Android Menu options in layout does not show icon

Question

I just added a Menu to my activity. Additionally I want to set some icons to each menu item. Therefore I tried both these methods but I do not see these icons on the device. What am I doing wrong ?

I tried the XML way:

<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    <item android:id="@+id/help"
    android:icon="@drawable/help"
    android:title="@string/menu_help" />
    <item android:id="@+id/settings"
    android:icon="@drawable/settings"
    android:title="@string/menu_settings" />
    <item android:id="@+id/num"
    android:icon="@drawable/num_icon"
    android:title="@string/menu_num" />
</menu>

Method 2: In my code:

public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
        MenuInflater inflater = getMenuInflater();
        inflater.inflate(R.menu.menu, menu);
        //Set icon for the menu button
        Drawable num_icon = getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.num_icon);
        menu.getItem(2).setIcon(num_icon);
        Drawable settings_icon = getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.settings);
        menu.getItem(1).setIcon(settings_icon);
        Drawable help_icon = getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.help);
        menu.getItem(0).setIcon(help_icon);
        return true;

Also, could anyone tell me how big should these icon sizes be? Mine is256x256 pix. Thanks

Answer 1

In the android sdk menu icons are of the following sizes:

ldpi 32 x 32 px
mdpi: 36 x 36 px
hdpi: 48 x 48 px
xhdpi: 64 x 64 px

256x256 is too large.

Answer 2

use following code it may help you.. menu.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    <!-- Single menu item 
         Set id, icon and Title for each menu item
    -->
    <item android:id="@+id/menu_bookmark"
          android:icon="@drawable/icon_bookmark"
          android:title="Bookmark" />

    <item android:id="@+id/menu_save"
          android:icon="@drawable/icon_save"
          android:title="Save" />

    <item android:id="@+id/menu_search"
          android:icon="@drawable/icon_search"
          android:title="Search" />

    <item android:id="@+id/menu_share"
          android:icon="@drawable/icon_share"
          android:title="Share" />

    <item android:id="@+id/menu_delete"
          android:icon="@drawable/icon_delete"
          android:title="Delete" />  

    <item android:id="@+id/menu_preferences"
          android:icon="@drawable/icon_preferences"
          android:title="Preferences" /> 
</menu>

Now open your main Activity class file and put following code MenusActivity.java

import android.app.Activity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.Menu;
import android.view.MenuInflater;
import android.view.MenuItem;
import android.widget.Toast;

public class AndroidMenusActivity extends Activity {
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.main);
    }

    // Initiating Menu XML file (menu.xml)
    @Override
    public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu)
    {
        MenuInflater menuInflater = getMenuInflater();
        menuInflater.inflate(R.layout.menu, menu);
        return true;
    }

    /**
     * Event Handling for Individual menu item selected
     * Identify single menu item by it's id
     * */
    @Override
    public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item)
    {

        switch (item.getItemId())
        {
        case R.id.menu_bookmark:
            // Single menu item is selected do something
            // Ex: launching new activity/screen or show alert message
            Toast.makeText(AndroidMenusActivity.this, "Bookmark is Selected", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
            return true;

        case R.id.menu_save:
            Toast.makeText(AndroidMenusActivity.this, "Save is Selected", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
            return true;

        case R.id.menu_search:
            Toast.makeText(AndroidMenusActivity.this, "Search is Selected", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
            return true;

        case R.id.menu_share:
            Toast.makeText(AndroidMenusActivity.this, "Share is Selected", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
            return true;

        case R.id.menu_delete:
            Toast.makeText(AndroidMenusActivity.this, "Delete is Selected", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
            return true;

        case R.id.menu_preferences:
            Toast.makeText(AndroidMenusActivity.this, "Preferences is Selected", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
            return true;

        default:
            return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
        }
    }    

}

Answer 3

You just have need to small changes in your manifest file according to your need you can change theme I get the solution for above problem with small change i.e.even using any version of android it will work for (2.3 to latest version 4.4 kitkat also).

  <application
        android:allowBackup="true"
        android:debuggable="true"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
         android:theme="@android:style/Theme.WithActionBar">