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36
37<h1>Android IDE Template Format</h1>
38<br>
39<dl style="margin:0">
40  <dt>Format Version</dt>
41  <dd style="margin:0">4</dd>
42
43  <dt>Last Updated</dt>
44  <dd style="margin:0">1/30/2014</dd>
45</dl>
46
47
48
49
50
51<h2>Overview</h2>
52
53<p>This document describes the format and syntax for Android code templates. These templates provide starting points for entire projects (e.g. <code>NewAndroidApplication</code>) or application components such as activities (e.g. <code>BlankActivity</code>).</p>
54
55<p>Although these templates were originally introduced in the <a href="http://developer.android.com/tools/sdk/eclipse-adt.html">ADT Plugin</a> for Eclipse, the template format is designed for use by any IDE or command-line tool.</p>
56
57<p>Templates are customizable. Each template exposes several options (called parameters) that allow developers to customize the generated code. The most common workflow for <em>using</em> a template is as follows:</p>
58
59<ol>
60  <li>Choose a template.</li>
61  <li>Populate template options (parameters).</li>
62  <li>Preview and then execute the additions/changes to your project.</li>
63</ol>
64
65<h3>FreeMarker</h3>
66
67<p>Templates make heavy use of <a href="http://freemarker.sourceforge.net/">FreeMarker</a>, a Java templating engine used to enable things like control flows and variable substitutions inside files. It's similar to PHP, Django templates, etc. For those more acquainted with C/C++, think of it as a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_preprocessor">preprocessor</a> language (i.e. <code>#ifdef</code>).</p>
68
69<p>By convention, any file in the template directory structure that is to be processed by FreeMarker should have the <code>.ftl</code> file extension. So if one of your source files is <code>MyActivity.java</code>, and it contains FreeMarker instructions, it should be named something like <code>MyActivity.java.ftl</code>.</p>
70
71<p>For more documentation on FreeMarker, see the <a href="http://freemarker.sourceforge.net/docs/index.html">docs</a>. In particular, the <a href="http://freemarker.sourceforge.net/docs/ref_builtins_string.html">reference on string operations</a>.</p>
72
73<p>An example, templated version of an Android manifest, normally named <code>AndroidManifest.xml.ftl</code> is shown below.</p>
74
75<pre class="prettyprint lang-xml">
76&lt;manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"&gt;
77    &lt;application&gt;
78        &lt;activity android:name="<strong>${packageName}.${activityClass}</strong>"
79            android:parentActivityName="<strong>${parentActivityClass}</strong>"
80            android:label="@string/title_<strong>${activityToLayout(activityClass)}</strong>">
81            <strong>&lt;#if parentActivityClass != ""&gt;</strong>
82            &lt;meta-data android:name="android.support.PARENT_ACTIVITY"
83                android:value="<strong>${parentActivityClass}</strong>" /&gt;
84            <strong>&lt;/#if&gt;</strong>
85            <strong>&lt;#if isLauncher&gt;</strong>
86            &lt;intent-filter&gt;
87                &lt;action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" /&gt;
88                &lt;category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" /&gt;
89            &lt;/intent-filter&gt;
90            <strong>&lt;/#if&gt;</strong>
91        &lt;/activity&gt;
92    &lt;/application&gt;
93&lt;/manifest&gt;
94</pre>
95
96<p>In this example excerpt from the <code>BlankActivity</code> template:</p>
97
98<ul>
99  <li>The expression <code>${activityClass}</code> is bound to the value of the 'Activity Class' template parameter.</li>
100  <li>The expression <code>${activityToLayout(activityClass)}</code> uses the <code>activityToLayout</code> method built into the template engine to convert an activity class such as <code>MyFooActivity</code> to <code>activity_my_foo</code>.</li>
101  <li>The <code>isLauncher</code> boolean variable and <code>parentActivityClass</code> string variables are bound to the values of the 'Launcher Activity' and 'Hierarchical Parent' template parameter, respectively.</li>
102</ul>
103
104
105
106
107
108<h2>Directory Structure</h2>
109
110<p>A template is a directory containing a number of XML and FreeMarker files. The only two mandatory files are <code>template.xml</code> and <code>recipe.xml.ftl</code>. Template source files (PNG files, templated Java and XML files, etc.) belong in a <code>root/</code> subdirectory. An example directory structure for a template is below:</p>
111
112<ul>
113  <li><strong>MyTemplate/</strong> <span class="dim">&mdash; Root directory</span><ul>
114    <li><a href="#toc_templatexml">template.xml</a> <span class="dim">&mdash; Metadata (description, parameters, etc.)</span></li>
115    <li><a href="#toc_recipexmlftl">recipe.xml.ftl</a> <span class="dim">&mdash; Instructions/script (files to copy, etc.)</span></li>
116    <li><a href="#toc_globalsxmlftl">globals.xml.ftl </a><span class="dim">&mdash; Optional global variables</span></li>
117    <li>template.png <span class="dim">&mdash; Default template thumbnail</span></li>
118    <li>template_foo.png <span class="dim">&mdash; Thumbnail when option 'foo' is selected</span></li>
119    <li>template_bar.png</li>
120    <li><strong><a href="#toc_root">root/</a></strong> <span class="dim">&mdash; Source files (which get processed/copied/merged with the output project)</span><ul>
121      <li>AndroidManifest.xml.ftl</li>
122      <li><strong>res/</strong> <ul>
123        <li>&hellip;</li>
124      </ul></li>
125      <li><strong>src/</strong> <ul>
126        <li><strong>app_package/</strong> <ul>
127          <li>MyActivity.java.ftl</li>
128        </ul></li>
129      </ul></li>
130    </ul></li>
131  </ul>
132</li>
133</ul>
134<br>
135
136<p>More on the role of each of these files is discussed in the sections below.</p>
137
138<h3>template.xml</h3>
139
140<p>Each template directory must contain a <code>template.xml</code> file. This XML file contains metadata about the template, including the name, description, category and user-visible parameters that the IDE will present as options to the user. The XML file also indicates the name of the <a href="#toc_recipexmlftl">recipe XML file</a> (which gets processed by FreeMarker), and the <a href="#toc_globalsxmlftl">global variables XML file</a> if there are global variables besides the template parameter values that should be visible to all FreeMarker-processed files (<code>.ftl</code> files).</p>
141
142<p>An example <code>template.xml</code> is shown below.</p>
143
144<pre class="prettyprint lang-xml">
145&lt;!-- A template for a blank activity. Use template format
146     version 4, as described in this document. -->
147&lt;template
148    format="4"
149    revision="2"
150    minApi="7"
151    minBuildApi="16"
152    name="Blank Activity"
153    description="Creates a new blank activity, with navigation."&gt;
154
155    &lt;!-- A string parameter; the value is available to FreeMarker
156         processed files (.ftl files) as ${activityName}. -->
157    &lt;parameter
158        id="activityClass"
159        name="Activity Name"
160        type="string"
161        constraints="class|unique|nonempty"
162        suggest="${layoutToActivity(layoutName)}"
163        default="MainActivity"
164        help="The name of the activity class to create." /&gt;
165
166    &lt;parameter
167        id="layoutName"
168        name="Layout Name"
169        type="string"
170        constraints="layout|unique|nonempty"
171        suggest="${activityToLayout(activityClass)}"
172        default="activity_main"
173        help="The name of the layout to create for the activity" /&gt;
174
175    &lt;parameter
176        id="navType"
177        name="Navigation Type"
178        type="enum"
179        default="none"
180        help="The type of navigation to use for the activity"&gt;
181        &lt;option id="none"&gt;None&lt;/option&gt;
182        &lt;option id="tabs" minApi="11"&gt;Tabs&lt;/option&gt;
183        &lt;option id="pager" minApi="11"&gt;Swipe Views&lt;/option&gt;
184        &lt;option id="dropdown" minApi="11"&gt;Dropdown&lt;/option&gt;
185    &lt;/parameter&gt;
186
187    &lt;parameter
188        id="fragmentName"
189        name="Fragment Name"
190        type="string"
191        constraints="class|unique|nonempty"
192        default="MainFragment"
193        visibility="navType != 'none'"
194        help="The name of the fragment class to create" /&gt;
195
196    &lt;!-- 512x512 PNG thumbnails. --&gt;
197    &lt;thumbs&gt;
198        &lt;!-- Default thumbnail. --&gt;
199        &lt;thumb&gt;template_default.png&lt;/thumb&gt;
200        &lt;!-- Attributes act as selectors based on chosen parameters. --&gt;
201        &lt;thumb navType="tabs"&gt;template_tabs.png&lt;/thumb&gt;
202        &lt;thumb navType="dropdown"&gt;template_dropdown.png&lt;/thumb&gt;
203    &lt;/thumbs&gt;
204
205    &lt;!-- Optional global variables. --&gt;
206    &lt;globals file="globals.xml.ftl" /&gt;
207
208    &lt;!-- Required recipe (script) to run when instantiating
209         the template. --&gt;
210    &lt;execute file="recipe.xml.ftl" /&gt;
211&lt;/template&gt;
212</pre>
213
214<p>Below is a listing of supported tags in <code>template.xml</code>.</p>
215
216<h4 class="includetoc">&lt;template&gt;</h4>
217
218<p>The template root element.</p>
219
220<dl>
221  <dt><code>format</code></dt>
222  <dd>The template format version that this template adheres to. Should be <code>4</code>.</dd>
223
224  <dt><code>revision</code></dt>
225  <dd>Optional. The version of this template (which you can increment when updating the template), as an integer.</dd>
226
227  <dt><code>name</code></dt>
228  <dd>The template's display name.</dd>
229
230  <dt><code>description</code></dt>
231  <dd>The template's description.</dd>
232
233  <dt><code>minApi</code></dt>
234  <dd>Optional. The minimum API level required for this template. The IDE will ensure that the target project has a <code>minSdkVersion</code> no lower than this value before instantiating the template.</dd>
235
236  <dt><code>minBuildApi</code></dt>
237  <dd>Optional. The minimum build target (expressed as an API level) required for this template. The IDE will ensure that the target project is targeting an API level greater than or equal to this value before instantiating the template. This ensures that the template can safely use newer APIs (optionally guarded by runtime API level checks) without introducing compile-time errors into the target project.</dd>
238</dl>
239
240<div class="deprecated">
241<h4 class="includetoc">&lt;dependency&gt;</h4>
242
243<p>This tag is deprecated for use in <code>template.xml</code>. Use <a href="#toc_recipe_dependency"><code>&lt;dependency&gt;</code></a> in <code>recipe.xml.ftl</code> instead.</p>
244
245<p>Indicates that the template requires that a given library be present in the target project. If not present, the IDE will add the dependency to the project.</p>
246
247<dl>
248  <dt><code>name</code></dt>
249  <dd>The name of the library. Currently accepted values are:<ul>
250    <li><code>android-support-v4</code></li>
251    <li><code>android-support-v13</code></li>
252  </ul></dd>
253
254  <dt><code>revision</code></dt>
255  <dd>The minimum revision of the library required by this template.</dd>
256</dl>
257</div>
258
259<div class="deprecated">
260<h4 class="includetoc">&lt;category&gt;</h4>
261
262<p>The template type. This element is optional.</p>
263
264<dl>
265  <dt><code>value</code></dt>
266  <dd>The template type. Should be one of the following values: <ul>
267    <li><code>Applications</code></li>
268    <li><code>Activities</code></li>
269    <li><code>UI Components</code></li>
270  </ul></dd>
271</dl>
272</div>
273
274<h4 class="includetoc">&lt;parameter&gt;</h4>
275
276<p>Defines a user-customizable template parameter.</p>
277
278<dl>
279  <dt><code>id</code></dt>
280  <dd>The identifier representing this variable, made available as a global variable in FreeMarker files. If the identifier is <code>foo</code>, the parameter value will be available in FreeMarker files as <code>${foo}</code>.</dd>
281
282  <dt><code>name</code></dt>
283  <dd>The display name of the template parameter.</dd>
284
285  <dt><code>type</code></dt>
286  <dd>The data type of the parameter. Either <code>string</code>, <code>boolean</code>, <code>enum</code>, or <code>separator</code>.</dd>
287
288  <dt><code>constraints</code></dt>
289  <dd>Optional. Constraints to impose on the parameter's value. Constraints can be combined using <code>|</code>. Valid constraint types are: <ul>
290    <li><code>nonempty</code> &mdash; the value must not be empty</li>
291    <li><code>apilevel</code> &mdash; the value should represent a numeric API level</li>
292    <li><code>package</code> &mdash; the value should represent a valid Java package name</li>
293    <li><code>app_package</code> &mdash; the value should represent a valid Android app package name</li>
294    <li><code>module</code> &mdash; the value should represent a valid Module name</li>
295    <li><code>class</code> &mdash; the value should represent a valid Java class name</li>
296    <li><code>activity</code> &mdash; the value should represent a fully-qualified activity class name</li>
297    <li><code>layout</code> &mdash; the value should represent a valid layout resource name</li>
298    <li><code>drawable</code> &mdash; the value should represent a valid drawable resource name</li>
299    <li><code>string</code> &mdash; the value should represent a valid string resource name</li>
300    <li><code>id</code> &mdash; the value should represent a valid id resource name</li>
301    <li><code>unique</code> &mdash; the value must be unique; this constraint only makes sense when other constraints are specified, such as <code>layout</code>, which would mean that the value should not represent an existing layout resource name</li>
302    <li><code>exists</code> &mdash; the value must already exist; this constraint only makes sense when other constraints are specified, such as <code>layout</code>, which would mean that the value should represent an existing layout resource name</li>
303  </ul></dd>
304
305  <dt><code>suggest</code></dt>
306  <dd>Optional. A FreeMarker expression representing the auto-suggested parameter value (a 'dynamic default'). When the user modifies other parameter values, and if this parameter's value has not been changed from its default, then the value changes to the result of this expression. This may seem to be circular since parameters can <code>suggest</code> against each other's values, but these expressions are only updated for non-edited values, so this approach lets the user edit either parameter value, and the other will automatically be updated to a reasonable default.</dd>
307
308  <dt><code>default</code></dt>
309  <dd>Optional. The default value for this parameter.</dd>
310
311  <dt><code>visibility</code></dt>
312  <dd>Optional. A FreeMarker expression that determines whether this parameter should be visible. The expression should evaluate to a boolean value (i.e. true or false).</dd>
313
314  <dt><code>help</code></dt>
315  <dd>Optional. The help string to display to the user for this parameter.</dd>
316
317</dl>
318
319<h4 class="includetoc">&lt;option&gt;</h4>
320
321<p>For parameters of type <code>enum</code>, represents a choice for the value.</p>
322
323<dl>
324  <dt><code>id</code></dt>
325  <dd>The parameter value to set if this option is chosen.</dd>
326
327  <dt><code>minApi</code></dt>
328  <dd>Optional. The minimum API level required if this option is chosen. The IDE will ensure that the target project has a <code>minSdkVersion</code> no lower than this value before instantiating the template.</dd>
329
330  <dt><code>[text]</code></dt>
331  <dd>The text content of this element represents the display value of the choice.</dd>
332</dl>
333
334<h4 class="includetoc">&lt;thumb&gt;</h4>
335
336<p>Represents a thumbnail for the template. <code>&lt;thumb&gt;</code> elements should be contained inside a <code>&lt;thumbs&gt;</code> element. The text contents of this element represent the path to the thumbnail. If this element has any attributes, they will be treated as selectors for parameter values. For example, if there are two thumbnails:</p>
337
338<pre class="prettyprint lang-xml">
339&lt;thumbs&gt;
340  &lt;thumb&gt;template.png&lt;/thumb&gt;
341  &lt;thumb navType="tabs"&gt;template_tabs.png&lt;/thumb&gt;
342&lt;/thumbs&gt;
343</pre>
344
345<p>The template 'preview' thumbnail will show <code>template_tabs.png</code> if the value of the <code>navType</code> template parameter is <code>tabs</code> and <code>template.png</code> otherwise.</p>
346
347<h4 class="includetoc">&lt;icons&gt;</h4>
348
349<p>States that the template would like the Asset Studio icon creation tool of the given type to run, and save the output icons with the given name.</p>
350
351<dl>
352  <dt><code>type</code></dt>
353  <dd>The type of icon wizard to create. Valid values are <code>notification</code>, <code>actionbar</code>, <code>launcher</code>.</dd>
354
355  <dt><code>name</code></dt>
356  <dd>The base icon name to output, e.g. <code>ic_stat_my_notification</code>.</dd>
357</dl>
358
359<h3>globals.xml.ftl</h3>
360
361<p>The optional globals XML file contains global variable definitions, for use in all FreeMarker processing jobs for this template.</p>
362
363<p>An example <code>globals.xml.ftl</code> is shown below.</p>
364
365<pre class="prettyprint lang-xml">
366&lt;globals&gt;
367    &lt;global id="srcOut"
368            value="src/${slashedPackageName(packageName)}" /&gt;
369    &lt;global id="activityNameLower"
370            value="${activityName?lower_case}" /&gt;
371    &lt;global id="activityClass"
372            value="${activityName}Activity" /&gt;
373&lt;/globals&gt;
374</pre>
375
376<h3>recipe.xml.ftl</h3>
377
378<p>The recipe XML file contains the individual instructions that should be executed when generating code from this template. For example, you can copy certain files or directories (the copy instruction), optionally running the source files through FreeMarker (the instantiate instruction), and ask the IDE to open a file after the code has been generated (the open instruction).</p>
379
380<p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong> The name of the recipe file is up to you, and is defined in <code>template.xml</code>. By convention, however, it's best to call it <code>recipe.xml.ftl</code>.</p>
381
382<p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong> The global variables in <code>globals.xml.ftl</code> are available for use in <code>recipe.xml.ftl</code>.</p>
383
384<p>An example <code>recipe.xml.ftl</code> is shown below.</p>
385
386<pre class="prettyprint lang-xml">
387&lt;recipe&gt;
388    &lt;#if appCompat?has_content&gt;
389    &lt;dependency mavenUrl="com.android.support:appcompat-v7:+"/&gt;
390    &lt;/#if&gt;
391
392    &lt;!-- runs FreeMarker, then copies from
393         [template-directory]/root/ to [output-directory],
394         automatically creating directories as needed. --&gt;
395    &lt;merge from="AndroidManifest.xml.ftl"
396             to="${escapeXmlAttribute(manifestDir)}/AndroidManifest.xml" /&gt;
397
398    &lt;!-- simply copy file, don't run FreeMarker --&gt;
399    &lt;copy from="res/drawable-mdpi"
400            to="${escapeXmlAttribute(resDir)}/res/drawable-mdpi" /&gt;
401    &lt;copy from="res/drawable-hdpi"
402            to="${escapeXmlAttribute(resDir)}/res/drawable-hdpi" /&gt;
403    &lt;copy from="res/drawable-xhdpi"
404            to="${escapeXmlAttribute(resDir)}/res/drawable-xhdpi" /&gt;
405    &lt;copy from="res/drawable-xxhdpi"
406            to="${escapeXmlAttribute(resDir)}/res/drawable-xxhdpi" /&gt;
407    &lt;copy from="res/menu/main.xml"
408            to="${escapeXmlAttribute(resDir)}/res/menu/${activityNameLower}.xml" /&gt;
409
410    &lt;!-- run FreeMarker and then merge with existing files --&gt;
411    &lt;merge from="res/values/dimens.xml"
412             to="${escapeXmlAttribute(resDir)}/res/values/dimens.xml" /&gt;
413    &lt;merge from="res/values-large/dimens.xml"
414             to="${escapeXmlAttribute(resDir)}/res/values-large/dimens.xml" /&gt;
415    &lt;merge from="res/values/styles.xml"
416             to="${escapeXmlAttribute(resDir)}/res/values/styles.xml" /&gt;
417    &lt;merge from="res/values/strings.xml.ftl"
418             to="${escapeXmlAttribute(resDir)}/res/values/strings.xml" /&gt;
419
420    &lt;!-- Decide which layout to add --&gt;
421    &lt;#if navType?contains("pager")&gt;
422        &lt;instantiate
423            from="${escapeXmlAttribute(resDir)}/res/layout/activity_pager.xml.ftl"
424              to="${escapeXmlAttribute(resDir)}/res/layout/activity_${activityNameLower}.xml" /&gt;
425    &lt;#elseif navType == "tabs" || navType == "dropdown"&gt;
426        &lt;copy from="${escapeXmlAttribute(resDir)}/res/layout/activity_fragment_container.xml"
427                to="${escapeXmlAttribute(resDir)}/res/layout/activity_${activityNameLower}.xml" /&gt;
428    &lt;#else&gt;
429        &lt;copy from="${escapeXmlAttribute(resDir)}/res/layout/activity_simple.xml"
430                to="${escapeXmlAttribute(resDir)}/res/layout/activity_${activityNameLower}.xml" /&gt;
431    &lt;/#if&gt;
432
433    &lt;!-- Decide which activity code to add --&gt;
434    &lt;#if navType == "none"&gt;
435        &lt;instantiate from="src/app_package/SimpleActivity.java.ftl"
436                       to="${escapeXmlAttribute(srcOut)}/${activityClass}.java" /&gt;
437    &lt;#elseif navType == "pager"&gt;
438        &lt;instantiate from="src/app_package/PagerActivity.java.ftl"
439                       to="${escapeXmlAttribute(srcOut)}/${activityClass}.java" /&gt;
440    &lt;#elseif navType == "tabs"&gt;
441        &lt;instantiate from="src/app_package/TabsActivity.java.ftl"
442                       to="${escapeXmlAttribute(srcOut)}/${activityClass}.java" /&gt;
443    &lt;#elseif navType == "dropdown"&gt;
444        &lt;instantiate from="src/app_package/DropdownActivity.java.ftl"
445                       to="${escapeXmlAttribute(srcOut)}/${activityClass}.java" /&gt;
446    &lt;/#if&gt;
447
448    &lt;!-- open the layout file and Java class when done --&gt;
449    &lt;open file="${escapeXmlAttribute(resDir)}/res/layout/${activityNameLower}.xml" /&gt;
450    &lt;open file="${escapeXmlAttribute(srcOut)}/${activityClass}.java" /&gt;
451&lt;/recipe&gt;
452</pre>
453
454<p>The instructions below are supported:</p>
455
456<h4 class="includetoc" data-tocid="recipe_dependency">&lt;dependency&gt;</h4>
457
458<p>Indicates that the template requires that a given library be present in the target project. If not present, the IDE will add the dependency to the project.</p>
459
460<dl>
461  <dt><code>mavenUrl</code></dt>
462  <dd>The maven coordinates of the library. For example,
463    <code>com.android.support:appcompat-v7:+</code></dd>
464</dl>
465
466<h4 class="includetoc">&lt;copy&gt;</h4>
467
468<p>The only required argument is <code>from</code> which specifies the location of the source files to copy under the <code>root/</code> directory. All necessary ancestor directories are automatically created if needed.</p>
469
470<p>The default destination location is the same path under the output directory root (i.e. the location of the destination project). If the optional <code>to</code> argument is provided, this specifies the output directory. Note that if the from path ends with <code>.ftl</code>, it will automatically be stripped. For example <code>&lt;instantiate from="res/values/strings.xml.ftl" /&gt;</code> is adequate; this will create a file named <code>strings.xml</code>, not <code>strings.xml.ftl</code>.</p>
471
472<p>This argument works recursively, so if <code>from</code> is a directory, that directory is recursively copied.</p>
473
474<h4 class="includetoc">&lt;instantiate&gt;</h4>
475
476<p>Same as <code>&lt;copy&gt;</code>, but each source file is first run through FreeMarker.</p>
477
478<h4 class="includetoc">&lt;merge&gt;</h4>
479
480<p>This instruction will run the source file through FreeMarker and then merge the contents of the output into an existing file in the project, or create a new file. The most common use case for this is to add components to the <code>AndroidManifest.xml</code> file of the destination project, or to merge resources such as strings into an existing <code>strings.xml</code> file.</p>
481
482<h4 class="includetoc">&lt;open&gt;</h4>
483
484<p>Instruct the IDE to open the file created by the specified <code>file</code> argument after code generation is complete.</p>
485
486<h4 class="includetoc">&lt;mkdir&gt;</h4>
487
488<p>Ensures the directory provided in the <code>at</code> argument exists.</p>
489
490<h3>root/</h3>
491
492<p>The actual template files (resources, Java sources, Android Manifest changes) should be placed in the <code>root/</code> directory, in a directory structure that roughly resembles what the output directory structure should look like.</p>
493
494<p>One difference is that instead of placing source files in <code>src/com/google/...</code> you can just use a naming convention like <code>src/app_package/</code> to indicate that files under this directory will be placed in the destination project's source file package root.</p>
495
496
497
498
499<h2>Built-in Template Functions</h2>
500
501<p>Several functions are available to FreeMarker expressions and files beyond the standard set of built-in FreeMarker functions. These are listed below.</p>
502
503<h3 data-toctitle="activityToLayout">string <em>activityToLayout</em>(string)</h3>
504
505<p>This function converts an activity class-like identifer string, such as <code>FooActivity</code>, to a corresponding resource-friendly identifier string, such as <code>activity_foo</code>.</p>
506
507<h4>Arguments</h4>
508<dl>
509  <dt><code>activityClass</code></dt>
510  <dd>The activity class name, e.g. <code>FooActivity</code> to reformat.</dd>
511</dl>
512
513<h4>See also</h4>
514<p><a href="#toc_layouttoactivity"><code>layoutToActivity</code></a></p>
515
516<h3 data-toctitle="camelCaseToUnderscore">string <em>camelCaseToUnderscore</em>(string)</h3>
517
518<p>This function converts a camel-case identifer string, such as <code>FooBar</code>, to its corresponding underscore-separated identifier string, such as <code>foo_bar</code>.</p>
519
520<h4>Arguments</h4>
521<dl>
522  <dt><code>camelStr</code></dt>
523  <dd>The camel-case string, e.g. <code>FooBar</code> to convert to an underscore-delimited string.</dd>
524</dl>
525
526<h4>See also</h4>
527<p><a href="#toc_underscoretocamelcase"><code>underscoreToCamelCase</code></a></p>
528
529<h3 data-toctitle="escapePropertyValue">string <em>escapePropertyValue</em>(string)</h3>
530
531<p>This function escapes a string, such as <code>foo=bar</code> such that it is suitable to be inserted in a Java <code>.properties</code> file as a property value, such as <code>foo\=bar</code>.</p>
532
533<h4>Arguments</h4>
534<dl>
535  <dt><code>str</code></dt>
536  <dd>The string, e.g. <code>foo=bar</code> to escape to a proper property value.</dd>
537</dl>
538
539<h3 data-toctitle="escapeXmlAttribute">string <em>escapeXmlAttribute</em>(string)</h3>
540
541<p>This function escapes a string, such as <code>Android's</code> such that it can be used as an XML attribute value: <code>Android&amp;apos;s</code>. In particular, it will escape ', ", &lt; and &amp;.</p>
542
543<h4>Arguments</h4>
544<dl>
545  <dt><code>str</code></dt>
546  <dd>The string to be escaped.</dd>
547</dl>
548
549<h4>See also</h4>
550<p><a href="#toc_escapexmltext"><code>escapeXmlText</code></a></p>
551<p><a href="#toc_escapexmlstring"><code>escapeXmlString</code></a></p>
552
553<h3 data-toctitle="escapeXmlText">string <em>escapeXmlText</em>(string)</h3>
554
555<p>This function escapes a string, such as <code>A &amp; B's</code> such that it can be used as XML text. This means it will escape &lt; and &gt;, but unlike <a href="#toc_escapexmlattribute"><code>escapeXmlAttribute</code></a> it will <b>not</b> escape ' and ". In the preceeding example, it will escape the string to <code>A &amp;amp; B\s</code>. Note that if you plan to use the XML text as the value for a &lt;string&gt; resource value, you should consider using <a href="#toc_escapexmlstring"><code>escapeXmlString</code></a> instead, since it performs additional escapes necessary for string resources.</p>
556
557<h4>Arguments</h4>
558<dl>
559  <dt><code>str</code></dt>
560  <dd>The string to escape to proper XML text.</dd>
561</dl>
562
563<h4>See also</h4>
564<p><a href="#toc_escapexmlattribute"><code>escapeXmlAttribute</code></a></p>
565<p><a href="#toc_escapexmlstring"><code>escapeXmlString</code></a></p>
566
567<h3 data-toctitle="escapeXmlString">string <em>escapeXmlString</em>(string)</h3>
568
569<p>This function escapes a string, such as <code>A &amp; B's</code> such that it is suitable to be inserted in a string resource file as XML text, such as <code>A &amp;amp; B\s</code>. In addition to escaping XML characters like &lt; and &amp;, it also performs additional Android specific escapes, such as escaping apostrophes with a backslash, and so on.</p>
570
571<h4>Arguments</h4>
572<dl>
573  <dt><code>str</code></dt>
574  <dd>The string, e.g. <code>Activity's Title</code> to escape to a proper resource XML value.</dd>
575</dl>
576
577<h4>See also</h4>
578<p><a href="#toc_escapexmlattribute"><code>escapeXmlAttribute</code></a></p>
579<p><a href="#toc_escapexmltext"><code>escapeXmlText</code></a></p>
580
581<h3 data-toctitle="extractLetters">string <em>extractLetters</em>(string)</h3>
582
583<p>This function extracts all the letters from a string, effectively removing any punctuation and whitespace characters.</p>
584
585<h4>Arguments</h4>
586<dl>
587  <dt><code>str</code></dt>
588  <dd>The string to extract letters from</dd>
589</dl>
590
591<h3 data-toctitle="classToResource">string <em>classToResource</em>(string)</h3>
592
593<p>This function converts an Android class name, such as <code>FooActivity</code> or <code>FooFragment</code>, to a corresponding resource-friendly identifier string, such as <code>foo</code>, stripping the 'Activity' or 'Fragment' suffix. Currently stripped suffixes are listed below.</p>
594
595<ul>
596  <li>Activity</li>
597  <li>Fragment</li>
598  <li>Provider</li>
599  <li>Service</li>
600</ul>
601
602<h4>Arguments</h4>
603<dl>
604  <dt><code>className</code></dt>
605  <dd>The class name, e.g. <code>FooActivity</code> to reformat as an underscore-delimited string with suffixes removed.</dd>
606</dl>
607
608<h4>See also</h4>
609<p><a href="#toc_activitytolayout"><code>activityToLayout</code></a></p>
610
611<h3 data-toctitle="layoutToActivity">string <em>layoutToActivity</em>(string)</h3>
612
613<p>This function converts a resource-friendly identifer string, such as <code>activity_foo</code>, to a corresponding Java class-friendly identifier string, such as <code>FooActivity</code>.</p>
614
615<h4>Arguments</h4>
616<dl>
617  <dt><code>resourceName</code></dt>
618  <dd>The resource name, e.g. <code>activity_foo</code> to reformat.</dd>
619</dl>
620
621<h4>See also</h4>
622<p><a href="#toc_activitytolayout"><code>activityToLayout</code></a></p>
623
624<h3 data-toctitle="slashedPackageName">string <em>slashedPackageName</em>(string)</h3>
625
626<p>This function converts a full Java package name to its corresponding directory path. For example, if the given argument is <code>com.example.foo</code>, the return value will be <code>com/example/foo</code>.</p>
627
628<h4>Arguments</h4>
629<dl>
630  <dt><code>packageName</code></dt>
631  <dd>The package name to reformat, e.g. <code>com.example.foo</code>.</dd>
632</dl>
633
634<h3 data-toctitle="underscoreToCamelCase">string <em>underscoreToCamelCase</em>(string)</h3>
635
636<p>This function converts an underscore-delimited string, such as <code>foo_bar</code>, to its corresponding camel-case string, such as <code>FooBar</code>.</p>
637
638<h4>Arguments</h4>
639<dl>
640  <dt><code>underStr</code></dt>
641  <dd>The underscore-delimited string, e.g. <code>foo_bar</code> to convert to a camel-case string.</dd>
642</dl>
643
644<h4>See also</h4>
645<p><a href="#toc_camelcasetounderscore"><code>camelCaseToUnderscore</code></a></p>
646
647
648
649<h2>Built-in Template Parameters</h2>
650
651<p>Several parameters are available to FreeMarker expressions and files beyond <a href="#toc_parameter">those defined by the template</a>. These are listed below.</p>
652
653<h3>packageName</h3>
654
655<p>The Java-style Android package name for the project, e.g. <code>com.example.foo</code></p>
656
657<h3>applicationPackage</h3>
658
659<p>Will be the application package (i.e. the package name declared in the app manifest) if the target package for this template is not the application package. Otherwise, this parameter will be empty.</p>
660
661<h3>isNewProject</h3>
662
663<p>A boolean indicating whether or not this template is being instantiated as part of a New Project flow.</p>
664
665<h3>minApi</h3>
666
667<p>The minimum API level the project supports. Note that this value could be a string so consider using <a href="#toc_minapilevel"><code>minApiLevel</code></a> instead.</p>
668
669<h3>minApiLevel</h3>
670
671<p>The minimum API level the project supports, guaranteed to be a number. This is generally used to guard the generation of code based on the project's API level, for example:</p>
672
673<pre>
674int drawableResourceId = android.R.layout.simple_list_item_<strong>&lt;#if minApiLevel gte 11&gt;</strong>activated_<strong>&lt;/#if&gt;</strong>_1;
675</pre>
676
677<h3>buildApi</h3>
678
679<p>The API level that the project is building against, guaranteed to be a number. This is generally used to guard the generation of code based on what version of the Android SDK the project is being built against, for example:</p>
680
681<pre>
682&lt;TextView android:layout_width="wrap_content"
683    android:layout_height="<strong>&lt;#if buildApi gte 8&gt;</strong>match_parent<strong>&lt;#else&gt;</strong>fill_parent<strong>&lt;/#if&gt;</strong>" /&gt;
684</pre>
685
686<h3>manifestDir</h3>
687
688<p>The target output directory for the <code>AndroidManifest.xml</code> file. This varies depending on the project's directory structure (Gradle-style or Ant-style).</p>
689
690<h3>srcDir</h3>
691
692<p>The target Java source root directory for the project. This varies depending on the project's directory structure (Gradle-style or Ant-style). It's common to concatenate the package name:</p>
693
694<pre>
695${srcDir}/${slashedPackageName(packageName)}
696</pre>
697
698<h4>See also</h4>
699<p><a href="#toc_slashedpackagename"><code>slashedPackageName</code></a></p>
700
701<h3>resDir</h3>
702
703<p>The target resource directory root (<code>res/</code> folder) for the project. This varies depending on the project's directory structure (Gradle-style or Ant-style).</p>
704
705
706
707
708
709<h2>Notes for Template Authors</h2>
710
711<h3>Tools metadata</h3>
712
713<p>When creating activity layouts, make sure to include the activity name in the root view in the layout as part of the <code>tools</code> namespace, as shown in the following example:</p>
714
715<pre class="prettyprint lang-xml">
716&lt;TextView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
717    <strong>xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"</strong>
718    android:layout_width="match_parent"
719    android:layout_height="match_parent"
720    android:gravity="center"
721    android:text="@string/hello_world"
722    android:padding="@dimen/padding_medium"
723    <strong>tools:context=".${activityClass}"</strong> /&gt;
724</pre>
725
726<p>As of ADT 20 we use this attribute in layouts to maintain a mapping to the active activity to use for a layout. (Yes, there can be more than one, but this attribute is showing the activity context you want to edit the layout as. For example, it will be used to look up a theme registration (which is per-activity rather than per-layout) in the manifest file, and we will use this for other features in the future&mdash;for example to preview the action bar, which also requires us to know the activity context.</p>
727
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729
730</body>
731</html>
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