What is orderInCategory in ActionBar menu item & why it is use for..?

Question

Im working on action menu item and its over flow item this is my 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">  <item     android:id="@+id/menu_search"     android:icon="@drawable/search"     android:title="@string/start_new_project"     app:showAsAction="always" /> <item     android:id="@+id/menu_dts_overflow"     android:icon="@drawable/ic_action_overflow_round"     android:orderInCategory="11111"      android:title="Service"     app:showAsAction="always">     <menu>         <item             android:id="@+id/menu_newProject"             android:icon="@drawable/newproject"             android:title="@string/start_new_project"             app:showAsAction="never" />           <item             android:id="@+id/menu_help"             android:icon="@drawable/help"             android:title="Service Tasks"             app:showAsAction="never" />           <item             android:id="@+id/menu_signOut"             android:icon="@drawable/signout"             android:title="@string/menusignout"             app:showAsAction="never" />      </menu> </item> 

I tried to construct a search item and a overflow item which you can see in the above code. I'm new to Action bar menu items so i tried to Google it and was able to make it work as I need.

In this I have to know one more thing.

1. What is orderInCategory with some numbers and what for it is used..?

Answer 1

android:orderInCategory is an integer attribute that dictates the order in which the menu items will appear within the menu when it is displayed.

<menu      xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >      <item         android:id="@+id/menu_item_first"         android:orderInCategory="1"         android:showAsAction="never"         android:title="@string/string_one"/>      <item         android:id="@+id/menu_item_second"         android:orderInCategory="2"         android:showAsAction="never"         android:title="@string/string_two"/>  </menu> 

• Menu items in ToolBar are arranged from left to right (or start to end in RTL mode) in the ascending order (i.e. 1,2,3 -> left to right).

  

• Menu Items in Overflow menu are arranged from top to bottom in the ascending order (i.e. 1,2,3 -> top to bottom).