Programmatically change color of shape in layer list

<layer-list xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    <item android:id="@+id/gradientDrawble"> // Give id
        <shape android:shape="rectangle">
            <solid android:color="#000000" /> // CHANGE THIS COLOR
        </shape>
    </item>
    <item android:left="5dp">
        <shape android:shape="rectangle">
            <solid android:color="@color/bg" />
        </shape>
    </item>
</layer-list>

Then in you code just add

LayerDrawable layerDrawable = (LayerDrawable) getResources()
            .getDrawable(R.drawable.my_drawable);
GradientDrawable gradientDrawable = (GradientDrawable) layerDrawable
            .findDrawableByLayerId(R.id.gradientDrawble);
gradientDrawable.setColor(color); // change color

Update Oct-2016

getDrawable() is now deprecated, you should use ContextCompat.getDrawable(context, color) instead.

Beside, if you get the LayerDrawable by findDrawableByLayerId(), then you had to call view.setBackground(layerDrawable) for this to take effect. Alternatively, instantiating the layerDrawable by view.getBackground() also worked.