How implement sticky footer in recyclerview

Improvising on Dmitriy Korobeynikov and solving the problem of calling notify dataset changed

public class StickyFooterItemDecoration extends RecyclerView.ItemDecoration {

  @Override
  public void getItemOffsets(Rect outRect, final View view, final RecyclerView parent,
      RecyclerView.State state) {

    int position = parent.getChildAdapterPosition(view);
    int adapterItemCount = parent.getAdapter().getItemCount();
    if (adapterItemCount == RecyclerView.NO_POSITION || (adapterItemCount - 1) != position) {
      return;
    }
    outRect.top = calculateTopOffset(parent, view, adapterItemCount);
  }


  private int calculateTopOffset(RecyclerView parent, View footerView, int itemCount) {
    int topOffset =
        parent.getHeight() - parent.getPaddingTop() - parent.getPaddingBottom()
            - visibleChildHeightWithFooter(parent, footerView, itemCount);
    return topOffset < 0 ? 0 : topOffset;
  }



  private int visibleChildHeightWithFooter(RecyclerView parent, View footerView, int itemCount) {
    int totalHeight = 0;
    int onScreenItemCount = Math.min(parent.getChildCount(), itemCount);
    for (int i = 0; i < onScreenItemCount - 1; i++) {
      RecyclerView.LayoutParams layoutParams = (RecyclerView.LayoutParams) parent.getChildAt(i)
          .getLayoutParams();
      int height =
          parent.getChildAt(i).getHeight() + layoutParams.topMargin
              + layoutParams.bottomMargin;
      totalHeight += height;
    }
    int footerHeight = footerView.getHeight();
    if (footerHeight == 0) {
      fixLayoutSize(footerView, parent);
      footerHeight = footerView.getHeight();
    }
    footerHeight = footerHeight + footerView.getPaddingBottom() + footerView.getPaddingTop();

    return totalHeight + footerHeight;
  }

  private void fixLayoutSize(View view, ViewGroup parent) {
    // Check if the view has a layout parameter and if it does not create one for it
    if (view.getLayoutParams() == null) {
      view.setLayoutParams(new ViewGroup.LayoutParams(
          ViewGroup.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT, ViewGroup.LayoutParams.WRAP_CONTENT));
    }

    // Create a width and height spec using the parent as an example:
    // For width we make sure that the item matches exactly what it measures from the parent.
    //  IE if layout says to match_parent it will be exactly parent.getWidth()
    int widthSpec = View.MeasureSpec.makeMeasureSpec(parent.getWidth(), View.MeasureSpec.EXACTLY);
    // For the height we are going to create a spec that says it doesn't really care what is calculated,
    //  even if its larger than the screen
    int heightSpec = View.MeasureSpec
        .makeMeasureSpec(parent.getHeight(), View.MeasureSpec.UNSPECIFIED);

    // Get the child specs using the parent spec and the padding the parent has
    int childWidth = ViewGroup.getChildMeasureSpec(widthSpec,
        parent.getPaddingLeft() + parent.getPaddingRight(), view.getLayoutParams().width);
    int childHeight = ViewGroup.getChildMeasureSpec(heightSpec,
        parent.getPaddingTop() + parent.getPaddingBottom(), view.getLayoutParams().height);

    // Finally we measure the sizes with the actual view which does margin and padding changes to the sizes calculated
    view.measure(childWidth, childHeight);

    // And now we setup the layout for the view to ensure it has the correct sizes.
    view.layout(0, 0, view.getMeasuredWidth(), view.getMeasuredHeight());
  }
}

You can use RecyclerView.ItemDecoration to implement this behavior.

public class StickyFooterItemDecoration extends RecyclerView.ItemDecoration {

    /**
     * Top offset to completely hide footer from the screen and therefore avoid noticeable blink during changing position of the footer.
     */
    private static final int OFF_SCREEN_OFFSET = 5000;

    @Override
    public void getItemOffsets(Rect outRect, final View view, final RecyclerView parent, RecyclerView.State state) {
        int adapterItemCount = parent.getAdapter().getItemCount();
        if (isFooter(parent, view, adapterItemCount)) {
            //For the first time, each view doesn't contain any parameters related to its size,
            //hence we can't calculate the appropriate offset.
            //In this case, set a big top offset and notify adapter to update footer one more time.
            //Also, we shouldn't do it if footer became visible after scrolling.
            if (view.getHeight() == 0 && state.didStructureChange()) {
                hideFooterAndUpdate(outRect, view, parent);
            } else {
                outRect.set(0, calculateTopOffset(parent, view, adapterItemCount), 0, 0);
            }
        }
    }

    private void hideFooterAndUpdate(Rect outRect, final View footerView, final RecyclerView parent) {
        outRect.set(0, OFF_SCREEN_OFFSET, 0, 0);
        footerView.post(new Runnable() {
            @Override
            public void run() {
                parent.getAdapter().notifyDataSetChanged();
            }
        });
    }

    private int calculateTopOffset(RecyclerView parent, View footerView, int itemCount) {
        int topOffset = parent.getHeight() - visibleChildsHeightWithFooter(parent, footerView, itemCount);
        return topOffset < 0 ? 0 : topOffset;
    }

    private int visibleChildsHeightWithFooter(RecyclerView parent, View footerView, int itemCount) {
        int totalHeight = 0;
        //In the case of dynamic content when adding or removing are possible itemCount from the adapter is reliable,
        //but when the screen can fit fewer items than in adapter, getChildCount() from RecyclerView should be used.
        int onScreenItemCount = Math.min(parent.getChildCount(), itemCount);
        for (int i = 0; i < onScreenItemCount - 1; i++) {
            totalHeight += parent.getChildAt(i).getHeight();
        }
        return totalHeight + footerView.getHeight();
    }

    private boolean isFooter(RecyclerView parent, View view, int itemCount) {
        return parent.getChildAdapterPosition(view) == itemCount - 1;
    }
}

Make sure to set match_parent for the RecyclerView height.

Please have a look at the sample application https://github.com/JohnKuper/recyclerview-sticky-footer and how it works http://sendvid.com/nbpj0806

A Huge drawback of this solution is it works correctly only after notifyDataSetChanged() throughout an application(not inside decoration). With more specific notifications it won't work properly and to support them, it requires a way more logic. Also, you can get insights from the library recyclerview-stickyheaders by eowise and improve this solution.