CardView not showing Shadow in Android L

Question

My Cardview inside Listview is not showing shadow in Android L(Nexus 5). Also the round edges are not properly shown. Here is the code for Listview's Adapter View :

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
xmlns:card_view="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/com.example.myapp"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:orientation="vertical" >

<android.support.v7.widget.CardView
    xmlns:card_view="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    android:id="@+id/card_view"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    app:cardBackgroundColor="@android:color/white"
    android:foreground="?android:attr/selectableItemBackground"
    app:cardCornerRadius="4dp"
    app:cardElevation="4dp" >

    <RelativeLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
        android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin" >

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/tvName"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
            android:layout_marginTop="@dimen/padding_small"
            android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
            android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
            android:textAppearance="?android:attr/textAppearanceLarge" />

        <ImageView
            android:id="@+id/ivPicture"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_below="@+id/tvName"
            android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
            android:scaleType="fitCenter" />

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/tvDetail"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_below="@+id/ivPicture"
            android:layout_centerHorizontal="true"
            android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
            android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin" />
    </RelativeLayout>
</android.support.v7.widget.CardView>

And the ListView xml :

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:card_view="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/com.example.myapp"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:background="@drawable/app_bg" >

<ListView
    android:id="@android:id/list"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
    android:cacheColorHint="#00000000"
    android:divider="@android:color/transparent"
    android:drawSelectorOnTop="true"
    android:smoothScrollbar="true" />

<ProgressBar
    android:id="@+id/progressBarMain"
    style="?android:attr/progressBarStyleLarge"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_centerInParent="true"
    android:visibility="gone" /></RelativeLayout>

It works fine on pre-L devices with proper shadow and rounded corners. But not working aon Android L device. Can you tell what i am missing here?

Answer 1

After going through the docs again, I finally found the solution.

Just add card_view:cardUseCompatPadding="true" to your CardView and shadows will appear on Lollipop devices.

What happens is, the content area in a CardView take different sizes on pre-lollipop and lollipop devices. So in lollipop devices the shadow is actually covered by the card so its not visible. By adding this attribute the content area remains the same across all devices and the shadow becomes visible.

My xml code is like :

<android.support.v7.widget.CardView
    android:id="@+id/media_card_view"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="130dp"
    card_view:cardBackgroundColor="@android:color/white"
    card_view:cardElevation="2dp"
    card_view:cardUseCompatPadding="true"
    >
...
</android.support.v7.widget.CardView>

Answer 2

Add this line to CardView....

card_view:cardUseCompatPadding="true" //for enable shadow
card_view:cardElevation="9dp" // this for how much shadow you want to show

Tips

You can avoid layout_marginTop and layout_marginBottom as shadow itself takes some space to the up and down of it.The amount space defined by how much you will use in card_view:cardElevation="ndp" .

Happy Coding (:

Answer 3

check hardwareAccelerated in manifest make it true , making it false removes shadows , when false shadow appears in xml preview but not in phone .

Answer 4

First of all make sure that following dependencies are proper added and compiled in build.gradle file

    dependencies {
    ...
    compile 'com.android.support:cardview-v7:21.0.+'

    }

and after this try the following code :

     <android.support.v7.widget.CardView 
            xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
            xmlns:card_view="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="200dp"
            android:layout_margin="5dp"
            android:orientation="horizontal"
            card_view:cardCornerRadius="5dp">
     </android.support.v7.widget.CardView

problem rises in Android L beacuse layout_margin attribute is not added

Answer 5

My recyclerview was slow in loading so by reading the stackoverflow.com I changed hardwareAccelerated to "false" then the elevation is not showing in the device. The I changed back to true. It works for me.

Answer 6

Do not forget that to draw shadow you must use hardwareAccelerated drawing

hardwareAccelerated = true

hardwareAccelerated = false

See Android Hardware Acceleration for details