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Android

Bijay Sharma
Bijay Sharma
2,745 Points
Posted by Bijay Sharma
Bijay Sharma
2,745 Points

R.string.xxxx returns an integer. Why ? Help me understand this.

How R.string.xxx returns int, and that integer is used to refer to the String Resources

1 Answer

Daniel Hartin
Daniel Hartin
5,311 Points

All of Android's resources are accessed via an integer which is used as a unique identifier for each of the resources, strings, images, audio files etc etc. Android essenitally creates a lookup table and uses an integer as a key to identify each of these resources so you dont have these pieces of static content dotted around your app and gives you a nice easy place to store everything and you know exactly where to look when something needs changing.

I don't know for sure but i would imagine that the reason they use an int is because it only uses 32 bits of data to store an integer in and this is the most efficent way to reference some static content without passing around Bitmap's etc every where.