Noticeable delay when clicking on options menu

Question

I've always noticed a delay in my apps when I click the options button in a toolbar. It will maybe be a second or so, but it's very obvious compared to other Android apps such as Firefox, where it feels like the options menu inflates instantly as my finger pulls up, so I know it's not just my device. I put together a minimal app, with one activity and 2 layouts:

package com.test.test_option_menu;

import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.Menu;
import android.view.MenuInflater;

import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
    }

    public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
        MenuInflater inflater = getMenuInflater();
        inflater.inflate(R.menu.menu, menu);
        return true;
    }
}

activity_main.xml is

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    tools:context="com.test.test_option_menu.MainActivity">

    <androidx.appcompat.widget.Toolbar
        android:id="@+id/toolbar"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="?android:attr/actionBarSize"
        android:background="@color/colorPrimary"
        android:elevation="4dp"
        android:theme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Dark.ActionBar"
        app:popupTheme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Light" />

</RelativeLayout>

And menu.xml is

<?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"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content">
    <item
        android:id="@+id/action_help"
        android:title="Help"
        app:showAsAction="never" />
</menu>

I still see the momentary delay when clicking the options menu however! How do I get it to be as quick as other apps that I use? I've tried it with the toolbar included in the layout as in here, as well as creating a separate toolbar.xml that gets

Toolbar toolbar = findViewById(R.id.toolbar);
setSupportActionBar(toolbar);

But I still see the same thing. Is there a more lightweight way of making toolbars? Or pre-loading the menu layout?

Answer 1

It worked for me to inflate the menu in the toolbar of my layout and not in the action bar of the activity.

In my activity I have:

supportActionBar!!.hide()
val actionBar = view.findViewById<Toolbar>(R.id.toolbar)
actionBar.setOnMenuItemClickListener {
        when (it.itemId) {
            R.id.xxx-> {
                
            }
        }
        return@setOnMenuItemClickListener true
    }

In my activity layout I have:

<androidx.appcompat.widget.Toolbar
    android:id="@+id/toolbar"
    style="@style/..."
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:minHeight="?attr/actionBarSize"
    app:menu="@menu/menu_searchview"
    app:title="..." />

In my menu I have:

<?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"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools">

<item
    android:id="@+id/searchView"
    android:icon="@drawable/ic_search_black_24dp"
    android:title="@string/..."
    app:actionViewClass="androidx.appcompat.widget.SearchView"
    app:showAsAction="always"
    tools:ignore="AlwaysShowAction" />