List activity with header, footer and empty all visible

Question

I would like to have the listview in a ListActivity be displayed with the header and footer visible all the time even if the list data is empty.

An empty list causes

Answer 1

In my case I had both header and footer views. I placed my mEmptyView in footer view.

First, as user1034295 mentioned, I overrided adapter's isEmpty() method:

@Override
public boolean isEmpty() {
// If not overridden, then this will return `true` if your list is empty
// Thus, you won't see header/footer views
   return false;
}

ExpandableListView adapter's getGroupCount(). Override appropriate method for your adapter.

@Override
public int getGroupCount() {
    int size = null != mData ? mData.size() : 0;
    if (0 == size) mHostFragment.toggleEmptyView(true);
    else mHostFragment.toggleEmptyView(false);
    return size;
}

In you activity/fragment

public void toggleEmptyView(boolean show) {
    if(show && mEmptyView.getVisibility() != View.VISIBLE)
        mEmptyView.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
    else if (!show && mEmptyView.getVisibility() != View.GONE)
        mEmptyView.setVisibility(View.GONE);
}

mEmptyView is a child in ListView's footer view. So, when your list becomes 0 sized you'll get your header/footer views remained + mEmptyView will become visible.