How to change color of the selected ListView item [WP8.1]

Question

I'm working on a C# project for Windows Phone 8.1, and I can't believe that I've already wasted almost a day looking for a solution to such a trivial problem:

I have a page defined with XAML, on that page I have a ListView. At some point, I want one of the list view items to become selected, so I call myListView.SelectedIndex = whatever. Now I want that item to be distinguished visually from other items, for example, have its text drawn with a different color. How do I do that? Here are the relevant parts of code:

<Page.Resources>
    <DataTemplate x:Key="myListItemTemplate">
        <TextBlock 
            Text="{Binding displayName}" 
            Style="{ThemeResource ListViewItemTextBlockStyle}"
            />
   </DataTemplate>
</Page.Resources>

<ListView 
    x:Name="myListView" 
    ItemsSource="{Binding}" 
    ItemTemplate="{StaticResource myListItemTemplate}" 
    >
</ListView>

Is it possible with XAML alone? Or can in be done in the C# code, just when I set myListView.SelectedIndex value?

Thanks!

Answer 1

K, Andrei I think the solutions provided are quite good, it just buggy. Here is mine.

XAML : Pay attention to the SelectedUnfocused

---

    <ListView x:Name="mylistview">
        <ListView.ItemContainerStyle>
            <Style TargetType="ListViewItem">                    
                <Setter Property="Template">
                    <Setter.Value>
                        <ControlTemplate TargetType="ListViewItem">                                
                            <Grid>
                                <VisualStateManager.VisualStateGroups>
                                    <VisualStateGroup x:Name="CommonStates">
                                        <VisualState x:Name="Normal"/>
                                    </VisualStateGroup>
                                    <VisualStateGroup x:Name="SelectionStates">
                                        <VisualState x:Name="Unselected">
                                            <Storyboard>
                                                <ColorAnimation Duration="0" Storyboard.TargetName="myback" Storyboard.TargetProperty="(Border.Background).(SolidColorBrush.Color)" To="Transparent"/>
                                            </Storyboard>
                                        </VisualState>
                                        <VisualState x:Name="SelectedUnfocused">                                                
                                            <Storyboard>
                                                <ColorAnimation Duration="0" Storyboard.TargetName="myback" Storyboard.TargetProperty="(Border.Background).(SolidColorBrush.Color)" To="Red"/>
                                            </Storyboard>
                                        </VisualState>
                                    </VisualStateGroup>
                                </VisualStateManager.VisualStateGroups>
                                <Border x:Name="myback" Background="Transparent">
                                    <ContentPresenter Content="{TemplateBinding Content}" ContentTemplate="{TemplateBinding ContentTemplate}"/>
                                </Border>
                            </Grid>                                
                        </ControlTemplate>
                    </Setter.Value>
                </Setter>
            </Style>
        </ListView.ItemContainerStyle>
        <ListView.ItemTemplate>
            <DataTemplate>
                <StackPanel Height="100">
                <TextBlock Text="{Binding Artist}" FontSize="22"/>
                <TextBlock Text="{Binding Song}" FontSize="22"/>
                </StackPanel>
            </DataTemplate>
        </ListView.ItemTemplate>
    </ListView>        

---

C# (A sample model)

public class sample_data
{
    public sample_data(string artist, string song)
    {
        this.Artist = artist;
        this.Song = song;
    }

    public string Artist { get; set; }
    public string Song { get; set; }
}

private ObservableCollection<sample_data> CreateData()
{
    //List<sample_data> my_list = new List<sample_data>();
    ObservableCollection<sample_data> my_list = new ObservableCollection<sample_data>();

    my_list.Add(new sample_data("Faith + 1", "Body of Christ"));
    my_list.Add(new sample_data("Faith + 1", "Christ Again"));
    my_list.Add(new sample_data("Faith + 1", "A Night With the Lord"));
    my_list.Add(new sample_data("Faith + 1", "Touch Me Jesus"));
    my_list.Add(new sample_data("Faith + 1", "I Found Jesus (With Someone Else)"));
    my_list.Add(new sample_data("Faith + 1", "Savior Self"));
    my_list.Add(new sample_data("Faith + 1", "Christ What a Day"));
    my_list.Add(new sample_data("Faith + 1", "Three Times My Savior"));
    my_list.Add(new sample_data("Faith + 1", "Jesus Touched Me"));
    my_list.Add(new sample_data("Faith + 1", "Lord is my Savior"));
    my_list.Add(new sample_data("Faith + 1", "I Wasn't Born Again Yesterday"));
    my_list.Add(new sample_data("Faith + 1", "Pleasing Jesus"));
    my_list.Add(new sample_data("Faith + 1", "Jesus (Looks Kinda Hot)"));
    my_list.Add(new sample_data("Butters", "What What"));
    return my_list;
}

private void Page_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
    ObservableCollection<sample_data> sd = this.CreateData();
    mylistview.ItemsSource = sd;
}

---

Screenshot of it running: