Resource File Categories

resources Directory

All the application resource files, such as strings, images, and audio files, are stored in the resources directory, allowing you to easily access, use, and maintain them. The resources directory consists of two types of sub-directories: the base sub-directory and qualifiers sub-directories, and the rawfile sub-directory. For details, see Categories of the resources directory.

Example of the resources directory:

resources
|---base  // Default sub-directory
|   |---element
|   |   |---string.json
|   |---media
|   |   |---icon.png
|---en_GB-vertical-car-mdpi // Example of a qualifiers sub-directory, which needs to be created on your own
|   |---element
|   |   |---string.json
|   |---media
|   |   |---icon.png
|---rawfile  // Default sub-directory

Table 1 Categories of the resources directory

Qualifiers Sub-directories

The name of a qualifiers sub-directory consists of one or more qualifiers that represent the application scenarios or device characteristics, covering the mobile country code (MCC), mobile network code (MNC), language, script, country or region, screen orientation, device type, color mode, and screen density. The qualifiers are separated using underscores (_) or hyphens (-). When creating a qualifiers sub-directory, you need to understand the directory naming conventions and the rules for matching qualifiers sub-directories and the device status.

Naming Conventions for Qualifiers Sub-directories

• Qualifiers are ordered in the following sequence: MCCMNC-language_script_country/region-screen orientation-device type-color mode-screen density_. You can select one or multiple qualifiers to name your sub-directory based on your application scenarios and device characteristics.

• Separation between qualifiers: The language, script, and country/region qualifiers are separated using underscores (_); the MNC and MCC qualifiers are also separated using underscores (_); other qualifiers are separated using hyphens (-). For example, zh_Hant_CN and zh_CN-car-ldpi.

• Value range of qualifiers: The value of each qualifier must meet the requirements. Otherwise, the resource files in the sub-directory cannot be matched.

  Table 2 Requirements for qualifier values

Rules for Matching Qualifiers Sub-directories and Device Resources

• Qualifiers are matched with the device resources in the following priorities: MCC&MNC > locale (options: language, language_script, language_country/region, and language_script_country/region) > screen orientation > device type > color mode > screen density

• If the qualifiers sub-directories contain the MCC, MNC, language, script, screen orientation, device type, and color mode qualifiers, their values must be consistent with the current device status so that the sub-directories can be used for matching the device resources. For example, the qualifiers sub-directory zh_CN-car-ldpi cannot be used for matching the resource files labeled en_US.

Resource Group Sub-directories

You can create resource group sub-directories (including element, media, animation, layout, graphic, and profile) in the base and qualifiers sub-directories to store resource files of specific types. For details, see Resource group sub-directories.

Table 3 Resource group sub-directories

Media Resource Types

Table 4 Image resource types

Table 5 Audio and video resource types

Creating a Resource File

You can create a sub-directory and its files under the resources directory based on the above descriptions of the qualifiers sub-directories and resource group sub-directories.

DevEco Studio provides a wizard for you to create resource directories and resource files.

• Creating a Resource Directory and Resource File

  Right-click the resources directory and choose New > Resource File.

  If no qualifier is selected, the file is created in a resource type sub-directory under base. If one or more qualifiers are selected, the system automatically generates a sub-directory and creates the file in this sub-directory.

  The created sub-directory is automatically named in the format of Qualifiers.Resource type. For example, if you create a sub-directory by setting Orientation to Vertical and Resource type to Graphic, the system automatically generates a sub-directory named vertical.graphic.

  

• Creating a Resource Directory

  Right-click the resources directory and choose New > Resource Directory. This operation creates a sub-directory only.

  Select a resource group type and set qualifiers. Then the system automatically generates the sub-directory name. The sub-directory is automatically named in the format of Qualifiers.Resource group. For example, if you create a sub-directory by setting Orientation to Vertical and Resource type to Graphic, the system automatically generates a sub-directory named vertical.graphic.

  

• Creating a Resource File

  Right-click a sub-directory under resources and choose New > XXX Resource File. This operation creates a resource file under this sub-directory.

  For example, you can create an element resource file in the element sub-directory.