Using the selector of a layout to change its child's properties

Question

By default, ListView changes background color to orange on being pressed and also the TextColor of TextView changes to white/black. By applying a selector on a ListView item we can set background color for pressed state but can we also define the TextColor for the TextView inside that item/layout within same selector? If so, then how?

Answer 1

Amy88's answer resolved the problem, but doesn't specifically address changing a ViewGroup's child's properties.

Suppose you have a clickable LinearLayout with a TextView which should change color when pressed. The key is to use android:duplicateParentState="true" on the child views:

<LinearLayout
    android:duplicateParentState="true"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:orientation="vertical" >

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:duplicateParentState="true"
        android:text="@string/hello_world"
        android:textColor="@drawable/text_selector" />

</LinearLayout>

You can specify the selector as in Amy88's answer.

Answer 2

If you are defining custom layout file for the ListAdapter, then set the text color of TextView in custom layout to an xml. This layout should be placed in a drawable resource folder (create a folder drawable and place the text_selector.xml in it).

text_selector.xml:

<item android:state_selected="true" android:color="@android:color/black"/>
<item android:state_focused="true" android:color="@android:color/black"/>
<item android:state_pressed="true" android:color="@android:color/black"/>
<item android:color="@android:color/white"/>

To set the text color use: android:textColor="@drawable/text_selector"

The above sample xml will set the text color to white by default and will set the text color to black when the list item is focussed, selected or pressed.