Equivalent of ListView.setEmptyView in RecyclerView

Question

In RecyclerView, I want to set an empty view to be shown when the adapter is empty. Is there an equivalent of ListView.setEmptyView()?

Answer 1

You can just paint the text on the RecyclerView when it's empty. The following custom subclass supports empty, failed, loading, and offline modes. For successful compilation add recyclerView_stateText color to your resources.

/**
 * {@code RecyclerView} that supports loading and empty states.
 */
public final class SupportRecyclerView extends RecyclerView
{
    public enum State
    {
        NORMAL,
        LOADING,
        EMPTY,
        FAILED,
        OFFLINE
    }

    public SupportRecyclerView(@NonNull Context context)
    {
        super(context);

        setUp(context);
    }

    public SupportRecyclerView(@NonNull Context context, @Nullable AttributeSet attrs)
    {
        super(context, attrs);

        setUp(context);
    }

    public SupportRecyclerView(@NonNull Context context, @Nullable AttributeSet attrs, int defStyle)
    {
        super(context, attrs, defStyle);

        setUp(context);
    }

    private Paint textPaint;
    private Rect textBounds;
    private PointF textOrigin;

    private void setUp(Context c)
    {
        textPaint = new Paint();
        textPaint.setAntiAlias(true);
        textPaint.setColor(ContextCompat.getColor(c, R.color.recyclerView_stateText));

        textBounds = new Rect();
        textOrigin = new PointF();
    }

    private State state;

    public State state()
    {
        return state;
    }

    public void setState(State newState)
    {
        state = newState;
        calculateLayout(getWidth(), getHeight());
        invalidate();
    }

    private String loadingText = "Loading...";

    public void setLoadingText(@StringRes int resId)
    {
        loadingText = getResources().getString(resId);
    }

    private String emptyText = "Empty";

    public void setEmptyText(@StringRes int resId)
    {
        emptyText = getResources().getString(resId);
    }

    private String failedText = "Failed";

    public void setFailedText(@StringRes int resId)
    {
        failedText = getResources().getString(resId);
    }

    private String offlineText = "Offline";

    public void setOfflineText(@StringRes int resId)
    {
        offlineText = getResources().getString(resId);
    }

    @Override
    public void onDraw(Canvas canvas)
    {
        super.onDraw(canvas);

        String s = stringForCurrentState();
        if (s == null)
            return;

        canvas.drawText(s, textOrigin.x, textOrigin.y, textPaint);
    }

    private void calculateLayout(int w, int h)
    {
        String s = stringForCurrentState();
        if (s == null)
            return;

        textPaint.setTextSize(.1f * w);
        textPaint.getTextBounds(s, 0, s.length(), textBounds);

        textOrigin.set(
         w / 2f - textBounds.width() / 2f - textBounds.left,
         h / 2f - textBounds.height() / 2f - textBounds.top);
    }

    @Override
    protected void onSizeChanged(int w, int h, int oldw, int oldh)
    {
        super.onSizeChanged(w, h, oldw, oldh);

        calculateLayout(w, h);
    }

    private String stringForCurrentState()
    {
        if (state == State.EMPTY)
            return emptyText;
        else if (state == State.LOADING)
            return loadingText;
        else if (state == State.FAILED)
            return failedText;
        else if (state == State.OFFLINE)
            return offlineText;
        else
            return null;
    }
}