android - Styling of AlertDialog buttons -

in application use holoeverywhere. change appearance of alertdialog , got stuck on buttons below alert dialog. took how things done in holoeverywhere , tried modify that. here backtracking of reasoning:

in theme there atributes define alertdialogtheme , other stuff. come later selectableitembackground also.

<style name="holo.base.theme" parent="theme.appcompat">     ...     <item name="alertdialogtheme">@style/holo.theme.dialog.alert</item>     ...     <item name="buttonbarbuttonstyle">?borderlessbuttonstyle</item>     ...     <item name="selectableitembackground">@drawable/item_background_holo_dark</item> *     ... </sytle> 

so figure alertdialogstyle target further defined in styles:

<style name="holo.base.theme.dialog" parent="holo.theme">     <item name="android:colorbackgroundcachehint">@null</item>     <item name="android:windowanimationstyle">@style/holo.animation.dialog</item>     <item name="android:windowbackground">@drawable/dialog_full_holo_dark</item>     <item name="android:windowcontentoverlay">@null</item>     <item name="android:windowframe">@null</item>     <item name="android:windowisfloating">true</item>     <item name="android:windowsoftinputmode">stateunspecified|adjustpan</item>     <item name="android:windowtitlestyle">@style/holo.dialogwindowtitle</item>     <item name="borderlessbuttonstyle">@style/holo.button.borderless.small</item>     <item name="buttonbarstyle">@style/holo.buttonbar.alertdialog</item>     <item name="listpreferreditempaddingleft">16dip</item>     <item name="listpreferreditempaddingright">16dip</item>     <item name="windowactionbar">false</item>     <item name="windowactionmodeoverlay">true</item>     <item name="windowanimationstyle">@style/holo.animation.dialog</item>     <item name="windowcontentoverlay">@null</item>     <item name="windowminwidthmajor">@dimen/dialog_min_width_major</item>     <item name="windowminwidthminor">@dimen/dialog_min_width_minor</item>     <item name="windownotitle">true</item> </style>  <style name="holo.theme.dialog" parent="holo.base.theme.dialog" > </style>  <style name="holo.theme.dialog.alert" parent="holo.theme.dialog">     <item name="alertdialogstyle">@style/holo.alertdialog</item>     <item name="alertdialogtitledividercolor">@color/holo_blue_light</item>     <item name="android:windowbackground">@android:color/transparent</item> </style>  <style name="holo.button.borderless" parent="holo.button">     <item name="android:background">?selectableitembackground</item>     <item name="android:paddingleft">4dip</item>     <item name="android:paddingright">4dip</item> </style> 

so holo.theme.dialog.alert inherited holo:base.theme.dialog has atribute borderlessbuttonstyle, guess defines buttons of alert dialog. style holo.button.borderless referes atribute selectableitembackground background. atribute set in application theme itself. so, reasoning if inherit theme holo.theme , set selectablebackground atribut change should reflect in customized alert dialog buttons , else background used.

<style name="themecustom" parent="@style/holo.theme> …  <item name="selectableitembackground">@drawable/custom_item_background </item> … </style> 

but not work. no change visible in alert dialog buttons. there wrong reasoning?