This is how to get the colour from a custom style within a custom style within an Android Theme.

CustomTextView.java

package org.codeandmagic.android.customtheme;

import android.content.Context;
import android.content.res.Resources;
import android.graphics.Color;
import android.util.AttributeSet;
import android.util.Log;
import android.util.TypedValue;
import android.widget.TextView;

/**
 * Created by evelyne24.
 */
public class CustomTextView extends TextView {

    public static final String T = "=THEME=";

    public CustomTextView(Context context) {
        super(context);
        init(context);
    }

    public CustomTextView(Context context, AttributeSet attrs) {
        super(context, attrs);
        init(context);
    }

    public CustomTextView(Context context, AttributeSet attrs, int defStyle) {
        super(context, attrs, defStyle);
        init(context);
    }

    private void init(Context context) {
        final TypedValue result = resolveThemeStyle(context.getTheme(), new int[]{R.attr.myDialogStyle,
                R.attr.myDialogTitleStyle, android.R.attr.background}, 0, 2);


        if (TypedValue.TYPE_INT_COLOR_RGB8 == result.type) {
            String strColor = String.format("#%06X", 0xFFFFFF & result.data);
            setBackgroundColor(Color.parseColor(strColor));
        }
    }


    private TypedValue resolveThemeStyle(Resources.Theme theme, int[] attrs, int level, int maxLevel) {
        TypedValue typedValue = new TypedValue();
        theme.resolveAttribute(attrs[level], typedValue, true);

        if (typedValue.type == TypedValue.TYPE_REFERENCE) {
            Log.i(T, "level " + level + ": found reference " + typedValue.resourceId);

            Resources.Theme newTheme = getResources().newTheme();
            newTheme.applyStyle(typedValue.resourceId, true);

            if (level == maxLevel) {
                return typedValue;
            } else {
                return resolveThemeStyle(newTheme, attrs, level + 1, maxLevel);
            }
        } else {
            return typedValue;
        }
    }


}

This is in style.xml

<resources>
    <style name="AppTheme" parent="android:Theme">
        <item name="myDialogStyle">@style/LightDialogStyle</item>
    </style>
    <style name="LightDialogStyle">
        <item name="myDialogTitleStyle">@style/LightDialogTitleStyle</item>
    </style>
    <style name="LightDialogTitleStyle" parent="android:Widget.TextView">
        <item name="android:background">#ff0000</item>
    </style>
</resources>

This is in attrs.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
    <attr name="myDialogTitleStyle" format="reference" />
    <attr name="myDialogStyle" format="reference" />
</resources>

This is in main.xml

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent">

    <org.codeandmagic.android.customtheme.CustomTextView
        android:id="@+id/text_view"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:text="@string/hello_world"
        style="?myDialogTitleStyle"/>

</RelativeLayout>

My problem is: even if I put style="?myDialogTitleStyle", Android won't recursively find that particular style in my theme so I have to recurse and get the attribute values myself. What am I doing wrong? Is this the intended behaviour?