How to Implement Options Menu in Android?

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, searching, deleting items, 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:

XML

<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:

XML

<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: 

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"
        android:title="message"
        app:showAsAction="always" />

    <item
        android:id="@+id/picture"
        android:icon="@android:drawable/ic_menu_gallery"
        android:title="picture"
        app:showAsAction="always|withText" />

    <item
        android:id="@+id/mode"
        android:icon="@android:drawable/ic_menu_call"
        android:title="mode"
        app:showAsAction="always" />

    <item
        android:id="@+id/about"
        android:icon="@android:drawable/ic_dialog_info"
        android:title="calculator"
        app:showAsAction="never|withText" />

    <item
        android:id="@+id/exit"
        android:title="exit"
        app:showAsAction="never" />
</menu>

Java

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));
    }
}

Kotlin

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

class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity() {
    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        setContentView(R.layout.main)
    }

    override fun onCreateOptionsMenu(menu: Menu): Boolean {
        menuInflater.inflate(R.menu.menu, menu)
        return true
    }

    override fun onOptionsItemSelected(item: MenuItem): Boolean {
        when (item.itemId) {
            R.id.message -> {
                Toast.makeText(applicationContext, "Shows share icon", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show()
                return true
            }
            R.id.picture -> {
                Toast.makeText(applicationContext, "Shows image icon", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show()
                startActivity(SPARC.i2)
                return true
            }
            R.id.mode -> {
                Toast.makeText(applicationContext, "Shows call icon", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show()
                return true
            }
            R.id.about -> {
                Toast.makeText(applicationContext, "calculator menu", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show()
                return true
            }
            R.id.exit -> {
                finish()
                return true
            }
        }
        return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item)
    }
}