Android resource types

Archived

This page has been archived and will receive no further updates.

see: http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/resources/available-resources.html

general

assigning IDs to resources

android:id="@+id/some_resource"

referencing resources with IDs in XML

android:text="@id/some_resource"

referencing resources with IDs in code

R.id.some_resource

referencing resources in XML

many resources in the various subfolders under res can be referenced from other XML resource files in the various subfolders under res such as:
- res/layout
- res/menu
- res/xml

strings

see: http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/resources/string-resource.html

res/values/strings.xml

strings.xml example

<resources>
    <string name="hello">Hello World!</string>
    <string name="app_name">My Android App</string>
</resources>

referencing strings in XML

<TextView
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:text="@string/app_name"
    />

referencing strings in Java

String string = getString(R.string.app_name);

to retain rich text formatting:

String string = getText(R.string.app_name);

string arrays

see: http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/resources/string-resource.html#StringArray

res/values/arrays.xml

arrays.xml example

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
    <string-array name="string_array_name">
        <item>text_string</item>
        <item>text_string_2</item>
    </string-array>
</resources>

referencing arrays in Java

Resources res = getResources();
String[] planets = res.getStringArray(R.array.string_array_name);

colors

res/values/colors.xml

note: android has its own built-in color definitions, which you can use like this:

@android:color/white
@android:color/black

colors.xml example

<resources>
    <color name="red_background">#FF0000</color>
</resources>

referencing colors in XML example

android:background="@color/red_background"

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