Where to place an XML file containing data within an Android app

Question

I am new to Android development. I have an XML file with data that the app will read. Where should I keep this XML file? Should it be stored within the \"value\" folder?<

Answer 1

You can put it in the res/raw folder. Then you will access it using:

getResources().openRawResource(resourceName)

Answer 2

I'd say that depends. What do you save in your XML-File? There also is a res/xml-folder, where XML-Files can be kept. But Android does nearly anything with XML-Files, so you might want to read my little Tutorial about where to put which recourses.

Also, there is a difference between the assets and the res-directory's:

res

• No subdirectorys are allowed under the specific resource-folders.
• The R-class indexes all resources and provides simple access.
• There are some simple methods which help reading files stored in the res-directory

assets

• Subdirectorys are allowed (as much as you like).
• No indexing by the R-class
• Reading resources stored in assets is done using the AssetManager.

Answer 3

I had a similar requirement and after lot of research , I found 2 solution to place a custom XML : You can place custom XML in

1. res/raw/

2. res/xml/

To access these location you will use following code :

a. if XML is placed in res/raw then :

getResources().openRawResource(R.raw.custom-xml) :

This gives you easy methods for reading xml :

with below code I am reading XML in memory placed in raw folder :

---

BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(getResources().openRawResource(R.raw.custom-xml)));
            
StringBuilder str = new StringBuilder();
String line;
while ( (line = br.readLine()) != null){
    str.append(line);
}

2nd Option :

getResources().getxml(R.xml.custom-xml);

with this you could read the xml using eventbased parser.