How to draw border on just one side of a linear layout?

Question

You can use this to get border on one side

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<layer-list xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<item>
    <shape android:shape="rectangle">
        <solid android:color="#FF0000" />
    </shape>
</item>
<item android:left="5dp">
    <shape android:shape="rectangle">
        <solid android:color="#000000" />
    </shape>
</item>
</layer-list>

EDITED

As many including me wanted to have a one side border with transparent background, I have implemented a BorderDrawable which could give me borders with different size and color in the same way as we use css. But this could not be used via xml. For supporting XML, I have added a BorderFrameLayout in which your layout can be wrapped.

See my github for the complete source.

Easy as pie, allowing a transparent bg:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<shape xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:shape="rectangle">
    <gradient
        android:angle="0"
        android:startColor="#f00"
        android:centerColor="@android:color/transparent"
        android:centerX="0.01" />
</shape>

Change the angle to change border location:

• 0 = left
• 90 = bottom
• 180 = right
• 270 = top

it is also possible to implement what you want using a single layer

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<layer-list xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >

    <item
        android:bottom="-5dp"
        android:right="-5dp"
        android:top="-5dp">
        <shape android:shape="rectangle" >
            <solid android:color="@color/color_of_the_background" />

            <stroke
                android:width="5dp"
                android:color="@color/color_of_the_border" />
        </shape>
    </item>

</layer-list>

this way only left border is visible but you can achieve any combination you want by playing with bottom, left, right and top attributes of the item element

To get a border on just one side of a drawable, apply a negative inset to the other 3 sides (causing those borders to be drawn off-screen).

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<inset xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:insetTop="-2dp" 
    android:insetBottom="-2dp"
    android:insetLeft="-2dp">

    <shape android:shape="rectangle">
        <stroke android:width="2dp" android:color="#FF0000" />
        <solid android:color="#000000" />
    </shape>

</inset>

This approach is similar to naykah's answer, but without the use of a layer-list.

An other great example

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?> 
<inset xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
     android:insetRight="-2dp">

     <shape android:shape="rectangle">
         <corners
             android:bottomLeftRadius="4dp"
             android:bottomRightRadius="0dp"
             android:topLeftRadius="4dp"
             android:topRightRadius="0dp" />
         <stroke
             android:width="1dp"
             android:color="@color/nasty_green" />
         <solid android:color="@android:color/transparent" />
     </shape>

</inset>

As an alternative (if you don't want to use background), you can easily do it by making a view as follows:

<View
    android:layout_width="2dp"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:background="#000000" />

For having a right border only, place this after the layout (where you want to have the border):

<View
    android:layout_width="2dp"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:background="#000000" />

For having a left border only, place this before the layout (where you want to have the border):

Worked for me...Hope its of some help....

I was able to achieve the effect with the following code

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<layer-list xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" >
    <item android:left="0dp" android:right="-5dp" android:top="-5dp" android:bottom="-5dp">
        <shape
        android:shape="rectangle">
            <stroke android:width="1dp" android:color="#123456" />
        </shape>
    </item>
</layer-list>

You can adjust to your needs for border position by changing the direction of displacement