Question

For my application i retrieve a number from the database. When the activity starts up it has to show the number in a different color then the other numbers in the list.

After retrieving the data from the database this is my code:

int row = 5;
TextView child = (TextView)ListView.GetChildAt(row);
child.SetTextColor(Color.Red);

This code was placed in the OnCreate function. I kept getting a null value back for the child textview. I then found out that the reason for the null value is that in the OnCreate function the listview still needs to be rendered. I then moved the code to the OnStart() function but this didn’t work either.

Can anyone tell me how I should retrieve the child row from the listview during the creation/start of the activity?

Answer 1

even if you will be able to do it this way you will experience problems with this view getting recycled .. (you will see other views getting colored with red when you scroll up and down).
You need to override your adapter and set the view’s color in the position you want
under getView() –

TextView myText = (TextView) view.findViewById(R.Id ....
if (pos==5)
    myText.setTextColor(Color.Red);
else 
    myText.setTextColor(Color.Black); //original color..

EDIT:

you don’t need to have a custom xml. if you find android’s xml you can find its id. I believe its android.R.id.text1 . so your adapter should look something like

myAdapter = new ArrayAdapter<String>(this, android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1, android.R.id.text1) {
                 @Override
                 public View getView(int position, View v, ViewGroup parent) {
                     if (v == null) {
                            LayoutInflater inflater = (LayoutInflater) getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);
                            v = inflater.inflate(android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1, null);
                        }
                     View view = super.getView(position, v, parent);
                     if (position==5)
                         view.setTextColor(Color.Red);
                     else 
                         view.setTextColor(Color.Black); //original color..
 }
 myList.setAdapter(myAdapter);

not sure I got it all right but something like that..
hope it helps.