Create inner shadow in UIView [duplicate]

Answer 1

You may find it useful, I made an UIView Category for that

https://github.com/Seitk/UIView-Shadow-Maker

Answer 2

Create the shadow as a transparent layer at a particular size, then create a stretchable image, like this:

UIImage *shadowImage = [UIImage imageNamed:@"shadow.png"];
shadowImage = [shadowImage stretchableImageWithLeftCapWidth:floorf(shadowImage.size.width/2) topCapHeight:floorf(shadowImage.size.height/2)];

You can then put that as the image in a UIImageView with contentMode scale to fit and it will work the way you want.

Lets say your view is called "myView". You can add the shadow like this:

UIImageView *shadowImageView = [[UIImageView alloc] initWithImage:shadowImage];
shadowImageView.contentMode = UIViewContentModeScaleToFill;
shadowImageView.autoresizingMask = UIViewAutoresizingFlexibleWidth | UIViewAutoresizingFlexibleHeight;
shadowImageView.frame = myView.bounds;
[myView addSubview:shadowImageView];
[shadowImageView release]; // only needed if you aren't using ARC

You can also do most of this in interface builder if you prefer, as long as you create the stretchable image itself in code.

Answer 3

This question was already partially answered in SO

view.layer.masksToBounds = NO;
view.layer.cornerRadius = 8; // if you like rounded corners
view.layer.shadowRadius = 5;
view.layer.shadowOpacity = 0.5;
CGFloat indent = 10;
CGRect innerRect = CGRectMake(indent,indent,view.frame.size.width-2*indent,view.frame.size.height-2*indent);
view.layer.shadowPath = [UIBezierPath bezierPathWithRect:innerRect].CGPath;

Play around with the variables until they suit your shadow style.

UPDATE

Instead you can draw an outer shadow on a smaller centered view which lies on top of your existing view.

CGFloat indent = 10;
CGRect innerRect = CGRectMake(indent,indent,view.frame.size.width-2*indent,view.frame.size.height-2*indent);
UIView * shadowView = [[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:innerRect];
shadowView.backgroundColor = [UIColor clearColor];
shadowView.layer.masksToBounds = NO;
shadowView.layer.cornerRadius = 8; // if you like rounded corners
shadowView.layer.shadowRadius = 5;
shadowView.layer.shadowOpacity = 0.5;
shadowView.layer.shadowPath = [UIBezierPath bezierPathWithRect:shadowView.bounds].CGPath;
[view addSubview:shadowView];
[shadowView release];