Question

I am currently working on an Android tablet application which has two fragments, a list fragment and a details fragment.

I am trying to make my list similar to People and Email where when selected the item background changes and a triangle is positioned on the right hand side of the list.

I am currently having difficulties setting the background of the item selected in the list.
As I understand in the list view I should set android:listSelector to a drawable and all should work.

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
         android:orientation="vertical"
         android:layout_width="match_parent"
         android:layout_height="match_parent"
         android:paddingLeft="8dp"
>

     <ListView android:id="@id/android:list"
               android:layout_width="fill_parent"
               android:layout_height="fill_parent"               
               android:layout_weight="1"  
                android:listSelector="@drawable/selected_background"   
              />


     <TextView android:id="@id/android:empty"
               android:layout_width="match_parent"
               android:layout_height="match_parent"
               android:text="No data. Please check your internet connection." android:gravity="center"/>
 </LinearLayout>


<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" android:shape="rectangle">
    <solid android:color="@color/hukd_orange_faded" />
</shape>

When I do this the background of the coloured item does not change until I start to scroll the list. Not only this but the background flickers and often goes back to the standard background colour.

I have looked online and it seems there is a problem with Holo.light as shown here Android list selector gets stuck when using Theme.Light
I have tried two states but the problems still exist.

Answer 1

I have finally managed to solve this problem.

All that was required was the following two lines

listView = getListView();
listView.setChoiceMode(ListView.CHOICE_MODE_SINGLE);

It now works similar to mail and people in ICS for tablets.