Question

In my app I have numerous strings used to identify a region and location.:

<string name="r1s1">Seattle</string>
<string name="r1s2">Des Moines</string>
<string name="r1s3">Bremerton</string>
<string name="r2s1">Tacoma</string>
<string name="r2s2">Burton</string> etc, etc.

I can readily access these strings by string name by using a long switch statement:

switch(regionCode
{   case 1: sN=getString(R.string.r1s1);break;
    case 2: sN=getString(R.string.r2s1);break;  etc etc

I want to calculate this string name and use it to access the string more directly:

stationNameKey="r"+regionCode+"s"+stationCode;// e. g. r1s1
stationName=getString(R.string.stationNameKey);

This second statement is not correct and will not compile here is the message:

! compiler error:: stationNameKey cannot be resolved or is not a field.

I assume a cast from String to Resource Name Identifier would work but cannot find it.

Q: How do I cast a string to make my second statement work correctly. Thank You.

Answer 1

You should use Resources.getIdentifier()
see this and this

int resId = getResources().getIdentifier(stationNameKey,"string",null);

should work to get the id you need