Rectangle shape as background causes black background

Question

I would like to create a border around my RableRow. I am using the following shape as background.

bg_stroke_dotted_right

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <layer-list  xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
        <item
            android:top="-4dp"
            android:left="-2dp"
            android:bottom="-4dp" 

            android:drawable="@drawable/stroke_dotted">
        </item>
    </layer-list>

stroked_dotted drawable

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >
        <solid android:color="#000000" />
        <stroke
            android:dashGap="4dp"
            android:dashWidth="2dp"
            android:width="2dp"
            android:color="@color/greyDark" />

    </shape>

I do not understand why using "bg_stroke_dotted_right" as bg - files the background with black color. As soon as I add "bg_stroke_dotted_right" as bg - the bg turns to black.

        <TableRow
            android:id="@+id/tableRow2"
            android:layout_width="wrap_content"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:background="@drawable/bg_stroke_dotted_right"
            >

Answer 1

in the shape try this :

<solid android:color="#00000000" />

in this case the first 2 "00" are the alpha of the colors, and "00" meand transparent.

enjoy!

Answer 2

The accepted answer suggests to use transparent in the solid element. Where as this is the reason for the bug (missing the solid element falls back to black on android <4.2) the solution is not the most optimal.

For starters instead of hard code the colour you can use @android:color/transparent however it's potentially best to use @null so that it doesn't overdraw. Something like this:

<solid android:color="@null" />