i'm trying to add a contextual action mode to a listview, but i'm having some problems with the selection, if i make aList1.setSelection(position) it doesn't select anything, and if i make List1.setItemChecked(position, true) it works but it only changes the font color a little and i want it to change the background or something more notable, is there any way to detect the selection and manually and change the background, or i'm missing something?

the list:

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent" >
    <ListView
         android:id="@+id/list1"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:choiceMode="singleChoice"
      android:drawSelectorOnTop="false">
    </ListView>
</RelativeLayout>

the adapter:

public class ServicesRowAdapter extends ArrayAdapter<String[]> {
    private final Activity context;
    private final ArrayList<String[]> names;
    static class ViewHolder {
        public TextView Id;
        public TextView Date;
        public RelativeLayout statusbar,bglayout;
    }

    public ServicesRowAdapter(Activity context, ArrayList<String[]> names) {
        super(context, R.layout.servicesrowlayout, names);
        this.context = context;
        this.names = names;
    }
    @Override
    public View getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {
        View rowView = convertView;
        if (rowView == null) {
            LayoutInflater inflater = context.getLayoutInflater();
            rowView = inflater.inflate(R.layout.servicesrowlayout, null);
            ViewHolder viewHolder = new ViewHolder();
            viewHolder.Id = (TextView) rowView.findViewById(R.id.idlabel);
            viewHolder.Date = (TextView) rowView.findViewById(R.id.datelabel);
            rowView.setTag(viewHolder);
        }

        ViewHolder holder = (ViewHolder) rowView.getTag();

        holder.Date.setText(names.get(position)[2]);
        holder.Id.setText(names.get(position)[1]);
        return rowView;
    }

}

with the use of a layout:

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content" >
    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/idlabel"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_centerVertical="true"
        android:gravity="right"
        android:text="@+id/idlabel"
        android:textSize="20dp"
        android:width="70dp" >

    </TextView>
        <TextView
        android:id="@+id/datelabel"
        android:layout_centerVertical="true"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="@+id/datelabel"
        android:textSize="20dp"
        android:layout_marginLeft="90dp" >
    </TextView>

</RelativeLayout