Dynamically referencing a String in Strings.xml in Android

Question

Say I have the following my strings.xml file:

<string name="string0">Lorem</string>
<string name="string1">ipsum</string>
<string name="string2">dolor</string>

In my activity an ID is set based on the clicking of a button. If the top button is clicked the id is 0, middle is 1 and bottom button is 2.

What would the syntax look like for referencing one of the three strings?

I know R.string.string0 works but I want to do something equivalent to:

R.string["string"+currentID]

where I derive the string to use based on the ID.

Just not sure what the syntax would look like in Java/Android.

Thanks in advance, Tony

Kurru · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-17 21:27:32Z

4

Could you not just use a string array in your resources instead of separate string entries?

answered Mar 17, 2011 at 21:27

Kurru

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1 Comment

Silvestri Over a year ago

Thank you so much. Yes, I can do this, just didn't think of it.

EboMike · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-17 21:24:41Z

1

That's a bad approach. It's slow. It'd be better to have an internal integer array with all the R.string IDs.

If you really insist on using a string-based approach, use Resources.getIdentifier().

answered Mar 17, 2011 at 21:24

EboMike

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5 Comments

Silvestri Over a year ago

Thank you. I would mark this as the anser but Kurru answered first.

EboMike Over a year ago

Uh, not really. You see that mine came 3 minutes earlier (look at the "answered n mins ago").

Kurru Over a year ago

Why would you use a interger array? Would a string array not be better?

EboMike Over a year ago

@Kurru: Why load all the strings into memory? That's wasteful. Integers are much more compact, and you don't have to reload the strings if the user decides to change the language. Of course, if it's only a handful of strings, and if you use them A LOT, then it's faster to cache them into a string array.

Kurru Over a year ago

If they're hand typed into the program I doubt theres any significant waste.

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