Why can't I click my action bar menu item when using actionLayout property?

Question

Why does my menu item become unclickable if I use the actionLayout property in menu_main.xml? onOptionsItemSelected() is never called. How can I correct this issue?

menu_main.xml:

<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">

    <item android:id="@+id/menu_mail"
        android:title="@string/menuMailTitle"
        android:actionLayout="@layout/icon_mail"
        android:icon="@drawable/icons_mail"
        android:showAsAction="always" />

</menu>

onCreateOptionsMenu():

@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
    getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.menu_main, menu);
    MenuItemCompat.setShowAsAction(menu.findItem(R.id.menu_mail), MenuItem.SHOW_AS_ACTION_ALWAYS);
    return true;
}

Answer 1

It should be used like so:

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

@Override
public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item) {
    switch (item.getItemId()) {
        case R.id.icons_mail:
            break;
        default:
            return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
    }
    return true;
}

Answer 2

Change your menu from:

<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    <item android:id="@+id/menu_mail"
        android:title="@string/menuMailTitle"
        android:actionLayout="@layout/icon_mail"
        android:icon="@drawable/icons_mail"
        android:showAsAction="always" />

</menu>

to

<menu xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto">
    <item android:id="@+id/menu_mail"
        android:title="@string/menuMailTitle"
        app:actionLayout="@layout/icon_mail"
        android:icon="@drawable/icons_mail"
        app:showAsAction="always" />

</menu>

Notice the use of the "app"lication specific namespace.