I was struggling to implement this feature as well, but you steered me in the right direction.
@Override
public void onChildDraw(Canvas c, RecyclerView recyclerView, RecyclerView.ViewHolder viewHolder, float dX, float dY, int actionState, boolean isCurrentlyActive) {
if (actionState == ItemTouchHelper.ACTION_STATE_SWIPE) {
// Get RecyclerView item from the ViewHolder
View itemView = viewHolder.itemView;
Paint p = new Paint();
if (dX > 0) {
/* Set your color for positive displacement */
// Draw Rect with varying right side, equal to displacement dX
c.drawRect((float) itemView.getLeft(), (float) itemView.getTop(), dX,
(float) itemView.getBottom(), p);
} else {
/* Set your color for negative displacement */
// Draw Rect with varying left side, equal to the item's right side plus negative displacement dX
c.drawRect((float) itemView.getRight() + dX, (float) itemView.getTop(),
(float) itemView.getRight(), (float) itemView.getBottom(), p);
}
super.onChildDraw(c, recyclerView, viewHolder, dX, dY, actionState, isCurrentlyActive);
}
}