Develop Reference

Android studio items copied cannot be refactored because they are linked

I have had to do a lot of copying and pasting of my layouts and items in them. If I copy and paste these and then try to refactor their names they also change the names of all of my copies. This happens in the xml code editor or in my design editor. Could someone tell me what this is called and how can I copy and paste without having the items be linked? I am so frustrated. Thanks!
For example if I have a textview with and Id of "tv" and then I copy the block of xml and paste it elsewhere to use the same block and then refactor to rename it's id then both the original and copy will update. I want to paste a version of the textview that is NOT linked like this.

When you write android:id="#+id/foo" in your layout file, the system will wind up generating an int value in a file called R.java, something like R.id.foo = 0x7f123456.
When you then write android:id="#+id/foo" again in a different file, that will reference the same R.id.foo int. So, when you use the refactoring tools, all instances of #id/foo are considered.
Perhaps you can use the simple textual Find/Replace action instead of Refactor -> Rename.

The copies aren't "linked". They just use the same names, so if you try to refactor the copy, then Android Studio finds that name in the original and will rename it. Instead, you will have to edit your copies manually without using the Android Studio refactoring tools.
Another option if you are using version control is to do the rename refactor then undo the local, uncommitted changes in the original files with Ctrl+Alt+Z.

R.layout shows only Android default template proposals.

I have a couple of xml files in my layout folder but when I use them in my class the template proposals doesn't show my layout files but shows android default proposals. There seem to be no error in any of my files at all. I tried deleting the R.java file and rebuilding and restarting eclipse but nothing seems to be working. PLease help. I need to get this done asap :(
Thanks,
Sowmya.

This may be because, when you try to use your xml layouts, the default android R file is imported.
import com.android.R
Check that. If it is there, delete that import and import the correct R file which starts with your package name.

First look are you setting xml name fine like
e.g
you have your.xml
Then in onCreate
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.your);
Then clean your project.
if you have design multiple xml with same name then you must have to place them in appropriate folder using hdpi etc
Further details available here

or you can write
import.R.layout
It will work for sure

Layout file and r.java

Is it possible to convert R.java into layout file xxx.xml..
In some project which I got from internet the layout file is missing and all I have now is R.java.
So is there any way that I can create/extract information from R.java file to make the layout xml file.

That is not possible. the R class only handles references to content (like layouts), not the content itself.

R.Java is the pretty much the only file that you don't need. This file is automatically generated when your project is compiled.
Because of this, you should not edit this file in any way.
Therefore, if all you have is the R.java file... Well, you have nothing.

you can't do that, if R.java deleted your only way is add the xml again. i think create layout programmatically in android better than with xml. because the R doesn't need to generate. but the weakness of programmatical layout is you must declare id by your self. generate or manual which one do you like :)

How to rename widget ID's in Eclipse?

I am working on an app built upon an example from a tutorial. Now the different widget IDs no longer reflect their purpose so I would like to rename them. However, this seems quite a task as the IDs are used in multiple files.
Is it possible somehow to rename the IDs so the changes are migrated into the other files in the project? That is pretty much similar to refactor source code names, but for widget IDs.

I don't think a tool like that exists in Eclipse. The easiest way to do it manually is to rename an item in the XML layout and then track down the errors in the Java classes. If you do it one-by-one then you should have it cleaned up in a minute or two.

You can try to use the Find/Replace function is Eclipse. I have found this useful several times when changing ID's or something to that effect. Let us know what you end up doing.

In eclipse:
Go to the xml layout -> Graphical Layout -> Properties then click the ... button near the desired field:

In case anyone stumbles across this problem now, you can rename the ID from the visual layout editor and it will do all the hard work automatically.

Is it possible to create a view from an xml file in the assets directory?

I have an application and putting all of the layouts inside of the res/layout folder is getting pretty large and hard to manage. I would like to have folders for all the layouts. I have read that there cannot be subdirectories inside the layout folder but that there could be in the assets folder. So my question is, how do I access a file and set it as my view from a file in the assets directory? Something like the following
int assetId = getAssets().open("main.xml");
setContentView(assetId)
Would the above code work? How would I set that xml file for my view?
Thanks.

You can achieve this by using a custom script and having it run before the build executes. Android seems to ignore anything in layout subdirectories, so you can safely put your files into them. The following ruby script (written for Linux, but easily convertible to other platforms) will then delete everything that's not a directory in res/layout/ and copy every file from the subdirs into res/layout/:
#!/usr/bin/ruby
require "fileutils"
def collect_files(directory)
FileUtils.cd(directory)
FileUtils.rm(Dir.entries(directory).reject{|x| File.directory?(x)}) #Remove all layout files in base dir
files_to_copy=Dir.glob("**/*").reject{|x| File.directory?(x)}
files_to_copy.each{|x| print "Copying #{x} to #{directory}\n"}
FileUtils.cp(files_to_copy, directory) #Copy all files in subdir into base dir
end
if ARGV[0]!=nil && File.directory?(ARGV[0])
xml_dir=ARGV[0]
layout_dir="#{xml_dir}/layout"
collect_files(layout_dir)
else
puts("Must specify a valid directory!")
end
Be warned that the above script is not robust, and will actually delete any layout files not in a subdirectory. You can always remove the deletion step if you like, but then any files you remove from the subdirectories will remain in the main directory for subsequent builds.
If you're running Eclipse, you can then configure an external tool, which you can add to your builders later. Just open up Run -> External Tools -> External Tools Configurations, and create a new tool under 'Programs'. Here a screenie of my settings:
Note: The working directory is a red herring, and won't be used. You'll need to specify the location where you drop the script, not the one shown here
Now you can add the tool to the builders for your project. Select your project and open up Project -> Properties. Now Select the 'Builders' item and click 'Import'. You should see your tool there if you defined it successfully. It needs to run before the rest of the build process, so make sure to move it up to the top of the list. Here's what it should look like when you're done:
Now you just move layout files into subdirectories (but watch out for name collisions, remember the files will all end up in the same directory for the build!) and build your project. You'll see them magically appear in the root of /res/layout/ when you do this and your app should then build normally.
Caveat Scriptor: If you're specifying multiple layouts, or anything else which uses more than just the /res/layout/ directory, you'll need to extend this script or add the tool multiple times for the different directories to handle it. I don't personally use this technique, and so haven't seen where it falls down, but have performed a test with a basic android Hello World app with a couple of layouts in some subdirectories.
Also, my script will break if used with paths containing spaces!

The short answer: it can't be done in that way.
The main reasons:
In the res/layout folder all .xml files are precompiled, so Android can use them as resources. In assets folder all files remain intact, so the app can read them as regular files. (In your code example you get InputStream, not resource ID).
Android automatically manages layouts located in the res/layout folder, searching the best matched to current screen resolution, orientation, locale, etc.

layoutinflator might help you
look here
What does LayoutInflater in Android do?

I don't think this is a good idea, and probably just doesn't work. What would the framework do if it thought it needed an hdpi version of your layout, for example?
You might try to go after the root cause of your layout proliferation:
Could you develop better naming conventions for your layouts?
Could you refactor certain layouts so that more components can reuse the same layouts?
Are you manually handling orientations instead of relying on -portrait and -landscape?