page.title=Menus parent.title=User Interface parent.link=index.html @jd:body

In this document

  1. Defining a Menu in XML
  2. Creating an Options Menu
    1. Handling click events
    2. Changing menu items at runtime
  3. Creating Contextual Menus
    1. Creating a floating context menu
    2. Using the contextual action mode
  4. Creating a Popup Menu
    1. Handling click events
  5. Creating Menu Groups
    1. Using checkable menu items
  6. Adding Menu Items Based on an Intent
    1. Allowing your activity to be added to other menus

Key classes

  1. {@link android.view.Menu}
  2. {@link android.view.MenuItem}
  3. {@link android.view.ContextMenu}
  4. {@link android.view.ActionMode}

See also

  1. Adding the App Bar
  2. Menu Resource
  3. Say Goodbye to the Menu Button

Menus are a common user interface component in many types of applications. To provide a familiar and consistent user experience, you should use the {@link android.view.Menu} APIs to present user actions and other options in your activities.

Beginning with Android 3.0 (API level 11), Android-powered devices are no longer required to provide a dedicated Menu button. With this change, Android apps should migrate away from a dependence on the traditional 6-item menu panel and instead provide an app bar to present common user actions.

Although the design and user experience for some menu items have changed, the semantics to define a set of actions and options is still based on the {@link android.view.Menu} APIs. This guide shows how to create the three fundamental types of menus or action presentations on all versions of Android:

Options menu and app bar
The options menu is the primary collection of menu items for an activity. It's where you should place actions that have a global impact on the app, such as "Search," "Compose email," and "Settings."

See the section about Creating an Options Menu.

Context menu and contextual action mode
A context menu is a floating menu that appears when the user performs a long-click on an element. It provides actions that affect the selected content or context frame.

The contextual action mode displays action items that affect the selected content in a bar at the top of the screen and allows the user to select multiple items.

See the section about Creating Contextual Menus.

Popup menu
A popup menu displays a list of items in a vertical list that's anchored to the view that invoked the menu. It's good for providing an overflow of actions that relate to specific content or to provide options for a second part of a command. Actions in a popup menu should not directly affect the corresponding content—that's what contextual actions are for. Rather, the popup menu is for extended actions that relate to regions of content in your activity.

See the section about Creating a Popup Menu.

Defining a Menu in XML

For all menu types, Android provides a standard XML format to define menu items. Instead of building a menu in your activity's code, you should define a menu and all its items in an XML menu resource. You can then inflate the menu resource (load it as a {@link android.view.Menu} object) in your activity or fragment.

Using a menu resource is a good practice for a few reasons:

To define the menu, create an XML file inside your project's res/menu/ directory and build the menu with the following elements:

<menu>
Defines a {@link android.view.Menu}, which is a container for menu items. A <menu> element must be the root node for the file and can hold one or more <item> and <group> elements.
<item>
Creates a {@link android.view.MenuItem}, which represents a single item in a menu. This element may contain a nested <menu> element in order to create a submenu.
<group>
An optional, invisible container for {@code } elements. It allows you to categorize menu items so they share properties such as active state and visibility. For more information, see the section about Creating Menu Groups.

Here's an example menu named game_menu.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    <item android:id="@+id/new_game"
          android:icon="@drawable/ic_new_game"
          android:title="@string/new_game"
          android:showAsAction="ifRoom"/>
    <item android:id="@+id/help"
          android:icon="@drawable/ic_help"
          android:title="@string/help" />
</menu>

The <item> element supports several attributes you can use to define an item's appearance and behavior. The items in the above menu include the following attributes:

{@code android:id}
A resource ID that's unique to the item, which allows the application to recognize the item when the user selects it.
{@code android:icon}
A reference to a drawable to use as the item's icon.
{@code android:title}
A reference to a string to use as the item's title.
{@code android:showAsAction}
Specifies when and how this item should appear as an action item in the app bar.

These are the most important attributes you should use, but there are many more available. For information about all the supported attributes, see the Menu Resource document.

You can add a submenu to an item in any menu (except a submenu) by adding a {@code

} element as the child of an {@code }. Submenus are useful when your application has a lot of functions that can be organized into topics, like items in a PC application's menu bar (File, Edit, View, etc.). For example:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    <item android:id="@+id/file"
          android:title="@string/file" >
        <!-- "file" submenu -->
        <menu>
            <item android:id="@+id/create_new"
                  android:title="@string/create_new" />
            <item android:id="@+id/open"
                  android:title="@string/open" />
        </menu>
    </item>
</menu>

To use the menu in your activity, you need to inflate the menu resource (convert the XML resource into a programmable object) using {@link android.view.MenuInflater#inflate(int,Menu) MenuInflater.inflate()}. In the following sections, you'll see how to inflate a menu for each menu type.

Creating an Options Menu

Figure 1. Options menu in the Browser, on Android 2.3.

The options menu is where you should include actions and other options that are relevant to the current activity context, such as "Search," "Compose email," and "Settings."

Where the items in your options menu appear on the screen depends on the version for which you've developed your application:

Figure 2. App bar from the Honeycomb Gallery app, showing navigation tabs and a camera action item (plus the action overflow button).

You can declare items for the options menu from either your {@link android.app.Activity} subclass or a {@link android.app.Fragment} subclass. If both your activity and fragment(s) declare items for the options menu, they are combined in the UI. The activity's items appear first, followed by those of each fragment in the order in which each fragment is added to the activity. If necessary, you can re-order the menu items with the {@code android:orderInCategory} attribute in each {@code } you need to move.

To specify the options menu for an activity, override {@link android.app.Activity#onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu) onCreateOptionsMenu()} (fragments provide their own {@link android.app.Fragment#onCreateOptionsMenu onCreateOptionsMenu()} callback). In this method, you can inflate your menu resource (defined in XML) into the {@link android.view.Menu} provided in the callback. For example:

@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
    MenuInflater inflater = {@link android.app.Activity#getMenuInflater()};
    inflater.inflate(R.menu.game_menu, menu);
    return true;
}

You can also add menu items using {@link android.view.Menu#add(int,int,int,int) add()} and retrieve items with {@link android.view.Menu#findItem findItem()} to revise their properties with {@link android.view.MenuItem} APIs.

If you've developed your application for Android 2.3.x and lower, the system calls {@link android.app.Activity#onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu) onCreateOptionsMenu()} to create the options menu when the user opens the menu for the first time. If you've developed for Android 3.0 and higher, the system calls {@link android.app.Activity#onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu) onCreateOptionsMenu()} when starting the activity, in order to show items to the app bar.

Handling click events

When the user selects an item from the options menu (including action items in the app bar), the system calls your activity's {@link android.app.Activity#onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem) onOptionsItemSelected()} method. This method passes the {@link android.view.MenuItem} selected. You can identify the item by calling {@link android.view.MenuItem#getItemId()}, which returns the unique ID for the menu item (defined by the {@code android:id} attribute in the menu resource or with an integer given to the {@link android.view.Menu#add(int,int,int,int) add()} method). You can match this ID against known menu items to perform the appropriate action. For example:

@Override
public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
    // Handle item selection
    switch (item.getItemId()) {
        case R.id.new_game:
            newGame();
            return true;
        case R.id.help:
            showHelp();
            return true;
        default:
            return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
    }
}

When you successfully handle a menu item, return {@code true}. If you don't handle the menu item, you should call the superclass implementation of {@link android.app.Activity#onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem) onOptionsItemSelected()} (the default implementation returns false).

If your activity includes fragments, the system first calls {@link android.app.Activity#onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem) onOptionsItemSelected()} for the activity then for each fragment (in the order each fragment was added) until one returns {@code true} or all fragments have been called.

Tip: Android 3.0 adds the ability for you to define the on-click behavior for a menu item in XML, using the {@code android:onClick} attribute. The value for the attribute must be the name of a method defined by the activity using the menu. The method must be public and accept a single {@link android.view.MenuItem} parameter—when the system calls this method, it passes the menu item selected. For more information and an example, see the Menu Resource document.

Tip: If your application contains multiple activities and some of them provide the same options menu, consider creating an activity that implements nothing except the {@link android.app.Activity#onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu) onCreateOptionsMenu()} and {@link android.app.Activity#onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem) onOptionsItemSelected()} methods. Then extend this class for each activity that should share the same options menu. This way, you can manage one set of code for handling menu actions and each descendant class inherits the menu behaviors. If you want to add menu items to one of the descendant activities, override {@link android.app.Activity#onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu) onCreateOptionsMenu()} in that activity. Call {@code super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu)} so the original menu items are created, then add new menu items with {@link android.view.Menu#add(int,int,int,int) menu.add()}. You can also override the super class's behavior for individual menu items.

Changing menu items at runtime

After the system calls {@link android.app.Activity#onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu) onCreateOptionsMenu()}, it retains an instance of the {@link android.view.Menu} you populate and will not call {@link android.app.Activity#onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu) onCreateOptionsMenu()} again unless the menu is invalidated for some reason. However, you should use {@link android.app.Activity#onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu) onCreateOptionsMenu()} only to create the initial menu state and not to make changes during the activity lifecycle.

If you want to modify the options menu based on events that occur during the activity lifecycle, you can do so in the {@link android.app.Activity#onPrepareOptionsMenu(Menu) onPrepareOptionsMenu()} method. This method passes you the {@link android.view.Menu} object as it currently exists so you can modify it, such as add, remove, or disable items. (Fragments also provide an {@link android.app.Fragment#onPrepareOptionsMenu onPrepareOptionsMenu()} callback.)

On Android 2.3.x and lower, the system calls {@link android.app.Activity#onPrepareOptionsMenu(Menu) onPrepareOptionsMenu()} each time the user opens the options menu (presses the Menu button).

On Android 3.0 and higher, the options menu is considered to always be open when menu items are presented in the app bar. When an event occurs and you want to perform a menu update, you must call {@link android.app.Activity#invalidateOptionsMenu invalidateOptionsMenu()} to request that the system call {@link android.app.Activity#onPrepareOptionsMenu(Menu) onPrepareOptionsMenu()}.

Note: You should never change items in the options menu based on the {@link android.view.View} currently in focus. When in touch mode (when the user is not using a trackball or d-pad), views cannot take focus, so you should never use focus as the basis for modifying items in the options menu. If you want to provide menu items that are context-sensitive to a {@link android.view.View}, use a Context Menu.

Creating Contextual Menus

Figure 3. Screenshots of a floating context menu (left) and the contextual action bar (right).

A contextual menu offers actions that affect a specific item or context frame in the UI. You can provide a context menu for any view, but they are most often used for items in a {@link android.widget.ListView}, {@link android.widget.GridView}, or other view collections in which the user can perform direct actions on each item.

There are two ways to provide contextual actions:

Note: The contextual action mode is available on Android 3.0 (API level 11) and higher and is the preferred technique for displaying contextual actions when available. If your app supports versions lower than 3.0 then you should fall back to a floating context menu on those devices.

Creating a floating context menu

To provide a floating context menu:

  1. Register the {@link android.view.View} to which the context menu should be associated by calling {@link android.app.Activity#registerForContextMenu(View) registerForContextMenu()} and pass it the {@link android.view.View}.

    If your activity uses a {@link android.widget.ListView} or {@link android.widget.GridView} and you want each item to provide the same context menu, register all items for a context menu by passing the {@link android.widget.ListView} or {@link android.widget.GridView} to {@link android.app.Activity#registerForContextMenu(View) registerForContextMenu()}.

  2. Implement the {@link android.view.View.OnCreateContextMenuListener#onCreateContextMenu onCreateContextMenu()} method in your {@link android.app.Activity} or {@link android.app.Fragment}.

    When the registered view receives a long-click event, the system calls your {@link android.view.View.OnCreateContextMenuListener#onCreateContextMenu onCreateContextMenu()} method. This is where you define the menu items, usually by inflating a menu resource. For example:

    @Override
public void onCreateContextMenu(ContextMenu menu, View v,
                                ContextMenuInfo menuInfo) {
    super.onCreateContextMenu(menu, v, menuInfo);
    MenuInflater inflater = getMenuInflater();
    inflater.inflate(R.menu.context_menu, menu);
}

    {@link android.view.MenuInflater} allows you to inflate the context menu from a menu resource. The callback method parameters include the {@link android.view.View} that the user selected and a {@link android.view.ContextMenu.ContextMenuInfo} object that provides additional information about the item selected. If your activity has several views that each provide a different context menu, you might use these parameters to determine which context menu to inflate.

  3. Implement {@link android.app.Activity#onContextItemSelected(MenuItem) onContextItemSelected()}.

    When the user selects a menu item, the system calls this method so you can perform the appropriate action. For example:

    @Override
public boolean onContextItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
    AdapterContextMenuInfo info = (AdapterContextMenuInfo) item.getMenuInfo();
    switch (item.getItemId()) {
        case R.id.edit:
            editNote(info.id);
            return true;
        case R.id.delete:
            deleteNote(info.id);
            return true;
        default:
            return super.onContextItemSelected(item);
    }
}

    The {@link android.view.MenuItem#getItemId()} method queries the ID for the selected menu item, which you should assign to each menu item in XML using the {@code android:id} attribute, as shown in the section about Defining a Menu in XML.

    When you successfully handle a menu item, return {@code true}. If you don't handle the menu item, you should pass the menu item to the superclass implementation. If your activity includes fragments, the activity receives this callback first. By calling the superclass when unhandled, the system passes the event to the respective callback method in each fragment, one at a time (in the order each fragment was added) until {@code true} or {@code false} is returned. (The default implementation for {@link android.app.Activity} and {@code android.app.Fragment} return {@code false}, so you should always call the superclass when unhandled.)

Using the contextual action mode

The contextual action mode is a system implementation of {@link android.view.ActionMode} that focuses user interaction toward performing contextual actions. When a user enables this mode by selecting an item, a contextual action bar appears at the top of the screen to present actions the user can perform on the currently selected item(s). While this mode is enabled, the user can select multiple items (if you allow it), deselect items, and continue to navigate within the activity (as much as you're willing to allow). The action mode is disabled and the contextual action bar disappears when the user deselects all items, presses the BACK button, or selects the Done action on the left side of the bar.

Note: The contextual action bar is not necessarily associated with the app bar. They operate independently, even though the contextual action bar visually overtakes the app bar position.

For views that provide contextual actions, you should usually invoke the contextual action mode upon one of two events (or both):

How your application invokes the contextual action mode and defines the behavior for each action depends on your design. There are basically two designs:

The following sections describe the setup required for each scenario.

Enabling the contextual action mode for individual views

If you want to invoke the contextual action mode only when the user selects specific views, you should:

  1. Implement the {@link android.view.ActionMode.Callback} interface. In its callback methods, you can specify the actions for the contextual action bar, respond to click events on action items, and handle other lifecycle events for the action mode.
  2. Call {@link android.app.Activity#startActionMode startActionMode()} when you want to show the bar (such as when the user long-clicks the view).

For example:

  1. Implement the {@link android.view.ActionMode.Callback ActionMode.Callback} interface: 
    private ActionMode.Callback mActionModeCallback = new ActionMode.Callback() {

    // Called when the action mode is created; startActionMode() was called
    @Override
    public boolean onCreateActionMode(ActionMode mode, Menu menu) {
        // Inflate a menu resource providing context menu items
        MenuInflater inflater = mode.getMenuInflater();
        inflater.inflate(R.menu.context_menu, menu);
        return true;
    }

    // Called each time the action mode is shown. Always called after onCreateActionMode, but
    // may be called multiple times if the mode is invalidated.
    @Override
    public boolean onPrepareActionMode(ActionMode mode, Menu menu) {
        return false; // Return false if nothing is done
    }

    // Called when the user selects a contextual menu item
    @Override
    public boolean onActionItemClicked(ActionMode mode, MenuItem item) {
        switch (item.getItemId()) {
            case R.id.menu_share:
                shareCurrentItem();
                mode.finish(); // Action picked, so close the CAB
                return true;
            default:
                return false;
        }
    }

    // Called when the user exits the action mode
    @Override
    public void onDestroyActionMode(ActionMode mode) {
        mActionMode = null;
    }
};

    Notice that these event callbacks are almost exactly the same as the callbacks for the options menu, except each of these also pass the {@link android.view.ActionMode} object associated with the event. You can use {@link android.view.ActionMode} APIs to make various changes to the CAB, such as revise the title and subtitle with {@link android.view.ActionMode#setTitle setTitle()} and {@link android.view.ActionMode#setSubtitle setSubtitle()} (useful to indicate how many items are selected).

    Also notice that the above sample sets the {@code mActionMode} variable null when the action mode is destroyed. In the next step, you'll see how it's initialized and how saving the member variable in your activity or fragment can be useful.

  2. Call {@link android.app.Activity#startActionMode startActionMode()} to enable the contextual action mode when appropriate, such as in response to a long-click on a {@link android.view.View}:

    someView.setOnLongClickListener(new View.OnLongClickListener() {
    // Called when the user long-clicks on someView
    public boolean onLongClick(View view) {
        if (mActionMode != null) {
            return false;
        }

        // Start the CAB using the ActionMode.Callback defined above
        mActionMode = getActivity().startActionMode(mActionModeCallback);
        view.setSelected(true);
        return true;
    }
});

    When you call {@link android.app.Activity#startActionMode startActionMode()}, the system returns the {@link android.view.ActionMode} created. By saving this in a member variable, you can make changes to the contextual action bar in response to other events. In the above sample, the {@link android.view.ActionMode} is used to ensure that the {@link android.view.ActionMode} instance is not recreated if it's already active, by checking whether the member is null before starting the action mode.

Enabling batch contextual actions in a ListView or GridView

If you have a collection of items in a {@link android.widget.ListView} or {@link android.widget.GridView} (or another extension of {@link android.widget.AbsListView}) and want to allow users to perform batch actions, you should:

For example:

ListView listView = getListView();
listView.setChoiceMode(ListView.CHOICE_MODE_MULTIPLE_MODAL);
listView.setMultiChoiceModeListener(new MultiChoiceModeListener() {

    @Override
    public void onItemCheckedStateChanged(ActionMode mode, int position,
                                          long id, boolean checked) {
        // Here you can do something when items are selected/de-selected,
        // such as update the title in the CAB
    }

    @Override
    public boolean onActionItemClicked(ActionMode mode, MenuItem item) {
        // Respond to clicks on the actions in the CAB
        switch (item.getItemId()) {
            case R.id.menu_delete:
                deleteSelectedItems();
                mode.finish(); // Action picked, so close the CAB
                return true;
            default:
                return false;
        }
    }

    @Override
    public boolean onCreateActionMode(ActionMode mode, Menu menu) {
        // Inflate the menu for the CAB
        MenuInflater inflater = mode.getMenuInflater();
        inflater.inflate(R.menu.context, menu);
        return true;
    }

    @Override
    public void onDestroyActionMode(ActionMode mode) {
        // Here you can make any necessary updates to the activity when
        // the CAB is removed. By default, selected items are deselected/unchecked.
    }

    @Override
    public boolean onPrepareActionMode(ActionMode mode, Menu menu) {
        // Here you can perform updates to the CAB due to
        // an {@link android.view.ActionMode#invalidate} request
        return false;
    }
});

That's it. Now when the user selects an item with a long-click, the system calls the {@link android.view.ActionMode.Callback#onCreateActionMode onCreateActionMode()} method and displays the contextual action bar with the specified actions. While the contextual action bar is visible, users can select additional items.

In some cases in which the contextual actions provide common action items, you might want to add a checkbox or a similar UI element that allows users to select items, because they might not discover the long-click behavior. When a user selects the checkbox, you can invoke the contextual action mode by setting the respective list item to the checked state with {@link android.widget.AbsListView#setItemChecked setItemChecked()}.

Creating a Popup Menu

Figure 4. A popup menu in the Gmail app, anchored to the overflow button at the top-right.

A {@link android.widget.PopupMenu} is a modal menu anchored to a {@link android.view.View}. It appears below the anchor view if there is room, or above the view otherwise. It's useful for:

Note: {@link android.widget.PopupMenu} is available with API level 11 and higher.

If you define your menu in XML, here's how you can show the popup menu:

  1. Instantiate a {@link android.widget.PopupMenu} with its constructor, which takes the current application {@link android.content.Context} and the {@link android.view.View} to which the menu should be anchored.
  2. Use {@link android.view.MenuInflater} to inflate your menu resource into the {@link android.view.Menu} object returned by {@link android.widget.PopupMenu#getMenu() PopupMenu.getMenu()}.
  3. Call {@link android.widget.PopupMenu#show() PopupMenu.show()}.

For example, here's a button with the {@link android.R.attr#onClick android:onClick} attribute that shows a popup menu:

<ImageButton
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:src="@drawable/ic_overflow_holo_dark"
    android:contentDescription="@string/descr_overflow_button"
    android:onClick="showPopup" />

The activity can then show the popup menu like this:

public void showPopup(View v) {
    PopupMenu popup = new PopupMenu(this, v);
    MenuInflater inflater = popup.getMenuInflater();
    inflater.inflate(R.menu.actions, popup.getMenu());
    popup.show();
}

In API level 14 and higher, you can combine the two lines that inflate the menu with {@link android.widget.PopupMenu#inflate PopupMenu.inflate()}.

The menu is dismissed when the user selects an item or touches outside the menu area. You can listen for the dismiss event using {@link android.widget.PopupMenu.OnDismissListener}.

Handling click events

To perform an action when the user selects a menu item, you must implement the {@link android.widget.PopupMenu.OnMenuItemClickListener} interface and register it with your {@link android.widget.PopupMenu} by calling {@link android.widget.PopupMenu#setOnMenuItemClickListener setOnMenuItemclickListener()}. When the user selects an item, the system calls the {@link android.widget.PopupMenu.OnMenuItemClickListener#onMenuItemClick onMenuItemClick()} callback in your interface.

For example:

public void showMenu(View v) {
    PopupMenu popup = new PopupMenu(this, v);

    // This activity implements OnMenuItemClickListener
    popup.setOnMenuItemClickListener(this);
    popup.inflate(R.menu.actions);
    popup.show();
}

@Override
public boolean onMenuItemClick(MenuItem item) {
    switch (item.getItemId()) {
        case R.id.archive:
            archive(item);
            return true;
        case R.id.delete:
            delete(item);
            return true;
        default:
            return false;
    }
}

Creating Menu Groups

A menu group is a collection of menu items that share certain traits. With a group, you can:

You can create a group by nesting {@code } elements inside a {@code } element in your menu resource or by specifying a group ID with the {@link android.view.Menu#add(int,int,int,int) add()} method.

Here's an example menu resource that includes a group:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    <item android:id="@+id/menu_save"
          android:icon="@drawable/menu_save"
          android:title="@string/menu_save" />
    <!-- menu group -->
    <group android:id="@+id/group_delete">
        <item android:id="@+id/menu_archive"
              android:title="@string/menu_archive" />
        <item android:id="@+id/menu_delete"
              android:title="@string/menu_delete" />
    </group>
</menu>

The items that are in the group appear at the same level as the first item—all three items in the menu are siblings. However, you can modify the traits of the two items in the group by referencing the group ID and using the methods listed above. The system will also never separate grouped items. For example, if you declare {@code android:showAsAction="ifRoom"} for each item, they will either both appear in the action bar or both appear in the action overflow.

Using checkable menu items

Figure 5. Screenshot of a submenu with checkable items.

A menu can be useful as an interface for turning options on and off, using a checkbox for stand-alone options, or radio buttons for groups of mutually exclusive options. Figure 5 shows a submenu with items that are checkable with radio buttons.

Note: Menu items in the Icon Menu (from the options menu) cannot display a checkbox or radio button. If you choose to make items in the Icon Menu checkable, you must manually indicate the checked state by swapping the icon and/or text each time the state changes.

You can define the checkable behavior for individual menu items using the {@code android:checkable} attribute in the {@code } element, or for an entire group with the {@code android:checkableBehavior} attribute in the {@code } element. For example, all items in this menu group are checkable with a radio button:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    <group android:checkableBehavior="single">
        <item android:id="@+id/red"
              android:title="@string/red" />
        <item android:id="@+id/blue"
              android:title="@string/blue" />
    </group>
</menu>

The {@code android:checkableBehavior} attribute accepts either:

{@code single}
Only one item from the group can be checked (radio buttons)
{@code all}
All items can be checked (checkboxes)
{@code none}
No items are checkable

You can apply a default checked state to an item using the {@code android:checked} attribute in the {@code } element and change it in code with the {@link android.view.MenuItem#setChecked(boolean) setChecked()} method.

When a checkable item is selected, the system calls your respective item-selected callback method (such as {@link android.app.Activity#onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem) onOptionsItemSelected()}). It is here that you must set the state of the checkbox, because a checkbox or radio button does not change its state automatically. You can query the current state of the item (as it was before the user selected it) with {@link android.view.MenuItem#isChecked()} and then set the checked state with {@link android.view.MenuItem#setChecked(boolean) setChecked()}. For example:

@Override
public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
    switch (item.getItemId()) {
        case R.id.vibrate:
        case R.id.dont_vibrate:
            if (item.isChecked()) item.setChecked(false);
            else item.setChecked(true);
            return true;
        default:
            return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
    }
}

If you don't set the checked state this way, then the visible state of the item (the checkbox or radio button) will not change when the user selects it. When you do set the state, the activity preserves the checked state of the item so that when the user opens the menu later, the checked state that you set is visible.

Note: Checkable menu items are intended to be used only on a per-session basis and not saved after the application is destroyed. If you have application settings that you would like to save for the user, you should store the data using Shared Preferences.

Adding Menu Items Based on an Intent

Sometimes you'll want a menu item to launch an activity using an {@link android.content.Intent} (whether it's an activity in your application or another application). When you know the intent you want to use and have a specific menu item that should initiate the intent, you can execute the intent with {@link android.app.Activity#startActivity(Intent) startActivity()} during the appropriate on-item-selected callback method (such as the {@link android.app.Activity#onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem) onOptionsItemSelected()} callback).

However, if you are not certain that the user's device contains an application that handles the intent, then adding a menu item that invokes it can result in a non-functioning menu item, because the intent might not resolve to an activity. To solve this, Android lets you dynamically add menu items to your menu when Android finds activities on the device that handle your intent.

To add menu items based on available activities that accept an intent:

  1. Define an intent with the category {@link android.content.Intent#CATEGORY_ALTERNATIVE} and/or {@link android.content.Intent#CATEGORY_SELECTED_ALTERNATIVE}, plus any other requirements.
  2. Call {@link android.view.Menu#addIntentOptions(int,int,int,ComponentName,Intent[],Intent,int,MenuItem[]) Menu.addIntentOptions()}. Android then searches for any applications that can perform the intent and adds them to your menu.

If there are no applications installed that satisfy the intent, then no menu items are added.

Note: {@link android.content.Intent#CATEGORY_SELECTED_ALTERNATIVE} is used to handle the currently selected element on the screen. So, it should only be used when creating a Menu in {@link android.app.Activity#onCreateContextMenu(ContextMenu,View,ContextMenuInfo) onCreateContextMenu()}.

For example:

@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu){
    super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu);

    // Create an Intent that describes the requirements to fulfill, to be included
    // in our menu. The offering app must include a category value of Intent.CATEGORY_ALTERNATIVE.
    Intent intent = new Intent(null, dataUri);
    intent.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_ALTERNATIVE);

    // Search and populate the menu with acceptable offering applications.
    menu.addIntentOptions(
         R.id.intent_group,  // Menu group to which new items will be added
         0,      // Unique item ID (none)
         0,      // Order for the items (none)
         this.getComponentName(),   // The current activity name
         null,   // Specific items to place first (none)
         intent, // Intent created above that describes our requirements
         0,      // Additional flags to control items (none)
         null);  // Array of MenuItems that correlate to specific items (none)

    return true;
}

For each activity found that provides an intent filter matching the intent defined, a menu item is added, using the value in the intent filter's android:label as the menu item title and the application icon as the menu item icon. The {@link android.view.Menu#addIntentOptions(int,int,int,ComponentName,Intent[],Intent,int,MenuItem[]) addIntentOptions()} method returns the number of menu items added.

Note: When you call {@link android.view.Menu#addIntentOptions(int,int,int,ComponentName,Intent[],Intent,int,MenuItem[]) addIntentOptions()}, it overrides any and all menu items by the menu group specified in the first argument.

Allowing your activity to be added to other menus

You can also offer the services of your activity to other applications, so your application can be included in the menu of others (reverse the roles described above).

To be included in other application menus, you need to define an intent filter as usual, but be sure to include the {@link android.content.Intent#CATEGORY_ALTERNATIVE} and/or {@link android.content.Intent#CATEGORY_SELECTED_ALTERNATIVE} values for the intent filter category. For example:

<intent-filter label="@string/resize_image">
    ...
    <category android:name="android.intent.category.ALTERNATIVE" />
    <category android:name="android.intent.category.SELECTED_ALTERNATIVE" />
    ...
</intent-filter>

Read more about writing intent filters in the Intents and Intent Filters document.

For a sample application using this technique, see the Note Pad sample code.