How to provide shadow to Button

Question

As you can see in image, I want shadow behind a Button. I have created Button with rounded corners. But problem is I can't generate a shadow behind that Button. How can I achieve this?

Solution 1

Use this approach to get your desired look.
button_selector.xml :

<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item>
    <layer-list>
        <item android:right="5dp" android:top="5dp">
            <shape>
                <corners android:radius="3dp" />
                <solid android:color="#D6D6D6" />
            </shape>
        </item>
        <item android:bottom="2dp" android:left="2dp">
            <shape>
                <gradient android:angle="270" 
                    android:endColor="#E2E2E2" android:startColor="#BABABA" />
                <stroke android:width="1dp" android:color="#BABABA" />
                <corners android:radius="4dp" />
                <padding android:bottom="10dp" android:left="10dp" 
                    android:right="10dp" android:top="10dp" />
            </shape>
        </item>
    </layer-list>
</item>

</selector>

And in your xml layout:

<Button
   android:background="@drawable/button_selector"
   ...
   ..
/>

Solution 2

For android version 5.0 & above

try the Elevation for other views..

android:elevation="10dp"

For Buttons,

android:stateListAnimator="@anim/button_state_list_animator"

button_state_list_animator.xml - https://android.googlesource.com/platform/frameworks/base/+/master/core/res/res/anim/button_state_list_anim_material.xml

below 5.0 version,

For all views,

 android:background="@android:drawable/dialog_holo_light_frame"

My output:

Solution 3

Here is my button with shadow cw_button_shadow.xml inside drawable folder

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    <item android:state_pressed="false">
        <layer-list>
            <!-- SHADOW -->
            <item>
                <shape>
                    <solid android:color="@color/red_400"/>
                    <!-- alttan gölge -->
                    <corners android:radius="19dp"/>
                </shape>
            </item>
            <!-- BUTTON alttan gölge
              android:right="5px" to make it round-->
            <item
                android:bottom="5px"
                >
                <shape>
                    <padding android:bottom="5dp"/>
                    <gradient
                        android:startColor="#1c4985"
                        android:endColor="#163969"
                        android:angle="270" />
                    <corners
                        android:radius="19dp"/>
                    <padding
                        android:left="10dp"
                        android:top="10dp"
                        android:right="5dp"
                        android:bottom="10dp"/>
                </shape>
            </item>
        </layer-list>
    </item>

    <item android:state_pressed="true">
        <layer-list>
            <!-- SHADOW -->
            <item>
                <shape>
                    <solid android:color="#102746"/>
                    <corners android:radius="19dp"/>

                </shape>
            </item>
            <!-- BUTTON -->
            <item android:bottom="5px">
                <shape>
                    <padding android:bottom="5dp"/>
                    <gradient
                        android:startColor="#1c4985"
                        android:endColor="#163969"
                        android:angle="270" />
                    <corners
                        android:radius="19dp"/>
                    <padding
                        android:left="10dp"
                        android:top="10dp"
                        android:right="5dp"
                        android:bottom="10dp"/>
                </shape>
            </item>
        </layer-list>
    </item>
</selector>

How to use. in Button xml, you can resize your height and weight

<Button
                android:text="+ add friends"
                android:layout_width="120dp"
                android:layout_height="40dp"
               android:background="@drawable/cw_button_shadow" />

Solution 4

If you are targeting pre-Lollipop devices, you can use Shadow-Layout, since it easy and you can use it in different kind of layouts.

Add shadow-layout to your Gradle file:

dependencies {
    compile 'com.github.dmytrodanylyk.shadow-layout:library:1.0.1'
}

At the top the xml layout where you have your button, add to the top:

xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"

it will make available the custom attributes.

Then you put a shadow layout around you Button:

<com.dd.ShadowLayout
        android:layout_marginTop="16dp"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        app:sl_shadowRadius="4dp"
        app:sl_shadowColor="#AA000000"
        app:sl_dx="0dp"
        app:sl_dy="0dp"
        app:sl_cornerRadius="56dp"> 

       <YourButton
          .... />

</com.dd.ShadowLayout>

You can then tweak the app: settings to match your required shadow.

Hope it helps.

Solution 5

I've tried the code from above and made my own shadow which is little bit closer to what I am trying to achieve. Maybe it will help others too.

<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    <item>
        <layer-list>
            <item android:left="5dp" android:top="5dp">
                <shape>
                    <corners android:radius="3dp" />
                    <gradient
                        android:angle="315"
                        android:endColor="@android:color/transparent"
                        android:startColor="@android:color/black"
                        android:type="radial"
                        android:centerX="0.55"
                        android:centerY="0"
                        android:gradientRadius="300"/>
                    <padding android:bottom="1dp" android:left="0dp" android:right="3dp" android:top="0dp" />
                </shape>
            </item>
            <item android:bottom="2dp" android:left="3dp">
                <shape>
                    <corners android:radius="1dp" />
                    <solid android:color="@color/colorPrimary" />


                </shape>
            </item>
        </layer-list>
    </item>

</selector>

View more solutions

Comments

[JohnnyLambada]

This looks cool, but when I tried this intellij didn't like it. When I looked at the doc for item it says android:drawable is required.

[myforums]

closing </selector> tag is missing

[Admin]

It's not exactly what the asker wanted as this solution makes the opposite: gradient button background and solid shadow color. And this seemes very different from outer shadow

[JohnyTex]

Can I make it so that a textColor selector is baked into the above selector -so I don't have to set both background textColor each time I define a button, but only needs to set the background...?

[jrichview]

I'd like to use this approach, but my buttons are created dynamically (i.e. in code) in a grid control, not declaratively (actually, I'm using Xamarin free version, so Mono lib). Doesn't seem to be a straightforward method to set just any attribute.

[Ranjithkumar]

@jrichview see this answer & also comment stackoverflow.com/a/24459128/3879847

[forsberg]

Poor lib, with deprecations, plus no more supported. Besides, it seems like it allows only for dark / black shadows, not light ones.

[CoolMind]

Please, attach a screenshot.

[CoolMind]

<selector> and <item> are not needed. The image is reverted, as @user4702646 said.

[Egor]

Hey, how can I use this as drawable, if I set the shape of my button with drawable?

[Jono]

the bottom corner left has a hard edge

[Ahmad Sattout]

Why is this an accepted answer? It looks no where near the desired shadow

[Jeffrey Blattman]

This results in a non(well, barely)-gradated shadow, because the gradient is applied not just to the visible shadow part but the entire offset shape.

[Jeffrey Blattman]

This is actually the most accurate answer. Unfortunately trying to get a designer to work with 9-patch isn't an easy thing.