Ok I worked out a solution myself. Basically the actionProviderClass is used to instantiate an actionView in the actionBar. In this class you can attach an onClick listener to the view you inflate. I used this listener to inflate a dropdown view in the main frame when clicked.
For instance
public class BaseProvider extends ActionProvider {
protected final Context context;
protected final int layout;
protected final BaseProvider self;
protected View view;
protected int positionLeft = 0;
protected Dropdown dropdown;
public BaseProvider(Context context, int layout, Dropdown dropdown) {
super(context);
this.layout = layout;
this.context = context;
this.self = this;
this.dropdown = dropdown;
}
@Override
public View onCreateActionView() {
LayoutInflater inflater = (LayoutInflater) context.getSystemService( Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE );
View view = inflater.inflate(this.layout, null);
view.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
@Override
public void onClick(View v) {
self.onItemClick();
}
});
this.view = view;
return view;
}
public boolean onItemClick(){
toggleDropdown();
return true;
}
protected void toggleDropdown(){
this.positionLeft = getRelativeLeft(view);
DropdownInflater.getInstance().toggleDropdown(this.dropdown,this.positionLeft);
}
protected int getRelativeLeft(View view) {
int[] loc = new int[2];
view.getLocationOnScreen(loc);
return loc[0];
}
}