How should I store common strings?

Question

I can store them in res/strings

<resources>
    <string name="str1">app</string>
</resources>

And I can store them in static const

public static final string str1 = "app"

Which one is better?

I mean that which one will use more memory and which one will make package larger.

Avijit Karmakar · Answer 1 · 2017-08-02T23:21:31.720

3

If you have to change some text in your app's view, then you don't have to find where you have written that text. You simply go to the strings.xml in res folder and can change the string. For that reason, the first option will always be the better option.
If you want a string that will be used as a key in your app then you can store it in a static constant variable. Like: If you want to pass data through intent or in any other way, at that time you have to pass a key. That key will be a string and can be stored in a static constant variable.

edited Aug 02 '17 at 23:21

answered Nov 29 '15 at 10:36

Avijit Karmakar

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This does not provide an answer to the question. To critique or request clarification from an author, leave a comment below their post. – NoDataDumpNoContribution Nov 29 '15 at 11:23

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 29 '15 at 06:50

1

it's really depend if you treat strings as constants or not. If you string are constants (e.g. string that will be sent as key of intent) then you can either create some Constants class or define it as a constant in your activity/fragment class. If those string are texts that will be displayed on your application UI then they should be defined as resources in your application. BTW all the resources string can be localized to different languages

If you need more info or examples please let me know.

answered Nov 29 '15 at 06:50

Ran Hassid

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What I care about is memory and package size. – tiny sunlight Nov 29 '15 at 12:24
got it. since string resources are saved in xml files there will be some extra overhead (but it's negligible). from performance POV of course it will be faster to read a constants since reading from resource is reading from file from localization POV you must use string resources (unless you have some server which translate all the string for you or something similar). to summarize it: all string that needs to be displayed to the user should store in string resource file, In my app i have many strings and i don't see how it's effect on the memory consumption and the performance of the app – Ran Hassid Nov 29 '15 at 12:36

score 1 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:24

The package size:

I believe that "Ran Hassid"'s comment describes well about the package size.

Memory usage:

Just create an android apk file with some static final strings and then decompile it. You will see that the variable has no initial value in the compiled version and the value is replaced in all references!

For example check this sample from my decompiled apk which is also obfusicated by proguard:

public static String f10850f;
...
...
...
hashMap.put(C1554f.m14687a("\u0014]SCVQ^V"), str);

here is the actual code I have written:

public static String packageName="\u0014]SCVQ^V";
...
...
...
hashMap.put(EncryptorClass.decrypt(packageName), str);

In this case, the static final String variable in my written code has value of "\u0014]SCVQ^V" but it is not used in run-time and just copy/pasted in related pieces of code.

So using static final String variables needs no memory because variable has no initial value.

Have a look at android docs about using static final variables

Also take a look at this post regarding memory of variables with no value

Overally, I use static final variables and string resources for different purposes like code encryption, language support and whether I want to access the variable using a Context or not.

How should I store common strings?

3 Answers3