Make empty view take up remaining space after RecyclerView?

Question

I'm trying to make an empty view that is colored take up the remaining space after a RecyclerView. I've looked at different StackOverflow solutions but nothing works. Essentially I want something like this :

________________________
|                       |
|                       |
|                       |
|    Recycler view      |
|                       |
|  -------------------  |
|    colored empty view |
|                       |
|                       |
|                       |
|                       |
|                       |
_________________________

It should shrink as the RecyclerView grows. 

________________________
|                       |
|                       |
|                       |
|    Recycler view      |
|                       |
|                       |
|                       |
|                       |
|                       |
|  -------------------  |
|    colored empty view |
|                       |
|                       |
_________________________

However if the RecyclerView exceeds one screen's worth, there should be no empty view. Here's what I have so far:

 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<FrameLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:fab="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:id="@+id/bla_bla_layout">


    <android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView
        android:id="@+id/bla_bla_recyclerview"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"/>

    <View
        android:background="@color/grayBackground"
        android:layout_gravity="bottom"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"/>

    <com.melnykov.fab.FloatingActionButton
        android:id="@+id/fab"
        android:contentDescription="@string/add_bla"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_gravity="bottom|right"
        android:layout_margin="16dp"
        android:src="@drawable/add_bla_icon"
        fab:fab_colorNormal="@color/primary"
        fab:fab_colorPressed="@color/primary_pressed"
        fab:fab_colorRipple="@color/ripple" />

</FrameLayout>

EDIT This is not a duplicate of the mentioned question and you could see this if you read both questions. The solution to my question should be purely xml, layout based. By "empty view" I mean just some colored rectangle BELOW the existing RecyclerView, not a textview that actually says "Empty view" when there's no data in the RecylerView.

Answer 1

Recycler view calculate its height at runtime and we uses LinearLayoutManager to specify its height and width.

But problem is that, right now LinearLayoutManager does not support wrap_content it uses always match_parent for it's height.

So you have to use this LinearLayoutManager not android.support.v7.widget.LinearLayoutManager.

copy above java class in your package and use it like below,

LinearLayoutManager linearLayoutManager = new LinearLayoutManager(this,
            LinearLayoutManager.VERTICAL, false);
recyclerView.setLayoutManager(linearLayoutManager);
// if it has fixed size
recyclerView.setHasFixedSize(true);

I tested it and its working as you need.