I am trying to develop an efficient method of including resource qualifiers to appropriately select the layouts (and other resources really) for handsets, small tablets, and large tablets. To properly support devices on both sides of Android 3.2, when smallest width was introduced, I had hoped to be able to create a hierarchy like so:
res/layout/ + Default and handset-specific layouts res/layout-sw600dp-large/ + Small Tablet assets, where necessary res/layout-sw720dp-xlarge/ + Large Tablet assets, where necessary However, constructing a simple test application in this manner reveals that the concept won't work. All devices load the default resources, regardless of their OS version and display configuration. The primary point of this method is to eliminate the duplication that would otherwise be required to place the "sw600dp" asset and "large" asset (which are the same) into separate directories. Even aliasing a single layout into the two directories represents a duplication of code. To support older devices, it would be nice to continue to use just the old qualifiers, but newer handset devices with larger screens are starting to creep into the "large" category, forcing the use of smallest width where available. So my first question here is: I know my original idea does not work, but I want to know WHY it doesn't work?? In my mind, the old devices that don't understand the "sw" qualifier should just ignore its existence and the two directories should just look like "large" and "xlarge". On the other side, with new devices, the "sw" qualifier should take precedence so the "large" and "xlarge" should become irrelevant. As a result, the method with the least code duplication that I can come up with is as follows: res/layout/ + All layout assets, with tablet specific names in cases where necessary res/values-sw600dp/ + Aliases to apply small tablet layouts with the default name res/values-large/ + Same aliases to apply small tablet layouts with the default name res/values-sw720dp/ + Aliases to apply large tablet layouts with the default name res/values-xlarge/ + Same aliases to apply large tablet layouts with the default name This reduces the duplication to at least one line in two places rather than copying an entire file. Does anyone know of a method that works that would clean this up even further? Thanks, -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Developers" group. To post to this group, send email to android-developers@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to android-developers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en
