target of 'resource-file' in config.xml path correct?

[fquirin]

Bug Report (or feature?)

Problem

When using target in <resource-file> tag of config.xml the path location is unclear looking at the documentation.

What is expected to happen?

When using <resource-file src="FooPluginStrings.xml" target="res/values/FooPluginStrings.xml" /> as described in the docs I'd expect the file to end up in the according resources folder of the platform, in this case app/src/main/res/values/FooPluginStrings.xml.

What does actually happen?

The file ends up in the top-level project folder for Android.

Information

I'm not sure if this is a bug or a feature but the documentation is at least misleading. res/values/...xml is the classic resource path for Android platform but you have to use app/src/main/res/values/...xml as target to actually get this path. In the example this should be:

<resource-file src="FooPluginStrings.xml" target="app/src/main/res/values/FooPluginStrings.xml" />

In addition it seems the behavior in config.xml and plugin.xml is different 🤔. Plugin resource files seems to be placed in the correct folder without adding app/src/main.

Command or Code

Put a resource in your config.xml and build the Cordova project, as seen in the docs:

<resource-file src="FooPluginStrings.xml" target="res/values/FooPluginStrings.xml" />

Environment, Platform, Device

Debian 9.5 terminal (Windows 11 WSL2), x86_64

Version information

Cordova: 11.0.0, Android platform 11.0.0
Other Frameworks: none
Operating System: Debian 9.5 on Windows 11 WSL2

Checklist

• I searched for existing GitHub issues
• I updated all Cordova tooling to most recent version
• I included all the necessary information above

[BigBalli]

This is actually expected behavior, though the docs are definitely misleading. In config.xml, the target path for <resource-file> is relative to the platform project root (e.g. the root of the Android Gradle project), not relative to the Android app source directory. So you do need the full app/src/main/res/values/FooPluginStrings.xml path.

The reason plugin.xml behaves differently is that the plugin system has its own resource mapping logic that knows about the Android project structure and resolves res/values/... to the right place automatically.

So your workaround is correct:

<resource-file src="FooPluginStrings.xml" target="app/src/main/res/values/FooPluginStrings.xml" />

This might be worth a docs clarification PR if anyone wants to pick it up. Were you able to get things working with the full path?

[breautek]

I would agree that the document is incorrect. In more complex projects you may have multiple modules, not just the app module... so it would be unwise to assume the app module path.