How do I have Android use a qualified resource file only on older devices?

Question

I have a separate layout file for Arabic users, that I only want to use for devices that don't support Android's native RTL mirroring (introduced in API level 17). If they are using a device with API 17 or above, I want the default XML file to be used.

How would I accomplish this? I know:

If I put my home.xml in res/layout/ then it is used as the default layout file.

If I put another home.xml in res/layout-ar/ then it will be used for arabic speakers

If I put another home.xml in res/layout-ar-v17/ then it will be used for arabic speakers with v17 or higher.*

*The problem is, I don't want to have another home.xml, I just want the system to use the default and mirror it.

Answer 1

You could use Layout Aliases. You would end up with two layout files, let's call them home_one.xml and home_two.xml. Then in res/values/layout.xml and the res/values-ar-v17/layout.xml you would have

<item name="home" type="layout">@layout/home_one</item>

and in res/values-ar/layout.xml you would need

<item name="home" type="layout">@layout/home_two</item>

Answer 2

I'd recommend creating two reusable layouts (as described here), one for the default layout and one for Arabic with API level 17+. Then you can define various home.xml files in appropriate configuration-specific folders so that they <include> (or <merge>) the appropriate layout. That way you only need to replication a single <include> tag instead of an entire layout.