Question

I’m looking for method to add gradually fading or maybe blured border (I don’t exactly know how to name this effect) to arbitrary UIView. I don’t need animated effect, I need static effect, for example I my UITableView border being partially transparent. I’ve made the example:

So you can see what I’m trying to do.

Can anyone help me?

Answer 1

I’ve found a solution – I’ve useed CALayer’s property mask:

 CALayer *viewLayer = [back layer];
 CALayer* maskCompoudLayer = [CALayer layer];

 maskLayer.bounds = viewLayer.bounds;

 [maskLayer setPosition:CGPointMake(160, CGRectGetHeight(maskCompoudLayer.frame)/2.0)];     

 CGColorSpaceRef colorSpace = CGColorSpaceCreateDeviceRGB();
 CGContextRef context = CGBitmapContextCreate (NULL, 320, 480, 8, 0, colorSpace, kCGImageAlphaPremultipliedLast);     

 CGFloat colors[] = {
      0.5, 0.5, 0.5, 0.0, //BLACK
      0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, //BLACK
 };     

 CGGradientRef gradient = CGGradientCreateWithColorComponents(colorSpace, colors, NULL, sizeof(colors)/(sizeof(colors[0])*4));     
 CGColorSpaceRelease(colorSpace);     

 NSUInteger gradientH = 20;
 NSUInteger gradientHPos = 0;

 CGContextSetFillColorWithColor(context, [UIColor colorWithRed:0.0 green:0.0 blue:0.0 alpha:1.0].CGColor);
 CGContextFillRect(context, CGRectMake(0, gradientHPos + gradientH, CGRectGetWidth(maskLayer.frame), CGRectGetHeight(maskLayer.frame)));     

 CGContextSetFillColorWithColor(context, [UIColor colorWithRed:0.5 green:0.5 blue:0.5 alpha:0.0].CGColor);
 CGContextFillRect(context, CGRectMake(0, 0, 320, gradientHPos));

 CGContextDrawLinearGradient(context, gradient, CGPointMake(160, gradientHPos), CGPointMake(160, gradientHPos + gradientH), 0);     
 CGGradientRelease(gradient);     

 CGImageRef contextImage = CGBitmapContextCreateImage(context);
 CGContextRelease(context);     

 [maskLayer setContents:(id)contextImage];

 CGImageRelease (contextImage);

 viewLayer.masksToBounds = YES;
 viewLayer.mask = maskCompoudLayer;

Using this code I have UITableView with fading border