How to set specific height at run time for Sliding layout?

I am building an app that uses this library:http://ift.tt/1iF8uYH to create a panel that slides on from the bottom of the screen when a user clicks an item in a listview. However i dont want the slide up panel to take up the entire screen. I need there to be a gap at the top, between the panel and the action bar, of exactly 80dp. I have tried everything i can think of (putting a spacer there with a transparant background, using layoutParams (gives error), etc). But nothing seems to work.

If someone could give me some suggestions as to what i could try next, i would much appreciate it.

The xml layouts are below.

Thanks for your time.

Corey

<com.bacon.corey.audiotimeshift.SlidingUpPanelLayout xmlns:sothree="http://ift.tt/GEGVYd"
    xmlns:android="http://ift.tt/nIICcg"
    android:id="@+id/sliding_layout"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:gravity="bottom"
    sothree:panelHeight="68dp"
    sothree:shadowHeight="4dp"
    sothree:overlay="true">

    <FrameLayout xmlns:android="http://ift.tt/nIICcg"
        xmlns:app="http://ift.tt/GEGVYd"
        android:orientation="vertical"
        android:padding="4dip"
        android:gravity="center_horizontal"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent">

        <LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://ift.tt/nIICcg"
            xmlns:app="http://ift.tt/GEGVYd"
            android:orientation="vertical"
            android:padding="4dip"
            android:gravity="center_horizontal"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="match_parent">

            <android.support.v4.view.ViewPager
                android:id="@+id/viewPager"
                android:layout_width="match_parent"
                android:layout_height="0px"
                android:layout_weight="1">

            </android.support.v4.view.ViewPager>

        </LinearLayout>

        <com.bacon.corey.audiotimeshift.FloatingActionButton
            android:id="@+id/fabbutton"
            android:layout_width="72dp"
            android:layout_height="72dp"
            android:layout_gravity="bottom|right"
            android:layout_marginBottom="16dp"
            android:layout_marginRight="16dp"
            app:colour="@color/holo_red_light"
            app:drawable="@drawable/ic_content_new"

        />

    </FrameLayout>
    <FrameLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:gravity="center|top"
        android:textSize="16sp"
        android:id="@+id/slideUpPanel"

        android:background="@android:color/transparent"
        >

            <fragment android:name="com.bacon.corey.audiotimeshift.PlayFragment"
                android:layout_width="match_parent"
                android:layout_height="match_parent"
                android:id="@+id/fragment_play"

                />
    </FrameLayout>

</com.bacon.corey.audiotimeshift.SlidingUpPanelLayout>