Change background color of selected item on a ListView

I want to know on how I can change the background color of the selected item on my listView. I only want to change the specific item clicked by the user, meaning if the user clicks another item it will be the one which is highlighted. Well since I want it to keep simple as possible and use the default android listview I used this code instead:

record_list.setOnItemClickListener(new AdapterView.OnItemClickListener() {
            @Override
            public void onItemClick(AdapterView<?> adapterView, View view, int i, long l) {
                try{
                    for (int ctr=0;ctr<=record_items.length;ctr++){
                        if(i==ctr){
                            record_list.getChildAt(ctr).setBackgroundColor(Color.CYAN);
                        }else{
                            record_list.getChildAt(ctr).setBackgroundColor(Color.WHITE);
                        }
                    }
                }
                catch (Exception e){
                    e.printStackTrace();
                }
                Log.v("Selected item",record_list.getItemAtPosition(i));
            }
        });

Ok this one is working but the problem is that it's slow. Now I want to know if there's any other way around that I can do which will give the same output as I made.

I tried using record_list.getSelectedView().setBackgroundColor(Color.CYAN); but it gives me a null pointer exception.

I also tried the selector.xml but it also didn't do the trick. Furthermore, there is one properties here on ListView which is called listSelector. It's a drawable as said by the documentation "Drawable used to indicate the currently selected item in the list." I also believe that this should do the trick and yes it do the trick on my emulator but not on my galaxy tab. I also tried the other methods but nothing works as I wanted it to be.

You can keep track the position of the current selected element:

    OnItemClickListener listViewOnItemClick = new OnItemClickListener() {

        @Override
        public void onItemClick(AdapterView<?> adapter, View arg1, int position, long id) {
                mSelectedItem = position;
                mAdapter.notifyDataSetChanged();
        }
    };

And override the getView method of your adapter:

    @Override
    public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
        final View view = View.inflate(context, R.layout.item_list, null);

        if (position == mSelectedItem) {
            // set your color
        }

        return view;
    }

For me it did the trick.

You can use a selector. Change the colors values and modify the below according to your needs.

bkg.xml in drawable folder

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:state_pressed="true" 
    android:drawable="@drawable/pressed" />
<item  android:state_focused="false" 
    android:drawable="@drawable/normal" />
</selector>

pressed.xml in drawable folder

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> 
<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"> 
<solid android:color="#FF1A47"/>  // color   
<stroke android:width="3dp"
        android:color="#0FECFF"/> // border
<padding android:left="5dp"
         android:top="5dp"
         android:right="5dp"
         android:bottom="5dp"/> 
<corners android:bottomRightRadius="7dp" // for rounded corners
         android:bottomLeftRadius="7dp" 
         android:topLeftRadius="7dp"
         android:topRightRadius="7dp"/> 
</shape>

normal.xml in drawable folder

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> 
<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"> 
<solid android:color="#FFFFFF"/>    
<stroke android:width="3dp"
        android:color="#0FECFF" />

<padding android:left="5dp"
         android:top="5dp"
         android:right="5dp"
         android:bottom="5dp"/> 
<corners android:bottomRightRadius="7dp"
         android:bottomLeftRadius="7dp" 
         android:topLeftRadius="7dp"
         android:topRightRadius="7dp"/> 
</shape>

Set the background drawable to listview custom layout to be inflated for each row

I recommend using a custom listview with a custom adapter.

  android:background="@drawable/bkg"     

If you have not used a custom adapter you can set the listselector to listview as below

   android:listSelector="@drawable/bkg" 

Define variable

private ListView mListView;

Initialize variable

mListView = (ListView)findViewById(R.id.list_view);

OnItemClickListener of listview

   mListView.setOnItemClickListener(new OnItemClickListener() {

        @Override
        public void onItemClick(AdapterView<?> adpterView, View view, int position,
                long id) {
            for (int i = 0; i < mListView.getChildCount(); i++) {
                if(position == i ){
                    mListView.getChildAt(i).setBackgroundColor(Color.BLUE);     
                }else{
                    mListView.getChildAt(i).setBackgroundColor(Color.TRANSPARENT);
                }
            }
        }
    });

Build and run the project - Done

If you want to have the item remain highlighted after you have clicked it, you need to manually set it as being selected in the onItemClick listener

Android ListView selected item stay highlighted:

myList.setOnItemClickListener(new OnItemClickListener() {
    public void onItemClick(AdapterView<?> parent, View view, int position, long id) {   
        view.setSelected(true); // <== Will cause the highlight to remain
        //... do more stuff                          
    }});

This assumes you have a state_selected item in your selector:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
  <selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">  
  <item android:state_enabled="true" android:state_pressed="true" android:drawable="@color/red" />
  <item android:state_enabled="true" android:state_focused="true" android:drawable="@color/red" />
  <item android:state_enabled="true" android:state_selected="true" android:drawable="@color/red" />
  <item android:drawable="@color/white" />
</selector>