Change background color of selected item on a ListView

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

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"