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Menu resource
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A menu resource defines an application menu—an options menu, context menu, or submenu—that
can be inflated with MenuInflater.
For a guide to using menus, see Add menus.
file location:
res/menu/filename.xml
The filename is used as the resource ID
compiled resource datatype:
Resource pointer to a Menu (or subclass) resource
resource reference:
In Java: R.menu.filename
In XML: @[package:]menu.filename
syntax:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
<item android:id="@[+][package:]id/resource_name"
android:title="string"
android:titleCondensed="string"
android:icon="@[package:]drawable/drawable_resource_name"
android:onClick="method name"
android:showAsAction=["ifRoom" | "never" | "withText" | "always" | "collapseActionView"]
android:actionLayout="@[package:]layout/layout_resource_name"
android:actionViewClass="class name"
android:actionProviderClass="class name"
android:alphabeticShortcut="string"
android:alphabeticModifiers=["META" | "CTRL" | "ALT" | "SHIFT" | "SYM" | "FUNCTION"]
android:numericShortcut="string"
android:numericModifiers=["META" | "CTRL" | "ALT" | "SHIFT" | "SYM" | "FUNCTION"]
android:checkable=["true" | "false"]
android:visible=["true" | "false"]
android:enabled=["true" | "false"]
android:menuCategory=["container" | "system" | "secondary" | "alternative"]
android:orderInCategory="integer" />
<group android:id="@[+][package:]id/resource name"
android:checkableBehavior=["none" | "all" | "single"]
android:visible=["true" | "false"]
android:enabled=["true" | "false"]
android:menuCategory=["container" | "system" | "secondary" | "alternative"]
android:orderInCategory="integer" >
<item />
</group>
<item >
<menu>
<item />
</menu>
</item>
</menu>
elements:
<menu>
Required. This must be the root node. Contains <item and/or
<group elements.
Attributes:
xmlns:android
XML namespace. Required. Defines the XML namespace, which
must be "http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android".
<item>
A menu item. Might contain a <menu> element (for a submenu).
Must be a child of a <menu> or <group> element.
Attributes:
android:id
Resource ID. A unique resource ID. To create a new resource ID for this item, use the form:
"@+id/name". The plus symbol indicates that this is created as a new
ID.
android:title
String resource. The menu title as a string resource or raw string.
android:titleCondensed
String resource. A condensed title as a string resource or a raw string. This
title is used for situations in which the normal title is too long.
android:icon
Drawable resource. An image to be used as the menu item icon.
android:onClick
Method name. The method to call when this menu item is clicked. The
method must be declared in the activity as public. It accepts a MenuItem as its
only parameter, which indicates the item clicked. This method takes precedence over the standard
callback to onOptionsItemSelected(). See the
example at the end of this page.
Warning: If you obfuscate your code using ProGuard or a similar tool,
be sure to exclude the method you specify in this attribute from renaming, because it can break the
functionality.
Introduced in API level 11.
android:showAsAction
Keyword. When and how this item appears as an action item in the app
bar. A menu item can appear as an action item only when the activity includes an
app bar. Valid values:
ValueDescription
ifRoomOnly place this item in the
app bar if there is room for it. If there isn't room for all
the items marked "ifRoom", the items with the lowest
orderInCategory values are displayed as actions, and
the remaining items are displayed in the overflow menu.
withTextAlso include the title text (defined
by android:title) with the action item. You can include this value along with one
of the others as a flag set by separating them with a pipe |.
neverNever place this item in the app bar. Instead, list the item in the app bar's overflow
menu.
alwaysAlways place this item in the app bar.
Avoid using this unless it's critical that the item always appear in the action
bar. Setting multiple items to always appear as action items can result in them overlapping
with other UI in the app bar.
collapseActionViewThe action view associated
with this action item (as declared by android:actionLayout or
android:actionViewClass) is
collapsible.
Introduced in API level 14.
See Add the app bar
for more information.
Introduced in API level 11.
android:actionLayout
Layout resource. A layout to use as the action view.
For more information, see Use action
views and action providers.
Introduced in API level 11.
android:actionViewClass
Class name. A fully-qualified class name for the View
to use as the action view. For example,
"android.widget.SearchView" to use SearchView as an action view.
For more information, see Use action
views and action providers.
Warning: If you obfuscate your code using ProGuard or a similar tool,
be sure to exclude the class you specify in this attribute from renaming, because it can break the
functionality.
Introduced in API level 11.
android:actionProviderClass
Class name. A fully qualified class name for the ActionProvider to use in place of the action item. For example,
"android.widget.ShareActionProvider" to use ShareActionProvider.
For more information, see Use action
views and action providers.
Warning: If you obfuscate your code using ProGuard or a similar tool,
be sure to exclude the class you specify in this attribute from renaming, because it can break the
functionality.
Introduced in API level 14.
android:alphabeticShortcut
Char. A character for the alphabetic shortcut key.
android:numericShortcut
Integer. A number for the numeric shortcut key.
android:alphabeticModifiers
Keyword. A modifier for the menu item's alphabetic
shortcut. The default value corresponds to the Control
key. Valid values:
ValueDescription
META
Corresponds to the Meta meta key.
CTRL
Corresponds to the Control meta key.
ALT
Corresponds to the Alt meta key.
SHIFT
Corresponds to the Shift meta key.
SYM
Corresponds to the Sym meta key.
FUNCTION
Corresponds to the Function meta key.
Note: You can specify multiple keywords in an
attribute. For example,
android:alphabeticModifiers="CTRL|SHIFT" indicates
that to trigger the corresponding menu item, the user needs to
press both the Control and Shift meta keys along
with the shortcut.
You can use the setAlphabeticShortcut() method to
set the attribute values programmatically. For more information
about the alphabeticModifier attribute, see
alphabeticModifiers.
android:numericModifiers
Keyword. A modifier for the menu item's numeric shortcut.
The default value corresponds to the Control key. Valid
values:
ValueDescription
META
Corresponds to the Meta meta key.
CTRL
Corresponds to the Control meta key.
ALT
Corresponds to the Alt meta key.
SHIFT
Corresponds to the Shift meta key.
SYM
Corresponds to the Sym meta key.
FUNCTION
Corresponds to the Function meta key.
Note: You can specify multiple keywords in an
attribute. For example,
android:numericModifiers="CTRL|SHIFT" indicates
that to trigger the corresponding menu item, the user needs to
press both the Control and Shift meta keys along
with the shortcut.
You can use the setNumericShortcut() method to set
the attribute values programmatically. For more information about
the numericModifier attribute, see
numericModifiers.
android:checkable
Boolean. True if the item is checkable.
android:checked
Boolean. True if the item is checked by default.
android:visible
Boolean. True if the item is visible by default.
android:enabled
Boolean. True if the item is enabled by default.
android:menuCategory
Keyword. Value corresponding to the Menu CATEGORY_*
constants, which define the item's priority. Valid values:
ValueDescription
containerFor items that are part of a
container.
systemFor items that are provided by the
system.
secondaryFor items that are user-supplied secondary
(infrequently used) options.
alternativeFor items that are alternative actions
on the data that is currently displayed.
android:orderInCategory
Integer. The order of importance of the item within a group.
<group>
A menu group, to create a collection of items that share traits, such as whether they are
visible, enabled, or selectable. Contains one or more <item> elements. Must be a
child of a <menu> element.
Attributes:
android:id
Resource ID. A unique resource ID. To create a new resource ID for this item,
use the form:
"@+id/name". The plus symbol indicates that this is created as a new
ID.
android:checkableBehavior
Keyword. The type of selectable behavior for the group. Valid values:
ValueDescription
noneNot selectable.
allAll items can be selected (use checkboxes).
singleOnly one item can be selected (use radio
buttons).
android:visible
Boolean. True if the group is visible.
android:enabled
Boolean. True if the group is enabled.
android:menuCategory
Keyword. Value corresponding to the Menu CATEGORY_*
constants, which define the group's priority. Valid values:
ValueDescription
containerFor groups that are part of a
container.
systemFor groups that are provided by the
system.
secondaryFor groups that are user-supplied secondary
(infrequently used) options.
alternativeFor groups that are alternative actions
on the data that is currently displayed.
android:orderInCategory
Integer. The default order of the items within the category.
example:
XML file saved at res/menu/example_menu.xml:
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
<item android:id="@+id/item1"
android:title="@string/item1"
android:icon="@drawable/group_item1_icon"
app:showAsAction="ifRoom|withText"/
<group android:id="@+id/group"
<item android:id="@+id/group_item1"
android:onClick="onGroupItemClick"
android:title="@string/group_item1"
android:icon="@drawable/group_item1_icon" /
<item android:id="@+id/group_item2"
android:onClick="onGroupItemClick"
android:title="@string/group_item2"
android:icon="@drawable/group_item2_icon" /
</group
<item android:id="@+id/submenu"
android:title="@string/submenu_title"
app:showAsAction="ifRoom|withText"
<menu
<item android:id="@+id/submenu_item1"
android:title="@string/submenu_item1" /
</menu
</item
</menu
The following application code inflates the menu from the onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu) callback and also declares the on-click
callback for two of the items:
Kotlin
override fun onCreateOptionsMenu(menu: Menu): Boolean {
menuInflater.inflate(R.menu.example_menu, menu)
return true
}
fun onGroupItemClick(item: MenuItem) {
// One of the group items (using the onClick attribute) was clicked.
// The item parameter passed here indicates which item it is.
// All other menu item clicks are handled by Activity.onOptionsItemSelected.
}
Java
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
MenuInflater inflater = getMenuInflater();
inflater.inflate(R.menu.example_menu, menu);
return true;
}
public void onGroupItemClick(MenuItem item) {
// One of the group items (using the onClick attribute) was clicked.
// The item parameter passed here indicates which item it is.
// All other menu item clicks are handled by Activity.onOptionsItemSelected.
}
Content and code samples on this page are subject to the licenses described in the Content License. Java and OpenJDK are trademarks or registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates.
Last updated 2026-05-18 UTC.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2026-05-18 UTC."],[],[]]
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