Change TextView background color in ListView with simple adapter

Question 1

The better way to achieve what you want is to create custom adapter. Here I am giving you an example to achieve your goal...

Activity Layout---> activity_main.xml

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    tools:context=".MainActivity" >

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="@string/hello_world" />

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

</LinearLayout>

List Item Layout---> listview_routes_row.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:orientation="horizontal" >

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/long_name"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:paddingLeft="10dip" />

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/short_name"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:paddingLeft="10dip" />

</LinearLayout>

Custom SimpleAdapte---> CustomSimpleAdapter.java

public class CustomSimpleAdapter extends SimpleAdapter {

    private List<Map<String, Object>> itemList;
    private Context mContext;
    private static final String TAG_COLOR = "color";
    private static final String TAG_NAME = "shop_name";
    private static final String TAG_SHORT = "shop_address";

    public CustomSimpleAdapter(Context context, List<? extends Map<String, ?>> data,  
            int resource, String[] from, int[] to) {
        super(context, data, resource, from, to);

        this.itemList = (List<Map<String, Object>>) data;
        this.mContext = context;
    }

    /* A Static class for holding the elements of each List View Item
     * This is created as per Google UI Guideline for faster performance */
    class ViewHolder {
        TextView textLong;
        TextView textShort;
    }

    @Override
    public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {

        ViewHolder holder = null;

        LayoutInflater inflater = (LayoutInflater) mContext
                .getSystemService(Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);
        if (convertView == null) {
            convertView = inflater.inflate(R.layout.listview_routes_row, null);
            holder = new ViewHolder();

            // get the textview's from the convertView
            holder.textLong = (TextView) convertView.findViewById(R.id.long_name);
            holder.textShort = (TextView) convertView.findViewById(R.id.short_name);

            // store it in a Tag as its the first time this view is generated
            convertView.setTag(holder);
        } else {
            /* get the View from the existing Tag */
            holder = (ViewHolder) convertView.getTag();
        }

        /* update the textView's text and color of list item */
        holder.textLong.setText((CharSequence) itemList.get(position).get(TAG_NAME));
        holder.textShort.setText((CharSequence) itemList.get(position).get(TAG_SHORT));
        holder.textShort.setTextColor((Integer) itemList.get(position).get(TAG_COLOR));

        return convertView;
    }

}

Activity Class---> MainActivity.java

public class MainActivity extends Activity {

    private static final String TAG_NAME = "shop_name";
    private static final String TAG_SHORT = "shop_address";
    private static final String TAG_COLOR = "color";

    private List<Map<String, Object>> itemList = new ArrayList<Map<String, Object>>();
    private Map<String, Object> map;
    private ListView listView;

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

        listView = (ListView) findViewById(R.id.list_view);

        //Sample data insertion into the list
        map = new LinkedHashMap<String, Object>();
        map.put(TAG_NAME, "textview11");
        map.put(TAG_SHORT, "textview12");
        map.put(TAG_COLOR, Color.BLUE);
        itemList.add(map);

        map = new LinkedHashMap<String, Object>();
        map.put(TAG_NAME, "textview21");
        map.put(TAG_SHORT, "textview22");
        map.put(TAG_COLOR, Color.GREEN);
        itemList.add(map);

        map = new LinkedHashMap<String, Object>();
        map.put(TAG_NAME, "textview31");
        map.put(TAG_SHORT, "textview32");
        map.put(TAG_COLOR, Color.RED);
        itemList.add(map);

        /* create an adapter for listview*/
        SimpleAdapter adapter = new CustomSimpleAdapter(this, itemList,
                R.layout.listview_routes_row, new String[] { TAG_NAME, TAG_SHORT }, new 
                int[] { R.id.long_name, R.id.short_name });

        listView.setAdapter(adapter);
    }

}

I think it will help you. If you have any problem then let me know.

Question 2

For creating custom view for each item you'll have to create your own adapter instead of using the defaults one, but it's pretty easy:

public class CustomAdapter extends SimpleAdapter {
    @Override
    public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
        View v = super.getView(position, convertView, parent);
        Object item = getItem(position);
        TextView text = v.findViewById(//your text view id);
        ColorStateList color = //get color for item;
        text.setTextColor(color);
        return v;
    }
}

Question 3

you can try this:textview.setTextColor(color);