I have Listpreferences in my app. They don't appear to be setting to their defaults right after installation - they appear to be null. I'm trying to figure out why my default preferences are not being set right after installation. In my main code I have:

      SharedPreferences sp = PreferenceManager.getDefaultSharedPreferences(this);

      InUnits = sp.getString("List1", "defValue");
       InAngs = sp.getString("List2", "defValue");
       OutUnits = sp.getString("List3", "defValue");
       OutAngs = sp.getString("List4", "defValue");

Right after the above code executes, each variable contains "defValue" instead of the actual values I have assigned in my ListPreference below.

My preference xml file is called, "settings.xml". Here's what one of the ListPreferences there looks like:

       <ListPreference
       android:key="List1"
       android:title="Input: Alph"
       android:summary="Choose Alph or Ralph"
       android:entries="@array/inputAlph"
       android:entryValues="@array/input_Alph_codes"
       android:dialogTitle="Input Alph"
       android:defaultValue="ININ"/>           

Here's what some of my strings.xml file looks like:

<string-array name="inputUnits">
    <item>Alph</item>
    <item>Ralph</item>  
    </string-array>   
    <string-array name="input_Alph_codes">
    <item>ININ</item>
    <item>INMM</item>
    </string-array>

When I go to menu, and then settings, I can see my defaults checked (radiobuttoned). Then when I go back from the settings menu to my main screen - all is well - for life! ...then each var above is assigned the proper default value.

This only happens when I first install my app on the phone. After I go to the settings screen once and then right out of it, the app is fine and accepts any setting changes.

By the way, as you can see, "List1" is the android:key within a file called settings.xml in my res/xml folder.