I just wanted to point out this really handy method that lets you specify your own layout for an action item.

<strong>android:actionlayout=”@layout/action_layout”</strong>

Super cool albeit a bit obscure!

This is all you need to do:

In your menu xml:

<item android:id="@+id/menu_item"
android:showAsAction="always|withText"
android:actionLayout="@layout/action_layout"
android:title="@string/menu_settings"/>

It’s that simple!

Your layout can be anything! in my case i just tried it out with a button.

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:orientation="horizontal"
tools:context=".CacheTestActivity" >
<ImageButton
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:contentDescription="Custom button!"
android:scaleType="fitCenter"
android:src="@drawable/logo" />
</LinearLayout>

This really makes it simple to customize your actionbar action items!
Hope this helps!