Handling Multiple Item Selection in A Listview - Android Tutorial

In this tutorial, we will learn how to respond when a user selects multiple list items in an Activity . For the purpose of this tutorial, I will be selecting multiple list items for deleting them from the database. This tutorial also covers on how to change listItem background color when the user selects multiple items.

Idea :

Listen to long press on a list item and store list id in an ArrayList if checked state is True, otherwise, if checked state is false then remove the item id from ArrayList.

pre-setup :

    Added a ListView to the layout file and attached a cursorAdepter with it.This how my final

listview looks like. 

If you are displaying list using values from the database, then make sure that the primary key name is "_id" in your database table.
Now follow below-given steps to listen for multiple list item selection
1. Set Global Variable

Context context;
private  ListView list;
private ArrayList list_item = new ArrayList<>(); // for holding list item ids

2. Change list CHOICE_MODE as follows

//(list) is my ListView           
list.setChoiceMode(ListView.CHOICE_MODE_MULTIPLE_MODAL); // Important

3. Set MultiChoiceModeListener to your ListView variable

list.setMultiChoiceModeListener(new AbsListView.MultiChoiceModeListener() {
            @Override
            public void onItemCheckedStateChanged(ActionMode mode, int position, long id, boolean checked) {
                //capture total checked items
                checkedCount = list.getCheckedItemCount();

                //setting CAB title
                mode.setTitle(checkedCount + " Selected");

                //list_item.add(id);
                if(checked){
                    list_item.add(id);     // Add to list when checked ==  true
                }else {
                    list_item.remove(id);
                }

            }

            @Override
            public boolean onCreateActionMode(ActionMode mode, Menu menu) {
                //Inflate the CAB
                MenuInflater inflater = mode.getMenuInflater();
                inflater.inflate(R.menu.contextual_menu, menu);
                return true;
            }

            @Override
            public boolean onPrepareActionMode(ActionMode mode, Menu menu) {
                return false;
            }

            @Override
            public boolean onActionItemClicked(ActionMode mode, MenuItem item) {
                final int deleteSize = list_item.size();
                      int itemId = item.getItemId();
                if(itemId == R.id.item_delete) {

                     for(long ids : list_item){
                            // Make proper check, if needed, before deletion 
                            String whereDelId = DBOpenHelper.COL_ID + "=" + ids;
                            int res = getContentResolver().delete(TripProvider.CONTENT_URI_START, whereDelId, null);
                            if(res == -1){
                               Log.d(TAG, "onActionItemClicked: Delete Failed for ID = "+ids);
                            }  
                     }

                }  
             Toast.makeText(context,deleteSize+" Items deleted",Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();

                checkedCount = 0;
                list_item.clear();
                mode.finish();
                return true;
            }

            @Override
            public void onDestroyActionMode(ActionMode mode) {
                // refresh list after deletion
                displayDataList();
            }
        });

Changing background Color of Selected ListView List items.

4.   Create a drawable XML for list item background.{mine is, select_list_bg,xml}

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:exitFadeDuration="@android:integer/config_shortAnimTime">
     <item  android:state_pressed="true"
         android:state_activated="true"
         android:drawable="@color/lightPink"></item>
    <item
        android:state_activated="true"
        android:drawable="@color/lightPink"></item>

    <item  android:drawable="@color/lightGreen"></item>
    <item android:state_enabled="true"
        android:drawable="@color/lightGreen"></item>
</selector>

5. Set above drawable as background to listItem

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:background="@drawable/select_list_bg,xml"
    android:elevation="4dp">

 <!-- Your List item child views -->
</RelativeLayout>

This is the final look of the List when user selects multiple items.

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