Introduction

In this article I explain how to create a menu in Android. Menus are a very important user interface entity in Android that provides actions for a specific view such as shown in the following application.
In this application I will show how to code a menu in Android and how it works.
Step 1
First of all create a new Android application project as shown below:
menunew.jpg
Step 2
Now open the XML file as "res/layout/activity_main.xml" and update it as in the following code:
  1. <RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
  2. xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
  3. android:layout_width="match_parent"
  4. android:layout_height="match_parent"
  5. tools:context=".MainActivity" >
  6. <TextView
  7. android:id="@+id/textView1"
  8. android:layout_width="200dp"
  9. android:layout_height="50dp"
  10. android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
  11. android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
  12. android:layout_marginTop="170dp"
  13. android:gravity="center"
  14. android:textColor="#778866"
  15. android:background="#020202"
  16. android:text="@string/menu"
  17. android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceLarge" />
  18. </RelativeLayout>
Step 3
In this step create a new XML file named "menu.xml" using the following code:
  1. <menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >
  2. <item
  3. android:id="@+id/menu_settings"
  4. android:orderInCategory="100"
  5. android:showAsAction="never"
  6. android:title="@string/menu_settings"/>
  7. <item
  8. android:id="@+id/option"
  9. android:icon="@drawable/option_icon"
  10. android:title="Option"/>
  11. <item
  12. android:id="@+id/delete"
  13. android:icon="@drawable/delete_icon"
  14. android:title="Delete"/>
  15. <item
  16. android:id="@+id/back"
  17. android:icon="@drawable/back_icon"
  18. android:title="Back"/>
  19. </menu>
Step 4
Now open the "MainAcivity.java" file and update it with your logic.
  1. package com.example.menucreation;
  2. import android.app.Activity;
  3. import android.os.Bundle;
  4. import android.view.Menu;
  5. import android.view.MenuInflater;
  6. import android.view.MenuItem;
  7. import android.widget.Toast;
  8. public class MainActivity extends Activity {
  9. @Override
  10. public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
  11. super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
  12. setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
  13. }
  14. // Initiating Menu XML file (menu.xml)
  15. @Override
  16. public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu)
  17. {
  18. MenuInflater menuInflater = getMenuInflater();
  19. menuInflater.inflate(R.layout.menu, menu);
  20. return true;
  21. }
  22. @Override
  23. public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item)
  24. {
  25. switch (item.getItemId())
  26. {
  27. case R.id.menu_settings:
  28. Toast.makeText(this, "menu settings", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
  29. return true;
  30. case R.id.option:
  31. Toast.makeText(this, "Option is Selected", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
  32. return true;
  33. case R.id.delete:
  34. Toast.makeText(this, " deleted ", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
  35. return true;
  37. case R.id.back:
  38. Toast.makeText(this, "you are exit", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
  39. return true;
  40. default:
  41. return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
  42. }
  43. }
  44. }
Step 5
Open the "strings.xml" file and update it as given below.
  1. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
  2. <resources>
  3. <string name="app_name">MenuCreation</string>
  4. <string name="hello_world">Hello world!</string>
  5. <string name="menu_settings">Settings</string>
  6. <string name="option"></string>
  7. <string name="delete"></string>
  8. <string name="back"></string>
  9. <string name="menu">"Welcome in Menu "</string>
  10. </resources>
Step 6
Output
In the output you will see in the outer Linear Layout I defined a vertical text view, two edit texts, one button and one inner Linear Layout with two horizontal buttons inside it.
menu.jpg
Selected option:
deleted.jpg