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Android Android Lists and Adapters (2015) Standard ListViews Adding a Gradient

Louis Sankey
Louis Sankey
22,595 Points

how to access main drawable folder

I want to create a gradient by adding a new drawable.xml file like it shows in the video, but for some reason my directories are not arranged in the same way it shows. Directly under the res directory I have all of the sub drawable resource directories such as drawable_hdpi, etc. But I have no overarching drawable directory. I tried to refactor but I could not figure out how without leaving any errors. I tried creating a new drawable directory under res and then tried dragging the directories in. I tried the two options that it gives: the "move packages option" as well as the "move directories" option. I am also confused because when drawable resources are referenced in my xml code in other places they are referenced as android:src="@drawable/degree" for example. Do I have an overarching drawable folder that I am somehow not seeing? Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

4 Answers

Ken Alger
STAFF
Ken Alger
Treehouse Teacher

Louis;

I had the same issue as well when trying to create the gradient. In the Project window of Android Studio, there is a drop down that gives a few options like Project, Packages, Android, and Scopes. When I switched between Project and Android (or vise-verse), I was able to create the drawable directory easier.

Post back if you are still stuck.

Ken

Louis Sankey
Louis Sankey
22,595 Points

Hi Ken, Thanks for you reply. I see the drop down you are referring to and tried toggling the project view and other views, but I was still unable to refactor in the right way. I don't know why in the first place I have a different file structure. I checked out my other projects and they are all the same, with no overarching drawable folder like in the video. I tried creating a completely new drawable directory named drawable and adding the bg_gradient to it, but android studio was unable to render. I have a hunch that when I add a new drawable folder and try to refactor it is making my file structure @drawable/drawable/whatever. It seems like I already have a drawable folder, but I am unable to see it in the file structure. Is there any way I can add a screen shot?

If you switch to the Project view, then right click the 'res' folder, you can create a new Resource File, set its type to drawable, and Android Studio will create the drawable folder for you.

Louis Sankey
Louis Sankey
22,595 Points

Thanks, I was able to create a new drawable folder and add bg_gradient in the way you mentioned. I actually found out that the problem I was having was that I needed to clear caches and restart android studio. I was having a rendering problem and I kept thinking it was because of the file structure, but apparently android studio needed to be restarted and the problem went away. Still, thanks for the help.