        return true
    }

    override fun onOptionsItemSelected(item: MenuItem): Boolean {
        // Handle item selection
        return when (item.itemId) {
            //If the user chooses New Group
            R.id.new_group -> {
                Toast.makeText(this@MainActivity, "You Chose New Group", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show()
                true
            }
            //If the user chooses New Broadcast
            R.id.new_broad -> {
                Toast.makeText(this@MainActivity, "You Chose New Broadcast", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show()
                true
            }
            //If the user chooses Search option
            R.id.search -> {
                Toast.makeText(this@MainActivity, "You Chose Search", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show()
                true
            }
            //If the user chooses Settings Option
            R.id.settings -> {
                Toast.makeText(this@MainActivity, "You Chose Settings", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show()
                true
            }
            //If the user chooses Account option
            R.id.account -> {
                Toast.makeText(this@MainActivity, "You Chose Account", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show()
                true
            }

            else -> super.onOptionsItemSelected(item)
        }
    }
}

Now build your application and then run it on your device or emulator.

You can notice the three dots present in the action bar; just click on them.

You can see an available list of options. Now select the New Group option here, and you would see a toast on your screen.

Summary

Through this article, you came across Menu in Android. You saw several types of menus present in Android, along with a suitable example. Later on, you saw how you could define and style your menu. Finally, you saw an implementation of the Android Menu in a few simple steps. I hope you enjoyed the article and would develop more such menus for your apps.