How do I use databinding to combine a string from resources with a dynamic variable in XML?

You can do this even simplier:

android:text= "@{@string/generic_text(profile.name)}"

you string should be like this:

<string name="generic_text">My Name is %s</string>

Edit:

1. Of course you can use as many variables as you need:

   android:text= "@{@string/generic_text(profile.firstName, profile.secondName)}"
   
   <string name="generic_text">My Name is %1$s %2$s</string>
   

2. It works just because it’s designed in data binding. More in docs: https://developer.android.com/topic/libraries/data-binding/expressions#resources