Android : how to create Multidimensional Arrays in string.xml

Question

let's say i have this Multidimensional Array :

myArray = new String[][]{{"Hello","World"},{"I Love","Android"},{"something","Random"}};

and in my app , i'm dealing with it like this :

for (int i=0; i<myArray.length; i++) {
    for (int x=0; x<myArray[i].length; x++) {
    // set textview or something 
    }
}

I want to do this Multidimensional Array by XML resource file.

i tried this way but did not work for me :

<string-array name="myArray">
    <item><item>Hello</item><item>World</item></item>
    <item><item>I Love</item><item>Android</item></item>
    <item><item>something</item><item>Random</item></item>
</string-array>

I know I can do normal string-array in the XML file and make it look like Multidimensional Array by Java but I just want to know if it's possible to do it in XML directly

Rakshit Sorathiya · Accepted Answer · 2018-01-16 09:25:57Z

You can maintain your xml for array like this:

<resources>
<array name="categories_0">
    <item>1</item>
    <item>Pizza</item>
</array>
<array name="categories_1">
    <item>2</item>
    <item>Burger</item>
</array>
<array name="categories_2">
    <item>3</item>
    <item>Maggie</item>
</array>

Now each category is an array with a key/value pair for it’s properties. What ties it with other categories is the integer suffix. Now we can use this dandy static method to grab them: Than, we can define global reference for index of the array:

public class ResourceHelper {

public static List<TypedArray> getMultiTypedArray(Context context, String key) {
    List<TypedArray> array = new ArrayList<>();

    try {
        Class<R.array> res = R.array.class;
        Field field;
        int counter = 0;

        do {
            field = res.getField(key + "_" + counter);
            array.add(context.getResources().obtainTypedArray(field.getInt(null)));
            counter++;
        } while (field != null);
    } catch (Exception e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    } finally {
        return array;
    }
  }
}

This is dynamically retrieving the resources programmatically, with an incremented counter to find the next object until there isn’t one left. Now this can be consumed throughout your code base like this:

for (TypedArray item : ResourceHelper.getMultiTypedArray(this, "categories")) {
   Category category = new Category();
   category.ID = item.getInt(0, 0);
   category.title = item.getString(1);
   mCategories.add(category);
}

Here you may face error in encapsulating class or method. You can just add @SuppressWarnings("ResourceType") to that method or class.

This example will work for you.

it would be amazing if you give me a full example code, i'm still a beginner

Anton Kazakov · Accepted Answer · 2018-01-14 20:01:27Z

1

It's impossible. You can put Json String inside <item>{"dummy":"dummy"} </item> and then parse it.

answered Jan 14, 2018 at 20:01

Anton Kazakov

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1 Comment

Loving Android Over a year ago

still have no clue how to do that ... but thanks anyway

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