getActionView() of my MenuItem return null

Question

I just would like to tweak the View of an ActionBar MenuItem by code.

Unfortunately, it seems that getActionView always return null!

My code:

@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
    MenuInflater inflater = this.getSupportMenuInflater();
    inflater.inflate(R.menu.folder, menu);
    return super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu);

}

public boolean onPrepareOptionsMenu(final Menu menu) {
    MenuItem menuFolder = menu.findItem(R.id.menu_folder);
    Log.i("", "* onPrepareOptionsMenu *" + menuFolder);
    Log.i("", "* getActionView *" + menuFolder.getActionView());

Log is:

01-11 22:13:42.884: I/(7893): * onPrepareOptionsMenu *com.actionbarsherlock.internal.view.menu.MenuItemWrapper@41401ac8

01-11 22:13:42.884: I/(7893): * getActionView *null

Thank a lot for any help

Edit:

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

    <item 
          android:id="@+id/menu_folder"
          android:icon="@drawable/ic_menu_archive"
          android:showAsAction="always"/>
</menu>

Answer 1

getActionView() only works if there's a custom actionView from setActionView.