Changing background color of selected item in recyclerview

A really simple way to achieve this would be:

//instance variable
List<View>itemViewList = new ArrayList<>();

//OnCreateViewHolderMethod
@Override
public MyViewHolder onCreateViewHolder(ViewGroup parent, int viewType) {    
    final View itemView = LayoutInflater.from(parent.getContext()).inflate(R.layout.list_row, parent, false);
    final MyViewHolder myViewHolder = new MyViewHolder(itemView);

    itemViewList.add(itemView); //to add all the 'list row item' views

    //Set on click listener for each item view
    itemView.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
        @Override
        public void onClick(View view) {
            for(View tempItemView : itemViewList) {
                /** navigate through all the itemViews and change color
                of selected view to colorSelected and rest of the views to colorDefault **/
                if(itemViewList.get(myViewHolder.getAdapterPosition()) == tempItemView) {
                    tempItemView.setBackgroundResource(R.color.colorSelected);
                }
                else{
                    tempItemView.setBackgroundResource(R.color.colorDefault);
                }
            }
        }
    });
    return myViewHolder;
}

UPDATE

The method above may ruin some default attributes of the itemView, in my case, i was using CardView, and the corner radius of the card was getting removed on click.

Better solution:

//instance variable
List<CardView>cardViewList = new ArrayList<>();

public class MyViewHolder extends RecyclerView.ViewHolder {
        CardView cardView; //THIS IS MY ROOT VIEW
        ...

        public MyViewHolder(View view) {
            super(view);
            cardView = view.findViewById(R.id.row_item_card);
            ...
        }
}

@Override
    public void onBindViewHolder(final MyViewHolder holder, int position) {
        final OurLocationObject locationObject = locationsList.get(position);
        ...

        cardViewList.add(holder.cardView); //add all the cards to this list

        holder.cardView.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
            @Override
            public void onClick(View view) {
                //All card color is set to colorDefault
                for(CardView cardView : cardViewList){
                cardView.setCardBackgroundColor(context.getResources().getColor(R.color.colorDefault));
                }
                //The selected card is set to colorSelected
                holder.cardView.setCardBackgroundColor(context.getResources().getColor(R.color.colorSelected));
            }
        });
}

UPDATE 2 - IMPORTANT

onBindViewHolder method is called multiple times, and also every time the user scrolls the view out of sight and back in sight! This will cause the same view to be added to the list multiple times which may cause problems and minor delay in code executions!

To fix this, change

cardViewList.add(holder.cardView);

to

if (!cardViewList.contains(holder.cardView)) {
    cardViewList.add(holder.cardView);
}

I can suggest this solution, which I used in my app. I've placed this code of onTouchListener in my ViewHolder class's constructor. itemView is constructor's argument. Be sure to use return false on this method because this need for working OnClickListener

itemView.setOnTouchListener(new View.OnTouchListener() {
    @Override
    public boolean onTouch(View v, MotionEvent event) {
        if(event.getAction() == MotionEvent.ACTION_DOWN)
        {
            v.setBackgroundColor(Color.parseColor("#f0f0f0"));
        }
        if (event.getAction() == MotionEvent.ACTION_UP || event.getAction() == MotionEvent.ACTION_CANCEL)
        {
            v.setBackgroundColor(Color.TRANSPARENT);
        }
        return false;
    }
});

Create Drawable file in Drawable foloder

<item android:drawable="@color/SelectedColor" android:state_pressed="true"></item>
<item android:drawable="@color/SelectedColor" android:state_selected="true"></item>
<item android:drawable="@color/DefultColor"></item>

And in xml file

android:background="@drawable/Drawable file"

In RecyclerView onBindViewHolder

holder.button.setSelected(holder.button.isSelected()?true:false);

Like toggle button

I was able to change the selected view color like this. I think this is the SIMPLE WAY (because you don't have to create instance of layouts and variables.

MAKE SURE YOU DONT GIVE ANY BACKGROUND COLOR INSIDE YOUR RECYCLER VIEW's TAG.

holder.itemView.setBackgroundColor(Color.parseColor("#8DFFFFFF"));

onBindViewHolder() method is given below

@Override
public void onBindViewHolder(@NonNull final MyViewHolder holder, final int position) {

        holder.item_1.setText(list_items.get(position).item_1);
        holder.item_2.setText(list_items.get(position).item_2);
        holder.select_cb.setOnCheckedChangeListener(new CompoundButton.OnCheckedChangeListener() {
            @Override
            public void onCheckedChanged(CompoundButton buttonView, boolean isChecked) {

                if (isChecked){

                    holder.itemView.setBackgroundColor(Color.parseColor("#8DFFFFFF"));
                }else {

                    holder.itemView.setBackgroundColor(Color.parseColor("#FFFFFF"));
                }
            }
        });
}

If you use kotlin, it's really simple.

In your RecyclerAdapter class

userV.invalidateRecycler()

holder.card_User.setCardBackgroundColor(Color.parseColor("#3eb1ae").withAlpha(60))

In your fragment or Activity

 override fun invalidateRecycler() {
    if (v1.recyclerCompanies.childCount > 0) {
        v1.recyclerCompanies.childrenRecursiveSequence().iterator().forEach { card ->
            if (card is CardView) {
                card.setCardBackgroundColor(Color.WHITE)
            }
        }
    }
}

What I did to achieve this was actually taking a static variable to store the last clicked position of the item in the RecyclerView and then notify the adapter to update the layout at the position on the last clicked position i.e. notifyItemChanged(lastClickedPosition) whenever a new position is clicked. Calling notifyDataSetChanged() on the whole layout is very costly and unfeasible so doing this for only one position is much better.

Here's the code for this:

public class RecyclerDataAdapter extends RecyclerView.Adapter<RecyclerDataAdapter.ViewHolder> {

private String android_versionnames[];
private Context mContext;
private static lastClickedPosition = -1; // Variable to store the last clicked item position


    public RecyclerDataAdapter(Context context,String android_versionnames[]){
        this.android_versionnames = android_versionnames;
        this.mContext = context;
        }
    }


    @Override
    public ViewHolder onCreateViewHolder(ViewGroup parent, int viewType) {
    View view = LayoutInflater.from(mContext).inflate(R.layout.row_layout,
                parent, false);
        return new ViewHolder(view);
    }

    @Override
    public void onBindViewHolder(final ViewHolder holder, int position) {
        holder.tv1.setText(android_versionnames[position]);    
        holder.itemView.setBackgroundColor(mContext.getResources().
        getColor(R.color.cardview_light_background));
        holder.itemView.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
            @Override
            public void onClick(View v) {                    
            v.setBackgroundColor(mContext.getResources().
            getColor(R.color.dark_background));
                if (lastClickedPosition != -1)
                    notifyItemChanged(lastClickedPosition);
                lastClickedPosition = position;
            }
        });
    }


    @Override
    public int getItemCount() {
        return android_versionnames.length;
    }


    public class ViewHolder extends RecyclerView.ViewHolder {
        private TextView tv1;

        public ViewHolder(final View itemView) {
            super(itemView);
            tv1=(TextView)itemView.findViewById(R.id.txtView1);
        }
    }
}

So we will be actually updating only the intended item and not re-running unnecessary updates to the items which have not even been changed.

My solution:

public static class SimpleItemRecyclerViewAdapter
        extends RecyclerView.Adapter<SimpleItemRecyclerViewAdapter.ViewHolder> {

    private final MainActivity mParentActivity;
    private final List<DummyContent.DummyItem> mValues;
    private final boolean mTwoPane;
    private static int lastClickedPosition=-1;
    **private static View viewOld=null;**
    private final View.OnClickListener mOnClickListener = new View.OnClickListener() {
        @Override
        public void onClick(View view) {
            DummyContent.DummyItem item = (DummyContent.DummyItem) view.getTag();
            if (mTwoPane) {
                Bundle arguments = new Bundle();
                arguments.putString(ItemDetailFragment.ARG_ITEM_ID, item.id);
                ItemDetailFragment fragment = new ItemDetailFragment();
                fragment.setArguments(arguments);
                mParentActivity.getSupportFragmentManager().beginTransaction()
                        .replace(R.id.item_detail_container, fragment)
                        .commit();
            } else {
                Context context = view.getContext();
                Intent intent = new Intent(context, ItemDetailActivity.class);
                intent.putExtra(ItemDetailFragment.ARG_ITEM_ID, item.id);

                context.startActivity(intent);
            }

            **view.setBackgroundColor(mParentActivity.getResources().getColor(R.color.SelectedColor));
            if(viewOld!=null)
                viewOld.setBackgroundColor(mParentActivity.getResources().getColor(R.color.DefaultColor));
            viewOld=view;**
        }
    };

viewOld is null at the beginning, then points to the last selected view. With onClick you change the background of the selected view and redefine the background of the penultimate view selected. Simple and functional.

There is a very simple solution to this, you don't have to work in the adapter. To change the background of a clicked item in the RecyclerView you need to catch the click in the adapter using an iterface:

interface ItemClickListener {
    fun onItemClickListener(item: Item, position: Int)
}

When we click we will get the item and the items position. In our bind function in the adapter we will set the on click listener:

container.setOnClickListener {
    onClickListener.onItemClickListener(item, position)
}

In your activity you will then implement this interface:

class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity(), ItemAdapter.ItemClickListener {

Next we need to implement the background changing logic on item click. The logic is this: when the user clicks on an item, we check if the background on the clicked item is white (the item is not previously clicked) and if this condition is true, we change the background on all of the items in the RecyclerView to white (to invalidate previously clicked and marked items if there are any) and then change the background color of the clicked item to teal to mark it. And if the background of the clicked item is teal (which means the user clicks again on the same previously marked item), we change the background color on all of the items to white. First we will need to get our item background color as a ColorDrawable. We will use an iterator function to go through all of the items (children) of the RecyclerView and forEach() function to change the background on everyone of them. This method will look like this:

 override fun onItemClickListener(item: Item, position: Int) {
        val itemBackground: ColorDrawable =
            binding.recycler[position].background as ColorDrawable
        if (itemBackground.color == ContextCompat.getColor(this, R.color.white)) {
            binding.recycler.children.iterator().forEach { item ->
                item.setBackgroundColor(
                    ContextCompat.getColor(
                        this,
                        R.color.white
                    )
                )
            }
            binding.recycler[position].setBackgroundColor(
                ContextCompat.getColor(this, R.color.teal_200)
            )
        } else {
            binding.recycler.children.iterator().forEach { item ->
                item.setBackgroundColor(
                    ContextCompat.getColor(
                        this,
                        R.color.white
                    )
                )
            }
        }
    }

So now you change the background on item click, if you click the same item, you will change the background back to what it was before.

Add click listener for item view in .onBindViewHolder() of your RecyclerView's adapter. get currently selected position and change color by .setBackground() for previously selected and current item

Create a selector into Drawable folder:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"> 
<item android:state_pressed="true">
   <shape>
         <solid android:color="@color/blue" />
   </shape>
</item>

<item android:state_pressed="false">
    <shape>
       <solid android:color="@android:color/transparent" />
    </shape>
</item>
</selector>

Add the property into your xml (where you declare the RecyclerView):

android:background="@drawable/selector"

Most Simpler Way From My Side is to Add a variable in adapterPage as last Clicked Position.

in onBindViewHolder paste this code which checks for last stored position matched with loading positions Constants is the class where i declare my global variables

if(Constants.LAST_SELECTED_POSITION_SINGLE_PRODUCT == position) {

    //change the view background here
    holder.colorVariantThumb.setBackgroundResource(R.drawable.selected_background);
}

//on view click you store the position value and notifyItemRangeChanged will 
// call the onBindViewHolder and will check the condition

holder.itemView.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
    @Override
    public void onClick(View view){
        Constants.LAST_SELECTED_POSITION_SINGLE_PRODUCT=position;
        notifyItemRangeChanged(0, mColorVariants.size());
    } 
});

I managed to do this from my Activity where i'm setting my Rv and not from the adapter

If someone need to do something similar here's the code

In this case the color changes on a logClick

           @Override
        public void onLongClick(View view, int position) {
            Toast.makeText(UltimasConsultasActivity.this, "Item agregado a la lista de mails",
                    Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();

            sendMultipleMails.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
            valueEmail.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
            itemsSeleccionados.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);

            listaEmails.add(superListItems.get(position));
            listaItems ="";
            NameOfyourRecyclerInActivity.findViewHolderForAdapterPosition(position).NameOfYourViewInTheViewholder.setBackgroundColor((Color.parseColor("#336F0D")));

            for(int itemsSelect = 0; itemsSelect <= listaEmails.size() -1; itemsSelect++){

             listaItems  +=  "*"+listaEmails.get(itemsSelect).getDescripcion() + "\n";
            }

            itemsSeleccionados.setText("Items Seleccionados : "+  "\n" + listaItems);


        }


    }));

My Solution

With my solution I'm not using notifyDataSetChanged(), because annoying whenever item is clicked, all the items from list got refreshed. To tackle this problem, I used notifyItemChanged(position); This will only change the selected item.

Below I have added the code of my omBindViewHolder.

private int previousPosition = -1;
private SingleViewItemBinding previousView;

@Override
public void onBindViewHolder(@NonNull final ItemViewHolder holder, final int position) {
    holder.viewBinding.setItem(itemList.get(position));
    holder.viewBinding.rlContainerMain.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
        @Override
        public void onClick(View view) {
            clickRecyclerView.clickRecyclerItem(position, 0);

            previousPosition = position;
            notifyItemChanged(position);

            if(previousView != null){
                previousView.rlContainerMain.setBackgroundColor(
                        ContextCompat.getColor(context, R.color.colorGrayLight));

            }
        }
    });

    if(position == previousPosition){
        previousView = holder.viewBinding;

        holder.viewBinding.rlContainerMain.setBackgroundColor(
                ContextCompat.getColor(context, R.color.colorPrimary));

    }
    else {
        holder.viewBinding.rlContainerMain.setBackgroundColor(
                ContextCompat.getColor(context, R.color.colorGrayLight));

    }

}

in the Kotlin you can do this simply: all you need is to create a static variable like this:

companion object {
     var last_position = 0
}

then in your onBindViewHolder add this code:

holder.item.setOnClickListener{
        holder.item.setBackgroundResource(R.drawable.selected_item)
        notifyItemChanged(last_position)
        last_position=position
    }

which item is the child of recyclerView which you want to change its background after clicking on it.

In your adapter class make Integer variable as index and assign it to "0" (if you want to select 1st item by default, if not assign "-1").Then on your onBindViewHolder method,

@Override
public void onBindViewHolder(@NonNull final ViewHolder holder, final int position) {
    holder.texttitle.setText(listTitle.get(position));
    holder.itemView.setTag(listTitle.get(position));
    holder.texttitle.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
        @Override
        public void onClick(View v) {
            index = position;
            notifyDataSetChanged();
        }
    });
    if (index == position)
        holder.texttitle.setTextColor(mContext.getResources().getColor(R.color.selectedColor));
    else
        holder.texttitle.setTextColor(mContext.getResources().getColor(R.color.unSelectedColor));
}

Thats it and you are good to go.in If condition true section place your selected color or what ever you need, and else section place unselected color or what ever.

I made this implementation in kotlin I thing is not very efficient but works ivIsSelected is a ImageView that represent in my case a check mark

var selectedItems = mutableListOf<Int>(-1)

override fun onBindViewHolder(holder: ContactViewHolder, position: Int) {
    // holder.setData(ContactViewModel, position)  // I'm passing this to the ViewHolder
    holder.itemView.setBackgroundColor(Color.WHITE)   
    holder.itemView.ivIsSelected.visibility = INVISIBLE
    selectedItems.forEach {
        if (it == position) {
            holder.itemView.setBackgroundColor(Color.argb(45, 0, 255, 43))
            holder.itemView.ivIsSelected.visibility = VISIBLE
        }
    }

    holder.itemView.setOnClickListener { it ->
        it.setBackgroundColor(Color.BLUE)  
        selectedItems.add(position)
        selectedItems.forEach { selectedItem ->  // this forEach is required to refresh all the list
            notifyItemChanged(selectedItem)
        }

    }
}