Develop Reference

In Android, is there a reason to use string resources for strings that are not going to be translated?

I'm wondering what the drawbacks are for using strings that are defined in the java files in Android code.
I like to use plain old Java strings for things that are not visible strings like e.g. names in XML documents that I'm parsing, or keys for bundles. Seems to be a good idea to just keep all those things in the java file where they are used instead of moving them out into an XML file and making the code more complicated.
Yet, I see many examples of Android code that seem to put every string into a resource file.
What's the issue with having strings in java files? What are the reasons that people don't do it? I've been doing it in my apps and haven't seen any issues yet so far.
Note that I'm aware that XML files make a ton of sense for stuff that needs to be translated. This question is for cases where the strings stay the same.
Let me try to make this question clearer:
Are there any reasons except:
Because it's a standard / best practise etc. - my question is basically: why is it a best practise, only because of i8n, or are there other reasons?
Because it allows you to use the resources framework for translation, device-dependent strings etc.
Because it allows you to use non-ASCII characters.

The simple answer to your question is its a standard to put all your string into resource. Also there are many reason that if you are keeping your string in xml/java file you have to update each and every reference in these file for a single string.
for eg. if You want to change "Ok" to "confirm" which are used in 5 different file you have to change in all those 5 files but for String resource you just have to update one file which string.xml.
Edit
Please find below some of reasons we should use String.xml
1) To update single reference to multiple occurrences. As according to the #treesAreEverywhere It can be done with public static String, but it will take memory on startup of application and till application is closed. But String written in String.xml will be loaded at time of use.
2) Multiple language support. You can create multiple language resource folder to support your multiple language application so language changed using Locale will be dynamically maintained by OS at run time according to language resource folder.
3) Please check Localization document which provide you more information about using string.xml
4) Strings don’t clutter up your application code, leaving it clear and easy to maintain.
It's a kind of coding standard like any other language has. But you can ignore it if you want and can create your code with public static string variable in code. It is not compulsory to use string.xml but its a good coding practice to use it. Good practice like closing the if block with parenthesis containing single statement rather than leaving it as it is.
if(condition){ statement; } rather than if(condition) statement;

Actually, good practices is a good reason to do it, but there are more.
For example, one reason that I can recall right now is that strings.xml is UTF-8 codified. Hardcoded strings doesn't show some characters properly.

The purpose of strings.xml (and other *.xml resource files) is to regroup similar values in one place. This facilitates finding values that would be otherwise buried in the code. Those resource files also makes the maintainability better, since a modification to one value can have app-wide effects (such as changing the title of the app or the theme). Finally, as you mentioned, it provides a framework for translating your app to other languages.
If you know your app will not be translated and won't be modified, it's not a bad thing to hard-code them. However, if you think your app will get a lot of updates, it is better to start using good foundations and use XML resource files.
Besides these reasons and the ones mentioned by #Zinc (which I am unaware of and cannot confirm), there are no other reasons regarding why you would want to use XML resource files.
The drawback of using resource files is that is is theoretically is slower and requires a bit more memory. Read android - strings.xml vs static constants and Does hard coding of string affect performance?

If you put all your strings which are related to your application, then you can implement I18N kind of applications very easily and it is very useful while doing application changes (Company takeover some other company). It is just change names in xml files. No need to touch any java file.

Using a C++ Struct in Android app (Java and XML)?

I'm a decent C++ programmer, good enough to do what I want. But I'm working on my first Android App (obviously not C++ related), and I'm having an issue where I'd like to translate what I know from C++ over to the XML/Java used in Android Studio.
Basically I have (in C++) an array of structures. And maybe I didn't do the perfect search, but I sure as heck tried to look around for the answer, but I didn't come up with anything.
How would I go about placing an array of structures inside the XML file and utilizing it in Java?
As a bit of a buffer, let me say that I'm not really looking for code, just verification that this is possible, and a method on how to go about it. I don't mind researching to learn what I want, but I haven't come up with anything. Like I said, I probably haven't googled it properly because I'm unsure of exactly how to ask it.
EDIT: So it appears that XML doesn't have a structure (or anything similar? not sure). But I can utilize a Java class with public variables. Now my question is more or less: What would be the best way to go about inserting all the information into the array/class/variables?
In C++ terms, I could neatly place all the info into a text file and then read from it, using a FOR loop to place all the info in the structures. Or, if I don't want to use an outside source/file, I could hardcode the information into each variable. Tedious, but it'd work. I'm not sure, in Android terms, if I could use the same method and pack in a text file with the app, and read from the file using a FOR loop to insert the information into the array/class/variables
class answerStruct
{
public String a;
public boolean status;
};
class questionStruct
{
public String q;
answerStruct[] answer = new answerStruct[4];
};
I'm not placing this here to brag at my super high tech program, but to give a visual, and frankly that's less I have to write out. This is the method I plan on going with. But, being Java, I'm open to possibly better options. My question still stands as far as inputting information into the variables. Hard code? or does Android/Java allow me to place a text file with my app, and read from it into the variables?

XML is just a markup language for tree-structured data, and imposes no restrictions on how you name or structure your tree nodes.
What I think that you're looking for is an XML Object Serialiser: a way to serialise your in-memory structure into XML for a more permanent storage, and then at a later run, deserialise it back into memory. There are many XML Serialisers for Java, each with an own proprietary XML format.
I've used Simple XML in the past, and found it easy and flexible.

Internationalize a Java Application?

I have a Java Desktop App, the users of the application have the availability to set the aplications language.
By now i manage it in the database, i call the value of a field called - userLanguage - which is an Integer, and when the user has logged in depending on this value i set the corresponding text to each element on the app by using a switch ( case 1: set labels text ENGLISH, case 2: set labels text SPANISH ... etc)
But i've heard that control the language from the database is an insult, and i would like to know which's a nice way to do it, or what's the best way to do so, it doesn't matter how difficult it would be but the efficence of the method to internationallize an app is what metters for me.

I would actually handle this problem using the Java Preferences. It keeps the preferences for each user separately in a system independent way (for you at least). If you use XML you need to create a SAX/DOM parser or if you use a DB you need to use jdbc. Neither XML or the DB is a bad or a tough solution, I just think the preferences are the easiest.
For internationalization, I would use a ResourceBundle that localized for different Locales. It is a pretty big topic see The Java internationalization (I18n) tutorial

Java Preferences is what you are looking for then.
Or, instead of using XML file you can use Properties.
...i've heard that control the language from the database is an insult...
I do not agree with that. I think it is scenario dependent, and in your case I think you should keep it the way it is to avoid unnecessary work, unless there is an absolute need for keeping the preferred idiom outside your DB.

You've received two answers, both of which are plainly wrong. If you have Java Desktop Application, you should this code:
Locale locale = Locale.getDefault(Locale.Category.DISPLAY);
This will give you valid User Interface language for your application - the one user set in his OS preferences. If you want to keep the language in a database or in some kind of preferences, you'll be forcing users to chose language. What for? I've already set what language I want. If you don't have it, let Java fall back to your application's default.
In case you wonder, if you use ResourceBundle, the default would be the one without a Locale in its name. That is unless you override this process by using custom ResourceBundle.Control.

Java - Extracting plaintext from web-page source code (getting massive quantities of lyrics from website)

O community, I'm in the process of writing the pseudocode for an application that extracts song lyrics from a remote host (web-server, not my own) by reading the page's source code.
This is assuming that:
Lyrics are being displayed in plaintext
Portion of source code containing lyrics is readable by Java front-end application
I'm not looking for source code to answer the question, but what is the technical term used for querying a remote webpage for plaintext content?
If I can determine the webpage naming scheme, I could set the pointer of the URL object to the appropriate webpage, right? The only limitations would be irregular capitalization, and would only be effective if the plaintext was found in EXACTLY the same place.
Do you have any suggestions?
I was thinking something like this for "Buck 65", singing "I look good"
URL url = new URL(http://www.elyrics.net/read/b/buck-65-lyrics/i-look-good-lyrics.html);
I could substitute "buck-65-lyrics" & "i-look-good-lyrics" to reflect user input?
Input re-directed to PostgreSQL table
Current objective:
User will request name of {song, artist, album}, Java front-end will query remote webpage
Full source code (containing plaintext) will be extracted with Java front-end
Lyrics will be extracted from source code (somehow)
If song is not currently indexed by PostgreSQL server, will be added to table.
Operations will be made on the plaintext to suit the objectives of the program
I'm only looking for direction. If I'm headed completely in the wrong direction, please let me know. This is only for the pseudocode. I'm not looking for answers, or hand-outs, I need assistance in determining what I need to do. Are there external libraries for extracting plaintext that you know of? What technical names are there for what I'm trying to accomplish?
Thanks, Tyler

This approach is referred to as screen or data scraping. Note that employing it often breaks the target service's terms of service. Usually, this is not a robust approach, which is why API-like services with guarantees about how they operate are preferable.
Your approach sounds like it will work for the most part, but a few things to keep in mind.
If the web service you're interacting with requires a very precise URL scheme, you should not feed your user-provided data directly into it, since it is likely to be muddied by missing words, abbreviations, or misspellings. You might be better off doing some sort of search, first, and using that search's best result.
Reading HTML data is more complicated than you think. Use an existing library like jsoup to assist you.

The technical term to extract content from a site is web scraping, you can google that. There are a lot of online libraries, for java there is jsoup. Though its easy to write your own regex.
1st thing I would do i use curl and get the content from the site just for testing, this will give you a fair idea of what to do.

You will have to use a HTML parser. One of the most popular is jsoup.
Take care abut the legal aspect fo what you you do ;)

Best way to store text data in an android app?

I've made an Android application which contains most used German words and sentences. The application contains a CSV file which stores all the data.
Currently it is working as expected but I want to ask if there is a better way to store such data directly in the app?
I'm also thinking about the ability to update the data via internet like adding new words and sentences.
Thanks!
Miretz

If you want to modify the content (update, remove etc.) I would suggest using SQLite DB which has a pretty nice built-in integration with the Android platform.

There are 2 types SQLDatabaseLite and SharedPreference. Major difference between both is that one is organized and the other not so.
If you need a quick use of a storage facility within your app for example changing text sizes between activity SharedPrefference works best for you.
If you have a complex database system where you need more than one data to be saved for a particular event SQLDatabaseLite is for you example of this is spreadsheet of data for customers; Name, Phone Number, etc.