How to change the background color of the options menu

Question

I m trying to change the default color for the options menu which is white  I want a black background for every item on the options menu   I ve tried some shoots like android itemBackground   000000  on the item element within the menu element but it didn t work   How can I accomplish this

User · Answer

If you want to set an arbitrary color  this seem to work rather well for androidx  Tested on KitKat and Pie  Put this into your AppCompatActivity    Override public View onCreateView View parent  String name  Context context  AttributeSet attrs        if  name equals  androidx appcompat view menu ListMenuItemView    amp  amp              parent getParent   instanceof FrameLayout                  View  parent getParent    setBackgroundColor yourFancyColor             return super onCreateView parent  name  context  attrs       This sets the color of android widget PopupWindow PopupBackgroundView  which  as you might have guessed  draws the background color  There s no overdraw and you can use semi-transparent colors as well

User · Answer

lt style name  AppThemeLight  parent  Theme AppCompat Light NoActionBar  gt       lt item name  android itemBackground  gt  000000 lt  item gt   lt  style gt    this works fine for me

User · Answer

This is clearly a problem that a lot of programmers have and to which Google has yet to provide a satisfactory  supported solution   There are a lot of crossed intentions and misunderstandings floating around posts on this topic  so please read this whole answer before responding   Below I include a more  refined  and well-commented version of the hack from other answers on this page  also incorporating ideas from these very closely related questions   Change background color of android menu  How to change the background color of the options menu   Android  customize application  39 s menu  e g background color   http   www macadamian com blog post android - theming the unthemable   Android MenuItem Toggle Button  Is it possible to make the Android options menu background non-translucent   http   www codeproject com KB android AndroidMenusMyWay aspx  Setting the menu background to be opaque  I tested this hack on 2 1  simulator   2 2  2 real devices   and 2 3  2 real devices    I don t have any 3 X tablets to test on yet but will post any needed changes here when if I do   Given that 3 X tablets use Action Bars instead of Options Menus  as explained here   http   developer android com guide topics ui menus html options-menu  this hack will almost certainly do nothing  no harm and no good  on 3 X tablets   STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM  read this before trigger-replying with a negative comment     The Options menu has vastly different styles on different devices   Pure black with white text on some  pure white with black text on some   I and many other developers wish to control the background color of the Options menu cells as well as the color of the Options menu text   Certain app developers only need to set the cell background color  not the text color   and they can do this in a cleaner manner using the android panelFullBackground style described in another answer   However  there is currently no way to control the Options menu text color with styles  and so one can only use this method to change the background to another color that won t make the text  disappear    We would love to do this with a documented  future-proof solution  but one is simply not available as of Android  lt   2 3   So we have to use a solution that works in current versions and is designed to minimize the chances of crashing breaking in future versions   We want a solution that fails gracefully back to the default behavior if it has to fail   There are many legitimate reasons why one may need to control the look of Options menus  typically to match a visual style for the rest of the app  so I won t dwell on that   There is a Google Android bug posted about this  please add your support by starring this bug  note Google discourages  me too  comments  just a star is enough    http   code google com p android issues detail id 4441  SUMMARY OF SOLUTIONS SO FAR   Several posters have suggested a hack involving LayoutInflater Factory   The suggested hack worked for Android  lt   2 2 and failed for Android 2 3 because the hack made an undocumented assumption  that one could call LayoutInflater getView   directly without currently being inside a call to LayoutInflater inflate   on the same LayoutInflater instance   New code in Android 2 3 broke this assumption and led to a NullPointerException   My slightly refined hack below does not rely on this assumption   Furthermore  the hacks also rely on using an internal  undocumented class name  com android internal view menu IconMenuItemView  as a string  not as a Java type    I do not see any way to avoid this and still accomplish the stated goal   However  it is possible to do the hack in a careful way that will fall back if  com android internal view menu IconMenuItemView  does not appear on the current system   Again  understand that this is a hack and by no means am I claiming this will work on all platforms   But we developers are not living in a fantasy academic world where everything has to be by the book  we have a problem to solve and we have to solve it as best we can   For example  it seems unlikely that  com android internal view menu IconMenuItemView  will exist on 3 X tablets since they use Action Bars instead of Options Menus   Finally  some developers have solved this problem by totally suppressing the Android Options Menu and writing their own menu class  see some of the links above    I haven t tried this  but if you have time to write your own View and figure out how to replace Android s view  I m sure the devil s in the details here  then it might be a nice solution that doesn t require any undocumented hacks   HACK   Here is the code   To use this code  call addOptionsMenuHackerInflaterFactory   ONCE from your activity onCreate   or your activity onCreateOptionsMenu     It sets a default factory that will affect subsequent creation of any Options Menu   It does not affect Options Menus that have already been created  the previous hacks used a function name of setMenuBackground    which is very misleading since the function doesn t set any menu properties before it returns     SuppressWarnings  rawtypes   static Class       IconMenuItemView class   null   SuppressWarnings  rawtypes   static Constructor IconMenuItemView constructor   null      standard signature of constructor expected by inflater of all View classes  SuppressWarnings  rawtypes   private static final Class   standard inflater constructor signature    new Class     Context class  AttributeSet class     protected void addOptionsMenuHackerInflaterFactory         final LayoutInflater infl   getLayoutInflater         infl setFactory new Factory                 public View onCreateView final String name                                    final Context context                                   final AttributeSet attrs                        if   name equalsIgnoreCase  com android internal view menu IconMenuItemView                    return null     use normal inflater              View view   null                   com android internal view menu IconMenuItemView                  - is the name of an internal Java class                   - that exists in Android  lt   3 2 and possibly beyond                  - that may or may not exist in other Android revs                - is the class whose instance we want to modify to set background etc                 - is the class we want to instantiate with the standard constructor                     IconMenuItemView context  attrs                 - this is what the LayoutInflater does if we return null                - unfortunately we cannot just call                     infl createView name  null  attrs                    here because on Android 3 2  and possibly later                    1  createView   can only be called inside inflate                        because inflate   sets the context parameter ultimately                     passed to the IconMenuItemView constructor s first arg                      storing it in a LayoutInflater instance variable                   2  we are inside inflate                     3  BUT from a different instance of LayoutInflater  not infl                   4  there is no way to get access to the actual instance being used                - so we must do what createView   would have done for us                            if  IconMenuItemView class    null                                try                                       IconMenuItemView class   getClassLoader   loadClass name                                     catch  ClassNotFoundException e                                           this OS does not have IconMenuItemView - fail gracefully                     return null     hack failed  use normal inflater                                             if  IconMenuItemView class    null                  return null     hack failed  use normal inflater              if  IconMenuItemView constructor    null                                try                                       IconMenuItemView constructor                        IconMenuItemView class getConstructor standard inflater constructor signature                                     catch  SecurityException e                                        return null     hack failed  use normal inflater                                   catch  NoSuchMethodException e                                        return null     hack failed  use normal inflater                                             if  IconMenuItemView constructor    null                  return null     hack failed  use normal inflater              try                               Object   args   new Object     context  attrs                    view    View  IconMenuItemView constructor newInstance args                              catch  IllegalArgumentException e                                return null     hack failed  use normal inflater                           catch  InstantiationException e                                return null     hack failed  use normal inflater                           catch  IllegalAccessException e                                return null     hack failed  use normal inflater                           catch  InvocationTargetException e                                return null     hack failed  use normal inflater                           if  null    view     in theory handled above  but be safe                     return null     hack failed  use normal inflater                  apply our own View settings after we get back to runloop                - android will overwrite almost any setting we make now             final View v   view              new Handler   post new Runnable                                 public void run                                         v setBackgroundColor Color BLACK                        try                                                  in Android  lt   3 2  IconMenuItemView implemented with TextView                            guard against possible future change in implementation                         TextView tv    TextView v                          tv setTextColor Color WHITE                                             catch  ClassCastException e                                                   hack failed  do not set TextView attributes                                                                      return view                        Thanks for reading and enjoy

User · Answer

protected void setMenuBackground         getLayoutInflater   setFactory new Factory              Override         public View onCreateView  String name  Context context  AttributeSet attrs                if  name equalsIgnoreCase  com android internal view menu IconMenuItemView                      try                          Ask our inflater to create the view                     LayoutInflater f   getLayoutInflater                        final View view   f createView name  null  attrs                          Kind of apply our own background                     new Handler   post  new Runnable                             public void run                                  view setBackgroundResource R drawable gray gradient background                                                                         return view                                    catch  InflateException e                                      catch  ClassNotFoundException e                                                return null                        this is XML file   gradient      android startColor   AFAFAF       android endColor   000000      android angle  270  shape

User · Answer

One thing to note that you guys are over-complicating the problem just like a lot of other posts  All you need to do is create drawable selectors with whatever backgrounds you need and set them to actual items  I just spend two hours trying your solutions  all suggested on this page  and none of them worked  Not to mention that there are tons of errors that essentially slow your performance in those try catch blocks you have   Anyways here is a menu xml file    lt  xml version  1 0  encoding  utf-8   gt   lt menu xmlns android  http   schemas android com apk res android  gt       lt item android id    id m1            android icon   drawable item1 selector              gt       lt item android id    id m2            android icon   drawable item2 selector              gt   lt  menu gt    Now in your item1 selector    lt  xml version  1 0  encoding  utf-8   gt   lt selector xmlns android  http   schemas android com apk res android  gt       lt item android state pressed  true  android drawable   drawable item highlighted    gt       lt item android state selected  true  android drawable   drawable item highlighted    gt       lt item android state focused  true  android drawable   drawable item nonhighlighted    gt       lt item android drawable   drawable item nonhighlighted    gt   lt  selector gt    Next time you decide to go to the supermarket through Canada try google maps

User · Answer

The Options Menu  the one that pops up on pressing the menu button on the emulator          can be customized to change the background of the menu         primalpop               package com pop menu       import android app Activity      import android content Context      import android os Bundle      import android os Handler      import android util AttributeSet      import android util Log      import android view InflateException      import android view LayoutInflater      import android view Menu      import android view MenuInflater      import android view View      import android view LayoutInflater Factory       public class Options Menu extends Activity            private static final String TAG    DEBUG                Called when the activity is first created              Override         public void onCreate Bundle savedInstanceState                super onCreate savedInstanceState               setContentView R layout main                          Invoked when the menu button is pressed              Override         public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu Menu menu                   TODO Auto-generated method stub             super onCreateOptionsMenu menu               MenuInflater inflater   new MenuInflater getApplicationContext                 inflater inflate R menu options menu  menu               setMenuBackground                return true                       IconMenuItemView is the class that creates and controls the options menu             which is derived from basic View class  So We can use a LayoutInflater             object to create a view and apply the background                      protected void setMenuBackground                 Log d TAG   Enterting setMenuBackGround                getLayoutInflater   setFactory  new Factory                       Override                 public View onCreateView   String name  Context context  AttributeSet attrs                          if   name equalsIgnoreCase   com android internal view menu IconMenuItemView                                 try      Ask our inflater to create the view                             LayoutInflater f   getLayoutInflater                                final View view   f createView  name  null  attrs                                                                   The background gets refreshed each time a new item is added the options menu                                  So each time Android applies the default background we need to set our own                                 background  This is done using a thread giving the background change as runnable                                object                                                             new Handler   post  new Runnable                                     public void run                                          view setBackgroundResource  R drawable background                                                                                                  return view                                                    catch   InflateException e                              catch   ClassNotFoundException e                                                return null

User · Answer

For Android 2 3 this can be done with some very heavy hacking   The root cause for the issues with Android 2 3 is that in LayoutInflater the mConstructorArgs 0    mContext is only set during running calls to  http   grepcode com file repository grepcode com java ext com google android android 2 3 3 r1 android view LayoutInflater java  352  protected void setMenuBackground         getLayoutInflater   setFactory  new Factory               Override         public View onCreateView  final String name  final Context context  final AttributeSet attrs                  if   name equalsIgnoreCase   com android internal view menu IconMenuItemView                         try      Ask our inflater to create the view                     final LayoutInflater f   getLayoutInflater                        final View   view   new View 1                       try                           view 0    f createView  name  null  attrs                          catch  InflateException e                            hackAndroid23 name  attrs  f  view                                                Kind of apply our own background                     new Handler   post  new Runnable                             public void run                                  view setBackgroundResource  R drawable gray gradient background                                                                          return view                                    catch   InflateException e                                       catch   ClassNotFoundException e                                                 return null                       static void hackAndroid23 final String name      final android util AttributeSet attrs  final LayoutInflater f      final TextView   view           mConstructorArgs 0  is only non-null during a running call to inflate          so we make a call to inflate   and inside that call our dully XmlPullParser get s called        and inside that it will work to call  f createView  name  null  attrs          try           f inflate new XmlPullParser                  Override             public int next   throws XmlPullParserException  IOException                   try                       view 0     TextView  f createView  name  null  attrs                      catch  InflateException e                      catch  ClassNotFoundException e                                      throw new XmlPullParserException  exit                                null  false         catch  InflateException e1                exit  ignored           I tested it to work on Android 2 3 and to still work on earlier versions  If anything breaks again in later Android versions you ll simply see the default menu-style instead

User · Answer

After spending a considerable amount of time trying all the options  the only way I was able to get an app using AppCompat v7 to change the overflow menu background was using the itemBackground attribute    lt style name  AppTheme  parent  Theme AppCompat Light DarkActionBar  gt               lt item name  android itemBackground  gt  color overflow background lt  item gt           lt  style gt    Tested from API 4 2 to 5 0

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The style attribute for the menu background is android panelFullBackground   Despite what the documentation says  it needs to be a resource  e g   android color black or  drawable my drawable   it will crash if you use a color value directly   This will also get rid of the item borders that I was unable to change or remove using primalpop s solution   As for the text color  I haven t found any way to set it through styles in 2 2 and I m sure I ve tried everything  which is how I discovered the menu background attribute   You would need to use primalpop s solution for that

User · Answer

Just ran into this issue too  on an App that had to be compatible with Gingerbread and still retain as much of the styling from Holo-enabled devices as possible   I found a relatively clean solution  that worked OK for me   In the theme I use a 9-patch drawable background to get a custom background color    lt style name  Theme Styled  parent  Theme Sherlock  gt             lt item name  android panelFullBackground  gt  drawable menu hardkey panel lt  item gt   lt  style gt    I gave up trying to style the text color  and just used a Spannable to set the text color for my item in code    Override public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu Menu menu       MenuInflater inflater   getSupportMenuInflater       inflater inflate R menu actions main  menu       if  android os Build VERSION SDK INT  lt           android os Build VERSION CODES HONEYCOMB             SpannableStringBuilder text   new SpannableStringBuilder            text append getString R string action text            text setSpan new ForegroundColorSpan Color WHITE                    0  text length    Spannable SPAN EXCLUSIVE EXCLUSIVE            MenuItem item1   menu findItem R id action item1           item1 setTitle text            return true

User · Answer

Thanks Marcus  It works on 2 3 smoothly by fixing some syntax errors  here s the fixed code      protected void setMenuBackground         getLayoutInflater   setFactory new Factory               Override         public View onCreateView final String name  final Context context                  final AttributeSet attrs                 if  name equalsIgnoreCase  com android internal view menu IconMenuItemView                       try      Ask our inflater to create the view                     final LayoutInflater f   getLayoutInflater                        final View   view   new View 1                       try                           view 0    f createView name  null  attrs                         catch  InflateException e                            hackAndroid23 name  attrs  f  view                                                Kind of apply our own background                     new Handler   post new Runnable                             public void run                                 view 0  setBackgroundColor Color WHITE                                                                          return view 0                     catch  InflateException e                      catch  ClassNotFoundException e                                                 return null                       static void hackAndroid23 final String name          final android util AttributeSet attrs  final LayoutInflater f          final View   view           mConstructorArgs 0  is only non-null during a running call to        inflate          so we make a call to inflate   and inside that call our dully        XmlPullParser get s called        and inside that it will work to call         f createView  name  null  attrs          try           f inflate new XmlPullParser                  Override             public int next   throws XmlPullParserException  IOException                   try                       view 0     TextView  f createView name  null  attrs                     catch  InflateException e                      catch  ClassNotFoundException e                                      throw new XmlPullParserException  exit                             null  false         catch  InflateException e1                exit  ignored

User · Answer

This is how i solved mine  I just specified the background color and text color  in styles  ie res   values   styles xml file      lt style name  AppTheme  parent  Theme AppCompat Light NoActionBar  gt       lt item name  android itemBackground  gt  ffffff lt  item gt       lt item name  android textColor  gt  000000 lt  item gt   lt  style gt

[android] How to change the background color of the options menu?

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