Android Xamarin colors.xml not found

June 30, 2024

I’m converting my Xamarin app (for Android) to .NET 8. The app source code in Resources/values has these files:

colors.xml:

  <resources>
        <color name="colorPrimary">#DD5706</color>
        <color name="colorPrimaryDark">#1B3147</color>
        <color name="colorAccent">#8167E6</color>
       
      <color name="white">#ffffff</color>
      <color name="darkwhite">#EFFFFE</color>
      <color name="transparent">#00ffff</color>
      <color name="semitransparent">#880000</color>
      <color name="orange">#ff8800</color>
      <color name="light_orange">#e27d18</color>
      <color name="light_blue">#87CEEB</color>
      <color name="black">#000000</color>
      <color name="menuButtonColor">#ea8e44</color>
      <color name="btn_normal">#ea8e44</color>
      <color name="pressed_color">#e27d18</color>
      <color name="default_color">#f8f1e7</color>
      <color name="selected">#f8dcd3</color>
    </resources>

And in the drawable folder is background.xml:

<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">    
  <item android:drawable="@android:color/background_light" android:state_pressed="false" android:state_selected="false"/>      
  <item android:drawable="@color/orange" android:state_pressed="true" android:state_selected="true"/>      
  <item android:drawable="@color/light_blue" android:state_pressed="false" android:state_selected="true"/>    
</selector>

Yet when I build the app I see a series of errors like this:

resource color/orange (aka com.xyz.MyApp:color/orange) not found.

Someone suggested I add this to the csproj file:

<ItemGroup> <AndroidResource Include="Resource Path" /> </ItemGroup>

And apologies if this is duplicative of a question I posed yesterday.

>Solution :

To resolve this issue, ensure that your resource files (colors.xml and background.xml) are properly referenced in your project configuration.

Confirm Resource Files:
Make sure colors.xml is located in Resources/values and background.xml is in Resources/drawable within your project directory.

Update .csproj File:
Modify your .csproj file to include these resources:

<ItemGroup>
  <AndroidResource Include="Resources\values\colors.xml" />
  <AndroidResource Include="Resources\drawable\background.xml" />
</ItemGroup>

Adjust the paths if your files are located differently.

Clean and Rebuild:
After updating your .csproj file, clean and rebuild your project to ensure all resources are correctly included:

Clean Solution: Right-click on your solution in Visual Studio and select "Clean Solution."
Rebuild Solution: After cleaning, right-click again and select "Rebuild Solution."
Verify Resource References:
Double-check that references in background.xml like @color/orange and @color/light_blue match the color names defined in colors.xml.

This should resolve the resource not found errors and ensure your Xamarin app transitions smoothly to .NET 8.