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28 December 2015

Shadows for Android applications. Pre Lollipop and post Lollipop (with all API levels)

ShadowViewDecorator:

https://github.com/ektodorov/ShadowViewDecorator

is a project that provides drop shadows for views in Android. It does not use the new APIs introduced in Android Lollipop, which means it can be used in an Android project regardless of the minimum API level used by the application.
There are methods with extensive parameters in the ShadowViewDecorator. We have taken that decision so that the shadow is completely configurable and not just a single implementation of a shadow that we think is appropriate. Every user can make the adjustments that are most appropriate in a use case.
We have provided methods that use CSS box shadow style parameters and we expect these methods to be the most used. This way we don't have to work with all the parameters of a shadow every time. We can use one of the many available online tools for previewing a CSS box shadow and then apply the same settings in an Android application. This also provides us with a quick way to change settings during development without the need to fiddle with graphic assets, because with ShadowViewDecorator the change will be only in code (a few parameters).