Navigation Drawer item background colour for selected item

Question

I used Android Studio to implement the Navigation Drawer and I can't get the blue colour that is used to show which section we're currently in to change.

I've tried numerous things, I'm currently using a listSelector which looks like:

<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">

    <item android:state_activated="true" android:drawable="@color/selected" />
    <item android:state_pressed="true" android:drawable="@color/highlight" />


</selector>

I've also tried state_checked. state_pressed works in this situation but the currently selected item is still blue.

EDIT: I've been examining this more and when the adapter is created the context that is passed is getActionBar().getThemedContext() so I'm thinking if I can find the right attribute to assign to my actionbar style I can change it from there. I've tried a few different attributes with no luck. Does anyone know the exact attribute?

I've also realised if I put

<item name="android:activatedBackgroundIndicator">@drawable/nav_listview_selector</item>

in the main part of my theme and change getActionBar().getThemedContext() for getActivity.getBaseContext then I can change the color but I don't think this is the correct way. I think the themed context should be used. So if anyone knows where the activatedBackgroundIndicator could be put so that it would be used in getActionBar.getThemedContext()

EDIT2:

So the text view used for the listview is one within the SDK it looks like this:

<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:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceListItemSmall"
    android:gravity="center_vertical"
    android:paddingStart="?android:attr/listPreferredItemPaddingStart"
    android:paddingEnd="?android:attr/listPreferredItemPaddingEnd"
    android:background="?android:attr/activatedBackgroundIndicator"
    android:minHeight="?android:attr/listPreferredItemHeightSmall"
/>

So I tried modifying the "?android:attr/activatedBackgroundIndicator" at the theme level but it has no effect for checked/selected/activated but it does for pressed. Does anyone know why this is? And how I can change it?

Answer 1

To solve this problem:

1- You don't need android:listSelector under your ListView.

2- Open (or Create) styles.xml under (res/values).

<!-- Base application theme. -->
<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar">
    <!-- Customize your theme here. -->
    <item name="android:activatedBackgroundIndicator">@drawable/drawer_list_selector</item>
</style>

3- Under res/drawable folder create drawer_list_selector.xml file

<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    <item android:state_pressed="true" android:drawable="@drawable/light_gray_color" />
    <item android:state_activated="true" android:drawable="@drawable/red_color" />
    <item android:drawable="@android:color/transparent" />
</selector>

4- Under res/drawable create red_color.xml / light_gray_color.xml (or any other name) and add your desired Hex color:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    <solid android:color="#C8FF0000"/>
</shape>

5- Open your project AndroidManifest.xml and add android:theme tag (if not exist)

<application
    android:allowBackup="true"
    android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
    android:label="@string/app_name"
    android:theme="@style/AppTheme" >

Reference / Credit: Changing Navigation Drawer Selected Item Color from default blue