Where to store Android preference keys?

Question

When I create preference activity I define all preferences in xml file. Every preference has a key defined in this xml. But when I access preference I write:

SharedPreferences appPreferences = PreferenceManager.getDefaultSharedPreferences(this); boolean foo_value = appPreferences.getBoolean("foo_key_defined_in_xml", false); 

Is there any way to avoid referencing "foo_key_defined_in_xml" in hard-coded way? Maybe there is a possibility to reference it in R style way (not to refer to string)?

Answer 1

I've found that it's possible to store keys in strings.xml and refer to them from preferences.xml just like all other values android:key="@string/preference_enable".

In code you can refer to key by typing getString(R.string.preference_enable)

You can mark the string to not be translated using a <xliff:g> tag. See Localization Checklist

<string name="preference_enable"><xliff:g id="preference_key">enable</xliff:g></string> 

Answer 2

You could use a "keys.xml" files in "res/values", but should put something like this, this way you should dont have problem when you are using multiple languages:

    <resources     xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"     tools:ignore="MissingTranslation">      <string name="key1">key1</string>     <string name="key2">key2</string> ... </resources> 

Then you could reference it like a normal string in xml:

.... android:key="@string/key1" .... 

or in your java code for example:

SwitchPreference Pref1= (SwitchPreference) getPreferenceScreen().findPreference(getString(R.string.key1));