Styling toolbar menu item title

Question

I am trying to achieve the Menu Item design as shown in the YouTube application screen below. The menu item I am interested in is the action menu item. In this case the (G)

Currently, my application Looks like the image below:

My style and Background xml are as follows:

<resources>

    // The themes are structured as follows :

    // Theme 1 (One)   : Application Theme
    <style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.MaterialComponents.Light.NoActionBar">
        <item name="colorPrimary">@color/primary</item>
        <item name="colorPrimaryDark">@color/primary_dark</item>
        <item name="colorAccent">@color/color_accent</item>
        <item name="otpViewStyle">@style/OtpWidget.OtpView</item>
        <item name="windowActionBar">false</item>
        <item name="android:windowNoTitle">true</item>
        <item name="actionMenuTextColor">@color/white</item>
        <item name="android:actionMenuTextColor">@color/white</item>
        <item name="actionMenuTextAppearance">@style/home_menu_style</item>
        <item name="android:actionMenuTextAppearance" >@style/home_menu_style</item>

    </style>

    // Theme 2 (two)   : Splash Screen Theme
    <style name="SplashScreenTheme" parent="AppTheme.NoActionBar">
        <item name="android:windowBackground">@drawable/background_splash</item>

    </style>

    // Theme 3 (three) : No ActionBar Theme
    <style name="AppTheme.NoActionbar">
        <item name="windowActionBar">false</item>
        <item name="windowNoTitle">true</item>
    </style>

    // Theme 4 (four)  : AppBarOverlay and PopupOverlay
    <style name="AppTheme.AppBarOverlay" parent="ThemeOverlay.MaterialComponents.Light" />
    <style name="AppTheme.PopupOverlay" parent="ThemeOverlay.MaterialComponents.Light" />


    // Menu Style
    <style name="home_menu_style" parent="AppTheme">
        <item name="android:textSize">22sp</item>
        <item name="android:textStyle">bold</item>
        <item name="android:background">@drawable/menu_drawable</item>
        <item name="android:backgroundTint">@drawable/menu_drawable</item>
        <item name="backgroundTint">@drawable/menu_drawable</item>
    </style>

</resources>

The menu_drawable is as follows:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:shape="oval">
  <solid
      android:color="#48b3ff">
  </solid>
</shape>

The home_menu.xml menu item is as follows:

<?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_name"
        android:actionLayout="@layout/custom_layout"
        android:title=""
        app:showAsAction="always"  />


    <item
        android:id="@+id/action_search"
        android:icon="@drawable/sharp_search_white_24"
        android:title="Search"
        app:actionViewClass="androidx.appcompat.widget.SearchView"
        app:showAsAction="collapseActionView|always" />

</menu>

Code to inflate the menu:

   override fun onCreateOptionsMenu(menu: Menu, inflater: MenuInflater)
    {
        super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu, inflater)
        menu.clear()
        this.menu = menu
        inflater.inflate(R.menu.home_menu, menu)

    }

My code to change the menu item title is as follows:

var menu: Menu
  menu.findItem(R.id.menu_name).setTitle(name)

The menu preview looks as follows:

Answer 1

Firstly, you need to create a custom_menu.xml like this:

<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto">

    <item
        android:id="@+id/profile"   
        <!-- this is the magic !!! -->
        android:actionLayout="@layout/custom_layout"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_action_profile"
        android:title="@string/profile_update"
        app:showAsAction="always" />
</menu>

After this, you create a layout file custom_layout.xml like this:

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content">

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="40dp"
        android:layout_height="40dp"
        android:layout_marginEnd="@dimen/margin_extra_small"
        android:background="@drawable/drawable_circle_solid_accent"
        android:gravity="center"
        android:padding="@dimen/padding_small"
        android:text="G"
        android:textColor="@color/colorWhite"
        android:textSize="@dimen/text_size_normal"
        android:textStyle="bold" />
</LinearLayout>

and set this custom_menu.xml in your activity.

Output:

Add this in your activity:

  override fun onPrepareOptionsMenu(menu: Menu?): Boolean {
        // getting action layout menu item
        val menuItemName = menu?.findItem(R.id.menu_name)

        // getting Linear Layout from custom layout
        val linearLayout = menuItemName?.actionView as LinearLayout

        // getting TextView from Linear Layout, i.e., parent of custom layout
        val yourTextView = linearLayout.findViewById<TextView>(R.id.your_text_view_id)

        // setting the first char of the String name
        yourTextView.text = name.substring(0, 1)

        return super.onPrepareOptionsMenu(menu)
    }