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 doesn't work. I don't know if this is doable or not. Any idea would be welcome! :)

Answer 1

    /* 
     *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;
                }
            });
        }
    }