How do I hide a menu item in the actionbar?

Question

I have an action bar with a menuitem. How can I hide/show that menu item?

This is what I'm trying to do:

MenuItem item = (MenuItem) findViewById(R.id.addAction);
item.setVisible(false);
this.invalidateOptionsMenu();

Answer 1

I was looking for an answer with a little more context. Now that I have figured it out, I will add that answer.

Hide button by default in menu xml

By default the share button will be hidden, as set by android:visible="false".

main_menu.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
      xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto">

    <!-- hide share button by default -->
    <item
        android:id="@+id/menu_action_share"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_share_white_24dp"
        android:visible="false"     
        android:title="Share"
        app:showAsAction="always"/>

    <item
        android:id="@+id/menu_action_settings"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_settings_white_24dp"
        android:title="Setting"
        app:showAsAction="ifRoom"/>

</menu>

Show button in code

But the share button can optionally be shown based on some condition.

MainActivity.java

public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
    MenuInflater inflater = getMenuInflater();
    inflater.inflate(R.menu.main_menu, menu);
    MenuItem shareItem = menu.findItem(R.id.menu_action_share);

    // show the button when some condition is true
    if (someCondition) {        
        shareItem.setVisible(true);
    }

    return true;
}

See also

• Setting Up the App Bar (Android docs for help getting the app/action bar set up)

Answer 2

If you did everything as in above answers, but a menu item is still visible, check that you reference to the unique resource. For instance, in onCreateOptionsMenu or onPrepareOptionsMenu

@Override
public void onPrepareOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
    super.onPrepareOptionsMenu(menu);
    MenuItem menuOpen = menu.findItem(R.id.menu_open);
    menuOpen.setVisible(false);
}

Ctrl+Click R.id.menu_open and check that it exists only in one menu file. In case when this resource is already used anywhere and loaded in an activity, it will try to hide there.

Answer 3

Initially set the menu item visibility to false in the menu layout file as follows :

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto">
    <item
        android:visible="false"
        android:id="@+id/action_do_something"
        android:title="@string/txt_do_something"
        app:showAsAction="always|withText"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_done"/>
</menu>

You can then simply set the visibility of the menu item to false in your onCreateOptionsMenu() after inflating the menu.

@Override
public void onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu, MenuInflater inflater) {
    super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu, inflater);
    inflater.inflate(menu,R.menu.menu);
    MenuItem item = menu.findItem(R.id.menuItemId);
    if (item != null){
        item.setVisible(false);
    }
}

Answer 4

According to Android Developer Official site,OnCreateOptionMenu(Menu menu) is not recomended for changing menu items or icons, visibility..etc at Runtime.

After the system calls onCreateOptionsMenu(), it retains an instance of the Menu you populate and will not call onCreateOptionsMenu() again unless the menu is invalidated for some reason. However, you should use 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 onPrepareOptionsMenu() method. This method passes you the Menu object as it currently exists so you can modify it, such as add, remove, or disable items. (Fragments also provide an onPrepareOptionsMenu() callback.) --AndroidDeveloper Official Site --

As Recomended You can use this onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) method track user inputs.

@Override
public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {

    int id = item.getItemId();

    if (id == R.id.edit) {
        Intent intent = new Intent(this, ExampleActivity.class);
        intent.putExtra(BUNDLE_KEY, mConnection);
        startActivityForResult(intent, PICK_CHANGE_REQUEST);
        return true;
    } else if (id == R.id.delete) {
        showDialog(this);
        return true;
    }

    return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
}

If you need to change Menu Items at Run time, You can use onPrepareOptionsMenu(Menu menu) to change them

@Override
public boolean onPrepareOptionsMenu(Menu menu){

    if (Utils.checkNetworkStatus(ExampleActivity.this)) {
        menu.findItem(R.id.edit).setVisible(true);
        menu.findItem(R.id.delete).setVisible(true);
    }else {
        menu.findItem(R.id.edit).setVisible(false);
        menu.findItem(R.id.delete).setVisible(false);
    }
    return true;
} 

Answer 5

this code worked for me

@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
    getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.main_menu,menu);
    if (Application.sharedPreferences.getInt("type",1) == 2)
    {
        menuItem = menu.findItem(R.id.menu_travel_orders);
        menuItem.setVisible(false);
    }
    return super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu);
}

Answer 6

You can use toolbar.getMenu().clear(); to hide all the menu items at once