Develop Reference

Change background color of the selected item in Android Spinner

I am working on an android app and using Spinner at many places in my app.
What I want is to change the background color of the selected item of spinner, so that one can easily identify which item is currently selected.
I have already checked this link Setting background color for Spinner Item on selection but doing so will change the selected textview background color but do not change its color in dropdown list and I want to change the background color of the selected textview when I will see the dropdown list.
I want to change the color of selected item in list not on spinner, please see the image below.
How can I do this? Please, can someone help me here?.
Thanks a lot in advanced.

You need to implement below method in your adapter class:
It will help you:
int selectedItem = -1;
ArrayAdapter<String> dataAdapter = new ArrayAdapter<String>(this, android.R.layout.simple_spinner_item, list) {
#Override
public View getDropDownView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent)
{
View v = null;
v = super.getDropDownView(position, null, parent);
// If this is the selected item position
if (position == selectedItem) {
v.setBackgroundColor(Color.BLUE);
}
else {
// for other views
v.setBackgroundColor(Color.WHITE);
}
return v;
}
};
dataAdapter.setDropDownViewResource(android.R.layout.simple_spinner_dropdown_item);
mySpinner.setAdapter(dataAdapter);
Now on item selected in spinner put below
selectedItem = position;

Here is solution via XML:
Spinner looks like:
<Spinner
android:id="#+id/settingsSleepingTimePicker"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:background="#drawable/spinner_main_button"
android:popupBackground="#color/colorPrimary"
android:textColor="#android:color/white"
android:textSize="20sp"/>
While creating spinner set setDropDownViewResource as custom layout:
adapter.setDropDownViewResource(R.layout.spinner_item);
And spinner_item.xml looks like:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<TextView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:id="#android:id/text1"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:background="#drawable/spinner"
android:textColor="#ffffff"
android:textSize="20sp" />
And finally we set #drawable/spinner like this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:drawable="#color/colorPrimaryLight" android:state_hovered="true" />
<item android:drawable="#color/colorPrimaryLight" android:state_selected="true" />
</selector>
Hope my answer will be helpfull!

<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar">
<!-- Customize your theme here. -->
<item name="colorPrimary">#color/colorPrimary</item>
<item name="colorPrimaryDark">#color/colorPrimaryDark</item>
<item name="colorAccent">#color/colorAccent</item>
<item name="colorControlNormal">#color/spinner_background</item>
</style>
Define Spinner_background color in color folder..

Try creating a selector in the drawable, something like,
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:state_pressed="false" android:drawable="#color/colorPrimary" />
<item android:drawable="#android:color/transparent" />
</selector>
And set the spinner background as
android:background="#drawable/spinner_selector"

I've searched the internet for a proper solution to do this without hardcoding the background behaviour in java code.
You can achieve this (setting the selected item background color) using drawables.
What you need to do it set the dropdownViewResource to a custom layout. That layout should look something like this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<TextView
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:background="#drawable/spinner_item_background"
android:gravity="left"
android:padding="8dp" />
In spinner_item_background.xml, you can define a background for each item state. For example, if you want to have a ripple effect on press, but a solid effect when selected, you can try this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<!-- Activated state is the selected item -->
<item android:state_activated="true" android:drawable="#00ff00"/>
<!-- Pressed state is the one the user is interacting with -->
<item android:state_pressed="true" android:drawable="#00ff00"/>
<!-- The rest of the items -->
<item android:drawable="#ffffff"/>
</selector>

Create an int variable public static int posOfItemSpinnerSelected in your Activity:
spinner.setOnItemSelectedListener(new AdapterView.OnItemSelectedListener() {
#Override
public void onItemSelected(AdapterView<?> parent, View view, int position, long id) {
posOfItemSpinnerSelected=position;
}
#Override
public void onNothingSelected(AdapterView<?> parent) {
}
});
and in your adapter insert this code
if(position== YourActivity.posOfItemSpinnerSelected){
textView.setBackgroundColor(ContextCompat.getColor(mActivity,R.color.item_spinner_selected));
} else {
textView.setBackgroundColor(ContextCompat.getColor(mActivity,R.color.white));
}

Custom group expanding icon in ExpandableListView

I am trying to use a custom icon for group expand and collapse state of an ExpandableListView. But this doesn't seem to work. The icons doesn't get changed even when the Output messages are working sequentially.
explistView.setOnGroupClickListener(new OnGroupClickListener()
{
#Override
public boolean onGroupClick(ExpandableListView parent, View v, int groupPosition, long id)
{
groupIndicator = (ImageView) findViewById(R.id.group_indicator);
if (parent.isGroupExpanded(groupPosition))
{
System.out.println("1");
parent.collapseGroup(groupPosition);
System.out.println("2");
groupIndicator.setImageResource(R.drawable.expand_icon_35x35);
System.out.println("3");
adapter.notifyDataSetChanged();
}
else
{
System.out.println("4");
parent.expandGroup(groupPosition);
System.out.println("5");
groupIndicator.setImageResource(R.drawable.collapse_icon_35x35);
System.out.println("6");
adapter.notifyDataSetChanged();
}
return true;
}
});

You can refer to this answer
You can change the icons by using following:-
<ExpandableListView android:id="#+id/list"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:layout_marginTop="10dp"
android:groupIndicator="#drawable/settings_selector"
/>
and Setting selector is:
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:drawable="#drawable/up_arrow" android:state_empty="true"/>
<item android:drawable="#drawable/down_arrow" android:state_expanded="true"/>
</selector>

In my case,android:state_empty="true" is not working.
So, I changed it to android:state_expanded="false" .
<ExpandableListView
android:id="#+id/expl"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:groupIndicator="#drawable/settings_selector"/>
And
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:drawable="#drawable/plus_arrow" android:state_expanded="true"/>
<item android:drawable="#drawable/minus_arrow" android:state_expanded="false"/>
</selector>
I hope it helps.

ListView Item selection Android

I have a listview in that i want when my activity starts then the first item will have background and the other items don't have any background.After that if the user selects any other item then the background of that particular item will now be blue and the rest don't have any background.Please help me on this.
My layout_effect.xml
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:state_focused="true">
<shape>
<solid android:color="#ffffff" />
</shape>
</item>
<item>
<shape>
<solid android:color="#00a7eb" />
</shape>
</item>
</selector>
My GetView Code where i am setting the default Background
public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
if(position == 0){
vi.setBackgroundResource(R.drawable.selection_effect);
vi.setSelected(true);
}
}
Any my onclickListner of the listview
onewayListView .setOnItemClickListener(new OnItemClickListener() {
#Override
public void onItemClick(AdapterView<?> arg0, View arg1, int arg2,
long arg3) {
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
Toast.makeText(getBaseContext(), "Clicked", 1000).show();
}
});
My Listview xml
<ListView
android:id="#+id/lvDepartures"
android:layout_weight="1"
android:layout_marginLeft="5dp"
android:choiceMode="singleChoice"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:listSelector="#drawable/selection_effect"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"/>
Please help me how could i solve this problem i am stucked in it from last 1day.

For doing this what you can do is create a selector and apply it to parent view of your row.xml
Define color in strings.xml
<color name="blue">#009FE3</color>
Create a selector
<item android:drawable="#color/blue" android:state_activated="true" />
<item android:drawable="#color/blue" android:state_focused="true" />
Now apply it as android:background="#drawable/row_selector" for parent view of your row.
Set ListView as CHOICE_MODE_SINGLE in java code
listview.setChoiceMode(ListView.CHOICE_MODE_SINGLE);
And finally setAdapter to your ListView.
listview.setAdapter(adapter);
For selection of default item in ListView use,
listview.setItemChecked(position, true);
I had created a demo example for the same you can download it from my github

Create a selector for listview
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:drawable="#drawable/button_pressed_yellow"
android:state_pressed="true" />
<item android:drawable="#drawable/button_focused_orange"
android:state_focused="true" />
<item android:drawable="#drawable/button_normal_green" />
</selector>
setOnItemClickListener write the following function
listView.setOnItemClickListener(new OnItemClickListener() {
public void onItemClick(AdapterView<?> parent, View view,
int position, long id) {
Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(),
""+position, Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
}
});

OnListItem click pass the selected position to the adapter and set the adapter again
and in adapter check if selected position then set the background otherwise does not set the background.

you should check this:
public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
if(position%2 == 0){
vi.setBackgroundResource(R.drawable.selection_effect);
vi.setSelected(true);
}else{
// set another background.
}
}

I'm not sure but try putting listView.setSelection(position); in listview's setOnItemClickListener

Remove your default list-selector in your listview or set it as null:
<ListView
android:id="#+id/listView1"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:listSelector="#null" >
</ListView>
Hope this helps.

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>

Method 1:
Update ListView in the your xml layout activity/fragment:
<ListView
...
android:choiceMode="singleChoice"
android:listSelector="#android:color/darker_gray"
/>
That's it, you're done!
If you want a programmatic way to handle this then use method 2...
Method 2:
If you're using a ListFragment you can override onListItemClick(), using the view to set the colour. Save the current View selected to reset the colour of the last selection.
Please note, this only works on listviews that fit on one screen, as the view is recycled.
public class MyListFragment extends ListFragment {
View previousSelectedItem;
...
#Override
public void onListItemClick(ListView parent, View v, int position, long id) {
super.onListItemClick(parent, v, position, id);
if (previousSelectedItem!=null) {
previousSelectedItem.setBackgroundColor(Color.WHITE);
}
previousSelectedItem=v;
v.setBackgroundColor(Color.BLUE);
}
}

First you can create selector xml file like below in your drawable folder drawable/list_item_selector.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:state_activated="true">
<shape android:shape="rectangle">
<solid android:color="#333333" />
<padding android:left="5dp" android:right="5dp" />
</shape></item>
<item><shape android:shape="rectangle">
<solid android:color="#222222" />
</shape></item>
</selector>
And then in your listview specify background as
android:background="#drawable/list_item_selector"

For those wondering what EXACTLY needs to be done to keep rows selected even as you scroll up down. It's the state_activated The rest is taken care of by internal functionality, you don't have to worry about toggle, and can select multiple items. I didn't need to use notifyDataSetChanged() or setSelected(true) methods.
Add this line to your selector file, for me drawable\row_background.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="#android:color/holo_blue_light"/>
<item android:state_enabled="true" android:state_pressed="true" android:drawable="#android:color/holo_blue_light" />
<item android:state_enabled="true" android:state_focused="true" android:drawable="#android:color/holo_blue_bright" />
<item android:state_enabled="true" android:state_selected="true" android:drawable="#android:color/holo_blue_light" />
<item android:state_activated="true" android:drawable="#android:color/holo_blue_light" />
<item android:drawable="#android:color/transparent"/>
</selector>
Then in layout\custom_row.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="wrap_content"
android:padding="10dip"
android:background="#drawable/row_background"
android:orientation="vertical">
<TextView
android:id="#+id/line1"
android:layout_width="wrap_content"
android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
</LinearLayout>
For more information, I'm using this with ListView Adapter, using
myList.setChoiceMode(ListView.CHOICE_MODE_MULTIPLE_MODAL);
and
myList.setMultiChoiceModeListener(new MultiChoiceModeListener()...
from this example: http://www.androidbegin.com/tutorial/android-delete-multiple-selected-items-listview-tutorial/
Also, you (should) use this structure for your list-adapter coupling: List myList = new ArrayList();
instead of: ArrayList myList = new ArrayList();
Explanation: Type List vs type ArrayList in Java

Simplest way I've found:
in your activity XML add these lines:
<ListView
...
android:choiceMode="singleChoice"
android:listSelector="#666666"
/>
or programatically set these properties:
listView.setSelector(Drawable selector)
listView.setSelector(int resourceId)
My particular example:
<ListView
android:choiceMode="singleChoice"
android:listSelector="#666666"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:id="#+id/listView"/>
thanks to AJG:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/25131125/1687010

View updateview;// above oncreate method
listView.setChoiceMode(ListView.CHOICE_MODE_SINGLE);
listView.setOnItemClickListener(new AdapterView.OnItemClickListener() {
#Override
public void onItemClick(AdapterView<?> parent, View view, int position, long id) {
if (updateview != null)
updateview.setBackgroundColor(Color.TRANSPARENT);
updateview = view;
view.setBackgroundColor(Color.CYAN);
}
});

I'm also doing the similar thing: highlight the selected list item's background (change it to red) and set text color within the item to white.
I can think out a "simple but not efficient" way:
maintain a selected item's position in the custom adapter, and change it in the ListView's OnItemClickListener implement:
// The OnItemClickListener implementation
#Override
public void onItemClick(AdapterView<?> parent, View view, int position, long id) {
mListViewAdapter.setSelectedItem(position);
}
// The custom Adapter
private int mSelectedPosition = -1;
public void setSelectedItem (int itemPosition) {
mSelectedPosition = itemPosition;
notifyDataSetChanged();
}
Then update the selected item's background and text color in getView() method.
// The custom Adapter
#Override
public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
...
if (position == mSelectedPosition) {
// customize the selected item's background and sub views
convertView.setBackgroundColor(YOUR_HIGHLIGHT_COLOR);
textView.setTextColor(TEXT_COLOR);
} else {
...
}
}
After searching for a while, I found that many people mentioned about to set android:listSelector="YOUR_SELECTOR". After tried for a while, I found the simplest way to highlight selected ListView item's background can be done with only two lines set to the ListView's layout resource:
android:choiceMode="singleChoice"
android:listSelector="YOUR_COLOR"
There's also other way to make it work, like customize activatedBackgroundIndicator theme. But I think that would be a much more generic solution since it will affect the whole theme.

use the below xml as listitem background it will solve all the issues.
The selected will be highlighted though you scrolled down.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:drawable="#android:color/holo_orange_dark" android:state_pressed="true"/>
<item android:drawable="#android:color/holo_green_light" android:state_selected="true"/>
<item android:drawable="#android:color/holo_green_light" android:state_activated="true"/>
Thanks,
Nagendra

I know this is a old question, but i give a simple solution for this need (without loops!):
//On your adapter create a variable:
private View lastSelectedItem;
//Define the folowing method:
private void toggleBackgroundItem(View view) {
if (lastSelectedItem != null) {
lastSelectedItem.setBackgroundColor(Color.TRANSPARENT);
}
view.setBackgroundColor(getResources().getColor(R.color.colorPrimaryDark));
lastSelectedItem = view;
}
//finally invoque the method onItemClick
lvSac.setOnItemClickListener(new AdapterView.OnItemClickListener()
{
#Override
public void onItemClick (AdapterView < ? > adapterView, View view,int i, long l){
toggleBackgroundItem(view);
}
}

In a ListView set:
android:choiceMode="singleChoice"
Create a selector for a background (drawable/selector_gray.xml):
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:drawable="#color/gray" android:state_checked="true" />
<item android:drawable="#color/white" />
</selector>
Add an item for a list:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<TextView
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:gravity="center"
android:padding="5dp"
android:background="#drawable/selector_gray"
android:textColor="#color/colorPrimary"
tools:text="Your text" />
In a ViewHolder you can inflate this item.

nameofList.getChildAt(position).setBackgroundColor(RED);
worked for me

assume you want one item to be clicked each time. Then this code works well. Let's take the listview name as stlist
stList.setOnItemClickListener(new AdapterView.OnItemClickListener() {
#Override
// here i overide the onitemclick method in onitemclick listener
public void onItemClick(AdapterView<?> parent, View view,
int position, long id) {
//color change
//selected item colored
for(int i=0; i<stList.getAdapter().getCount();i++)
{
stList.getChildAt(i).setBackgroundColor(Color.TRANSPARENT);
}
parent.getChildAt(position).setBackgroundColor(Color.GRAY);
});

This is a simple method that can handle selection even if the list is long as well:
public View getView(final int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
// TODO Auto-generated method stub
Holder holder=new Holder();
View rowView;
rowView = inflater.inflate(R.layout.list_item, null);
//Handle your items.
//StringHolder.mSelectedItem is a public static variable.
if(getItemId(position)==StringHolder.mSelectedItem){
rowView.setBackgroundColor(Color.LTGRAY);
}else{
rowView.setBackgroundColor(Color.TRANSPARENT);
}
return rowView;
}
And then in your onclicklistener:
list.setOnItemClickListener(new AdapterView.OnItemClickListener() {
#Override
public void onItemClick(AdapterView<?> adapterView, View view, int i, long l) {
StringHolder.mSelectedItem = catagoryAdapter.getItemId(i-1);
catagoryAdapter.notifyDataSetChanged();
.....

It's very simple. In the constructor of the "OnItemClick" use the parameter "view" which is the second one that represents the listView or GridView's items's view and it becomes the new item's view made by the adapterView it self. So to set new color ONLY to the SELECTED ITEM itself do as the following:
public void onItemClick(AdapterView<?> adapterView, View view, int i, long l){
//view is instead of the view like textView , ImageView, or whatever
view.setBackgroundColor(Color.green);
}
If you do any different codes to set new color, you will face awkward behaviours like the green color will be applied to the unclicked item.

ListSelector Color after pressed an Item

I read a lot about ListSelector and selectors. But i cant figure out how to have the Item of a ListView having a different color after it got pressed.
In a Dual Fragment Layout the User clicks in Left ListView, data get loaded and presented in the right Fragment. To Keep the User Informed which item selected i want this to be highlighted until next item in the Left ListView gets pressed.
Do i need a custom State there ? How does the GMail App do this ?
thx

Right, You need additional state there. I'm not sure, how GMail app is doing it, but default android Settings uses android:state_activated="true" state in their Selector for the list on tablets. Don't forget to set list android:choiceMode="singleChoice".

Did you try this selector?
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item android:state_window_focused="false" android:state_selected="true"
android:drawable="#android:color/transparent" />
<item android:state_selected="true"
android:drawable="#android:color/transparent" />
<item android:state_pressed="true" android:state_selected="false"
android:drawable="#android:color/transparent" />
<item android:state_selected="false"
android:drawable="#color/message_item_read" />
Selector must be applyed to the item background, not to the listSelector.

My solution for Android > 1.6 is:
in Activity:
public static int POS = -1;
...
listView.setOnItemClickListener(new OnItemClickListener() {
public void onItemClick(AdapterView<?> arg0, View arg1, int arg2, long arg3) {
...
POS = arg2;
...
}
in Adapter:
public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
...
int pos = MyActivity.POS;
if (pos == position){
convertView.setBackgroundResource(R.drawable.lv_yellow);
}else{
convertView.setBackgroundResource(R.drawable.lv_empty);
}
...
}

I was suffering with this issue myself... after working on it for long I found the solution and it's working for me. First of all create list_view_selector.xml under your drawable folder:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<!-- Selector style for listrow -->
<item
android:state_selected="false"
android:drawable="#drawable/gradient_bg_listview" />
<item android:state_selected="true"
android:drawable="#drawable/gradient_bg_hover_listview" />
<item android:state_activated="true"
android:drawable="#drawable/gradient_bg_hover_listview" />
</selector>
Then the layout, which you use to fetch your list data you have to define list_view_selector. In my case I have defined like this:
//This is the adapter where I defined my customlistview
SimpleAdapter adapter1 = new SimpleAdapter(
this,
list1,
R.layout.customlistview,
new String[] {"practice_technique","blank"},
new int[] {R.id.text1,R.id.text2}
);
//This is my customlistview where I defined list_view_selector
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="50dp"
android:background="#drawable/list_view_selector" >
<TextView android:id="#+id/text1"
style="#style/ListViewItemTextStyle"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:paddingTop="5dp"
android:paddingLeft="10dp"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
/>
<TextView android:id="#+id/text2"
android:textSize="12sp"
android:textStyle="bold"
android:textColor="#616162"
android:paddingLeft="10dp"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
/>
</RelativeLayout>
Then at last onListItemclick you have to write something like this:
protected void onListItemClick(ListView l, View v, int position, long id)
{
super.onListItemClick(l, v, position, id);
HashMap<String, String> val = list.get(position);
selectedTech = val.get("practice_technique");
//below is the key line
v.setSelected(true);
startSelectedPage();
}

Write your own ListAdapter to do this. Specifically I would extend ArrayAdapter, and put some code in this method:
View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent)
Essentially, this code will detect if the value has been clicked, and change the background color of the view. Now, how can you tell that a view has been clicked before? I suggest that you make your ArrayAdapter extend OnClickListener, and set the ListView's setOnItemClickListener to the custom ArrayAdapter. You can figure out which item was clicked by something like this:
public void onItemClick(AdapterView<?> arg0, View arg1, int position, long arg3) {
//Note that position is the item which was clicked.
}