This document includes the following sections:
Conversion of MAF application preferences to a mobile-platform representation occurs when a deployment target is invoked. Following conversion, the naming pattern described in Table D-1 ensures that each preference can be uniquely identified on the mobile platform. Each preference element in the maf-application.xml and maf-feature.xml files must be uniquely identified within the scope of its sibling elements prior to deployment.
The following are examples of identifier values:
application.gen.gps.trackGPS
feature.f0.gen.gps.trackGPS
Table D-1 describes how to generate fully qualified preference identifiers.
Table D-1 MAF Naming Patterns for Preferences
| Expression | Description | Syntax |
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Represents an identifier value of a preference element that has been converted to a mobile platform representation. |
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Use this expression to build a preference identifier value that is generated from the |
<adfmf:preferences>
<adfmf:preferenceGroup id="gen">
<adfmf:preferenceGroup id="gps">
<!-- The mobile-platform identifier would be "application.gen.gps.trackGPS" -->
<adfmf:preferenceBoolean id="trackGPS"/>
</adfmf:preferenceGroup>
</adfmf:preferenceGroup>
</adfmf:preferences>
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Use this expression to build a preference identifier value that is generated from the |
<adfmf:feature id="f0">
<adfmf:preferences>
<adfmf:preferenceGroup id="gen">
<adfmf:preferenceGroup id="gps">
<!-- The mobile-platform identifier would be "feature.f0.gen.gps.trackGPS" -->
<adfmf:preferenceBoolean id="trackGPS"/>
</adfmf:preferenceGroup>
</adfmf:preferenceGroup>
</adfmf:preferences>
</adfmf:feature>
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The <adfmf:preferences> element cited in the code examples in Table D-1 does not have an id attribute and is therefore not represented in any preference identifiers.
The MAF deployment uses XML and XLS to transform the user preference pages defined at both the application feature and application-level into the following three XML documents:
preferences.xml
arrays.xml
strings.xml
This file contains the transformed preferences from both of the maf-feature.xml and maf-application.xml files.
Table D-2 shows the mapping of MAF's preference definitions to Android template preferences, and Android native preferences:
Table D-2 Mapping MAF Preferences to Android Preferences
| MAF Preference Definition | Custom or Android Native Preference Definition (Used by MAF Deployment) | Android Native Preference Definition (Not used by MAF Deployment) |
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The Preferences.xml file contains references to string resources contained in both the strings.xml and arrays.xml files. The Android SDK defines the syntax for resources in XML files as @[<package_name>:]<resource_type>/<resource_name>. This file contains references to string values as well as the name and value pairs of list preferences. The XSL constructs the following for the strings and list preferences:
<package_name> is the name of the package in which the resource is located (not required when referencing resources from the same package). This component of the reference will not be used.
<resource_type> is the R subclass for the resource type. This component will have a value of string if constructing a string reference or array if constructing a list preference.
<resource_name> is the android:name attribute value in the XML element. The value for this component will be the value of the <PreferenceIdentifier>_title when specifying the android:title attribute (see Naming Patterns for Preferences. for the definition of <PreferenceIdentifier>.
Table D-3 and Table D-4 show the mapping of MAF attributes for a given MAF preference to the Android preference.
In this table:
Entries of the form {X} (such as {default} in Table D-3) indicate the value of a MAF attribute named X.
Entries having <PreferenceIdentifier> indicate the value of the preference identifier, as defined in Naming Patterns for Preferences.
Attributes with an asterisk (*) are custom template attributes defined in a MAF namespace and must appear in the preferences.xml in the form adfmf:<attributeName>. Otherwise, the attributes are part of the Android namespace and must appear in the preferences.xml as android:<attributeName>.
Table D-3 Mapping of MAF Preference Attributes to Android Preferences
| MAF Attribute Definition | Template Custom or Android Native Preference Attribute | Android Attribute Value | Applies to |
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The MAF Application Editor and MAF Features Editor exclude an attribute name and value from the XML if:
The attribute type is xsd:boolean.
The attribute value has a <default> value option.
The user specifies <default> as the value.
The XSL must know the MAF attributes that are boolean typed and their corresponding default values. The XSL, then, specifies the appropriate Android or template custom attribute value where has been selected by the user.
Table D-4 indicates what the deployment will specify for the android:defaultValue attribute if the MAF preference being transformed does not contain a default attribute:
Table D-4 Transforming Attributes with Non-Default Values
| MAF Preference Element | Android Preference Equivalent | Default Attribute Value |
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Empty string |
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Empty string |
The preferences.xml file has a root element called <PreferenceScreen>. The Android template requires that this element have the following XML namespace definition:
xmlns:adfmf="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/<Application Package Name>
The <Application Package Name> element is defined as the same application package name in the AndroidManifest.xml file. <Android Package Name> defines the definition for the Android package name specified in the AndroidManifest.xml file. For more information, see Setting Display Properties for a MAF Application.
The deployment uses the Package Name value from the Android deployment profile if it exists. If it does not exist in the profile, the deployment obtains this value from the application display name and Application Id contained in the maf-application.xml file. The deployment Java code will pass the value to the XSL document as a parameter.
The example below shows MAF preferences contained in the maf-feature.xml file for the sample application PrefDemo, described in MAF Sample Applications..
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<adfmf:features xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance
xmlns:adfmf="http://xmlns.oracle.com/jdev/adfmf">
<adfmf:feature id="oracle.hello"
name="Hello"
icon="oracle.hello/navbar-icon.png"
image="oracle.hello/springboard-icon.png">
<adfmf:content id="Hello.Generic">
<adfmf:localHTML url="oracle.hello/index.html"/>
</adfmf:content>
<adfmf:preferences>
<adfmf:preferenceGroup id="prefGroup"
label="preference group">
<adfmf:preferenceBoolean id="boolPref"
label="boolPref perference"
default="true"/>
<adfmf:preferenceNumber id="numPref"
label="numPref preference"
default="1"
min="1"
max="10"/>
<adfmf:preferenceText id="textPref"
label="textPref preferences"
default="Foo"/>
<adfmf:preferenceList id="listPref"
label="listPref preference"
default="value2">
<adfmf:preferenceValue name="name1"
value="value1"/>
<adfmf:preferenceValue name="name2"
value="value2"/>
</adfmf:preferenceList>
</adfmf:preferenceGroup>
</adfmf:preferences>
</adfmf:feature>
</adfmf:features>
The arrays.xml file consists of string-array elements that enumerate the names and values of list preferences that are referenced from the preferences.xml file. Each <preferenceList> element contained in the maf-application.xml and maf-feature.xml files is transformed into two string-array elements, one element for the name and one element for the values. For example, the MAF preferenceList definition described in the example below results in <string-array name="feature.oracle.hello.prefGroup.MyList___entry_values"> and <string-array name="feature.oracle.hello.prefGroup.MyList___entries"> in the arrays.xml file shown in the second example below.
<adfmf:features xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns:adfmf="http://xmlns.oracle.com/adf/mf">
<adfmf:feature id="oracle.hello" name="Hello" icon="oracle.hello/navbar-icon.png" image="oracle.hello/springboard-icon.png">
...
<adfmf:preferences>
<adfmf:preferenceGroup id="prefGroup">
<adfmf:preferenceList id="MyList" label="My List">
<adfmf:preferenceValue name="name1" value="value1"/>
<adfmf:preferenceValue name="name2" value="value2"/>
<adfmf:preferenceValue name="name3" value="value3"/>
</adfmf:preferenceList>
</adfmf:preferenceGroup>
</adfmf:preferences>
</adfmf:feature>
...
The example below illustrates the pair of string array elements in the arrays.xml file that are transformed from a <preferenceList> element.
<resources xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:adfmf="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/oracle.myandroidapp">
<string-array name="feature_oracle_hello_prefGroup.MyList___entry_values">
<item>name1</item>
<item>name2</item>
<item>name3</item>
</string-array>
<string-array name="feature_oracle_hello_prefGroup.MyList___entries">
<item>value1</item>
<item>value2</item>
<item>value3</item>
</string-array>
</resources>
The example below shows the <string-arrays> referenced in preferences.xml.
<oracle.adfmf.preferences.AdfMFPreferenceList android:key="feature.oracle.hello.MyList" android:title="@string/feature_oracle_hello_prefGroup.MyList___title" android:entries="@array/feature_oracle_hello_prefGroup.MyList___entries" android:entryValues="@array/feature_oracle_hello_prefGroup.MyList___entry_values" />
The strings.xml file, shown in the example below, consists of string elements that are referenced by the preferences.xml file, as well as any resource bundle references defined in the maf-application.xml and maf-feature.xml files. Each string element has a name attribute that uniquely identifies the string and the string value.
<resources xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:adfmf="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/oracle.myandroidapp">
...
<string name="feature.PROD.bundle.FeatureName">Products</string>
<string name="feature.oracle.hello.prefGroup.MyBooleanPreference___title">My feature boolean pref</string>
...
</resources>
If the source of the string is not a reference to a resource bundle string, the naming convention for the name attribute is <PreferenceIdentifier>___<androidAttributeName>.
<adfmf:features xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns:adfmf="http://xmlns.oracle.com/adf/mf">
<adfmf:loadBundle basename="mobile.ViewControllerBundle"
var="bundle"/>
<adfmf:feature id="oracle.hello"
name="Hello"
icon="oracle.hello/navbar-icon.png"
image="oracle.hello/springboard-icon.png">
<adfmf:feature id="PROD"
name="#{bundle.FeatureName}"
icon="openMore.png"
image="G.png"
credentials="none">
...
<adfmf:preferences>
<adfmf:preferenceGroup id="prefGroup">
<adfmf:preferenceBoolean default="true"
id="MyBooleanPreference"
label="My feature boolean pref"/>
</adfmf:preferenceGroup>
</adfmf:preferences>
</adfmf:feature>
The MAF deployment transforms the MAF preferences listed in Table D-4 to the preference list (strict the Display to a ) file representation required by an iOS Settings application.
Table D-5 MAF Preferences and Their iOS Counterparts
| MAF Preferences Component | iOS Representation |
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For information on the iOS requirement for preference list (.plist) files, see Preferences and Settings Programming Guide, which is available through the iOS Developer Library (http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/navigation/).
This example shows XML based on the maf-application.xml file.
<adfmf:preferences>
<adfmf:preferenceGroup id="gen"
label="Oracle Way Cool Mobile App">
<adfmf:preferenceGroup id="SubPage01"
label="Child Page">
</adfmf:preferenceGroup>
</adfmf:preferences>
Provides information on preferences for the Windows platform
For the Windows platform, from the maf-feature.xml and maf-application.xml metadata, MAF generates a single maf-preferences.json file and multiple maf-preferences.resjson files, one each for every supported locale in the application. MAF uses the JSON file, saves it as Windows settings for the application, and also uses it to display the settings screen.