Navigation Drawer: How to change the colour of item category?

Question

I have created a default project and tried changing colours. I succeeded in changing all colours but that of the item category ("Communicate" in this example). How can I change it?

activity_main

<android.support.design.widget.NavigationView
    android:id="@+id/nav_view"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:layout_gravity="start"
    app:itemTextColor="@color/colorAccent"
    app:itemIconTint="@color/colorAccent"
    android:backgroundTint="@color/colorPrimaryDark"
    android:fitsSystemWindows="true"
    app:headerLayout="@layout/nav_header_main"
    app:menu="@menu/activity_main_drawer"/>

nav_header_main

<LinearLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="@dimen/nav_header_height"
    android:background="#FF0000"
    android:gravity="bottom"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
    android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
    android:theme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Dark">

Please post your full activity_main and nav_header_main as well as your style. — Yuliwee, Dec 30 '17 at 10:44
The question linked and its answers were about changing the item colour, not the category colour, but there was [an answer](https://stackoverflow.com/a/37315464/455796) which explained how to do that. It was changing `android:textColorSecondary` using style. — Damn Vegetables, Dec 30 '17 at 10:54

Goku · Accepted Answer · 2017-12-30T11:01:02.163

Try this

create a theme like this

<style name="MyTheme">
    <item name="android:textColor">#0000ff</item>
</style>

than make your menu like this

<?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/nav_camera"
            android:icon="@drawable/ic_menu_camera"
            android:title="Import" />
        <item
            android:id="@+id/nav_gallery"
            android:icon="@drawable/ic_menu_gallery"
            android:title="Gallery" />
        <item
            android:id="@+id/nav_slideshow"
            android:icon="@drawable/ic_menu_slideshow"
            android:title="Slideshow" />
        <item
            android:id="@+id/nav_manage"
            android:icon="@drawable/ic_menu_manage"
            android:title="Tools" />
    </group>

    <item android:title="Communicate"
        android:id="@+id/communicate">
        <menu>
            <item
                android:id="@+id/nav_share"
                android:icon="@drawable/ic_menu_share"
                android:title="Share" />
            <item
                android:id="@+id/nav_send"
                android:icon="@drawable/ic_menu_send"
                android:title="Send" />
        </menu>
    </item>


</menu>

than Java code

@Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main3);
        Toolbar toolbar = (Toolbar) findViewById(R.id.toolbar);
        setSupportActionBar(toolbar);

        FloatingActionButton fab = (FloatingActionButton) findViewById(R.id.fab);
        fab.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
            @Override
            public void onClick(View view) {
                Snackbar.make(view, "Replace with your own action", Snackbar.LENGTH_LONG)
                        .setAction("Action", null).show();
            }
        });

        DrawerLayout drawer = (DrawerLayout) findViewById(R.id.drawer_layout);
        ActionBarDrawerToggle toggle = new ActionBarDrawerToggle(
                this, drawer, toolbar, R.string.navigation_drawer_open, R.string.navigation_drawer_close);
        drawer.setDrawerListener(toggle);
        toggle.syncState();

        NavigationView navigationView = (NavigationView) findViewById(R.id.nav_view);
        navigationView.setNavigationItemSelectedListener(this);


        // code for changes colour of Communicate
        Menu myMenu = navigationView.getMenu();    
        MenuItem tools= myMenu.findItem(R.id.communicate);
        SpannableString s = new SpannableString(tools.getTitle());
        s.setSpan(new TextAppearanceSpan(this, R.style.MyTheme), 0, s.length(), 0);
        tools.setTitle(s);
        navigationView.setNavigationItemSelectedListener(this);
    }

navigation view

<android.support.design.widget.NavigationView
    android:id="@+id/nav_view"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:layout_gravity="start"
    app:itemTextColor="@android:color/holo_orange_light"
    android:fitsSystemWindows="true"
    app:headerLayout="@layout/nav_header_main3"
    app:menu="@menu/activity_main3_drawer" />

OUTPUT

Is your answer changing the colour of "Communicate"? The code is too long so I can easily determine whether it is or not. — Damn Vegetables, Dec 30 '17 at 10:57
@DamnVegetables yes it will change the colour of **Communicate** — Goku, Dec 30 '17 at 10:58
Yes, I did see the picture, but I was not sure if the colour of "Communicate" was the default colour or changed colour. Anyways, I marked your answer as a solution. — Damn Vegetables, Dec 30 '17 at 11:08
@DamnVegetables happy to help you its working fine on my device — Goku, Dec 30 '17 at 11:10

Navigation Drawer: How to change the colour of item category?

1 Answers1