Search value for key in string-array android

Question

i have a string-array in my res/values/strings.xml

   
    Item1
    Item2

        

Answer 1

What you have there is a Map like data structure. Sadly there is currently no way to create a Map of Strings through XML like that.

You could either do it all in Java or write your map in a Raw XML file and read/parse that in to a map at runtime.

Answer 2

XML:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
  <string-array name="area_key">
    <item>北</item>
    <item>中</item>
    <item>南</item>
  </string-array>
  <integer-array name="area_value">
    <item>0</item>
    <item>1</item>
    <item>2</item>
  </integer-array>
</resources>

Java file:

String[] areaKey = getResources().getStringArray(R.array.area_key);
int[] areaValue = getResources().getIntArray(R.array.area_value);
HashMap<String, Integer> areas = new HashMap<String, Integer>();
for (int i = 0; i < areaKey.length; i++) {
  areas.put(areaKey[i], areaValue[i]);
}

Answer 3

Unfortunately there is no built-in way to achive that, but you can do something like that:

   <string-array name="my_array">
        <item>key1|value1</item>
        <item>key2|value2</item>
   </string-array>

And have a util function something like:

Map<String, String> getKeyValueFromStringArray(Context ctx) {
    String[] array = ctx.getResources().getStringArray(R.array.my_array);
    Map<String, String> result = new HashMap<>();
    for (String str : array) {
        String[] splittedItem = str.split("|");
        result.put(splittedItem[0], splittedItem[1])
    }
    return result
}

It's look a little bit hacky, but in general, because you have control over your dictionary - probably it not so awful idea.

Answer 4

I had the same problem. The decision for me was to create many strings in xml-file (not string arrays) and to create String[] array in code. It looks like this:

    Builder builder = new AlertDialog.Builder(DMCBrowser.this);
    builder.setTitle(R.string.title_playlist);
    final CharSequence[] items = new CharSequence[] { getResources().getString(R.string.watch_all),
                        getResources().getString(R.string.select_items) };
    builder.setItems(items, new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
                    @Override
                    public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int which) {
                        if (items[which].equals(getResources().getString(R.string.watch_all))) {
                            Log.d(TAG, "Watch all");
                        } else if (items[which].equals(getResources().getString(R.string.select_items))) {
                            Log.d(TAG, "Select items");
                        }
                    }
                }).show();

Although it does not look much compact, we can differ one item from another not only by non-understandable identifier like 1 or 2, but by human-readable android R-id. If i would like to change item order, it will be very easy.

Answer 5

you can use in java code:

 public static HashMap<Integer, String> getAll()
 {
            HashMap<Integer, String> items = new HashMap<Integer, String>();
            items.put(0, "item 1");
            items.put(1, "item 2");
            items.put(2, "item 3");
            return items;
 }

 public static Integer getKey(Map hm, String value) {
            for (Object o : hm.keySet()) {
                if (hm.get(o).equals(value)) {
                    return (Integer)o;
                }
            }
            return 0;
 }

and bind to spinner:

Spinner spn_items = (Spinner) view.findViewById(R.id.spn_items);
ArrayAdapter<Object> adapter = new ArrayAdapter<Object>(getActivity(),android.R.layout.simple_spinner_dropdown_item, getAll().values().toArray());    adapter.setDropDownViewResource(android.R.layout.simple_spinner_dropdown_item);
spn_items.setAdapter(adapter);

Answer 6

Well, I've done it using two arrays. Easy to manage as well.

One for Keys:

<string-array name="codes">
        <item>AC</item>
        <item>AD</item>
        <item>AE</item>
</string-array>

One for Values:

<string-array name="names">
        <item>Ascension</item>
        <item>Andorra</item>
        <item>United Arab Emirates</item>
</string-array>

And the search method.

private String getCountryByCode(String code) {
        int i = -1;
        for (String cc: getResources().getStringArray(R.array.codes)) {
            i++;
            if (cc.equals(code))
                break;
        }
        return getResources().getStringArray(R.array.names)[i];
    }