[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] WeyardWiz:
Im following the steps laid out here for using the Settings Activity Template and despite some changes (e.g. now a root_preferences.xml file gets created instead of multiple xml files for different preference screens when selecting the Settings Activity template) I pretty much have nailed down the steps very similarly.

It says towards the end:

However, instead of -1, Im seeing US as the toast message. Im thinking thats because its the default value, but they also set the default value as the US, yet the expectation according to the instructions is -1 the first time they run the app...how come?

Here is my code and the result Im getting first time running the app

SettingsActivity.java:

package com.example.droidcafe;

import android.os.Bundle;

import androidx.appcompat.app.ActionBar;
import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;
import androidx.preference.PreferenceFragmentCompat;

public class SettingsActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.settings_activity);
if (savedInstanceState == null) {
getSupportFragmentManager()
.beginTransaction()
.replace(R.id.settings, new SettingsFragment())
.commit();
}
ActionBar actionBar = getSupportActionBar();
if (actionBar != null) {
actionBar.setDisplayHomeAsUpEnabled(true);
}
}

public static class SettingsFragment extends PreferenceFragmentCompat {
@Override
public void onCreatePreferences(Bundle savedInstanceState, String rootKey) {
setPreferencesFromResource(R.xml.root_preferences, rootKey);
}
}
}

MainActivity.java:

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

Toolbar toolbar = findViewById(R.id.toolbar);
setSupportActionBar(toolbar);

FloatingActionButton fab = findViewById(R.id.fab);
fab.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
@Override
public void onClick(View view) {
Intent intent =
new Intent(MainActivity.this, OrderActivity.class);
intent.putExtra(EXTRA_MESSAGE, mOrderMessage);
startActivity(intent);
}

});

PreferenceManager.setDefaultValues(this,
R.xml.root_preferences, false);

SharedPreferences sharedPref = PreferenceManager
.getDefaultSharedPreferences(this);
String marketPref = sharedPref
.getString("market", "-1");
displayToast(marketPref);

}

root_preferences.xml

<PreferenceScreen xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto">

<PreferenceCategory app:title="@string/pref_header_account">

<ListPreference
app:defaultValue="US"
app:entries="@array/pref_market_titles"
app:entryValues="@array/pref_market_values"
app:key="market"
app:negativeButtonText="@null"
app:positiveButtonText="@null"
app:title="@string/pref_title_account" />

</PreferenceCategory>

</PreferenceScreen>

strings.xml:

<string name="pref_header_account">Account</string>
<!-- Sync Preferences -->
<string name="pref_title_account">Market</string>
<string-array name="pref_market_titles">
<item>United States</item>
<item>Canada</item>
<item>United Kingdom</item>
<item>India</item>
<item>Japan</item>
<item>Other</item>
</string-array>

<string-array name="pref_market_values">
<item>US</item>
<item>CA</item>
<item>UK</item>
<item>IN</item>
<item>JA0</item>
<item>-1</item>
</string-array>

first time running app:

Expectation: -1

I realize the default value is US, but their codelab default is also US, yet the codelab says it should display first time -1.