Question: Is it possible to create an Android shape object with stroke on only certain sides?

Eg I have:

```
<stroke 
 android:width="3dip" 
 android:color="#000000"
    android:dashWidth="10dip" 
    android:dashGap="6dip" />

```

Which is similar to this CSS:

```
border: 3px dashed black;

```

How can I set the stroke on just one side? This is how I would do it in CSS:

```
border-left: 3px dashed black;

```

How do you do this in Android XML?

Answer: 
@Maragues's answer is backwards, as layer-list drawables draw from top to bottom (meaning the last item in the list is drawn on top):

```
<layer-list xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<!-- This is the line -->
<item>
      <shape>
            <solid android:color="#535353" />
      </shape>
</item>
<!-- This is the main color -->
<item android:bottom="1dp">
     <shape>
           <solid android:color="#252525" />
     </shape>
</item>

</layer-list>

```

This will effectively fill the shape with the line color, then draw the background color on top of it, leaving the last 1dp clear for the line color to show through.
Simple and efficient
--------------------

To have a transparent view and everything that is outside has an overlay of some color, what you can do is **build the views that encapsulate the center view without the outside views stepping on the center view**.

This way you avoid having a drawable external to the layout and you have more control over the distances of the views without having to perform calculations at runtime.

```
<androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout .. >

    <View
        android:id="@+id/center"
        android:layout_width="100dp"
        android:layout_height="100dp"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
        android:background="@color/transparent"/>

   <View
        android:id="@+id/left_overlay"
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="0dp"
        app:layout_constraintLeft_toLeftOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintRight_toLeftOf="@id/center"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@id/top_overlay"
        app:layout_constraintBottom_toTopOf="@id/bottom_overlay"
        android:background="@color/black"
        android:alpha="0.5"
        />

    <View
        android:id="@+id/right_overlay"
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="0dp"
        app:layout_constraintLeft_toRightOf="@id/center"
        app:layout_constraintRight_toRightOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@id/top_overlay"
        app:layout_constraintBottom_toTopOf="@id/bottom_overlay"
        android:background="@color/black"
        android:alpha="0.5"
        />

    <View
        android:id="@+id/top_overlay"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="0dp"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintBottom_toTopOf="@id/center"
        android:background="@color/black"
        android:alpha="0.5"
        />

    <View
        android:id="@+id/bottom_overlay"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="0dp"
        app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@id/center"
        android:background="@color/black"
        android:alpha="0.5"
        />

</androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>

```

GL