Android XML. What is the purpose of a star in an ID string?

Question

In some sources I see such ads

<item android:id="@+id/menu_display_groups" android:icon="@*android:drawable/ic_menu_allfriends" android:title="@string/menu_displayGroup" /> 

Pay attention to *

 @*android: 

It seems to give access to internal resources. But I would like to know for sure.

It’s also interesting if it’s safe to create an application with such ads using the Android 2.2 SDK and run it on 1.5.

Answer 1

You are right, it provides access to internal resources for platform applications. It is NOT safe to create applications with such advertisements unless you create an embedded application in a full system image.

Internal resources can (and do) change / delete not only from the platform version to the platform version, but also from device to device or device version to device version.