Question

I am trying to set the ListView textColor to black, since I am using a white background.

Here is my MailActivity

public class MailActivity extends ListActivity {

    String[] listItems = { "Compose", "Inbox", "Drafts", "Sent" };

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

        setContentView(R.layout.mails);

        setListAdapter(new ArrayAdapter(this,
                android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1, listItems));

    }
}

and my XML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout 
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:orientation="vertical" 
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent" 
    android:background="#FFFFFF">

    <ListView 
        android:id="@android:id/list" 
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"/>

    <TextView 
        android:id="@android:id/empty" 
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" 
        android:text="Empty set" 
        android:textColor="#000000" />

</LinearLayout>

I’m getting the background as white, but am not sure where to set the foreground to black. I’ve tried in the xml and looks like it’s not helping.

Answer 1

Ok, here are some things that you should be clear about:

1. The background color you are setting in your xml file is of the activity and not of the ListItems you are trying to define.
2. Every list item has its own layout file which should be passed or inflated in case you are using complex layout for list item.

I’ll try to explain this with a code sample:

****Lets start with ListItems layout** : save it in your res/layout folder of you Android project with say **list_black_text.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- Definig a container for you List Item-->
<LinearLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:gravity="center_vertical"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent">

    <!-- Defining where should text be placed. You set you text color here-->
    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/list_content"
        android:textColor="#000000"
        android:gravity="center"
        android:text="sample"
        android:layout_margin="4dip"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    />
</LinearLayout>

Well, a simple layout with a TextView to be precise. You must have an id assigned to TextView in order to use it.

Now coming to you screen/activity/chief layout, as I said you are defining background to your screen with android:background attribute. I see you have defined a TextView there as well and I suspect you are trying to define content/list item there, which is not at all needed.

Here’s your edited layout:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout 
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:orientation="vertical" 
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent" 
    android:background="#FFFFFF">

    <ListView 
        android:id="@android:id/list" android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"/>
        <!-- REMOVED TEXT VIEW, AND KEEPING BACKGROUND WHITE -->
</LinearLayout>

And lastly, most importantly, set your adapter.

setListAdapter(new ArrayAdapter<String>(
            this, R.layout.list_black_text, R.id.list_content, listItems));

Notice the layout resource which we are passing to adapter R.layout.list_black_text, and R.id.list_content which is TextView ID we declared. I have also changed ArrayAdapter to String type since it’s generic.

I hope this explains everything. Mark my answer accepted if you agree.

Messy but a good quick fix way
You can also do this with a quick fix if you do not want to go ahead with complex layout defining etc.

While instantiating the adapter declare an inner class to do this, here is the code sample:

    ArrayAdapter<String> adapter=new ArrayAdapter<String>(
            this, android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1, listItems){

        @Override
        public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
            View view =super.getView(position, convertView, parent);

            TextView textView=(TextView) view.findViewById(android.R.id.text1);

            /*YOUR CHOICE OF COLOR*/
            textView.setTextColor(Color.BLUE);

            return view;
        }
    };

    /*SET THE ADAPTER TO LISTVIEW*/
    setListAdapter(adapter);