How to implement Options Menu in Android

Last Updated : 14 Feb, 2020

In android, there are three types of Menus available to define a set of options and actions in our android applications.

The Menus in android applications are the following:

Android Options Menu
Android Context Menu
Android Popup Menu

Android Option Menus are the primary menus of android. They can be used for settings, search, delete item etc. When and how this item should appear as an action item in the app bar is decided by the Show Action attribute. The values that can be given for the showAsAction attribute:

always: This ensures that the menu will always show in the action bar.
Syntax:
```
app:showAsAction="always"
```
Example:
<item
        android:id="@+id/message"
        android:icon="@android:drawable/ic_menu_send"
        app:showAsAction="always"
        android:title="message"
/>
never: This means that the menu will never show, and therefore will be available through the overflow menu
Syntax:
```
app:showAsAction="never"
```
Example:
<item
        android:id="@+id/exit"
        app:showAsAction="never"
        android:title="exit"/>

Below is the complete code for implementing the Options Menu in Android is given below:

activity_main.xml

<menu 
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools" 
    tools:context=".MainActivity">
  
    <item
        android:id="@+id/message" 
        android:icon="@android:drawable/ic_menu_send" 
        app:showAsAction="always"   
        android:title="message"/>
  
    <item
        android:id="@+id/picture" 
        android:icon="@android:drawable/ic_menu_gallery" 
        app:showAsAction="always|withText" 
        android:title="picture"/>
  
    <item
        android:id="@+id/mode" 
        android:icon="@android:drawable/ic_menu_call" 
        app:showAsAction="always" 
        android:title="mode"/>
  
    <item
        android:id="@+id/about"
        android:icon="@android:drawable/ic_dialog_info" 
        app:showAsAction="never|withText"
        android:title="calculator"/>
  
    <item
        android:id="@+id/exit"
        app:showAsAction="never"
        android:title="exit"/>
</menu>

MainActivity.java

package com.example.menu;
  
import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.Menu;
import android.view.MenuItem;
import android.widget.Toast;
  
import static android.widget.Toast.LENGTH_LONG;
  
public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
  
    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)
    {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.main);
    }
  
    public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu)
    {
        getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.menu, menu);
        return true;
    }
  
    public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item)
    {
        switch (item.getItemId()) {
        case R.id.message:
            Toast
                .makeText(
                    getApplicationContext(),
                    "Shows share icon",
                    Toast.LENGTH_SHORT)
                .show();
            return true;
  
        case R.id.picture:
            Toast
                .makeText(
                    getApplicationContext(),
                    "Shows image icon",
                    Toast.LENGTH_SHORT)
                .show();
            startActivity(i2);
            return (true);
  
        case R.id.mode:
            Toast
                .makeText(
                    getApplicationContext(),
                    "Shows call icon",
                    Toast.LENGTH_SHORT)
                .show();
            return (true);
  
        case R.id.about:
            Toast
                .makeText(
                    getApplicationContext(),
                    "calculator menu",
                    Toast.LENGTH_SHORT)
                .show();
            return (true);
  
        case R.id.exit:
            finish();
            return (true);
        }
        return (super.onOptionsItemSelected(item));
    }
}