diff --git a/libs/androidfw/tests/TestHelpers.cpp b/libs/androidfw/tests/TestHelpers.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..41a19a7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libs/androidfw/tests/TestHelpers.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2014 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+#include "TestHelpers.h"
+
+#include <androidfw/ResourceTypes.h>
+#include <utils/String8.h>
+#include <gtest/gtest.h>
+
+namespace android {
+
+::testing::AssertionResult IsStringEqual(const ResTable& table, uint32_t resourceId, const char* expectedStr) {
+    Res_value val;
+    ssize_t block = table.getResource(resourceId, &val, MAY_NOT_BE_BAG);
+    if (block < 0) {
+        return ::testing::AssertionFailure() << "could not find resource";
+    }
+
+    if (val.dataType != Res_value::TYPE_STRING) {
+        return ::testing::AssertionFailure() << "resource is not a string";
+    }
+
+    const ResStringPool* pool = table.getTableStringBlock(block);
+    if (pool == NULL) {
+        return ::testing::AssertionFailure() << "table has no string pool for block " << block;
+    }
+
+    const String8 actual = pool->string8ObjectAt(val.data);
+    if (String8(expectedStr) != actual) {
+        return ::testing::AssertionFailure() << actual.string();
+    }
+    return ::testing::AssertionSuccess() << actual.string();
+}
+
+} // namespace android