Views above and below RecyclerView

Question

I have a RecyclerView which displays dynamic content. I would to display this RecyclerView in between other Views. For example, one View displayed above and one View displayed below the RecyclerView:

View
RecyclerView
View

However, whatever I try doesn't seem to be working and the RecyclerView seems to take up the entire space. I believe the problem lies in the wrap_content issue, though I've tried some suggested solutions, such as this custom LinearLayoutManager, yet it doesn't seem to fix my problem.

Attempt:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout  
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:fitsSystemWindows="true">

    <LinearLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:orientation="vertical">

        <!-- AppBar works fine; no issue here -->
        <android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:id="@+id/app_bar_layout">

            <android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
                android:id="@+id/toolbar"
                android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"
                android:layout_width="match_parent"
                app:layout_collapseMode="pin"/>

        </android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout>

        <!-- Not displaying; Tried different views -->
        <com.chrynan.taginput.view.TextInputWrapper
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:id="@+id/edit_text_container">
            <AutoCompleteTextView
                android:layout_width="match_parent"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:id="@+id/edit_text"/>
        </com.chrynan.taginput.view.TextInputWrapper>

        <!-- Takes up entire screen space -->
        <android.support.v4.widget.SwipeRefreshLayout
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:id="@+id/swipe_refresh">

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

        </android.support.v4.widget.SwipeRefreshLayout>

        <!-- Not displaying -->
        <TextView
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:id="@+id/text_view"/>

    </LinearLayout>

</android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout>

Question: Is there a way to place and display a View above and a View below a RecyclerView? If so, how? Or is it better to use a ListView?

Answer 1

What about the usage of weight ?

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout
    xmlns:android="http://..."
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"        
    android:orientation="vertical"
    >

    <View
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        />

    <RecyclerView
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="0dp"
        android:layout_weight="1"
        />

    <View
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        />
</LinearLayout>

Answer 2

This might not be your typical solution, but you can try it nonetheless.

How about using a RelativeLayout instead of LinearLayout, and simply setting the top and bottom padding of your SwipeRefreshLayout to the height of your views as follows.

<android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout
        xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
        xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:fitsSystemWindows="true">

<RelativeLayout
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:orientation="vertical">

    <!-- your app bar -->

    <!-- Not displaying; Tried different views -->
    <com.chrynan.taginput.view.TextInputWrapper
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="150dp"
        android:layout_alignParentTop="true"
        android:id="@+id/edit_text_container"/>

    <!-- Takes up entire screen space -->
    <android.support.v4.widget.SwipeRefreshLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:paddingTop="150dp"
        android:paddingBottom="250dp"
        android:id="@+id/swipe_refresh">

        <android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView

            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:id="@+id/recycler_view"/>

    </android.support.v4.widget.SwipeRefreshLayout>

    <!-- bottom view -->
    <TextView
        android:layout_alignParentBottom="true"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="250dp"
        android:id="@+id/text_view"/>

</RelativeLayout>