Where to store shader code in Android app

Question

I'm starting with OpenGL ES2.0 on Android (5.0.1), API Level 19. Where should I store the shader code? The first example encodes the shader directly as a string.

I'd like to have the shader code in a separate file for better usability. What's the best practice for storing and loading the vertex and fragment shaders?

Answer 1

There are two main options:

• Store them as text files in the assets folder of your project. To load the shader:

  1. Get the AssetManager with the getAssets() method of the context.
  2. Call open() on the AssetManager, passing in the file name of the shader. This gives you an InputStream.
  3. Read the shader code from the InputStream, and store it in a String.
  4. Call close() on the InputStream.

• Store them in the res/raw folder of your project. To load the shader:

  1. Get the Resources with the getResources() method of the context.
  2. Call openRawResource() on the Resources, passing in the resource id (R.raw.<name>). This gives you an InputStream.
  3. (same as above)
  4. (same as above)

I don't believe there's a big reason to prefer one over the other. The main difference is that you use the file name to access assets, while you use the automatically assigned resource id for resources. It's a matter of preference which one you like better.