How to change MenuItem icon in ActionBar programmatically

Question

You can't use findViewById() on menu items in onCreate() because the menu layout isn't inflated yet. You could create a global Menu variable and initialize it in the onCreateOptionsMenu() and then use it in your onClick().

private Menu menu;

In your onCreateOptionsMenu()

this.menu = menu;

In your button's onClick() method

menu.getItem(0).setIcon(ContextCompat.getDrawable(this, R.drawable.ic_launcher));

Lalith's answer is correct.

You may also try this approach:

button.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
        @Override
        public void onClick(View v) {
            invalidateOptionsMenu();
        }
    });

 @Override
 public boolean onPrepareOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {

    MenuItem settingsItem = menu.findItem(R.id.action_settings);
    // set your desired icon here based on a flag if you like
    settingsItem.setIcon(ContextCompat.getDrawable(this, R.drawable.ic_launcher)); 

    return super.onPrepareOptionsMenu(menu);
 }

This works for me. It should be in your onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) method item.setIcon(R.drawable.your_icon);

Here is how i resolved this:

1 - create a Field Variable like: private Menu mMenuItem;

2 - override the method invalidateOptionsMenu():

@Override
public void invalidateOptionsMenu() {
    super.invalidateOptionsMenu();
}

3 - call the method invalidateOptionsMenu() in your onCreate()

4 - add mMenuItem = menu in your onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) like this:

@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
    getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.webview_menu, menu);
    mMenuItem = menu;
    return super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu);
}

5 - in the method onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) change the icon you want like this:

 @Override
public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {

    switch (item.getItemId()){

        case R.id.R.id.action_settings:
            mMenuItem.getItem(0).setIcon(R.drawable.ic_launcher); // to change the fav icon
            //Toast.makeText(this, " " + mMenuItem.getItem(0).getTitle(), Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show(); <<--- this to check if the item in the index 0 is the one you are looking for
            return true;
    }
    return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
}