Are parameters in strings.xml possible?

android dynamic parameters string optional
dhesse picture dhesse · Mar 7, 2010 · Viewed 159k times · Source

In my Android app I'am going to implement my strings with internationalization. I have a problem with the grammar and the way sentences build in different languages.

For example:

"5 minutes ago" - English

"vor 5 Minuten" - German

Can I do something like the following in strings.xml?

<string name="timeFormat">{0} minutes ago</string>

And then some magic like

getString(R.id.timeFormat, dynamicTimeValue)

This behaviour would solve the other problem with different word orders as well.

Answer

Christopher Orr picture Christopher Orr · Mar 7, 2010

Yes, just format your strings in the standard String.format() way.

See the method Context.getString(int, Object...) and the Android or Java Formatter documentation.

In your case, the string definition would be:

<string name="timeFormat">%1$d minutes ago</string>

Related questions

How do you dynamically add elements to a ListView on Android?

Can anyone explain or suggest a tutorial to dynamically create a ListView in android? Here are my requirements: I should be able to dynamically add new elements by pressing a button. Should be simple enough to understand (possibly without any …

Read More
Android - Dynamically Add Views into View

I have a layout for a view - <LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:padding="0px" android:orientation="vertical"> <TextView android:layout_…

Read More
Dynamically add textViews to a linearLayout

I read this somewhere here and I totally lost it, but could use some assistance. My app is pulling the column names from sqlite into an array. I want to create a textview and edit text for each one (via …

Read More