Refering to string through R.string

Question

I have a simple button with text
If in android:text i refer to string it works as it suppose to.

<Button
            android:id="@+id/true_b"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:text="@string/true_button" /> // OK



     <Button
                android:id="@+id/true_b"
                android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:text="@id/R.string.true_button" /> // doesn`t output anything

However, if i try to refer to my string through R.string."name of string" nothing happens
Explain me please where i am missing smth...

Dacotah · Accepted Answer · 2014-12-08 03:40:13Z

1

There are a few things that you are doing wrong here. To reference a string in XML you should use

android:text="@string/string_name"

@string referring to the string.xml file and string_name being the name that you have declared.

This is what the line required in string.xml would look like

<string name="string_name">This is a string you are referencing!r</string>

Also I have never tried naming a resource with . separating words. This could cause an error but I am not 100% sure.

Edit: michal.z is incredibly correct when he says that you cannot reference R. or android.R. resources from XML. you only use these when you are trying to reference a resource programatically.

answered Dec 8, 2014 at 3:40

Dacotah

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3 Comments

Dacotah Over a year ago

You only ever use R.id if you are writing the code in java. Anytime you want to reference ANYTHING through XML you use the style as above. For strings use use @string/string_name. Colors are @color/color_name. arrays are @array/array_name etc. The syntax is always @reference_file/variable_name

Anarantt Over a year ago

And when we refer to id like: ...="@id/any_id, Do we accessing R.id?

Dacotah Over a year ago

Technically you are... in the XML saying ="@id/any_id" is the same as saying (R.id.any_id) in Java.

michal.z · Accepted Answer · 2014-12-08 03:47:08Z

0

In XML you use @+id/ or @id/ to specify the id which your View should have or to reference View previously declared in XML. You cannot reference R class in XML code because in fact R class is created on base of your resources defined in XML. So it is unreachable in XML.

edited Dec 8, 2014 at 3:47

answered Dec 8, 2014 at 3:37

michal.z

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