How to add dividers and spaces between items in RecyclerView?

Question

This is an example of how it could have been done previously in the ListView class, using the divider and dividerHeight parame

Answer 1

This link worked like a charm for me:

https://gist.github.com/lapastillaroja/858caf1a82791b6c1a36

import android.content.Context;
import android.content.res.TypedArray;
import android.graphics.Canvas;
import android.graphics.Rect;
import android.graphics.drawable.Drawable;
import android.support.v7.widget.LinearLayoutManager;
import android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView;
import android.util.AttributeSet;
import android.view.View;

public class DividerItemDecoration extends RecyclerView.ItemDecoration {

    private Drawable mDivider;
    private boolean mShowFirstDivider = false;
    private boolean mShowLastDivider = false;


    public DividerItemDecoration(Context context, AttributeSet attrs) {
        final TypedArray a = context
                .obtainStyledAttributes(attrs, new int[]{android.R.attr.listDivider});
        mDivider = a.getDrawable(0);
        a.recycle();
    }

    public DividerItemDecoration(Context context, AttributeSet attrs, boolean showFirstDivider,
            boolean showLastDivider) {
        this(context, attrs);
        mShowFirstDivider = showFirstDivider;
        mShowLastDivider = showLastDivider;
    }

    public DividerItemDecoration(Drawable divider) {
        mDivider = divider;
    }

    public DividerItemDecoration(Drawable divider, boolean showFirstDivider,
            boolean showLastDivider) {
        this(divider);
        mShowFirstDivider = showFirstDivider;
        mShowLastDivider = showLastDivider;
    }

    @Override
    public void getItemOffsets(Rect outRect, View view, RecyclerView parent,
            RecyclerView.State state) {
        super.getItemOffsets(outRect, view, parent, state);
        if (mDivider == null) {
            return;
        }
        if (parent.getChildPosition(view) < 1) {
            return;
        }

        if (getOrientation(parent) == LinearLayoutManager.VERTICAL) {
            outRect.top = mDivider.getIntrinsicHeight();
        } else {
            outRect.left = mDivider.getIntrinsicWidth();
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void onDrawOver(Canvas c, RecyclerView parent, RecyclerView.State state) {
        if (mDivider == null) {
            super.onDrawOver(c, parent, state);
            return;
        }

        // Initialization needed to avoid compiler warning
        int left = 0, right = 0, top = 0, bottom = 0, size;
        int orientation = getOrientation(parent);
        int childCount = parent.getChildCount();

        if (orientation == LinearLayoutManager.VERTICAL) {
            size = mDivider.getIntrinsicHeight();
            left = parent.getPaddingLeft();
            right = parent.getWidth() - parent.getPaddingRight();
        } else { //horizontal
            size = mDivider.getIntrinsicWidth();
            top = parent.getPaddingTop();
            bottom = parent.getHeight() - parent.getPaddingBottom();
        }

        for (int i = mShowFirstDivider ? 0 : 1; i < childCount; i++) {
            View child = parent.getChildAt(i);
            RecyclerView.LayoutParams params = (RecyclerView.LayoutParams) child.getLayoutParams();

            if (orientation == LinearLayoutManager.VERTICAL) {
                top = child.getTop() - params.topMargin;
                bottom = top + size;
            } else { //horizontal
                left = child.getLeft() - params.leftMargin;
                right = left + size;
            }
            mDivider.setBounds(left, top, right, bottom);
            mDivider.draw(c);
        }

        // show last divider
        if (mShowLastDivider && childCount > 0) {
            View child = parent.getChildAt(childCount - 1);
            RecyclerView.LayoutParams params = (RecyclerView.LayoutParams) child.getLayoutParams();
            if (orientation == LinearLayoutManager.VERTICAL) {
                top = child.getBottom() + params.bottomMargin;
                bottom = top + size;
            } else { // horizontal
                left = child.getRight() + params.rightMargin;
                right = left + size;
            }
            mDivider.setBounds(left, top, right, bottom);
            mDivider.draw(c);
        }
    }

    private int getOrientation(RecyclerView parent) {
        if (parent.getLayoutManager() instanceof LinearLayoutManager) {
            LinearLayoutManager layoutManager = (LinearLayoutManager) parent.getLayoutManager();
            return layoutManager.getOrientation();
        } else {
            throw new IllegalStateException(
                    "DividerItemDecoration can only be used with a LinearLayoutManager.");
        }
    }
}

Then in your activity:

mCategoryRecyclerView.addItemDecoration(
    new DividerItemDecoration(this, null));

Or this if you are using a fragment:

mCategoryRecyclerView.addItemDecoration(
    new DividerItemDecoration(getActivity(), null));