How can you get the Manifest Version number from the App's (Layout) XML variables?

I believe that was already answered here.

String versionName = getPackageManager().getPackageInfo(getPackageName(), 0).versionName;

OR

int versionCode = getPackageManager().getPackageInfo(getPackageName(), 0).versionCode;

There is not a way to directly get the version out, but there are two work-arounds that could be done.

1. The version could be stored in a resource string, and placed into the manifest by:

   <manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"     package="com.somepackage"     android:versionName="@string/version" android:versionCode="20">

2. One could create a custom view, and place it into the XML. The view would use this to assign the name:

   context.getPackageManager().getPackageInfo(context.getPackageName(), 0).versionName;

Either of these solutions would allow for placing the version name in XML. Unfortunately there isn't a nice simple solution, like android.R.string.version or something like that.

You can use the versionName in XML resources, such as activity layouts. First create a string resource in the app/build.gradle with the following snippet in the android node:

applicationVariants.all { variant ->    variant.resValue "string", "versionName", variant.versionName}

So the whole build.gradle file contents may look like this:

apply plugin: 'com.android.application'android {    compileSdkVersion 23    buildToolsVersion '24.0.0 rc3'    defaultConfig {        applicationId 'com.example.myapplication'        minSdkVersion 15        targetSdkVersion 23        versionCode 17        versionName '0.2.3'        jackOptions {            enabled true        }    }    applicationVariants.all { variant ->        variant.resValue "string", "versionName", variant.versionName    }    buildTypes {        release {            minifyEnabled false            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'        }    }    productFlavors {    }    compileOptions {        sourceCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8        targetCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8    }} dependencies {    compile fileTree(include: ['*.jar'], dir: 'libs')    testCompile 'junit:junit:4.12'    compile 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:23.3.0'    compile 'com.android.support:design:23.3.0'    compile 'com.android.support:support-v4:23.3.0'}

Then you can use @string/versionName in the XML. Android Studio will mark it red, but the app will compile without issues. For example, this may be used like this in app/src/main/res/xml/preferences.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><PreferenceScreen xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">    <PreferenceCategory        android:title="About"        android:key="pref_key_about">        <Preference            android:key="pref_about_build"            android:title="Build version"            android:summary="@string/versionName" />    </PreferenceCategory></PreferenceScreen>