Develop Reference

Using one getStringArray call to different String arrays

In the strings.xml file have few String arrays, for example:
<string-array name="T1"> //demolitionHammers
<item>Makita HM1200K</item>
<item>Makita HM1202C</item>
<item>Bosch GSH 5E</item>
<item>Bosch GBH 11DE</item>
</string-array>
<string-array name="T2"> //diamondDrills
<item>Makita DBM080</item>
<item>Bronco BDD150A</item>
</string-array>
<string-array name="T3"> //groundDenser
<item>Shatal PC2016</item>
</string-array>
In the Java file I have a string variable with the name of the wanted array, for example(the wanted array will determine from other activity and will be different each time):
String strName = "T2";
The problem is that I cant use now the following call to get the specific String-array:
String[] selectedSubList = res.getStringArray(R.array.strName);
How can this can be done?

You can use the getIdentifier() method
Resources res = context.getResources();
int resId = res.getIdentifier(strName, "array",context.getPackageName());
String[] selectedSubList = res.getStringArray(resId);

get list of the strings present in strings.xml file in Android

I want the list of strings present in the strings.xml file.
Does anyone knows how to get it??? One thing I found is it assigns the ids in sequential order inside R.java but how to get the starting id is not clear.
For Example I have 100 Strings in my strings.xml like below and I want to read in at a time not like giving getResources().getString(int id) for individual.
<string name="app_label">Calendar</string>
<string name="what_label">What</string>
<string name="where_label">Where</string>
<string name="when_label">When</string>
<string name="timezone_label">Time zone</string>
<string name="attendees_label">Guests</string>
<string name="today">Today</string>
<string name="tomorrow">Tomorrow</string>

You can declare your strings in res\values\strings.xml file like this.
<string-array name="vehiclescategory_array">
<item>Cars</item>
<item>Bikes</item>
<item>RVs</item>
<item>Trucks</item>
<item>Other Vehicles</item>
</string-array>
In your activity class, you can access them like the following.
String[] categories;
categories=getResources().getStringArray(R.array.vehiclescategory_array);
In the above list, whatever sequence you declare, the same way it is assigned to the array in your activity. Suppose Cars will be assigned to categories[0]. Hope this helps.

Field[] fields = R.string.class.getDeclaredFields(); // or Field[] fields = R.string.class.getFields();
String str = "";
for (int i =0; i < fields.length; i++) {
int resId = getResources().getIdentifier(fields[i].getName(), "string", getPackageName());
str += fields[i].getName() + " = ";
if (resId != 0) {
str += getResources().getString(resId);
}
str += "\n";
}
You will get all codes of strings with its values in "str" variable.

If you want to access all the Strings from the strings.xml file you could use reflection on the R.string class. An example can be found in this answer, you'll just need to replace drawables with strings.

You could declare an integer array with an entry for each string. I did this for an array of colors once, so I imagine it works for strings as well.
res/values/arrays.xml
<integer-array name="app_strings">
<item>#string/app_label</item>
<item>#string/what_label</item>
<item>#string/where_label</item>
<item>#string/when_label</item>
<item>#string/timezone_label</item>
<item>#string/attendees_label</item>
<item>#string/today</item>
<item>#string/tomorrow</item>
</integer-array>
Then in your code, you would loop over the array and use each value as the argument for getString().
int[] stringIds = getResources().getIntArray(R.array.app_strings);
String[] strings = new String[stringIds.length];
for (int i = 0; i < stringIds.length; i++) {
strings[i] = getString(stringIds[i]);
}
The problem is you have to manually update your arrays.xml whenever you modify your string resources, so it's certainly not ideal.

String[] categories = getResources().getStringArray(R.array.stars_array);
List<String> stringList = new ArrayList<>(Arrays.asList(categories));
use this simple one

Get values from xml dynamically

i have this question about get string values without use an string-array on xml, i just don't know if its possible.
My file.xml can have both this
<resources>
<string name="test1"></string>
<string name="test2"></string>
</resources>
and this:
<resources>
<string name="test1"></string>
</resources>
Is there any way to get the values programatically, without an array.
The problem is, i can't do this:
R.string.test1;
R.string.test2;
Because not always i have the "test2" string. Is there any way to get all the values dinamically?
Thanks.

You could receive the string with its name (instead of its id):
String packageName = getPackageName();
int resId = getResources().getIdentifier("test2", "string", packageName);
String test2 =getString(resId);

Try this
String test1 = getResources().getString(R.string.test1);
String test2 = getResources().getString(R.string.test2);
more info

Randomly select a string from strings.xml in Android

I need to randomly select a string defined within strings.xml file in android.
For example my strings.xml is :
<resources>
<string name="str1">Content comes here1</string>
<string name="str2">Content comes here2</string>
<string name="str3">Content comes here3</string>
</resources>
Can I randomly select one of these strings in my Activity?

Create an array contains all of your resource names you want to select:
String[] strs = new String[] {"str1", "str2", "str3"};
Get a random index:
int randomIndex = new Random().nextInt(3);
Get your random string from resource:
int resId = getResources().getIdentifier(strs[randomIndex ], "string", your_package_name);
String randomString = getString(resId);

The best way is you declare you Strings as an Array, then get it like this:
String[] arrayOfStrings = context.getResources().getStringArray(R.array.your_string_array);
String randomString = arrayOfStrings[new Random().nextInt(arrayOfStrings.length)];
Then you can use it as you like.

You would probable rather make it an array of strings (and then that is easier to select at random one of the array). Else, you can put the ids of your strings in an array and randomly select one of the items in the array.

Storing R.drawable IDs in XML array

I would like to store drawable resources' ID in the form of R.drawable.* inside an array using an XML values file, and then retrieve the array in my activity.
Any ideas of how to achieve this?

You use a typed array in arrays.xml file within your /res/values folder that looks like this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
<integer-array name="random_imgs">
<item>#drawable/car_01</item>
<item>#drawable/balloon_random_02</item>
<item>#drawable/dog_03</item>
</integer-array>
</resources>
Then in your activity, access them like so:
TypedArray imgs = getResources().obtainTypedArray(R.array.random_imgs);
// get resource ID by index, use 0 as default to set null resource
imgs.getResourceId(i, 0)
// or set you ImageView's resource to the id
mImgView1.setImageResource(imgs.getResourceId(i, 0));
// recycle the array
imgs.recycle();

In the value folder create xml file name it arrays.xml
add the data to it in this way
<integer-array name="your_array_name">
<item>#drawable/1</item>
<item>#drawable/2</item>
<item>#drawable/3</item>
<item>#drawable/4</item>
</integer-array>
Then obtain it to your code this way
private TypedArray img;
img = getResources().obtainTypedArray(R.array.your_array_name);
Then to use a Drawable of these in the img TypedArray for example as an ImageView background use the following code
ImageView.setBackgroundResource(img.getResourceId(index, defaultValue));
where index is the Drawable index.
defaultValue is a value you give if there is no item at this index
For more information about TypedArray visit this link
http://developer.android.com/reference/android/content/res/TypedArray.html

You can use this to create an array of other resources, such as drawables. Note that the array is not required to be homogeneous, so you can create an array of mixed resource types, but you must be aware of what and where the data types are in the array.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
<array name="icons">
<item>#drawable/home</item>
<item>#drawable/settings</item>
<item>#drawable/logout</item>
</array>
<array name="colors">
<item>#FFFF0000</item>
<item>#FF00FF00</item>
<item>#FF0000FF</item>
</array>
</resources>
And obtain the resources in your activity like this
Resources res = getResources();
TypedArray icons = res.obtainTypedArray(R.array.icons);
Drawable drawable = icons.getDrawable(0);
TypedArray colors = res.obtainTypedArray(R.array.colors);
int color = colors.getColor(0,0);
Enjoy!!!!!

In Kotlin, you can do as:-
<integer-array name="drawer_icons">
<item>#drawable/drawer_home</item>
</integer-array>
You will get array of Image from the resource as TypedArray
val imageArray = resources.obtainTypedArray(R.array.drawer_icons)
get resource ID by the index
imageArray.getResourceId(imageArray.getIndex(0),-1)
OR you can set imageView's resource to the id
imageView.setImageResource(imageArray.getResourceId(imageArray.getIndex(0),-1))
and in last recycle the array
imageArray.recycle()

kotlin way could be this:
fun Int.resDrawableArray(context: Context, index: Int, block: (drawableResId: Int) -> Unit) {
val array = context.resources.obtainTypedArray(this)
block(array.getResourceId(index, -1))
array.recycle()
}
R.array.random_imgs.resDrawableArray(context, 0) {
mImgView1.setImageResource(it)
}