How to set the color of the selected part of the text in EditText or TextView in your Android App?

In this tutorial it shows how one can set the color of the text (both foreground and background) of the selected part in the EditText or TextView in your Android App.

It uses Spannabale string concept to set the color of the selected part of the text.

I hope you like this video. For any questions, suggestions or appreciation please contact us at: https://programmerworld.co/contact/ or email at: programmerworld1990@gmail.com

Complete source code:

package com.programmerworld.colortextapp;

import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;

import android.graphics.Color;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.text.Spannable;
import android.text.SpannableStringBuilder;
import android.text.style.BackgroundColorSpan;
import android.text.style.ForegroundColorSpan;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.EditText;
import android.widget.TextView;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

    private EditText editText;
    private TextView textView;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

        editText = findViewById(R.id.editTextTextPersonName);
        textView = findViewById(R.id.textView);
    }

    public void buttonSetColor(View view){
        Spannable spannableString = new SpannableStringBuilder(editText.getText());
        spannableString.setSpan(new ForegroundColorSpan(Color.RED),
                editText.getSelectionStart(),
                editText.getSelectionEnd(),
                0);
        editText.setText(spannableString);
        textView.setText(spannableString);
    }

    public void buttonSetBackgroundColor(View view){
        Spannable spannableString = new SpannableStringBuilder(editText.getText());
        spannableString.setSpan(new BackgroundColorSpan(Color.GREEN),
                editText.getSelectionStart(),
                editText.getSelectionEnd(),
                0);
        editText.setText(spannableString);
        textView.setText(spannableString);
    }
}

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    tools:context=".MainActivity">

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/textView"
        android:layout_width="240dp"
        android:layout_height="103dp"
        android:text="Hello World!"
        app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="0.497"
        app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintVertical_bias="0.445" />

    <Button
        android:id="@+id/button"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginStart="84dp"
        android:layout_marginTop="16dp"
        android:onClick="buttonSetColor"
        android:text="Set Foreground Color"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent" />

    <EditText
        android:id="@+id/editTextTextPersonName"
        android:layout_width="253dp"
        android:layout_height="64dp"
        android:layout_marginStart="76dp"
        android:layout_marginTop="112dp"
        android:ems="10"
        android:inputType="textPersonName"
        android:text="Name"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@+id/button" />

    <Button
        android:id="@+id/button2"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginStart="84dp"
        android:layout_marginTop="20dp"
        android:onClick="buttonSetBackgroundColor"
        android:text="Set Background Color"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@+id/button" />

</androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="com.programmerworld.colortextapp">

    <application
        android:allowBackup="true"
        android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:roundIcon="@mipmap/ic_launcher_round"
        android:supportsRtl="true"
        android:theme="@style/Theme.ColorTextApp">
        <activity
            android:name=".MainActivity"
            android:exported="true">
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
    </application>

</manifest>

plugins {
    id 'com.android.application'
}

android {
    compileSdk 31

    defaultConfig {
        applicationId "com.programmerworld.colortextapp"
        minSdk 31
        targetSdk 31
        versionCode 1
        versionName "1.0"

        testInstrumentationRunner "androidx.test.runner.AndroidJUnitRunner"
    }

    buildTypes {
        release {
            minifyEnabled false
            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android-optimize.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
        }
    }
    compileOptions {
        sourceCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
        targetCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
    }
}

dependencies {

    implementation 'androidx.appcompat:appcompat:1.4.1'
    implementation 'com.google.android.material:material:1.5.0'
    implementation 'androidx.constraintlayout:constraintlayout:2.1.3'
    testImplementation 'junit:junit:4.13.2'
    androidTestImplementation 'androidx.test.ext:junit:1.1.3'
    androidTestImplementation 'androidx.test.espresso:espresso-core:3.4.0'
}