How to add custom views in the new NavigationView

The new support library 23.1

allows using a custom view for the items in Navigation View using app:actionLayout or using MenuItemCompat.setActionView().

Here's how I managed to display a SwitchCompat

menu_nav.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">    <group        android:id="@+id/first"        android:checkableBehavior="single">        <item            android:id="@+id/navi_item_1"            android:icon="@drawable/ic_feed_grey_500_24dp"            android:title="Feed" />        <item            android:id="@+id/navi_item_2"            android:icon="@drawable/ic_explore_grey_500_24dp"            android:title="Explore" />        <item            android:id="@+id/navi_item_4"            android:icon="@drawable/ic_settings_grey_500_24dp"            android:title="Settings" />    </group>    <group        android:id="@+id/second"        android:checkableBehavior="single">        <item xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"            android:id="@+id/navi_item_create_notifications_sound"            android:title="Notifications Sounds"            app:actionLayout="@layout/menu_swich"            app:showAsAction="always" />    </group></menu>

menu_switch.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><android.support.v7.widget.SwitchCompat xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"    android:layout_width="wrap_content"    android:layout_height="match_parent"    android:gravity="right|center_vertical"    app:buttonTint="@color/colorPrimary"    app:switchPadding="@dimen/spacing_small" />

To get the View and assign events to it, you should do :

SwitchCompat item = (SwitchCompat) navigationView.getMenu().getItem(3).getActionView();        item.setOnCheckedChangeListener( new CompoundButton.OnCheckedChangeListener(){            @Override public void onCheckedChanged(CompoundButton buttonView, boolean isChecked) {                Logr.v(LOG_TAG, "onCheckedChanged" + isChecked);            }        });

Simple solution as you are using NavigationView

<android.support.design.widget.NavigationView    android:id="@+id/nav_view"    android:layout_width="wrap_content"    android:layout_height="match_parent"    android:layout_gravity="start"    android:fitsSystemWindows="true"    app:menu="@menu/activity_main_drawer">    <LinearLayout        android:layout_width="match_parent"        android:layout_height="wrap_content"        android:layout_gravity="bottom"        android:orientation="horizontal">        <android.support.v7.widget.SwitchCompat            android:id="@+id/mSwitch"            android:layout_width="match_parent"            android:layout_height="wrap_content"            android:layout_margin="10dp"            android:text="Night Mode" />    </LinearLayout></android.support.design.widget.NavigationView>

Try to wrap your Switch into a separate Layout file:

Menu:

<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"><item    android:id="@+id/menu_switch"    android:title="Switch Title"    app:actionLayout="@layout/layout_my_switch"    app:showAsAction="always" /></menu>

Switch: "layout_my_switch.xml"

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"android:layout_width="match_parent"android:layout_height="match_parent"><android.support.v7.widget.SwitchCompat    android:id="@+id/my_switch"    android:layout_width="wrap_content"    android:layout_height="wrap_content"    android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"    android:layout_centerVertical="true" /></RelativeLayout>