Positioning menu items to the left of the ActionBar in Honeycomb

I want to position some menu items to the left of Honycomb's ActionBar, but have found no documentation showing how to do this. It loo开发者_运维知识库ks like it should be possible since the Contacts app has search to the immediate left of the navigation bar. Any idea as to how to set menu items to the left side?

The ActionBar has support for a custom layout between the application icon and the regular ActionBar icons. Example:

// Set the custom section of the ActionBar with Browse and Search.
ActionBar actionBar = getActionBar();
mActionBarView = getLayoutInflater().inflate(R.layout.action_bar_custom, null);
actionBar.setCustomView(mActionBarView);
actionBar.setDisplayOptions(ActionBar.DISPLAY_SHOW_CUSTOM);

here is what works for me like a dream: in the Activity I have this:

//hiding default app icon
ActionBar actionBar = getActionBar();
actionBar.setDisplayShowHomeEnabled(false);
//displaying custom ActionBar
View mActionBarView = getLayoutInflater().inflate(R.layout.my_action_bar, null);
actionBar.setCustomView(mActionBarView);
actionBar.setDisplayOptions(ActionBar.DISPLAY_SHOW_CUSTOM)

my_action_bar.xml:

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:background="@color/turquoise">

    <ImageButton 
        android:id="@+id/btn_slide"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:background="@null"
        android:scaleType="centerInside"
        android:src="@drawable/btn_slide"
        android:paddingRight="50dp"
        android:onClick="toggleMenu"
        android:paddingTop="4dp"/>
</RelativeLayout>