Reference drawable from string-array in android [duplicate]

Question

how would I reference a drawable resource from the string xml file? I want to do

<string-array name="my_array">
<item>@drawable/my_image</item>
...

How would I do that?

What would that even mean? A drawable is not a string, so how could it be part of a string array? — Ted Hopp
– Ted Hopp, Commented Nov 5, 2013 at 14:54
That is kind of possible, if you store the names you can get the resources from a Resources object. More details: stackoverflow.com/questions/3476430/… — PurkkaKoodari
– PurkkaKoodari, Commented Nov 5, 2013 at 14:58

trippedout · Accepted Answer · 2013-11-05 15:01:59Z

15

for arrays of drawables ids, don't use string array just use <array>

then to use them, get a TypedArray if the ids

TypedArray images = getResources().obtainTypedArray(R.array.my_image_ids);
int resourceId = images.getResourceId(id, -1);

and don't forget when you're done with the resource id and array to recycle it

images.recycle();

answered Nov 5, 2013 at 15:01

trippedout

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3 Comments

Display Name Over a year ago

Great answer, but it was hard to find. There are so many similar answers and questions.

Lorne Laliberte Over a year ago

I'd recommend using 0 as the default instead of -1. 0 will never be returned as it is reserved to designate a missing (null) resource, whereas -1 is a valid id value. Although the build will not automatically assign -1, it is still considered a valid id, and it is common to use such values when assigning ids programmatically (for example, in wrapping adapters), in order to avoid collisions with the range of integers that could be assigned automatically during the build.

KlevisGjN Over a year ago

Perfect, this is what i was looking for.

stack. · Accepted Answer · 2013-11-05 15:04:22Z

I guess you are trying to store all of your image resource names (as string) inside an array and be called when you write your java code?

Resources res = getResources();
String[] images = res.getStringArray(R.array.my_array);

Would get your string array into an array. You can get the item you want by accessing the array as usual.

String image_name = images[0];

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

If you are trying to achieve to load a list of images to a gridview, you might want to refer to this:

http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/layout/gridview.html

They have placed the array in the base adapter, like this:

private Integer[] mThumbIds = {
        R.drawable.sample_2, R.drawable.sample_3,
        R.drawable.sample_4, R.drawable.sample_5,
        R.drawable.sample_6, R.drawable.sample_7,
        R.drawable.sample_0, R.drawable.sample_1,
        R.drawable.sample_2, R.drawable.sample_3,
        R.drawable.sample_4, R.drawable.sample_5,
        R.drawable.sample_6, R.drawable.sample_7,
        R.drawable.sample_0, R.drawable.sample_1,
        R.drawable.sample_2, R.drawable.sample_3,
        R.drawable.sample_4, R.drawable.sample_5,
        R.drawable.sample_6, R.drawable.sample_7
};

Which you can easy use just like how you would access an array.

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