ListView item background via custom selector

I've been frustrated by this myself and finally solved it. As Romain Guy hinted to, there's another state, "android:state_selected", that you must use. Use a state drawable for the background of your list item, and use a different state drawable for listSelector of your list:

list_row_layout.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout 
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="?android:attr/listPreferredItemHeight"
    android:background="@drawable/listitem_background"
    >
...
</LinearLayout>

listitem_background.xml:

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

layout.xml that includes the ListView:

...
<ListView 
   android:layout_width="fill_parent"
   android:layout_height="wrap_content"
   android:listSelector="@drawable/listitem_selector"
   />
...

listitem_selector.xml:

<?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/listitem_pressed" />
    <item android:state_focused="true" android:drawable="@drawable/listitem_selected" />
</selector>

The solution by dglmtn doesn't work when you have a 9-patch drawable with padding as background. Strange things happen, I don't even want to talk about it, if you have such a problem, you know them.

Now, If you want to have a listview with different states and 9-patch drawables (it would work with any drawables and colors, I think) you have to do 2 things:

1. Set the selector for the items in the list.
2. Get rid of the default selector for the list.

What you should do is first set the row_selector.xml:

<?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="@drawable/list_item_bg_pressed" />
    <item android:state_enabled="true"
     android:state_focused="true" android:drawable="@drawable/list_item_bg_focused" />
    <item android:state_enabled="true"
     android:state_selected="true" android:drawable="@drawable/list_item_bg_focused" />
    <item
     android:drawable="@drawable/list_item_bg_normal" />
</selector>

Don't forget the android:state_selected. It works like android:state_focused for the list, but it's applied for the list item.

Now apply the selector to the items (row.xml):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="horizontal"
android:background="@drawable/row_selector"
>
...
</RelativeLayout>

Make a transparent selector for the list:

<ListView
    android:id="@+id/android:list"
    ...
    android:listSelector="@android:color/transparent"
    />

This should do the thing.

Never ever use a "background color" for your listview rows...

this will block every selector action (was my problem!)

good luck!