Access resource defined in theme and attrs.xml android

Question

I have a scenario in which I want to set a Drawable depending upon the theme defined.

To explain this further, Here is what I have in code:

\res\values\attrs.xml

<resources>
    <declare-styleable name="AppTheme">
        <attr name="homeIcon" format="reference" />
    </declare-styleable>
</resources>

res\values\styles.xml

<resources>
    <style name="AppTheme" parent="android:style/Theme">
        <item name="attr/homeIcon">@drawable/ic_home</item>
    </style>
</resources>

AndroidManifest.xml

    <application android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:theme="@style/AppTheme">
        <activity android:name=".MainActivity" android:label="@string/app_name">
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
    </application>

So as you have noticed I am defining a custom attr homeIcon and setting the attribute value in AppTheme.

When I define this attribute in a layout XML and try to access it it works smoothly

<ImageView android:id="@+id/img"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_gravity="center"
        android:src="?attr/homeIcon" />

and renders the Drawable ic_home in an ImageView.

But I am not able to figure out how to access the Drawable programmatically.

I tried to do this with a work around, by defining a holder LayerList Drawable, which results in resource not found exception:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<layer-list
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >
    <item
        android:drawable="?attr/homeIcon" />
</layer-list>

Summary I want to access the Drawable defined in a custom defined Theme programmatically.

Please check my answer by [this link](https://stackoverflow.com/a/53884954/5831373). — AlexS, Dec 21 '18 at 12:45

score 74 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 13 '13 at 01:15

74

I think you can get the Drawable with this code:

TypedArray a = getTheme().obtainStyledAttributes(R.style.AppTheme, new int[] {R.attr.homeIcon});     
int attributeResourceId = a.getResourceId(0, 0);
Drawable drawable = getResources().getDrawable(attributeResourceId);
a.recycle();

edited Aug 13 '13 at 01:15

Christopher Perry

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answered Jan 09 '12 at 19:37

dmaxi

3,267
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5

It wokrs, but you should call a.recycle(); after you're done. Also, first parameter in obtainStyledAttributes is optional. – Alexey Apr 21 '13 at 14:18
4

Well, this may be simplified even more: just `Drawable drawable = a.getDrawable(0);` is enough (where 0 is the index of requeired attribute in new int[] array). – Alex Semeniuk Nov 15 '13 at 14:34
1

If you plan to override those attributes in another themes don`t use `R.style.AppTheme` because values will always be taken from this Theme. Just use `obtainStyledAttributes(new int[] {R.attr.homeIcon}); ` and then as @AlexSemeniuk mentioned `a.getDrawable(0)` – Roman Nazarevych Apr 03 '17 at 11:37

score 14 · Answer 2 · edited Jul 19 '21 at 12:59

14

Another possible way to do it:

public static int getResIdFromAttribute(final Activity activity,final int attr) {
    if(attr==0)
        return 0;
    final TypedValue typedvalueattr=new TypedValue();
    activity.getTheme().resolveAttribute(attr,typedvalueattr,true);
    return typedvalueattr.resourceId;
}

Or in Kotlin:

@JvmStatic
fun getResIdFromAttribute(activity: Activity, attr: Int): Int {
    if (attr == 0)
        return 0
    val typedValue = TypedValue()
    activity.theme.resolveAttribute(attr, typedValue, true)
    return typedValue.resourceId
}

no need to recycle anything here...

usage:

int drawableResId=getResIdFromAttribute(this,R.attr.homeIcon);
Drawable drawable = getResources().getDrawable(drawableResId);

edited Jul 19 '21 at 12:59

Shubham Suryavanshi

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14

answered Nov 19 '14 at 15:34

android developer

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it worked for me. but why is there no need to recycle? – Olumide Oyetoke Dec 28 '14 at 22:09
1

@OlumideOyetoke Check the docs: http://developer.android.com/reference/android/util/TypedValue.html . There is no recycle function there... – android developer Dec 28 '14 at 23:00

Mohan · Answer 3 · 2015-12-30T17:54:05.880

2

I used below method to get resource id form style attribute. Then it can be used for drawable, string, dimension so on.

TypedArray typedArray = context.getTheme().obtainStyledAttributes(new int[] { R.attr.attrName });   
int resourceId = typedArray.getResourceId(0, defaultResourceId);
typedArray.recycle();

cheers :-)

edited Dec 30 '15 at 17:54

answered Dec 30 '15 at 17:36

Mohan

4,755
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score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 06 '15 at 14:11

1

If you are using support / design library easier way to get drawables now is -

Context.getDrawable(int)

or

ContextCompat.getDrawable(Context, int)

reference - https://plus.google.com/+BenjaminWeiss/posts/M1dYFaobyBM

answered Aug 06 '15 at 14:11

Parag Naik

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Roman Nazarevych · Answer 5 · 2019-03-20T12:21:34.857

Here are the results of my investigation, regarding this topic. If we have declare-stylable then we can override those values in themes.

So far the best way that I found how to get them is the following.

TypedArray a = context.getTheme().obtainStyledAttributes(R.styleable.AppTheme);
a.getDrawable(R.styleable.AppTheme_homeIcon);

By using R.styleable.AppTheme_homeIcon we are referencing exactly that attribute that we want. For example if we would have few more attributes, then we can reference them as follows:

a.getColor(R.styleable.AppTheme_color,defaultValue);
a.getDimension(R.styleable.AppTheme_width,defaultWidth);

And if in current theme those attributes were not defined you will get default values and no Exceptions.

Access resource defined in theme and attrs.xml android

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