How to change color and font on ListView

Question

I am trying to change my font(color and size) and the back ground on my ListView. I want to change it with code lines not on xml. my list view looks like: the xml:

 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<TextView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:padding="10dp"
android:textSize="18sp" android:text="@string/hello">
</TextView>

and my code is

public class NewsActivity  extends ListActivity {
/** Called when the activity is first created. */
@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
      super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

 // ArrayAdapter listItemAdapter = new ArrayAdapter( this,android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1, v_itemList );

      setListAdapter(new ArrayAdapter<String>(this, R.layout.list_item,ynetList));

      View v=getListView() ;

      ListView lv = getListView();

what next? please give me an example base on my code

Jordans

Are you trying to set the color and size while list is created? Or do it to particular child after list is created? – Laterality

I want to change the color and size before they are created. I int childCount = lv.getChildCount(); but get 0.how to fix it – Jordans

Answer 1

You need to create a CustomListAdapter.

public class CustomListAdapter extends ArrayAdapter <String> {

    private Context mContext;
    private int id;
    private List <String>items ;

    public CustomListAdapter(Context context, int textViewResourceId , List<String> list ) 
    {
        super(context, textViewResourceId, list);           
        mContext = context;
        id = textViewResourceId;
        items = list ;
    }

    @Override
    public View getView(int position, View v, ViewGroup parent)
    {
        View mView = v ;
        if(mView == null){
            LayoutInflater vi = (LayoutInflater)mContext.getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);
            mView = vi.inflate(id, null);
        }

        TextView text = (TextView) mView.findViewById(R.id.textView);

        if(items.get(position) != null )
        {
            text.setTextColor(Color.WHITE);
            text.setText(items.get(position));
            text.setBackgroundColor(Color.RED); 
            int color = Color.argb( 200, 255, 64, 64 );
                text.setBackgroundColor( color );

        }

        return mView;
    }

}

The list item looks like this (custom_list.xml):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout
  xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
  android:layout_width="wrap_content"
  android:layout_height="wrap_content">
<TextView  
    android:layout_width="fill_parent" 
    android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
    android:id="@+id/textView"
    android:textSize="20px" android:paddingTop="10dip" android:paddingBottom="10dip"/>
</LinearLayout>

Use the TextView api's to decorate your text to your liking

and you will be using it like this

listAdapter = new CustomListAdapter(YourActivity.this , R.layout.custom_list , mList);
mListView.setAdapter(listAdapter);

Prismatoid

I tried the code you have given here... Its working nice... one thing I want to customize is if position equals 0 then I need to change color for only that textview. it worked but If i scroll the suggestions, other textview color is also changed. What can I do to set only color of textview which is at position 1 ? – Cherianne

If you add generics to this adapter, its much better – Outrun

Answer 2

Create a CustomAdapter and in that you have the getView() so there if you want to change the listview background color use this :

v.setBackgroundColor(Color.CYAN);

If you want to change the textColor then do this :

tv.setTextColor(Color.RED);

and for the textSize :

tv.setTextSize(20);

where 'v' is the listview and 'tv' is the textview

Lietman

Answer 3

Even better, you do not need to create separate android xml layout for list cell view. You can just use "android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1" if the list only contains textview.

private class ExampleAdapter extends ArrayAdapter<String>{

    public ExampleAdapter(Context context, int textViewResourceId, String[] objects) {
        super(context, textViewResourceId, objects);
    }

    @Override
    public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {


        View view =  super.getView(position, convertView, parent);

        TextView tv = (TextView) view.findViewById(android.R.id.text1);
        tv.setTextColor(0);

        return view;
    }

Inorganic

Answer 4

You can select a child like

TextView tv = (TextView)lv.getChildAt(0);
tv.setTextColor(Color.RED);
tv.setTextSize(12);    

Laterality

tried this but getting null on tv = (TextView)lv.getChildAt(i); – Jordans

Answer 5

If u want to set background of the list then place the image before the < Textview>

< ImageView
android:background="@drawable/image_name"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"/>

and if u want to change color then put color code on above textbox like this

 android:textColor="#ffffff"

Foofaraw

Answer 6

If you just need to change some parameters of the View and the default behavior of ArrayAdapter its OK for you:

 import android.content.Context;
 import android.view.View;
 import android.view.ViewGroup;
 import android.widget.ArrayAdapter;

 public class CustomArrayAdapter<T> extends ArrayAdapter<T> {

    public CustomArrayAdapter(Context context, int textViewResourceId) {
        super(context, textViewResourceId);
    }

    @Override
    public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
        View view = super.getView(position, convertView, parent);

            // Here all your customization on the View
            view.setBackgroundColor(.......);
            ...

        return view;
    }


 }

Stationer

Answer 7

If you want to use a color from colors.xml , experiment :

   public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
        ... 
        View rowView = inflater.inflate(this.rowLayoutID, parent, false);
        rowView.setBackgroundColor(rowView.getResources().getColor(R.color.my_bg_color));
        TextView title = (TextView) rowView.findViewById(R.id.txtRowTitle);
        title.setTextColor(
            rowView.getResources().getColor(R.color.my_title_color));
        ...
     }

You can use too:

private static final int bgColor = 0xAAAAFFFF;
public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
        ... 
        View rowView = inflater.inflate(this.rowLayoutID, parent, false);
            rowView.setBackgroundColor(bgColor);
...
}

Cognomen

Answer 8

use them in Java code like this:

 color = getResources().getColor(R.color.mycolor);

The getResources() method returns the ResourceManager class for the current activity, and getColor() asks the manager to look up a color given a resource ID

Saunderson

Answer 9

in android 6.0 you can change the colour of text like below

holder._linear_text_active_release_pass.setBackgroundColor(ContextCompat.getColor(context, R.color.green));

Cornish