Question

Is it possible on Android to have MenuItems (either the ones from the options menu hardware key or action bar — they are the same anyways) with different styles?

I want one to have a selector applied and another with different selector.

From my search online, I found that you can change the theme and override an attribute with your own style, but that applies to ALL MenuItems.

Can I still set the android:background property in XML?

Answer 1

It is possible for items of the ActionBar. You have to define the item that you want to have a different selector as a custom action view.

<item
    android:id="@+id/menu_custom"
    android:actionLayout="@layout/action_view"
    android:showAsAction="always"/> 

In the layout referenced by android:actionLayout you have an ImageView that you assign your selector and make it clickable and focusable.

<ImageView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:background="@drawable/action_view_background"
    android:clickable="true"
    android:focusable="true"
    android:focusableInTouchMode="true"
    android:minWidth="56dip"
    android:paddingBottom="8dip"
    android:paddingTop="8dip"
    android:src="@drawable/ic_launcher" />

The click event is not handled by onOptionsItemSelected. You have to attach an OnClickListener in onCreateOptionsMenu.

menu.findItem(R.id.menu_custom).getActionView().setOnClickListener(l);