UnknownFormatConversionException: Android strings.xml format <![CDATA[ ...%1$... ]]>

Question

I'm trying to use formatted html inside strings.xml. So in strings.xml I have following:

<string name="application_start_message" formatted="false">
    <![CDATA[ bla bla bla %1$ bla bla bla %1$.... ]]>
<string name="application_website_url">website.com</string>

and later in code I do:

String string = getString(
    R.string.application_start_message,
    getString(R.string.application_website_url)
);

the runtime exception I'm getting is:

java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to start activity 
    ComponentInfo{com.artigile.checkmyphone/
    com.artigile.checkmyphone.MainActivity}: 
    java.util.UnknownFormatConversionException: Conversion: <
at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2211)
at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2261)
at android.app.ActivityThread.access$600(ActivityThread.java:141)
at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1256)
at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:137)
at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:5103)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:525)
at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:737)
at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:553)
at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)

Caused by: java.util.UnknownFormatConversionException: Conversion: <
at java.util.Formatter$FormatToken.unknownFormatConversionException(Formatter.java:1399)
at java.util.Formatter$FormatToken.checkFlags(Formatter.java:1336)
at java.util.Formatter.transform(Formatter.java:1442)
at java.util.Formatter.doFormat(Formatter.java:1081)
at java.util.Formatter.format(Formatter.java:1042)
at java.util.Formatter.format(Formatter.java:1011)
at java.lang.String.format(String.java:1988)
at android.content.res.Resources.getString(Resources.java:354)
at android.content.Context.getString(Context.java:347)
at com.artigile.checkmyphone.MainActivity.buildModalStartWarningWindow(MainActivity.java:280)
at com.artigile.checkmyphone.MainActivity.onStart(MainActivity.java:116)
at android.app.Instrumentation.callActivityOnStart(Instrumentation.java:1171)
at android.app.Activity.performStart(Activity.java:5143)
at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2184)
... 11 more

Any thoughts how this can be workarounded?

Answer 1

I'm not sure if it's a typo in your question, but it doesn't look like you're closing the string tag and you're variable isn't correct. The carriage return may also be problem, so get rid of that too.

Change:

<string name="application_start_message" formatted="false">
    <![CDATA[ bla bla bla %1$ bla bla bla %1$.... ]]>

To

<string name="application_start_message" formatted="false"><![CDATA[ bla bla bla %1$s bla bla bla %1$s .... ]]></string>