Storing R.drawable IDs in XML array

Question

I would like to store drawable resources' ID in the form of R.drawable.* inside an array using an XML values file, and then retrieve the array in my activity.

Any ideas of how to achieve this?

Can you clarify what you mean by "inside an array using XML"? — Eugene S
– Eugene S, Commented Aug 4, 2011 at 17:14
I don't understand why you would want to do this. Could you provide a bit more background about why you want to do it this way? — mattr-
– mattr-, Commented Aug 4, 2011 at 17:21
Sounds like you are trying to do something way more complicated than necessary. — Octavian Helm
– Octavian Helm, Commented Aug 4, 2011 at 17:26
What I'm trying to do is to store the id for images that will be displayed in a listview. — gammaraptor
– gammaraptor, Commented Aug 4, 2011 at 17:31

M. Smith · Accepted Answer · 2020-11-01 00:16:01Z

387

You use a typed array in arrays.xml file within your /res/values folder that looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>

    <integer-array name="random_imgs">
        <item>@drawable/car_01</item>
        <item>@drawable/balloon_random_02</item>
        <item>@drawable/dog_03</item>
    </integer-array>

</resources>

Then in your activity, access them like so:

TypedArray imgs = getResources().obtainTypedArray(R.array.random_imgs);

// get resource ID by index, use 0 as default to set null resource
imgs.getResourceId(i, 0)

// or set you ImageView's resource to the id
mImgView1.setImageResource(imgs.getResourceId(i, 0));

// recycle the array
imgs.recycle();

edited Nov 1, 2020 at 0:16

M. Smith

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answered Aug 4, 2011 at 17:24

Patrick Kafka

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10 Comments

Tony Wickham Over a year ago

For anyone else stuck on where exactly to put this arrays.xml file, I put it in res/values and things worked. I also had to rename it to array.xml instead of arrays, for some reason.

radley Over a year ago

Is "string-array" correct? Shouldn't it just be "array"?

Alex Over a year ago

You should be using 0 instead of -1 for the default id. -1 is a valid resource id, while 0 is the null resource.

KlevisGjN Over a year ago

@Nishad -1 stands for default value if index is catched with error <br><br>getResourceId(int index, int defValue) <br>***Retrieves the resource identifier for the attribute at index.***

Roger Huang Over a year ago

Use length() to get the element count for a TypedArray.

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Ahmed Mostafa · Accepted Answer · 2016-02-15 20:48:17Z

In the value folder create xml file name it arrays.xml add the data to it in this way

<integer-array name="your_array_name">
    <item>@drawable/1</item>
    <item>@drawable/2</item>
    <item>@drawable/3</item>
    <item>@drawable/4</item>
</integer-array>

Then obtain it to your code this way

private TypedArray img;
img = getResources().obtainTypedArray(R.array.your_array_name);

Then to use a Drawable of these in the img TypedArray for example as an ImageView background use the following code

ImageView.setBackgroundResource(img.getResourceId(index, defaultValue));

where index is the Drawable index. defaultValue is a value you give if there is no item at this index

For more information about TypedArray visit this link http://developer.android.com/reference/android/content/res/TypedArray.html

yubaraj poudel · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-07 16:24:03Z

You can use this to create an array of other resources, such as drawables. Note that the array is not required to be homogeneous, so you can create an array of mixed resource types, but you must be aware of what and where the data types are in the array.

 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
    <array name="icons">
        <item>@drawable/home</item>
        <item>@drawable/settings</item>
        <item>@drawable/logout</item>
    </array>
    <array name="colors">
        <item>#FFFF0000</item>
        <item>#FF00FF00</item>
        <item>#FF0000FF</item>
    </array>
</resources>

And obtain the resources in your activity like this

Resources res = getResources();
TypedArray icons = res.obtainTypedArray(R.array.icons);
Drawable drawable = icons.getDrawable(0);

TypedArray colors = res.obtainTypedArray(R.array.colors);
int color = colors.getColor(0,0);

Enjoy!!!!!

Ved · Accepted Answer · 2019-11-01 17:32:17Z

5

In Kotlin, you can do as:-

 <integer-array name="drawer_icons">
    <item>@drawable/drawer_home</item>
</integer-array>

You will get array of Image from the resource as TypedArray

 val imageArray = resources.obtainTypedArray(R.array.drawer_icons)

get resource ID by the index

imageArray.getResourceId(imageArray.getIndex(0),-1)

OR you can set imageView's resource to the id

imageView.setImageResource(imageArray.getResourceId(imageArray.getIndex(0),-1))

and in last recycle the array

imageArray.recycle()

edited Nov 1, 2019 at 17:32

Ved

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answered Oct 30, 2019 at 15:30

Alok Mishra

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Comments

Jan Rabe · Accepted Answer · 2019-06-21 14:57:19Z

2

kotlin way could be this:

fun Int.resDrawableArray(context: Context, index: Int, block: (drawableResId: Int) -> Unit) {
  val array = context.resources.obtainTypedArray(this)
  block(array.getResourceId(index, -1))
  array.recycle()
}

R.array.random_imgs.resDrawableArray(context, 0) {
  mImgView1.setImageResource(it)
}

answered Jun 21, 2019 at 14:57

Jan Rabe

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