Android elevation and setElevation not the same effect

Question

I noticed when I use elevation property in xml and set it to 4dp, I get a normal shadow. When I use setElevation(4) in java, I get less of a shadow than the xml property does. How can I fix that?

score 14 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:46

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The answer given by Anton Kovalyov is almost correct, but it is actually the other way around. To get the correct elevation you need to convert your dp to pixels and feed it into setElevation, so the correct answer looks like this:

setElevation(4 * context.getResources().getDisplayMetrics().density);

setElevation takes a pixel value. User TinTran's comment is correct.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:46

Community

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answered May 24 '16 at 15:09

Bernd Kampl

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score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 07 '15 at 11:59

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According to android documentation setElevation()

Sets the base elevation of this view, in pixels.

You need to convert pixels to dpi:

setElevation(4 / context.getResources().getDisplayMetrics().density);

answered Jun 07 '15 at 11:59

Anton Kovalyov

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it should be 4 * context.getResources().getDisplayMetrics().density? – Tin Tran Mar 04 '16 at 07:59
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@TinTran if we convert px to dp we /, else we * -http://stackoverflow.com/a/12147550 – Anton Kovalyov Mar 05 '16 at 19:46

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited May 01 '18 at 15:44

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That is because java use pixel. so you have to convert it into dp

you can use this :

(int)TypedValue.applyDimension(TypedValue.COMPLEX_UNIT_DIP, 4, getResources().getDisplayMetrics())

edited May 01 '18 at 15:44

Spoody

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answered May 01 '18 at 15:23

Zakarya Ali

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Welcome to Stack Overflow! I've edited your question to make it readable, please use the editor to better format your code in the next time. – Spoody May 01 '18 at 15:44

Android elevation and setElevation not the same effect

3 Answers3