React Native Shadow Android

React Native is a popular open-source framework used for developing mobile applications. One of the important features of React Native is the ability to support shadows on both iOS and Android platforms. However, unlike iOS, implementing shadows on Android can be a bit challenging due to the differences in the platform's rendering engine. In this article, we'll take a look at how to implement shadows properly on Android devices in React Native.

Requirements

Before we begin, make sure you have the following prerequisites installed on your system:

• Node.js
• npm (or yarn)
• Android Studio (with the Android SDK)
• Any text editor of your choice (e.g. Visual Studio Code, Atom, etc.)

Creating a new React Native app

We begin by creating a new React Native application using the following command:

npx react-native init ShadowDemo

Once the application is created, navigate to the project directory and run the following command to start the development server:

npx react-native start

Now that the server is up and running, in a new terminal window, run the following command to launch the application:

npx react-native run-android

This should launch an Android emulator (or connect to a physical device) and display the default React Native app on the device.

Adding a shadow to a component

To add a shadow to an existing component, we need to apply the CSS styles for shadows. However, we need to keep in mind that the approach to implement shadows on Android is different from that of iOS.

The following styles should be applied to Android components to add a shadow:

• elevation: This property determines the depth of the shadow. The valid values for elevation are between 0 and 24, with 0 being no shadow, and 24 being the highest shadow depth.

• shadowColor: This property specifies the color of the shadow.

• shadowOffset: This property specifies the position of the shadow in terms of x and y coordinates.

• shadowOpacity: This property specifies the opacity of the shadow.

• shadowRadius: This property specifies the blur radius of the shadow.

Here's an example component with a shadow applied:

import React from 'react';
import { View, StyleSheet } from 'react-native';

const ShadowDemo = () => {
  return (
    <View style={styles.container}>
      <View style={styles.box} />
    </View>
  );
};

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    flex: 1,
    justifyContent: 'center',
    alignItems: 'center',
  },
  box: {
    width: 100,
    height: 100,
    backgroundColor: '#fff',
    borderRadius: 10,
    elevation: 5, // set the elevation to add a shadow
    shadowColor: '#000', // sets the color of the shadow
    shadowOffset: { width: 0, height: 2 }, // sets the position of the shadow
    shadowOpacity: 0.25, // sets the opacity of the shadow
    shadowRadius: 3.84, // sets the blur radius of the shadow
  },
});

export default ShadowDemo;

Conclusion

In this article, we looked at how to implement shadows on Android devices in React Native. By using the elevation and other shadow properties, we can add depth and dimension to our mobile applications on Android. This will help us make our apps look and feel more native on this platform.