How to access an options menu item from outside the menu

Question

How can an options menu item be accessed from an object outside of the menu itself? I'm trying to set an alpha value for one of the options menu items, but it's not working for some reason. The commented lines are what I tried.

I've seen the following code used before, but it's not clear on where and how it should be used:

    Drawable drawable = item.getIcon();
    if (drawable != null) {
        drawable.mutate();
        drawable.setAlpha(1);
    }

Activity class

public class WebviewActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
    private static final String TAG = WebviewActivity.class.getSimpleName();

    WebView myWebView;
    ProgressBar myProgressBar;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.fragment_webview);
    }

    @Override
    protected void onStart() {
        super.onStart();
        setContentView(R.layout.fragment_webview);

        String url = getIntent().getStringExtra("url");
        myWebView = findViewById(R.id.web_view);
        myWebView.setWebViewClient(new WebViewClient());
        WebSettings webSettings = myWebView.getSettings();
        webSettings.setJavaScriptEnabled(true);
        myWebView.loadUrl(url);

        myWebView.setWebChromeClient(new WebChromeClient() {
            @Override
            public void onProgressChanged(WebView view, int newProgress) {
                super.onProgressChanged(view, newProgress);
                myProgressBar.setProgress(newProgress);
            }
        });
    }

    private class WebViewClient extends android.webkit.WebViewClient {
        @Override
        public boolean shouldOverrideUrlLoading(WebView view, WebResourceRequest request){
            String url=request.getUrl().toString();
            view.loadUrl(url);
            return true;
        }

        @Override
        public void onPageFinished(WebView view, String url) {
            super.onPageFinished(view, url);
        }
    }

    public void onBtnBackPressed() {
        if (myWebView.canGoBack()){
            myWebView.goBack();
        } else {
            onBackPressed();
        }
    }

    public void onBtnForwardPressed() {
        if (myWebView.canGoForward()){
            myWebView.goForward();
        } else {
//            menu.getItem(R.id.action_webbrowser_forward).setEnabled(false);
//            menu.getItem(R.id.action_webbrowser_forward).mutate();
//            menu.getItem(R.id.action_webbrowser_forward).setAlpha(1);
        }
    }

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

    @Override
    public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
        else if (item.getItemId() == R.id.action_webbrowser_back) {
            onBtnBackPressed();
        } else if (item.getItemId() == R.id.action_webbrowser_forward) {
            onBtnForwardPressed();
        }
        return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
    }
}

Answer 1

Define in your activity class this variable:

MenuItem action_webbrowser_forward;

In onCreateOptionsMenu() after the inflation of the menu, write this:

action_webbrowser_forward = menu.findItem(R.id.action_webbrowser_forward);

then you can use it anywhere in your class:

action_webbrowser_forward.setEnabled(false);

but mutate is used for drawables and not menu items, so get the icon of the item by action_webbrowser_forward.getIcon() and apply mutate to it.