[android] How can I change default dialog button text color in android 5

I have many alert dialogs in my app. It is a default layout but I am adding positive and negative buttons to the dialog. So the buttons get the default text color of Android 5 (green). I tried to changed it without success. Any idea how to change that text color?

My Custom dialog:

public class MyCustomDialog extends AlertDialog.Builder {

    public MyCustomDialog(Context context,String title,String message) {
        super(context);

        LayoutInflater inflater = (LayoutInflater) context.getSystemService( Context.LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE );
        View viewDialog = inflater.inflate(R.layout.dialog_simple, null, false);

        TextView titleTextView = (TextView)viewDialog.findViewById(R.id.title);
        titleTextView.setText(title);
        TextView messageTextView = (TextView)viewDialog.findViewById(R.id.message);
        messageTextView.setText(message);

        this.setCancelable(false);

        this.setView(viewDialog);

    } }

Creating the dialog:

MyCustomDialog builder = new MyCustomDialog(getActivity(), "Try Again", errorMessage);
builder.setNegativeButton("OK", new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
                        @Override
                        public void onClick(DialogInterface dialogInterface, int i) {
                            ...
                        }
}).show();

That negativeButton is a default dialog button and takes the default green color from Android 5 Lollipop.

Many thanks

The simpliest solution is:

dialog.show(); //Only after .show() was called
dialog.getButton(AlertDialog.BUTTON_NEGATIVE).setTextColor(neededColor);
dialog.getButton(AlertDialog.BUTTON_POSITIVE).setTextColor(neededColor);

There are two ways to change the dialog button color.

Basic Way

If you just want to change in an activity, write the below two lines after alertDialog.show();

alertDialog.getButton(AlertDialog.BUTTON_POSITIVE).setTextColor(getResources().getColor(R.color.colorPrimary));
alertDialog.getButton(AlertDialog.BUTTON_NEGATIVE).setTextColor(getResources().getColor(R.color.colorPrimaryDark));

Recommended

I'll recommend adding a theme for AlertDialog in styles.xml so you don't have to write the same code again and again in each activity/dialog call. You can just create a style and apply that theme on the dialog box. So whenever you want to change the color of AlertDialog box, just change color in styles.xml and all the dialog boxes will be updated in the whole application.

<style name="AlertDialogTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.Dialog.Alert">
    <item name="colorAccent">@color/colorPrimary</item>
</style>

And apply the theme in AlertDialog.Builder

AlertDialog.Builder builder = new AlertDialog.Builder(this, R.style.AlertDialogTheme);

1. In your app's theme/style, add the following lines:

   <item name="android:buttonBarNegativeButtonStyle">@style/NegativeButtonStyle</item>
   <item name="android:buttonBarPositiveButtonStyle">@style/PositiveButtonStyle</item>
   <item name="android:buttonBarNeutralButtonStyle">@style/NeutralButtonStyle</item>
   

2. Then add the following styles:

   <style name="NegativeButtonStyle" parent="Widget.MaterialComponents.Button.TextButton.Dialog">
       <item name="android:textColor">@color/red</item>
   </style>
   
   <style name="PositiveButtonStyle" parent="Widget.MaterialComponents.Button.TextButton.Dialog">
       <item name="android:textColor">@color/red</item>
   </style>
   
   <style name="NeutralButtonStyle" 
   parent="Widget.MaterialComponents.Button.TextButton.Dialog">
       <item name="android:textColor">#00f</item>
   </style>
   

Using this method makes it unneccessary to set the theme in the AlertDialog builder.

Using styles.xml (value)

Very Easy solution , change colorPrimary as your choice and it will change color of button text of alert box.

<style name="MyAlertDialogStyle" parent="android:Theme.Material.Dialog.Alert">


        <!-- Used for the buttons -->
        <item name="colorAccent">@android:color/white</item>
        <!-- Used for the title and text -->
        <item name="android:textColorPrimary">@color/black</item>

        <!-- Used for the background -->
        <item name="android:background">#ffffff</item>
        <item name="android:colorPrimary">@color/white</item>
        <item name="android:colorAccent">@color/white</item>
        <item name="android:windowEnterAnimation">@anim/bottom_left_enter</item>
    </style>

Alternative (Using Java)

 @SuppressLint("ResourceAsColor")
            public boolean onJsAlert(WebView view, String url, String message, final JsResult result) {

                AlertDialog dialog = new AlertDialog.Builder(view.getContext(), R.style.MyAlertDialogStyle)

                        .setTitle("Royal Frolics")
                        .setIcon(R.mipmap.ic_launcher)
                        .setMessage(message)
                        .setPositiveButton("OK", (dialog1, which) -> {
                            //do nothing
                            result.confirm();
                        }).create();

                Objects.requireNonNull(dialog.getWindow()).getAttributes().windowAnimations = R.style.MyAlertDialogStyle;
                dialog.show();
                
                dialog.getButton(AlertDialog.BUTTON_POSITIVE).setTextColor(R.color.white);
                return true;

            }

The color of the buttons and other text can also be changed via theme:

values-21/styles.xml

<style name="AppTheme" parent="...">
  ...
  <item name="android:timePickerDialogTheme">@style/AlertDialogCustom</item>
  <item name="android:datePickerDialogTheme">@style/AlertDialogCustom</item>
  <item name="android:alertDialogTheme">@style/AlertDialogCustom</item>
</style>

<style name="AlertDialogCustom" parent="android:Theme.Material.Light.Dialog.Alert">
  <item name="android:colorPrimary">#00397F</item>
  <item name="android:colorAccent">#0AAEEF</item>
</style>

The result:

Just as a side note:

The colors of the buttons (and the whole style) also depend on the current theme which can be rather different when you use either

android.app.AlertDialog.Builder builder = new AlertDialog.Builder()

or

android.support.v7.app.AlertDialog.Builder builder = new AlertDialog.Builder()

(Better to use the second one)

<style name="AlertDialogCustom" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.Dialog.Alert">
    <item name="android:colorPrimary">#00397F</item>
    <item name="android:textColorPrimary">#22397F</item>
    <item name="android:colorAccent">#00397F</item>
    <item name="colorPrimaryDark">#22397F</item>
</style>

The color of the buttons and other text can also be changed using appcompat :

Kotlin 2020: Very simple method

After dialog.show() use:

dialog.getButton(AlertDialog.BUTTON_NEGATIVE).setTextColor(ContextCompat.getColor(requireContext(), R.color.yourColor))

Here is how you do it: Simple way

// Initializing a new alert dialog
AlertDialog.Builder builder = new AlertDialog.Builder(getActivity());
builder.setMessage(R.string.message);
builder.setPositiveButton(R.string.ok, new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
    @Override
    public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int which) {
        doAction();
    }
});
builder.setNegativeButton(R.string.cancel, null);

// Create the alert dialog and change Buttons colour
AlertDialog dialog = builder.create();
dialog.setOnShowListener(new DialogInterface.OnShowListener() {
    @Override
    public void onShow(DialogInterface arg0) {
        dialog.getButton(AlertDialog.BUTTON_POSITIVE).setTextColor(getResources().getColor(R.color.red));
        dialog.getButton(AlertDialog.BUTTON_NEGATIVE).setTextColor(getResources().getColor(R.color.blue));
        //dialog.getButton(AlertDialog.BUTTON_NEUTRAL).setTextColor(getResources().getColor(R.color.black));
    }
});
dialog.show();

For me it was different, I used a button theme

<style name="ButtonLight_pink" parent="android:Widget.Button">
    <item name="android:background">@drawable/light_pink_btn_default_holo_light</item>
    <item name="android:minHeight">48dip</item>
    <item name="android:minWidth">64dip</item>
    <item name="android:textColor">@color/tab_background_light_pink</item>
</style>

and because android:textColor was white there… I didn't see any button text (Dialog buttons are basically buttons too). There we go, changed it, fixed it.

Here's a natural way to do it with styles:

If your AppTheme is inherited from Theme.MaterialComponents, then:

<style name="AlertDialogTheme" parent="ThemeOverlay.MaterialComponents.Dialog.Alert">
    <item name="buttonBarNegativeButtonStyle">@style/NegativeButtonStyle</item>
    <item name="buttonBarPositiveButtonStyle">@style/PositiveButtonStyle</item>
</style>

<style name="NegativeButtonStyle" parent="Widget.MaterialComponents.Button.TextButton.Dialog">
    <item name="android:textColor">#f00</item>
</style>

<style name="PositiveButtonStyle" parent="Widget.MaterialComponents.Button.TextButton.Dialog">
    <item name="android:textColor">#00f</item>
</style>

If your AppTheme is inherited from Theme.AppCompat:

<style name="AlertDialogTheme" parent="ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Dialog.Alert">
    <item name="buttonBarNegativeButtonStyle">@style/NegativeButtonStyle</item>
    <item name="buttonBarPositiveButtonStyle">@style/PositiveButtonStyle</item>
</style>

<style name="NegativeButtonStyle" parent="Widget.AppCompat.Button.ButtonBar.AlertDialog">
    <item name="android:textColor">#f00</item>
</style>

<style name="PositiveButtonStyle" parent="Widget.AppCompat.Button.ButtonBar.AlertDialog">
    <item name="android:textColor">#00f</item>
</style>

Use your AlertDialogTheme in your AppTheme

<item name="alertDialogTheme">@style/AlertDialogTheme</item>

or in constructor

androidx.appcompat.app.AlertDialog.Builder(context, R.style.AlertDialogTheme)

If you want to change buttons text color (positive, negative, neutral) just add to your custom dialog style:

<item name="colorAccent">@color/accent_color</item>

So, your dialog style must looks like this:

<style name="AlertDialog" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.Dialog.Alert">
    <item name="android:textColor">@android:color/black</item>
    <item name="colorAccent">@color/topeka_accent</item>
</style>