Navigation drawer: How do I set the selected item at startup?

My code works perfectly: every time an item in Navigation Drawer is clicked the item is selected.

Of course I want to start the app with a default fragment (home), but Navigation Drawer doesn't have the item selected. How can I select that item programmatically?

public class BaseApp extends AppCompatActivity {

    //Defining Variables
    protected String LOGTAG = "LOGDEBUG";
    protected Toolbar toolbar;
    protected NavigationView navigationView;
    protected DrawerLayout drawerLayout;

    private DateManager db = null;

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

        navigationView = (NavigationView) findViewById(R.id.navigation_view);


        // set the home/dashboard at startup

        FragmentTransaction fragmentTransaction = getSupportFragmentManager().beginTransaction();
        fragmentTransaction.replace(R.id.frame, new DashboardFragment());
        fragmentTransaction.commit();

        setNavDrawer();
    }

    private void setNavDrawer(){

        // Initializing Toolbar and setting it as the actionbar
        toolbar = (Toolbar) findViewById(R.id.toolbar);
        setSupportActionBar(toolbar);

        //Initializing NavigationView

        //Setting Navigation View Item Selected Listener to handle the item click of the navigation menu
        navigationView.setNavigationItemSelectedListener(new NavigationView.OnNavigationItemSelectedListener() {

            // This method will trigger on item Click of navigation menu
            @Override
            public boolean onNavigationItemSelected(MenuItem menuItem) {


                //Checking if the item is in checked state or not, if not make it in checked state

                // I THINK THAT I NEED EDIT HERE...

                if (menuItem.isChecked()) menuItem.setChecked(false);
                else menuItem.setChecked(true);

                //Closing drawer on item click
                drawerLayout.closeDrawers();


                //Check to see which item was being clicked and perform appropriate action
                switch (menuItem.getItemId()) {    

                    //Replacing the main content with ContentFragment 

                    case R.id.home:

                        DashboardFragment dashboardFragment = new DashboardFragment();
                        FragmentTransaction fragmentTransaction = getSupportFragmentManager().beginTransaction();
                        fragmentTransaction.replace(R.id.frame, dashboardFragment,"DASHBOARD_FRAGMENT");
                        fragmentTransaction.commit();
                        return true;
[...]

I think that I need to edit here:

if (menuItem.isChecked()) menuItem.setChecked(false);
                    else menuItem.setChecked(true);

Or in onCreate at App startup with FragmentTransaction.

Thank you for your support.

Use the code below:

navigationView.getMenu().getItem(0).setChecked(true);

Call this method after you call setNavDrawer();

The getItem(int index) method gets the MenuItem then you can call the setChecked(true); on that MenuItem, all you are left to do is to find out which element index does the default have, and replace the 0 with that index.

You can select(highlight) the item by calling

onNavigationItemSelected(navigationView.getMenu().getItem(0));

Here is a reference link: http://thegeekyland.blogspot.com/2015/11/navigation-drawer-how-set-selected-item.html

EDIT Did not work on nexus 4, support library revision 24.0.0. I recommend use

navigationView.setCheckedItem(R.id.nav_item);

answered by @kingston below.

You can also call:

navigationView.setCheckedItem(id);

This method was introduced in API 23.0.0

Example

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
      xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
      tools:ignore="UnusedIds">

    <group
        android:id="@+id/group"
        android:checkableBehavior="single">
        <item
            android:id="@+id/menu_nav_home"
            android:icon="@drawable/ic_home_black_24dp"
            android:title="@string/menu_nav_home" />
    </group>
</menu>

Note: android:checkableBehavior="single"

See also this

For me both these methods didn't work:

• navigationView.getMenu().getItem(0).setChecked(true);
• navigationView.setCheckedItem(id);

Try this one, it works for me.

onNavigationItemSelected(navigationView.getMenu().findItem(R.id.nav_profile));