I'm trying to create a shadow around a simple UIView object which is added on top of a UIViewController's view. what's the most straight forward way of doing this?
First, be sure to import the Quartz Core library:
#import <QuartzCore/QuartzCore.h>
Next, add the following lines to set up the shadow's properties:
someView.layer.shadowColor = [[UIColor blackColor] CGColor];
someView.layer.shadowOffset = CGSizeMake(10.0f,10.0f);
someView.layer.shadowOpacity = .5f;
someView.layer.shadowRadius = 10.0f;
Keep in mind that if you have that view's clipsToBounds property set to YES, the shadow won't appear.