How to style the Design Support library's NavigationView?

I have answered to a similar question Here.

Basically what you need do is , use a Color State List Resource. For that , first create a new xml (e.g drawer_item.xml) inside color directory (which should be inside res directory.) If you don't have a directory named color already , create one.

Now inside drawer_item.xml do something like this

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">    <item android:color="checked state color" android:state_checked= "true" />    <item android:color="your default color" /></selector>

For itemBackground, a separate drawable needs to be placed inside drawable folder too. The name is same drawer_item. android:drawable property needs to be set instead of android:color for itemBackground:

<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">    <item       android:drawable="@drawable/shape_rectangle_checked"        android:state_checked= "true" />    <item android:drawable="@drawable/shape_rectangle" /></selector>

File shape_rectangle:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"     android:shape="rectangle"><solid android:color="#ffffff" /> <!--white color --></shape>

File shape_rectangle_checked:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"     android:shape="rectangle"><solid android:color="#25aaf1" /> <!--blue color --></shape>

and then set in your navigationview like this

app:itemIconTint="@color/drawer_item" //notice hereapp:itemTextColor="@color/drawer_item" //and hereapp:itemBackground="@drawable/drawer_item"//and here for changing the background color of the item which is checked

To expand on @Sash_KP's answer, for the xml in the drawable folder, you dont need the @drawable/shape_rectangle and @drawable/shape_rectangle_check. You can just use @color/your_color.

Also for API >= 21, I've noticed that the navigation menu items by default have a preset selector. You'll notice if you touch and hold down the menu item a ripple will appear. Using a custom itemBackground will not override the default ripple. Therefore if you use a ripple drawable it will create two ripples! Also menu items with ripple drawables do not allow you to have a pressed state for some reason (the default ripple will only appear if you HOLD down).

So for API >= 21 I would not recommend using a ripple drawable. Just use a regular selector drawable with no custom ripples.