how to change highlight color on editText field

Question

Below is a screen shot of a custom edit text field i have in my android app. While you are type a given word, the text for the word you are currently typing highlights in grey and shows the text as black, until you hit the space bar at which time the text turns white as expected. Is there a way to change the color of the highlight and the text that is highlighted?

my edit text xml looks like this

 <EditText                     android:id="@+id/searchField"                     android:layout_width="160dp"                     android:layout_height="44dp"                     android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"                     android:layout_centerVertical="true"                     android:layout_marginLeft="60dp"                     android:background="@null"                     android:cursorVisible="true"                     android:ems="10"                     android:textColor="@color/white"                     android:textColorHighlight ="#ff0000"                     android:textCursorDrawable="@null" >                 </EditText> 

the whole layout

<android.support.v4.widget.DrawerLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"     xmlns:map="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"     android:id="@+id/drawer_layout"     android:layout_width="match_parent"     android:layout_height="match_parent" >      <!--          As the main content view, the view below consumes the entire          space available using match_parent in both dimensions.     -->      <RelativeLayout         android:id="@+id/content_frame"         android:layout_width="match_parent"         android:layout_height="match_parent"         android:background="#fff" >            <fragment             android:id="@+id/map"             android:name="com.sapientnitro.inhouse.drop.components.DRPCustomMapFragment"             android:layout_width="match_parent"             android:layout_height="match_parent" />            <ImageButton             android:id="@+id/btn_center_local"             android:layout_width="44dp"             android:layout_height="44dp"             android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"             android:layout_alignParentRight="true"             android:layout_marginBottom="50dp"             android:layout_marginRight="15dp"             android:background="@drawable/btn_center_on_local_up" />          <RelativeLayout             android:id="@+id/top_bar"             android:layout_width="match_parent"             android:layout_height="70dp"             android:background="#ddffffff" >              <ImageButton                 android:id="@+id/btn_menu"                 android:layout_width="40dp"                 android:layout_height="40dp"                 android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"                 android:layout_marginBottom="10dp"                 android:layout_marginRight="12dp"                 android:layout_toLeftOf="@+id/btn_search"                 android:background="@drawable/btn_menu_up" />               <ImageButton                 android:id="@+id/btn_create"                 android:layout_width="40dp"                 android:layout_height="40dp"                 android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"                 android:layout_marginBottom="10dp"                 android:layout_marginLeft="12dp"                 android:layout_toRightOf="@+id/btn_search"                 android:background="@drawable/btn_create_up" />              <ImageButton                 android:id="@+id/btn_search"                 android:layout_width="40dp"                 android:layout_height="40dp"                 android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"                 android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"                 android:layout_marginBottom="10dp"                 android:background="@drawable/btn_search_up" />         </RelativeLayout>          <LinearLayout             android:id="@+id/search"             android:layout_width="fill_parent"             android:layout_height="fill_parent"             android:background="#ddffffff"             android:orientation="vertical" >              <RelativeLayout                 android:id="@+id/search_bar"                 android:layout_width="match_parent"                 android:layout_height="70dp"                 android:background="#dd00cccb" >                  <ImageView                     android:id="@+id/searchBox"                     android:layout_width="238dp"                     android:layout_height="44dp"                     android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"                     android:layout_centerVertical="true"                     android:layout_marginLeft="20dp"                     android:src="@drawable/search_field" />                  <ImageView                     android:id="@+id/clear"                     android:layout_width="25dp"                     android:layout_height="25dp"                     android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"                     android:layout_centerVertical="true"                     android:layout_marginLeft="220dp"                     android:src="@drawable/btn_clear_field" />                  <EditText                     android:id="@+id/searchField"                     android:layout_width="160dp"                     android:layout_height="44dp"                     android:layout_alignParentLeft="true"                     android:layout_centerVertical="true"                     android:layout_marginLeft="60dp"                     android:background="@null"                     android:cursorVisible="true"                     android:ems="10"                     android:textColor="@color/white"                     android:textColorHighlight ="@color/white"                     android:textCursorDrawable="@null" >                 </EditText>                  <TextView                     android:id="@+id/cancelBTN"                     android:layout_width="wrap_content"                     android:layout_height="wrap_content"                     android:layout_alignParentRight="true"                     android:layout_centerVertical="true"                     android:layout_marginRight="16dp"                     android:textColor="@color/white"                     android:textSize="22dp"                     android:text="@string/cancel" />              </RelativeLayout>              <ScrollView                 android:id="@+id/search_results_container"                 android:layout_width="fill_parent"                 android:layout_height="fill_parent"                 android:layout_weight="1"                 android:paddingTop="2dp"                 android:scrollbars="none" >                  <LinearLayout                     android:id="@+id/search_results_content"                     android:layout_width="match_parent"                     android:layout_height="wrap_content"                     android:orientation="vertical" >                      <RelativeLayout                         android:id="@+id/header_artists"                         android:layout_width="match_parent"                         android:layout_height="50dp"                         android:background="#dd00cccb" />                      <HorizontalScrollView                         android:id="@+id/results_artists"                         android:layout_width="match_parent"                         android:layout_height="150dp" />                      <RelativeLayout                         android:id="@+id/header_followers"                         android:layout_width="match_parent"                         android:layout_height="50dp"                         android:background="#dd00cccb" />                      <HorizontalScrollView                         android:id="@+id/results_followers"                         android:layout_width="match_parent"                         android:layout_height="150dp" />                      <RelativeLayout                         android:id="@+id/header_places"                         android:layout_width="match_parent"                         android:layout_height="50dp"                         android:background="#dd00cccb" />                      <HorizontalScrollView                         android:id="@+id/results_places"                         android:layout_width="match_parent"                         android:layout_height="150dp" />                 </LinearLayout>             </ScrollView>         </LinearLayout>     </RelativeLayout>       <ListView         android:id="@+id/left_drawer"         android:layout_width="255dp"         android:layout_height="match_parent"         android:layout_gravity="start"         android:background="#dd00cccb"         android:choiceMode="singleChoice"         android:divider="@android:color/transparent"         android:dividerHeight="0dp"         android:listSelector="@drawable/selector_transparent" />      <ListView         android:id="@+id/right_drawer"         android:layout_width="255dp"         android:layout_height="match_parent"         android:layout_gravity="end"         android:background="#dd00cccb"         android:choiceMode="singleChoice"         android:divider="@android:color/transparent"         android:dividerHeight="0dp"         android:listSelector="@drawable/selector_transparent" />  </android.support.v4.widget.DrawerLayout> 

Answer 1

I was able to change the highlight of my edit text by adding this line to my themes.xml file:

<item name="android:textColorHighlight">@color/m_highlight_blue</item>