Search code examples
androidsharedpreferenceslistpreference

Why does preferences.getString("key", "DEFAULT") always return "DEFAULT"?

I have user_preferences.xml in my XML directory. A PreferencesActivity uses this file to create the user preferences activity.. and that works. Whatever the user selects here persists. But I am unable to retrieve the value the user selected.

When I use... 

SharedPreferences preferences = getSharedPreferences("user_preferences.xml", 0);    
String mapTypeString = preferences.getString("map_type_pref_key", "DEFAULT");

... mapTypeString is always "DEFAULT".

It seems like my user_preferences.xml is not found when I instantiate my SharedPreferences object. But, the PreferencesActivity finds it, of course. So, what am I missing?

Many thanks!

Solution

  • change your code to:

     SharedPreferences preferences = PreferenceManager.getDefaultSharedPreferences(this);   
 String mapTypeString = preferences.getString("map_type_pref_key", "DEFAULT");