Is there an addHeaderView equivalent for RecyclerView?

I'm looking for an equivalent to addHeaderView for a recycler view. Basically I want to have an image with 2 buttons be added as a header to the listview. Is there a different way to add a header view to a recycler view? An example for guidance would be helpful

EDIT 2 (added fragment layouts):

After adding log statements, it seems as though getViewType only ever receives a position of 0. This leads to onCreateView only loading the one layout:

10-26 16:32:53.766    5449-5449/co.testapp I/logger info﹕ Adapter-> getItemCount: 5
10-26 16:32:53.766    5449-5449/co.testapp I/logger info﹕ Adapter-> getItemCount: 5
10-26 16:32:53.766    5449-5449/co.testapp I/logger info﹕ Adapter-> getItemCount: 5
10-26 16:32:53.766    5449-5449/co.testapp I/logger info﹕ Adapter-> getItemCount: 5
10-26 16:32:53.766    5449-5449/co.testapp I/logger info﹕ Adapter-> getItemCount: 5
10-26 16:32:53.766    5449-5449/co.testapp I/logger info﹕ Adapter-> getItemCount: 5
10-26 16:32:53.766    5449-5449/co.testapp I/logger info﹕ Adapter-> getItemCount: 5
10-26 16:32:53.766    5449-5449/co.testapp I/logger info﹕ Adapter-> getItemCount: 5
10-26 16:32:53.766    5449-5449/co.testapp I/logger info﹕ Adapter-> getItemCount: 5
10-26 16:32:53.766    5449-5449/co.testapp I/logger info﹕ Adapter-> getItemCount: 5
10-26 16:32:53.766    5449-5449/co.testapp I/logger info﹕ Adapter-> getItemCount: 5
10-26 16:32:53.766    5449-5449/co.testapp I/logger info﹕ Adapter-> getItemViewType position: 0
10-26 16:32:53.766    5449-5449/co.testapp I/logger info﹕ Adapter-> getItemViewType position: 0
10-26 16:32:53.766    5449-5449/co.testapp I/logger info﹕ Adapter-> getItemViewType position: 0
10-26 16:32:53.766    5449-5449/co.testapp I/logger info﹕ Adapter-> onCreateViewHolder, viewtype: 0
10-26 16:32:53.766    5449-5449/co.testapp I/logger info﹕ Adapter-> onBindViewHolder, viewType: 0

The fragment transition to load the CommentFragment:

@Override
public void onPhotoFeedItemClick(View view, int position) {
    if (fragmentManager == null)
        fragmentManager = getSupportFragmentManager();

FragmentTransaction fragmentTransaction = fragmentManager.beginTransaction();

    if (view.getId() == R.id.button_comment){
        CommentFragment commentFragment = CommentFragment.newInstance("","", position);
        fragmentTransaction.add(R.id.main_activity, commentFragment,"comment_fragment_tag");
        fragmentTransaction.addToBackStack(Constants.TAG_COMMENTS);
        fragmentTransaction.commit();
    }
}

The Fragment's onCreateView:

@Override
public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container,
                         Bundle savedInstanceState) {

    View view = inflater.inflate(R.layout.fragment_comment, container, false);
    mRecyclerView = (RecyclerView) view.findViewById(R.id.list_recylclerview);
    mRecyclerView.setLayoutManager(new LinearLayoutManager(_context));
    mRecyclerView.setItemAnimator(new DefaultItemAnimator());
    mAdapter = new CommentAdapter(R.layout.row_list_comments, R.layout.row_header_comments, _context, comments);
    mRecyclerView.setAdapter(mAdapter);
    return view;
}

The fragment containing the recycleview:

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    tools:context="co.testapp.fragments.CommentFragment"
    android:background="@color/white">
        <RelativeLayout
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:layout_height="fill_parent"
            android:orientation="vertical">
            <android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView
                xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
                android:id="@+id/list_recylclerview"
                android:layout_width="match_parent"
                android:layout_height="200dp" />
        </RelativeLayout>
</RelativeLayout>

The comments row layout:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:orientation="vertical" android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent" android:layout_margin="10dp"
    android:background="@color/white">
    <!--Profile Picture-->
    <ImageView
        android:layout_width="80dp"
        android:layout_height="80dp"
        android:id="@+id/profile_picture"
        android:background="@color/blue_testapp"/>
    <!--Name-->
    <TextView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginLeft="10dp"
        android:text="First Name Last Name"
        android:textSize="16dp"
        android:textColor="@color/blue_testapp"
        android:id="@+id/name_of_poster"
        android:layout_toRightOf="@id/profile_picture"
        />
    <!--Comment-->
    <TextView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_margin="10dp"
        android:layout_marginTop="-5dp"
        android:text="This is a test comment"
        android:textSize="14dp"
        android:textColor="@color/black"
        android:id="@+id/comment"
        android:layout_below="@id/name_of_poster"
        android:layout_toRightOf="@id/profile_picture"/>
</RelativeLayout>

The header

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
              android:orientation="vertical"
              android:layout_width="match_parent"
              android:layout_height="match_parent">
    <ImageView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="300dp"
        android:id="@+id/header_photo"
        android:layout_gravity="center_horizontal"/>
</LinearLayout>

The Adapter code (thanks to hister for getting me started):

public class CommentAdapter extends RecyclerView.Adapter<ViewHolder>{

    private final int rowCardLayout;
    public static Context mContext;
    private final int headerLayout;
    private final String [] comments;
    private static final int HEADER = 0;
    private static final int OTHER = 1;

    public CommentAdapter(int rowCardLayout, int headerLayout, Context context, String [] comments) {
        this.rowCardLayout = rowCardLayout;
        this.mContext = context;
        this.comments = comments;
        this.headerLayout = headerLayout;
    }

    @Override
    public ViewHolder onCreateViewHolder(ViewGroup viewGroup, int i) {
        logger.i("onCreateViewHolder, viewtype: " + i); //viewtype always returns 0 so OTHER layout is never inflated
        if (i == HEADER) {
            View v = LayoutInflater.from(viewGroup.getContext()).inflate(headerLayout, viewGroup, false);
            return new ViewHolderHeader(v);
        }
        else if (i == OTHER){
            View v = LayoutInflater.from(viewGroup.getContext()).inflate(rowCardLayout, viewGroup, false);
            return new ViewHolderComments(v);
        }
        else 
          throw new RuntimeException("Could not inflate layout");
    }

    @Override
    public void onBindViewHolder(ViewHolder viewHolder, int i) {
        logger.i("onBindViewHolder, viewType: " + i);

        if (viewHolder instanceof ViewHolderComments)
            ((ViewHolderComments) viewHolder).comment.setText(comments[i].toString());
        if (viewHolder instanceof ViewHolderHeader)
           ((ViewHolderHeader) viewHolder).header.setImageResource(R.drawable.image2);
        else {
            logger.e("no instance of viewholder found");
        }
    }

    @Override
    public int getItemCount() {
        int count = comments.length + 1;
        logger.i("getItemCount: " + count);
        return count;
    }

    @Override
    public int getItemViewType(int position) {
        logger.i("getItemViewType position: " + position);
        if (position == HEADER)
            return HEADER;
        else
            return OTHER;
    }

    public static class ViewHolderComments extends RecyclerView.ViewHolder {
        public TextView comment;
        public ImageView image;

        public ViewHolderComments(View itemView) {
            super(itemView);
            comment = (TextView) itemView.findViewById(R.id.comment);
            image = (ImageView) itemView.findViewById(R.id.image);
        }
    }

    public static class ViewHolderHeader extends RecyclerView.ViewHolder {
        public final ImageView header;

        public ViewHolderHeader(View itemView){
            super(itemView);
            header = (ImageView) itemView.findViewById(R.id.header_photo);
        }
    }
}

Using the above code, only the header layout is displayed as viewType is always 0. It looks like this. If I force the other layout it looks like this:

There isn't an easy way like listview.addHeaderView() but you can achieve this by adding a type to your adapter for header.

Here is an example

public class HeaderAdapter extends RecyclerView.Adapter<RecyclerView.ViewHolder> {
    private static final int TYPE_HEADER = 0;
    private static final int TYPE_ITEM = 1;
    String[] data;

    public HeaderAdapter(String[] data) {
        this.data = data;
    }

    @Override
    public RecyclerView.ViewHolder onCreateViewHolder(ViewGroup parent, int viewType) {
        if (viewType == TYPE_ITEM) {
            //inflate your layout and pass it to view holder
            return new VHItem(null);
        } else if (viewType == TYPE_HEADER) {
            //inflate your layout and pass it to view holder
            return new VHHeader(null);
        }

        throw new RuntimeException("there is no type that matches the type " + viewType + " + make sure your using types correctly");
    }

    @Override
    public void onBindViewHolder(RecyclerView.ViewHolder holder, int position) {
        if (holder instanceof VHItem) {
            String dataItem = getItem(position);
            //cast holder to VHItem and set data
        } else if (holder instanceof VHHeader) {
            //cast holder to VHHeader and set data for header.
        }
    }

    @Override
    public int getItemCount() {
        return data.length + 1;
    }

    @Override
    public int getItemViewType(int position) {
        if (isPositionHeader(position))
            return TYPE_HEADER;

        return TYPE_ITEM;
    }

    private boolean isPositionHeader(int position) {
        return position == 0;
    }

    private String getItem(int position) {
        return data[position - 1];
    }

    class VHItem extends RecyclerView.ViewHolder {
        TextView title;

        public VHItem(View itemView) {
            super(itemView);
        }
    }

    class VHHeader extends RecyclerView.ViewHolder {
        Button button;

        public VHHeader(View itemView) {
            super(itemView);
        }
    }
}

link to gist -> here

Easy and reusable ItemDecoration

Static headers can easily be added with an ItemDecoration and without any further changes.

// add the decoration. done.
HeaderDecoration headerDecoration = new HeaderDecoration(/* init */);
recyclerView.addItemDecoration(headerDecoration);

The decoration is also reusable since there is no need to modify the adapter or the RecyclerView at all.

The sample code provided below will require a view to add to the top which can just be inflated like everything else. It can look like this:

Why static?

If you just have to display text and images this solution is for you—there is no possibility for user interaction like buttons or view pagers, since it will just be drawn to top of your list.

Empty list handling

If there is no view to decorate, the decoration will not be drawn. You will still have to handle an empty list yourself. (One possible workaround would be to add a dummy item to the adapter.)

The code

You can find the full source code here on GitHub including a Builder to help with the initialization of the decorator, or just use the code below and supply your own values to the constructor.

Please be sure to set a correct layout_height for your view. e.g. match_parent might not work properly.

public class HeaderDecoration extends RecyclerView.ItemDecoration {

    private final View mView;
    private final boolean mHorizontal;
    private final float mParallax;
    private final float mShadowSize;
    private final int mColumns;
    private final Paint mShadowPaint;

    public HeaderDecoration(View view, boolean scrollsHorizontally, float parallax, float shadowSize, int columns) {
        mView = view;
        mHorizontal = scrollsHorizontally;
        mParallax = parallax;
        mShadowSize = shadowSize;
        mColumns = columns;

        if (mShadowSize > 0) {
            mShadowPaint = new Paint();
            mShadowPaint.setShader(mHorizontal ?
                    new LinearGradient(mShadowSize, 0, 0, 0,
                            new int[]{Color.argb(55, 0, 0, 0), Color.argb(55, 0, 0, 0), Color.argb(3, 0, 0, 0)},
                            new float[]{0f, .5f, 1f},
                            Shader.TileMode.CLAMP) :
                    new LinearGradient(0, mShadowSize, 0, 0,
                            new int[]{Color.argb(55, 0, 0, 0), Color.argb(55, 0, 0, 0), Color.argb(3, 0, 0, 0)},
                            new float[]{0f, .5f, 1f},
                            Shader.TileMode.CLAMP));
        } else {
            mShadowPaint = null;
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void onDraw(Canvas c, RecyclerView parent, RecyclerView.State state) {
        super.onDraw(c, parent, state);
        // layout basically just gets drawn on the reserved space on top of the first view
        mView.layout(parent.getLeft(), 0, parent.getRight(), mView.getMeasuredHeight());

        for (int i = 0; i < parent.getChildCount(); i++) {
            View view = parent.getChildAt(i);
            if (parent.getChildAdapterPosition(view) == 0) {
                c.save();
                if (mHorizontal) {
                    c.clipRect(parent.getLeft(), parent.getTop(), view.getLeft(), parent.getBottom());
                    final int width = mView.getMeasuredWidth();
                    final float left = (view.getLeft() - width) * mParallax;
                    c.translate(left, 0);
                    mView.draw(c);
                    if (mShadowSize > 0) {
                        c.translate(view.getLeft() - left - mShadowSize, 0);
                        c.drawRect(parent.getLeft(), parent.getTop(), mShadowSize, parent.getBottom(), mShadowPaint);
                    }
                } else {
                    c.clipRect(parent.getLeft(), parent.getTop(), parent.getRight(), view.getTop());
                    final int height = mView.getMeasuredHeight();
                    final float top = (view.getTop() - height) * mParallax;
                    c.translate(0, top);
                    mView.draw(c);
                    if (mShadowSize > 0) {
                        c.translate(0, view.getTop() - top - mShadowSize);
                        c.drawRect(parent.getLeft(), parent.getTop(), parent.getRight(), mShadowSize, mShadowPaint);
                    }
                }
                c.restore();
                break;
            }
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void getItemOffsets(Rect outRect, View view, RecyclerView parent, RecyclerView.State state) {
        if (parent.getChildAdapterPosition(view) < mColumns) {
            if (mHorizontal) {
                if (mView.getMeasuredWidth() <= 0) {
                    mView.measure(View.MeasureSpec.makeMeasureSpec(parent.getMeasuredWidth(), View.MeasureSpec.AT_MOST),
                            View.MeasureSpec.makeMeasureSpec(parent.getMeasuredHeight(), View.MeasureSpec.AT_MOST));
                }
                outRect.set(mView.getMeasuredWidth(), 0, 0, 0);
            } else {
                if (mView.getMeasuredHeight() <= 0) {
                    mView.measure(View.MeasureSpec.makeMeasureSpec(parent.getMeasuredWidth(), View.MeasureSpec.AT_MOST),
                            View.MeasureSpec.makeMeasureSpec(parent.getMeasuredHeight(), View.MeasureSpec.AT_MOST));
                }
                outRect.set(0, mView.getMeasuredHeight(), 0, 0);
            }
        } else {
            outRect.setEmpty();
        }
    }
}

Please note: The GitHub project is my personal playground. It is not thorougly tested, which is why there is no library yet.

What does it do?

An ItemDecoration is additional drawing to an item of a list. In this case, a decoration is drawn to the top of the first item.

The view gets measured and laid out, then it is drawn to the top of the first item. If a parallax effect is added it will also be clipped to the correct bounds.

Feel free to use my library, available here.

It let's you create header View for any RecyclerView that uses LinearLayoutManager or GridLayoutManager with just a simple method call.

Going to show you to make header with items in a Recycler view.

Step 1- Add dependency into your gradle file.

compile 'com.android.support:recyclerview-v7:23.2.0'
// CardView
compile 'com.android.support:cardview-v7:23.2.0'

Cardview is used for decoration purpose.

Step2- Make three xml files. One for main activity.Second for Header layout.Third for list item layout.

activity_main.xml

<android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:id="@+id/my_recycler_view"
    android:scrollbars="vertical"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent" />

---

header.xml

<android.support.v7.widget.CardView
    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="wrap_content"
    app:cardElevation="2dp">

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/txtHeader"
        android:gravity="center"
        android:textColor="#000000"
        android:textSize="@dimen/abc_text_size_large_material"
        android:background="#DCDCDC"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="50dp" />

</android.support.v7.widget.CardView>

---

list.xml

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:card_view="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content">

    <android.support.v7.widget.CardView
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        app:cardElevation="1dp">

        <TextView
            android:id="@+id/txtName"
            android:text="abc"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content" />

    </android.support.v7.widget.CardView>

</LinearLayout>

Step 3- Create three bean classes.

Header.java

public class Header extends ListItem {
    private String header;

    public String getHeader() {
        return header;
    }
    public void setHeader(String header) {
        this.header = header;
    }
}

---

ContentItem.java

public class ContentItem extends ListItem {

    private String name;
    private String rollnumber;

    @Override
    public String getName() {
        return name;
    }

    @Override
    public void setName(String name) {
        this.name = name;
    }

    public String getRollnumber() {
        return rollnumber;
    }

    public void setRollnumber(String rollnumber) {
        this.rollnumber = rollnumber;
    }
}

---

ListItem.java

public class ListItem {
    private String name;

    public String getName() {
        return name;
    }

    public void setName(String name) {
        this.name = name;
    }

    private int id;

    public int getId() {
        return id;
    }

    public void setId(int id) {
        this.id = id;
    }
}

Step 4- Create an adapter named MyRecyclerAdapter.java

public class MyRecyclerAdapter extends  RecyclerView.Adapter<RecyclerView.ViewHolder> {
    private static final int TYPE_HEADER = 0;
    private static final int TYPE_ITEM = 1;

    //Header header;
    List<ListItem> list;
    public MyRecyclerAdapter(List<ListItem> headerItems) {
        this.list = headerItems;
    }

    @Override
    public RecyclerView.ViewHolder onCreateViewHolder(ViewGroup parent, int viewType) {
        LayoutInflater inflater = LayoutInflater.from(parent.getContext());
        if (viewType == TYPE_HEADER) {
            View v = inflater.inflate(R.layout.header, parent, false);
            return  new VHHeader(v);
        } else {
            View v = inflater.inflate(R.layout.list, parent, false);
            return new VHItem(v);
        }
        throw new IllegalArgumentException();
    }

    @Override
    public void onBindViewHolder(RecyclerView.ViewHolder holder, int position) {
        if (holder instanceof VHHeader) {
           // VHHeader VHheader = (VHHeader)holder;
            Header  currentItem = (Header) list.get(position);
            VHHeader VHheader = (VHHeader)holder;
            VHheader.txtTitle.setText(currentItem.getHeader());
        } else if (holder instanceof VHItem) 
            ContentItem currentItem = (ContentItem) list.get(position);
            VHItem VHitem = (VHItem)holder;
            VHitem.txtName.setText(currentItem.getName());
        }
    }

    @Override
    public int getItemViewType(int position) {
        if (isPositionHeader(position))
            return TYPE_HEADER;
        return TYPE_ITEM;
    }

    private boolean isPositionHeader(int position) {
        return list.get(position) instanceof Header;
    }

    @Override
    public int getItemCount() {
        return list.size();
    }

    class VHHeader extends RecyclerView.ViewHolder{
        TextView txtTitle;
        public VHHeader(View itemView) {
            super(itemView);
            this.txtTitle = (TextView) itemView.findViewById(R.id.txtHeader);
        }
    }
    class VHItem extends RecyclerView.ViewHolder{
        TextView txtName;
        public VHItem(View itemView) {
            super(itemView);
            this.txtName = (TextView) itemView.findViewById(R.id.txtName);
        }
    }
}

---

Step 5- In MainActivity add the following code:

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
    RecyclerView recyclerView;
    List<List<ListItem>> arraylist;
    MyRecyclerAdapter adapter;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
        recyclerView = (RecyclerView)findViewById(R.id.my_recycler_view);
        LinearLayoutManager linearLayoutManager = new LinearLayoutManager(this);
        adapter = new MyRecyclerAdapter(getList());
        recyclerView.setLayoutManager(linearLayoutManager);
        recyclerView.setAdapter(adapter);
    }

    private ArrayList<ListItem> getList() {
        ArrayList<ListItem> arrayList = new ArrayList<>();
        for(int j = 0; j <= 4; j++) {
            Header header = new Header();
            header.setHeader("header"+j);
            arrayList.add(header);
            for (int i = 0; i <= 3; i++) {
                ContentItem item = new ContentItem();
                item.setRollnumber(i + "");
                item.setName("A" + i);
                arrayList.add(item);
            }
        }
        return arrayList;
    }

}

The function getList() is dynamically generating the data for the headers and for list items.

If you want the header to be easily reused across multiple lists, take a look at the version 1.2.0 of recyclerview library. It introduces ConcatAdapter class which concatenates multiple adapters into a single one. So you can create a header adapter and easily combine it with any other adapter, like:

myRecyclerView.adapter = ConcatAdapter(headerAdapter, listAdapter)

The announcement article contains a sample how to display a loading progress in header and footer using ConcatAdapter.

For the moment when I post this answer the version 1.2.0 of the library is in alpha stage, so the api might change. You can check the status here.

You can achieve it using the library SectionedRecyclerViewAdapter, it has the concept of "Sections", where which Section has a Header, Footer and Content (list of items). In your case you might only need one Section but you can have many:

1) Create a custom Section class:

class MySection extends StatelessSection {

    List<String> myList = Arrays.asList(new String[] {"Item1", "Item2", "Item3" });

    public MySection() {
        // call constructor with layout resources for this Section header, footer and items 
        super(R.layout.section_header, R.layout.section_footer,  R.layout.section_item);
    }

    @Override
    public int getContentItemsTotal() {
        return myList.size(); // number of items of this section
    }

    @Override
    public RecyclerView.ViewHolder getItemViewHolder(View view) {
        // return a custom instance of ViewHolder for the items of this section
        return new MyItemViewHolder(view);
    }

    @Override
    public void onBindItemViewHolder(RecyclerView.ViewHolder holder, int position) {
        MyItemViewHolder itemHolder = (MyItemViewHolder) holder;

        // bind your view here
        itemHolder.tvItem.setText(myList.get(position));
    }
}

2) Create a custom ViewHolder for the items:

class MyItemViewHolder extends RecyclerView.ViewHolder {

    private final TextView tvItem;

    public MyItemViewHolder(View itemView) {
        super(itemView);

        tvItem = (TextView) itemView.findViewById(R.id.tvItem);
    }
}

3) Set up your ReclyclerView with the SectionedRecyclerViewAdapter

// Create an instance of SectionedRecyclerViewAdapter 
SectionedRecyclerViewAdapter sectionAdapter = new SectionedRecyclerViewAdapter();

MySection mySection = new MySection();

// Add your Sections
sectionAdapter.addSection(mySection);

// Set up your RecyclerView with the SectionedRecyclerViewAdapter
RecyclerView recyclerView = (RecyclerView) findViewById(R.id.recyclerview);
recyclerView.setLayoutManager(new LinearLayoutManager(getContext()));
recyclerView.setAdapter(sectionAdapter);

You can just place your header and your RecyclerView in a NestedScrollView:

<android.support.v4.widget.NestedScrollView
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    >

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

        <include
            layout="@layout/your_header"/>

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

    </LinearLayout>

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

In order for scrolling to work correctly, you need to disable nested scrolling on your RecyclerView:

myRecyclerView.setNestedScrollingEnabled(false);

Based on this post, I created a subclass of RecyclerView.Adapter that supports an arbitrary number of headers and footers.

https://gist.github.com/mheras/0908873267def75dc746

Although it seems to be a solution, I also think this thing should be managed by the LayoutManager. Unfortunately, I need it now and I don't have time to implement a StaggeredGridLayoutManager from scratch (nor even extend from it).

I'm still testing it, but you can try it out if you want. Please let me know if you find any issues with it.

Native API doesn't have such "addHeader" feature, but has the concept of "addItem".

I was able to include this specific feature of headers and extends for footers as well in my FlexibleAdapter project. I called it Scrollable Headers and Footers.

Here how they work:

Scrollable Headers and Footers are special items that scroll along with all others, but they don't belongs to main items (business items) and they are always handled by the adapter beside the main items. Those items are persistently located at the first and last positions.

There's a lot to say about them, better to read the detailed wiki page.

Moreover the FlexibleAdapter allows you to create headers/sections, also you can have them sticky and tens of others features like expandable items, endless scroll, UI extensions etc... all in one library!

There is one more solution that covers all the use cases above: CompoundAdapter: https://github.com/negusoft/CompoundAdapter-android

You can create a AdapterGroup that holds your Adapter as it is, along with an adapter with a single item to represent the header. The code is easy and readable:

AdapterGroup adapterGroup = new AdapterGroup();
adapterGroup.addAdapter(SingleAdapter.create(R.layout.header));
adapterGroup.addAdapter(new CommentAdapter(...));

recyclerView.setAdapter(adapterGroup);

AdapterGroup allows nesting too, so for a adapter with sections, you may create a AdapterGroup per section. Then put all the sections in a root AdapterGroup.

Maybe wrap header and recyclerview into a coordinatorlayout:

<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.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    app:elevation="0dp">

    <View
	    android:id="@+id/header"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        app:layout_scrollFlags="scroll" />

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

<android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView
    android:id="@+id/list"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    app:layout_behavior="@string/appbar_scrolling_view_behavior" />

I know it is an old question, but want to provide an answer anyways.

There is a ConcatAdapter (docs here) that solves the problem for you. All you have to do is to define your header view layout and create a dummy Adapter with a single item In Kotlin it takes literally a few lines

class HeaderAdapter(private val inflater: LayoutInflater) : RecyclerView.Adapter<RecyclerView.ViewHolder>() {
    
    override fun onCreateViewHolder(parent: ViewGroup, viewType: Int) = object : RecyclerView.ViewHolder(inflater.inflate(yourViewLayoutId, parent, false)) {}

    override fun onBindViewHolder(viewHolder: RecyclerView.ViewHolder, position: Int) {}

    override fun getItemCount() = 1
}

After that all you have to do is to add your header adapter and original adapter to the ConcatAdapter

recyclerView.adapter = ConcatAdapter(headerAdapter, adapter)

See documentation for more details and advanced cases.

HeaderView depends on the LayoutManager. None of the default LayoutManagers support this and probably wont. HeaderView in ListView creates a lot of complexity without any significant benefit.

I would suggest creating a base adapter class that adds items for Headers if provided. Don't forget to override notify* methods to offset them properly depending on whether header is present or not.

First - extends RecyclerView.Adapter<RecyclerView.ViewHolder>

public class MenuAdapter extends RecyclerView.Adapter<RecyclerView.ViewHolder> {

After - Override the method getItemViewTpe ***More Important

@Override
public int getItemViewType(int position) {
    return position;
}

method onCreateViewHolder

@Override
public RecyclerView.ViewHolder onCreateViewHolder(ViewGroup parent, int viewType) {
    View view = LayoutInflater.from(parent.getContext()).inflate(R.layout.menu_item, parent, false);
    View header = LayoutInflater.from(parent.getContext()).inflate(R.layout.menu_header_item, parent, false);
    Log.d("onCreateViewHolder", String.valueOf(viewType));
    
    if (viewType == 0) {
        return new MenuLeftHeaderViewHolder(header, onClickListener);
    } else {
        return new MenuLeftViewHolder(view, onClickListener);
    }
}

method onBindViewHolder

@Override
public void onBindViewHolder(RecyclerView.ViewHolder holder, int position) {
    if (position == 0) {
        MenuHeaderViewHolder menuHeaderViewHolder = (MenuHeaderViewHolder) holder;
        menuHeaderViewHolder.mTitle.setText(sMenuTitles[position]);
        menuHeaderViewHolder.mImage.setImageResource(sMenuImages[position]);
    } else {
        MenuViewHolder menuLeftViewHolder = (MenuLeftViewHolder) holder;
        menuViewHolder.mTitle.setText(sMenuTitles[position]);
        menuViewHolder.mImage.setImageResource(sMenuImages[position]);
    }
}

in finish implements the ViewHolders class static

public static class MenuViewHolder extends RecyclerView.ViewHolder 

public static class MenuLeftHeaderViewHolder extends RecyclerView.ViewHolder 

here some itemdecoration for recyclerview

public class HeaderItemDecoration extends RecyclerView.ItemDecoration {

private View customView;

public HeaderItemDecoration(View view) {
    this.customView = view;
}

@Override
public void onDraw(Canvas c, RecyclerView parent, RecyclerView.State state) {
    super.onDraw(c, parent, state);
    customView.layout(parent.getLeft(), 0, parent.getRight(), customView.getMeasuredHeight());
    for (int i = 0; i < parent.getChildCount(); i++) {
        View view = parent.getChildAt(i);
        if (parent.getChildAdapterPosition(view) == 0) {
            c.save();
            final int height = customView.getMeasuredHeight();
            final int top = view.getTop() - height;
            c.translate(0, top);
            customView.draw(c);
            c.restore();
            break;
        }
    }
}

@Override
public void getItemOffsets(Rect outRect, View view, RecyclerView parent, RecyclerView.State state) {
    if (parent.getChildAdapterPosition(view) == 0) {
        customView.measure(View.MeasureSpec.makeMeasureSpec(parent.getMeasuredWidth(), View.MeasureSpec.AT_MOST),
                View.MeasureSpec.makeMeasureSpec(parent.getMeasuredHeight(), View.MeasureSpec.AT_MOST));
        outRect.set(0, customView.getMeasuredHeight(), 0, 0);
    } else {
        outRect.setEmpty();
    }
}
}      

I made an implementation based on @hister's one for my personal purposes, but using inheritance.

I hide the implementation details mechanisms (like add 1 to itemCount, subtract 1 from position) in an abstract super class HeadingableRecycleAdapter, by implementing required methods from Adapter like onBindViewHolder, getItemViewType and getItemCount, making that methods final, and providing new methods with hidden logic to client:

• onAddViewHolder(RecyclerView.ViewHolder holder, int position),
• onCreateViewHolder(ViewGroup parent),
• itemCount()

Here are the HeadingableRecycleAdapter class and a client. I left the header layout a bit hard-coded because it fits my needs.

public abstract class HeadingableRecycleAdapter extends RecyclerView.Adapter<RecyclerView.ViewHolder> {

    private static final int HEADER_VIEW_TYPE = 0;

    @LayoutRes
    private int headerLayoutResource;
    private String headerTitle;
    private Context context;

    public HeadingableRecycleAdapter(@LayoutRes int headerLayoutResourceId, String headerTitle, Context context) {
        this.headerLayoutResource = headerLayoutResourceId;
        this.headerTitle = headerTitle;
        this.context = context;
    }

    public Context context() {
        return context;
    }

    @Override
    public final RecyclerView.ViewHolder onCreateViewHolder(ViewGroup parent, int viewType) {
        if (viewType == HEADER_VIEW_TYPE) {
            return new HeaderViewHolder(LayoutInflater.from(context).inflate(headerLayoutResource, parent, false));
        }
        return onCreateViewHolder(parent);
    }

    @Override
    public final void onBindViewHolder(RecyclerView.ViewHolder holder, int position) {
        int viewType = getItemViewType(position);
        if (viewType == HEADER_VIEW_TYPE) {
            HeaderViewHolder vh = (HeaderViewHolder) holder;
            vh.bind(headerTitle);
        } else {
            onAddViewHolder(holder, position - 1);
        }
    }

    @Override
    public final int getItemViewType(int position) {
        return position == 0 ? 0 : 1;
    }

    @Override
    public final int getItemCount() {
        return itemCount() + 1;
    }

    public abstract int itemCount();

    public abstract RecyclerView.ViewHolder onCreateViewHolder(ViewGroup parent);

    public abstract void onAddViewHolder(RecyclerView.ViewHolder holder, int position);

}



@PerActivity
public class IngredientsAdapter extends HeadingableRecycleAdapter {
    public static final String TITLE = "Ingredients";
    private List<Ingredient> itemList;


    @Inject
    public IngredientsAdapter(Context context) {
        super(R.layout.layout_generic_recyclerview_cardified_header, TITLE, context);
    }

    public void setItemList(List<Ingredient> itemList) {
        this.itemList = itemList;
    }

    @Override
    public RecyclerView.ViewHolder onCreateViewHolder(ViewGroup parent) {
        return new ViewHolder(LayoutInflater.from(context()).inflate(R.layout.item_ingredient, parent, false));
    }

    @Override
    public void onAddViewHolder(RecyclerView.ViewHolder holder, int position) {
        ViewHolder vh = (ViewHolder) holder;
        vh.bind(itemList.get(position));
    }

    @Override
    public int itemCount() {
        return itemList == null ? 0 : itemList.size();
    }

    private String getQuantityFormated(double quantity, String measure) {
        if (quantity == (long) quantity) {
            return String.format(Locale.US, "%s %s", String.valueOf(quantity), measure);
        } else {
            return String.format(Locale.US, "%.1f %s", quantity, measure);
        }
    }


    class ViewHolder extends RecyclerView.ViewHolder {
        @BindView(R.id.text_ingredient)
        TextView txtIngredient;

        ViewHolder(View itemView) {
            super(itemView);
            ButterKnife.bind(this, itemView);
        }

        void bind(Ingredient ingredient) {
            String ingredientText = ingredient.getIngredient();
            txtIngredient.setText(String.format(Locale.US, "%s %s ", getQuantityFormated(ingredient.getQuantity(),
                    ingredient.getMeasure()), Character.toUpperCase(ingredientText.charAt(0)) +
                    ingredientText
                            .substring(1)));
        }
    }
}

Probably http://alexzh.com/tutorials/multiple-row-layouts-using-recyclerview/ will help. It uses only RecyclerView and CardView. Here is an adapter:

public class DifferentRowAdapter extends RecyclerView.Adapter<RecyclerView.ViewHolder> {
    private List<CityEvent> mList;
    public DifferentRowAdapter(List<CityEvent> list) {
        this.mList = list;
    }
    @Override
    public RecyclerView.ViewHolder onCreateViewHolder(ViewGroup parent, int viewType) {
        View view;
        switch (viewType) {
            case CITY_TYPE:
                view = LayoutInflater.from(parent.getContext()).inflate(R.layout.item_city, parent, false);
                return new CityViewHolder(view);
            case EVENT_TYPE:
                view = LayoutInflater.from(parent.getContext()).inflate(R.layout.item_event, parent, false);
                return new EventViewHolder(view);
        }
        return null;
    }
    @Override
    public void onBindViewHolder(RecyclerView.ViewHolder holder, int position) {
        CityEvent object = mList.get(position);
        if (object != null) {
            switch (object.getType()) {
                case CITY_TYPE:
                    ((CityViewHolder) holder).mTitle.setText(object.getName());
                    break;
                case EVENT_TYPE:
                    ((EventViewHolder) holder).mTitle.setText(object.getName());
                    ((EventViewHolder) holder).mDescription.setText(object.getDescription());
                    break;
            }
        }
    }
    @Override
    public int getItemCount() {
        if (mList == null)
            return 0;
        return mList.size();
    }
    @Override
    public int getItemViewType(int position) {
        if (mList != null) {
            CityEvent object = mList.get(position);
            if (object != null) {
                return object.getType();
            }
        }
        return 0;
    }
    public static class CityViewHolder extends RecyclerView.ViewHolder {
        private TextView mTitle;
        public CityViewHolder(View itemView) {
            super(itemView);
            mTitle = (TextView) itemView.findViewById(R.id.titleTextView);
        }
    }
    public static class EventViewHolder extends RecyclerView.ViewHolder {
        private TextView mTitle;
        private TextView mDescription;
        public EventViewHolder(View itemView) {
            super(itemView);
            mTitle = (TextView) itemView.findViewById(R.id.titleTextView);
            mDescription = (TextView) itemView.findViewById(R.id.descriptionTextView);
        }
    }
}

And here's an entity:

public class CityEvent {
    public static final int CITY_TYPE = 0;
    public static final int EVENT_TYPE = 1;
    private String mName;
    private String mDescription;
    private int mType;
    public CityEvent(String name, String description, int type) {
        this.mName = name;
        this.mDescription = description;
        this.mType = type;
    }
    public String getName() {
        return mName;
    }
    public void setName(String name) {
        this.mName = name;
    }
    public String getDescription() {
        return mDescription;
    }
    public void setDescription(String description) {
        this.mDescription = description;
    }
    public int getType() {
        return mType;
    }
    public void setType(int type) {
        this.mType = type;
    }
}

you can create addHeaderView and use

adapter.addHeaderView(View).

This code build the addHeaderView for more then one header. the headers should have:

android:layout_height="wrap_content"

public class MyAdapter extends RecyclerView.Adapter<RecyclerView.ViewHolder> {
	private static final int TYPE_ITEM = -1;
	public class MyViewSHolder extends RecyclerView.ViewHolder {
		public MyViewSHolder (View view) {
			super(view);
		}
        // put you code. for example:
        View mView;
        ...
    }
	
	public class ViewHeader extends RecyclerView.ViewHolder {
		public ViewHeader(View view) {
			super(view);
		}
	}
	
	private List<View> mHeaderViews = new ArrayList<>();
	public void addHeaderView(View headerView) {
		mHeaderViews.add(headerView);
	}
	
	@Override
	public int getItemCount() {
       return ... + mHeaderViews.size();
	}
	
	@Override
	public int getItemViewType(int position) {
		if (mHeaderViews.size() > position) {
			return position;
		}

		return TYPE_ITEM;
	}
	@Override
	public RecyclerView.ViewHolder onCreateViewHolder(ViewGroup parent, int viewType) {
		if (viewType != TYPE_ITEM) {
			//inflate your layout and pass it to view holder
			return new ViewHeader(mHeaderViews.get(viewType));
		}
        ...
	}
	@Override
	public void onBindViewHolder(RecyclerView.ViewHolder holder, int basePosition1) {
		if (holder instanceof ViewHeader) {
			return;
		}
        int basePosition = basePosition1 -  mHeaderViews.size();
        ...
	}
}

It's been a few years, but just in case anyone is reading this later...

> Using the above code, only the header layout is displayed as viewType is always 0.

The problem is in the constant declaration:

private static final int HEADER = 0;
private static final int OTHER = 0;  <== bug 

If you declare them both as zero, then you'll always get zero!

I have implemented the same approach proposed by EC84B4 answer, but I abstracted RecycleViewAdapter and make it easily resuable by means of interfaces.

So in order to use my approach you should add following base classes and interfaces to your project:

1. Interface that provides data for Adapter (collection of generic type T, and additional parameters (if needed) of generic type P)

   public interface IRecycleViewListHolder{ P getAdapterParameters(); T getItem(int position); int getSize(); }

2. Factory for binding your items (header/item):

   public interface IViewHolderBinderFactory { void bindView(RecyclerView.ViewHolder holder, int position,IRecycleViewListHolder dataHolder); }

3. Factory for viewHolders (header/items):

   public interface IViewHolderFactory { RecyclerView.ViewHolder provideInflatedViewHolder(int viewType, LayoutInflater layoutInflater,@NonNull ViewGroup parent); }

4. Base class for Adapter with Header:

   public class RecycleViewHeaderBased extends RecyclerView.Adapter{

    public final static int HEADER_TYPE = 1;
    public final static int ITEM_TYPE = 0;
    private final IRecycleViewListHolder<T, P> dataHolder;
    private final IViewHolderBinderFactory<T,P> binderFactory;
    private final IViewHolderFactory viewHolderFactory;
   
    public RecycleViewHeaderBased(IRecycleViewListHolder<T,P> dataHolder, IViewHolderBinderFactory<T,P> binderFactory, IViewHolderFactory viewHolderFactory) {
        this.dataHolder = dataHolder;
        this.binderFactory = binderFactory;
        this.viewHolderFactory = viewHolderFactory;
    }
   
    @NonNull
    @Override
    public RecyclerView.ViewHolder onCreateViewHolder(@NonNull ViewGroup parent, int viewType) {
        LayoutInflater layoutInflater = LayoutInflater.from(parent.getContext());
        return viewHolderFactory.provideInflatedViewHolder(viewType,layoutInflater,parent);
    }
   
    @Override
    public void onBindViewHolder(@NonNull RecyclerView.ViewHolder holder, int position) {
            binderFactory.bindView(holder, position,dataHolder);
    }
   
    @Override
    public int getItemViewType(int position) {
        if(position == 0)
            return HEADER_TYPE;
        return ITEM_TYPE;
    }
   
    @Override
    public int getItemCount() {
        return dataHolder.getSize()+1;
    }
   

   }

---

Usage example:

1. IRecycleViewListHolder implementation:

   public class AssetTaskListData implements IRecycleViewListHolder

    public AssetTaskListData(Map<Integer, Integer> assetCountListSrc, GroupedRecord record) {
        this.assetCountList =  new ArrayList<>();
        for(Object  entry: assetCountListSrc.entrySet().toArray()){
            Map.Entry<Integer,Integer> entryTyped = (Map.Entry<Integer,Integer>)entry;
            assetCountList.add(entryTyped);
        }
        this.record = record;
    }
   
    @Override
    public GroupedRecord getAdapterParameters() {
        return record;
    }
   
    @Override
    public Map.Entry<Integer, Integer> getItem(int position) {
        return assetCountList.get(position-1);
    }
   
    @Override
    public int getSize() {
        return assetCountList.size();
    }
   

   }

2. IViewHolderBinderFactory implementation:

   public class AssetTaskListBinderFactory implements IViewHolderBinderFactory

3. IViewHolderFactory implementation:

   public class AssetTaskListViewHolderFactory implements IViewHolderFactory { private IPropertyTypeIconMapper iconMapper; private ITypeCaster caster;

    public AssetTaskListViewHolderFactory(IPropertyTypeIconMapper iconMapper, ITypeCaster caster) {
        this.iconMapper = iconMapper;
        this.caster = caster;
    }
   
    @Override
    public RecyclerView.ViewHolder provideInflatedViewHolder(int viewType, LayoutInflater layoutInflater, @NonNull ViewGroup parent) {
        if (viewType == RecycleViewHeaderBased.HEADER_TYPE) {
            AssetBasedHeaderItemBinding item = DataBindingUtil.inflate(layoutInflater, R.layout.asset_based_header_item, parent, false);
            return new AssetHeaderViewHolder(item.getRoot(), item, caster);
        }
        AssetBasedListItemBinding item = DataBindingUtil.inflate(layoutInflater, R.layout.asset_based_list_item, parent, false);
        return new AssetItemViewHolder(item.getRoot(), item, iconMapper, parent.getContext());
    }
   

   }

4. Deriving adapter

   public class AssetHeaderTaskListAdapter extends RecycleViewHeaderBased

5. Instantiate adapter class:

   private void setUpAdapter() { Map objectTypesCountForGroupedTask = groupedTaskRepository.getObjectTypesCountForGroupedTask(this.groupedRecordId); AssetTaskListData assetTaskListData = new AssetTaskListData(objectTypesCountForGroupedTask, getGroupedRecord()); adapter = new AssetHeaderTaskListAdapter(assetTaskListData,new AssetTaskListBinderFactory(),new AssetTaskListViewHolderFactory(iconMapper,caster)); assetTaskListRecycler.setAdapter(adapter); }

P.S.: AssetItemViewHolder, AssetBasedListItemBinding, etc. my application own structures that should be swapped by your own, for your own purposes.