Toolbar in AppBarLayout is scrollable although RecyclerView has not enough content to scroll

Is it really intended that the Toolbar in a AppBarLayout is scrollable although the main container with the "appbar_scrolling_view_behavior" has not enough content to really scroll?

What I have tested so far:
When I use a NestedScrollView (with "wrap_content" attribute) as main container and a TextView as child, the AppBarLayout works properly and does not scroll.

However, when I use a RecyclerView with only a few entries and the "wrap_content" attribute (so that there is no need to scroll), the Toolbar in the AppBarLayout is scrollable even though the RecyclerView never receives a scroll event (tested with a OnScrollChangeListener).

Here's my layout code:

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

    <android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout
        android:id="@+id/appBarLayout"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content">

        <android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
            android:id="@+id/toolbar"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"
            android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"
            app:layout_scrollFlags="scroll|enterAlways"
            app:theme="@style/ToolbarStyle" />
    </android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout>

    <android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView
        android:id="@+id/recycler"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        app:layout_behavior="@string/appbar_scrolling_view_behavior" />
</android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout>

With the following effect that the toolbar is scrollable although it's not necessary:

I've also found a way to deal with this by checking if all RecyclerView items are visible and using the setNestedScrollingEnabled() method of the RecyclerView.
Nevertheless, it does seem more like a bug as intended to me. Any opinions? :D

EDIT #1:

For people who are might be interested in my current solution, I had to put the setNestedScrollingEnabled() logic in the postDelayed() method of a Handler with 5 ms delay due to the LayoutManager which always returned -1 when calling the methods to find out whether the first and the last item is visible.
I use this code in the onStart() method (after my RecyclerView has been initialized) and every time after a content change of the RecyclerView occurs.

final LinearLayoutManager layoutManager = (LinearLayoutManager) mRecyclerView.getLayoutManager();
new Handler().postDelayed(new Runnable() {
    @Override
    public void run() {
        //no items in the RecyclerView
        if (mRecyclerView.getAdapter().getItemCount() == 0)
            mRecyclerView.setNestedScrollingEnabled(false);
        //if the first and the last item is visible
        else if (layoutManager.findFirstCompletelyVisibleItemPosition() == 0
                && layoutManager.findLastCompletelyVisibleItemPosition() == mRecyclerView.getAdapter().getItemCount() - 1)
            mRecyclerView.setNestedScrollingEnabled(false);
        else
            mRecyclerView.setNestedScrollingEnabled(true);
    }
}, 5);

EDIT #2:

I just played around with a new app and it seems that this (unintended) behavior has been fixed in support library version 23.3.0 (or even earlier). Thus, there is no need for workarounds anymore!

Edit 2:

Turns out the only way to ensure Toolbar is not scrollable when RecyclerView is not scrollable is to set setScrollFlags programmatically which requires to check if RecyclerView's is scrollable. This check has to be done every time adapter is modified.

Interface to communicate with the Activity:

public interface LayoutController {
    void enableScroll();
    void disableScroll();
}

MainActivity:

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity implements 
    LayoutController {

    private CollapsingToolbarLayout collapsingToolbarLayout;

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

        Toolbar toolbar = (Toolbar) findViewById(R.id.toolbar);
        setSupportActionBar(toolbar);

        collapsingToolbarLayout = 
              (CollapsingToolbarLayout) findViewById(R.id.collapsing_toolbar);

        final FragmentManager manager = getSupportFragmentManager();
        final Fragment fragment = new CheeseListFragment();
        manager.beginTransaction()
                .replace(R.id.root_content, fragment)
                .commit();
    }

    @Override
    public void enableScroll() {
        final AppBarLayout.LayoutParams params = (AppBarLayout.LayoutParams)
                                  collapsingToolbarLayout.getLayoutParams();
        params.setScrollFlags(
                AppBarLayout.LayoutParams.SCROLL_FLAG_SCROLL 
                | AppBarLayout.LayoutParams.SCROLL_FLAG_ENTER_ALWAYS
        );
        collapsingToolbarLayout.setLayoutParams(params);
    }

    @Override
    public void disableScroll() {
        final AppBarLayout.LayoutParams params = (AppBarLayout.LayoutParams)
                                  collapsingToolbarLayout.getLayoutParams();
        params.setScrollFlags(0);
        collapsingToolbarLayout.setLayoutParams(params);
    }
}

activity_main.xml:

<android.support.v4.widget.DrawerLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:id="@+id/drawer_layout"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:fitsSystemWindows="true">

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

        <android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout
            android:id="@+id/appbar"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:theme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Dark.ActionBar">

            <android.support.design.widget.CollapsingToolbarLayout
                android:id="@+id/collapsing_toolbar"
                android:layout_width="match_parent"
                android:layout_height="match_parent"
                android:fitsSystemWindows="true"
                app:contentScrim="?attr/colorPrimary">

                <android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
                    android:id="@+id/toolbar"
                    android:layout_width="match_parent"
                    android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"
                    android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"
                    app:popupTheme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Light"/>

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

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

        <FrameLayout
            android:id="@+id/root_content"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="match_parent"
            android:layout_gravity="fill_vertical"
            app:layout_behavior="@string/appbar_scrolling_view_behavior"/>

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

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

Test Fragment:

public class CheeseListFragment extends Fragment {

    private static final int DOWN = 1;
    private static final int UP = 0;

    private LayoutController controller;
    private RecyclerView rv;

    @Override
    public void onAttach(Context context) {
        super.onAttach(context);

        try {
            controller = (MainActivity) getActivity();
        } catch (ClassCastException e) {
            throw new RuntimeException(getActivity().getLocalClassName()
                    + "must implement controller.", e);
        }
    }

    @Nullable
    @Override
    public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container, Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        rv = (RecyclerView) inflater.inflate(
                R.layout.fragment_cheese_list, container, false);
        setupRecyclerView(rv);

        // Find out if RecyclerView are scrollable, delay required
        final Handler handler = new Handler();
        handler.postDelayed(new Runnable() {
            @Override
            public void run() {
                if (rv.canScrollVertically(DOWN) || rv.canScrollVertically(UP)) {
                    controller.enableScroll();
                } else {
                    controller.disableScroll();
                }
            }
        }, 100);

        return rv;
    }

    private void setupRecyclerView(RecyclerView recyclerView) {
        final LinearLayoutManager layoutManager = new LinearLayoutManager(recyclerView.getContext());

        recyclerView.setLayoutManager(layoutManager);

        final SimpleStringRecyclerViewAdapter adapter =
                new SimpleStringRecyclerViewAdapter(
                        getActivity(),
                        // Test ToolBar scroll
                        getRandomList(/* with enough items to scroll */)
                        // Test ToolBar pin
                        getRandomList(/* with only 3 items*/)
                );

        recyclerView.setAdapter(adapter);
    }
}

Sources:

• Change scroll flags programmatically
• Original code by Chris Banes
• Need a postDelayed to ensure RecyclerView children are ready for calculations

Edit:

You should CollapsingToolbarLayout to control the behaviour.

>Adding a Toolbar directly to an AppBarLayout gives you access to the enterAlwaysCollapsed and exitUntilCollapsed scroll flags, but not the detailed control on how different elements react to collapsing. [...] setup uses CollapsingToolbarLayout’s app:layout_collapseMode="pin" to ensure that the Toolbar itself remains pinned to the top of the screen while the view collapses.http://android-developers.blogspot.com.tr/2015/05/android-design-support-library.html

<android.support.design.widget.CollapsingToolbarLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        app:layout_scrollFlags="scroll|exitUntilCollapsed">

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

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

Add

app:layout_collapseMode="pin"

to your Toolbar in xml.

    <android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
        android:id="@+id/toolbar"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"
        android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"
        app:layout_scrollFlags="scroll|enterAlways"
        app:layout_collapseMode="pin"
        app:theme="@style/ToolbarStyle" />

So, proper credit, this answer almost solved it for me https://stackoverflow.com/a/32923226/5050087. But since it was not showing the toolbar when you actually had an scrollable recyclerview and its last item was visible (it would not show the toolbar on the first scroll up), I decided to modify it and adapt it for an easier implementation and for dynamic adapters.

First, you must create a custom layout behavior for you appbar:

public class ToolbarBehavior extends AppBarLayout.Behavior{

private boolean scrollableRecyclerView = false;
private int count;

public ToolbarBehavior() {
}

public ToolbarBehavior(Context context, AttributeSet attrs) {
    super(context, attrs);
}

@Override
public boolean onInterceptTouchEvent(CoordinatorLayout parent, AppBarLayout child, MotionEvent ev) {
    return scrollableRecyclerView && super.onInterceptTouchEvent(parent, child, ev);
}

@Override
public boolean onStartNestedScroll(CoordinatorLayout parent, AppBarLayout child, View directTargetChild, View target, int nestedScrollAxes, int type) {
    updatedScrollable(directTargetChild);
    return scrollableRecyclerView && super.onStartNestedScroll(parent, child, directTargetChild, target, nestedScrollAxes, type);
}

@Override
public boolean onNestedFling(CoordinatorLayout coordinatorLayout, AppBarLayout child, View target, float velocityX, float velocityY, boolean consumed) {
    return scrollableRecyclerView && super.onNestedFling(coordinatorLayout, child, target, velocityX, velocityY, consumed);
}

private void updatedScrollable(View directTargetChild) {
    if (directTargetChild instanceof RecyclerView) {
        RecyclerView recyclerView = (RecyclerView) directTargetChild;
        RecyclerView.Adapter adapter = recyclerView.getAdapter();
        if (adapter != null) {
            if (adapter.getItemCount()!= count) {
                scrollableRecyclerView = false;
                count = adapter.getItemCount();
                RecyclerView.LayoutManager layoutManager = recyclerView.getLayoutManager();
                if (layoutManager != null) {
                    int lastVisibleItem = 0;
                    if (layoutManager instanceof LinearLayoutManager) {
                        LinearLayoutManager linearLayoutManager = (LinearLayoutManager) layoutManager;
                        lastVisibleItem = Math.abs(linearLayoutManager.findLastCompletelyVisibleItemPosition());
                    } else if (layoutManager instanceof StaggeredGridLayoutManager) {
                        StaggeredGridLayoutManager staggeredGridLayoutManager = (StaggeredGridLayoutManager) layoutManager;
                        int[] lastItems = staggeredGridLayoutManager.findLastCompletelyVisibleItemPositions(new int[staggeredGridLayoutManager.getSpanCount()]);
                        lastVisibleItem = Math.abs(lastItems[lastItems.length - 1]);
                    }
                    scrollableRecyclerView = lastVisibleItem < count - 1;
                }
            }
        }
    } else scrollableRecyclerView = true;
  }
}

Then, you only need to define this behavior for you appbar in your layout file:

<android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:fitsSystemWindows="true"
    app:layout_behavior="com.yourappname.whateverdir.ToolbarBehavior"
    >

I haven't tested it for screen rotation so let me know if it works like this. I guess it should work as I don't think the count variable is saved when the rotation happens, but let me know if it doesn't.

This was the easiest and cleanest implementation for me, enjoy it.

It is not a bug, all the events in a viewGroup are handled this way. Because your recyclerview is a child of coordinatorLayout so whenever the event is generated, it is first checked for parent and if parent is not interested only then it is passed down to child. See google documentation

Something like this in a LayoutManager subclass seems to result in the desired behavior:

@Override
public boolean canScrollVertically() {
    int firstCompletelyVisibleItemPosition = findFirstCompletelyVisibleItemPosition();
    if (firstCompletelyVisibleItemPosition == RecyclerView.NO_POSITION) return false;

    int lastCompletelyVisibleItemPosition = findLastCompletelyVisibleItemPosition();
    if (lastCompletelyVisibleItemPosition == RecyclerView.NO_POSITION) return false;

    if (firstCompletelyVisibleItemPosition == 0 &&
            lastCompletelyVisibleItemPosition == getItemCount() - 1)
        return false;

    return super.canScrollVertically();
}

The documentation for canScrollVertically() says:

/**
 * Query if vertical scrolling is currently supported. The default implementation
 * returns false.
 *
 * @return True if this LayoutManager can scroll the current contents vertically
 */

Notice the wording of "can scroll the current contents vertically", which I believe implies that the current state should be reflected by the return value.

However, that is not done by any of the LayoutManager subclasses provided through the v7 recyclerview library (23.1.1), which makes me somewhat hesitant whether it is a correct solution; it might cause undesired effects in other situations than the one discussed in this question.

I've implemented it using my own Behavior class which might be attached to AppBarLayout:

public class CustomAppBarLayoutBehavior extends AppBarLayout.Behavior {

private RecyclerView recyclerView;
private int additionalHeight;

public CustomAppBarLayoutBehavior(RecyclerView recyclerView, int additionalHeight) {
    this.recyclerView = recyclerView;
    this.additionalHeight = additionalHeight;
}

public boolean isRecyclerViewScrollable(RecyclerView recyclerView) {
    return recyclerView.computeHorizontalScrollRange() > recyclerView.getWidth() || recyclerView.computeVerticalScrollRange() > (recyclerView.getHeight() - additionalHeight);
}

@Override
public boolean onStartNestedScroll(CoordinatorLayout parent, AppBarLayout child, View directTargetChild, View target, int nestedScrollAxes) {
    if (isRecyclerViewScrollable(mRecyclerView)) {
        return super.onStartNestedScroll(parent, child, directTargetChild, target, nestedScrollAxes);
    }
    return false;
}

}

And below is the code how to set this behavior:

final View appBarLayout = ((DrawerActivity) getActivity()).getAppBarLayoutView();
CoordinatorLayout.LayoutParams layoutParams = (CoordinatorLayout.LayoutParams) appBarLayout.getLayoutParams();
layoutParams.setBehavior(new AppBarLayoutNoEmptyScrollBehavior(recyclerView, getResources().getDimensionPixelSize(R.dimen.control_bar_height)));

I suggested you try this sample that for support desing library elements.

this a layout like your layout in the sample.

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

    <android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout
        android:id="@+id/appbar"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:theme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Dark.ActionBar">

        <android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
            android:id="@+id/toolbar"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"
            android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"
            app:popupTheme="@style/ThemeOverlay.AppCompat.Light"
            app:layout_scrollFlags="scroll|enterAlways" />

        <android.support.design.widget.TabLayout
            android:id="@+id/tabs"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content" />

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

    <android.support.v4.view.ViewPager
        android:id="@+id/viewpager"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        app:layout_behavior="@string/appbar_scrolling_view_behavior" />

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

Thanks, I created a custom class of RecyclerView but the key is still using setNestedScrollingEnabled(). It worked fine on my side.

public class RecyclerViewCustom extends RecyclerView implements ViewTreeObserver.OnGlobalLayoutListener
{
    public RecyclerViewCustom(Context context)
    {
        super(context);
    }

    public RecyclerViewCustom(Context context, @Nullable AttributeSet attrs)
    {
        super(context, attrs);
    }

    public RecyclerViewCustom(Context context, @Nullable AttributeSet attrs, int defStyle)
    {
        super(context, attrs, defStyle);
    }

    /**
     *  This supports scrolling when using RecyclerView with AppbarLayout
     *  Basically RecyclerView should not be scrollable when there's no data or the last item is visible
     *
     *  Call this method after Adapter#updateData() get called
     */
    public void addOnGlobalLayoutListener()
    {
        this.getViewTreeObserver().addOnGlobalLayoutListener(this);
    }

    @Override
    public void onGlobalLayout()
    {
        // If the last item is visible or there's no data, the RecyclerView should not be scrollable
        RecyclerView.LayoutManager layoutManager = getLayoutManager();
        final RecyclerView.Adapter adapter = getAdapter();
        if (adapter == null || adapter.getItemCount() <= 0 || layoutManager == null)
        {
            setNestedScrollingEnabled(false);
        }
        else
        {
            int lastVisibleItemPosition = ((LinearLayoutManager) layoutManager).findLastCompletelyVisibleItemPosition();
            boolean isLastItemVisible = lastVisibleItemPosition == adapter.getItemCount() - 1;
            setNestedScrollingEnabled(!isLastItemVisible);
        }

        unregisterGlobalLayoutListener();
    }

    private void unregisterGlobalLayoutListener()
    {
        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.JELLY_BEAN)
        {
            getViewTreeObserver().removeOnGlobalLayoutListener(this);
        }
        else
        {
            getViewTreeObserver().removeGlobalOnLayoutListener(this);
        }
    }
}

I would like to add a little to user3623735's answer. The following code is absolutely incorrect.

// Find out if RecyclerView are scrollable, delay required
    final Handler handler = new Handler();
    handler.postDelayed(new Runnable() {
        @Override
        public void run() {
            if (rv.canScrollVertically(DOWN) || rv.canScrollVertically(UP)) {
                controller.enableScroll();
            } else {
                controller.disableScroll();
            }
        }
    }, 100);

And even when it works - it doesn't cover all cases. There is absolutely no guarantee that a data will be displayed in 100 ms, and the data can stretch the height of the view in the process of working with it, not only in the onCreateView method. That's why you should use next code and track changes in view height:

view.addOnLayoutChangeListener(new View.OnLayoutChangeListener() {
        @Override
        public void onLayoutChange(View v, int left, int top, int right, int bottom, int oldLeft, int oldTop, int oldRight, int oldBottom) {
            if(bottom != oldBottom)
            {
                mActivity.setScrollEnabled(view.canScrollVertically(0) || view.canScrollVertically(1));
            }
        }
    });

Moreover no need to create two separated method to control scrolling status, you should use one setScrollEnabled method:

public void setScrollEnabled(boolean enabled) {
    final AppBarLayout.LayoutParams params = (AppBarLayout.LayoutParams)
            mToolbar.getLayoutParams();

    params.setScrollFlags(enabled ?
            AppBarLayout.LayoutParams.SCROLL_FLAG_SCROLL | AppBarLayout.LayoutParams.SCROLL_FLAG_ENTER_ALWAYS : 0);

    mToolbar.setLayoutParams(params);
}

In your Toolbar remove the scroll flag, leaving only the enterAlways flag and you should get the effect you intended. For completeness, your layout should look like:

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

    <android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout
        android:id="@+id/appBarLayout"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content">

        <android.support.v7.widget.Toolbar
            android:id="@+id/toolbar"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="?attr/actionBarSize"
            android:background="?attr/colorPrimary"
            app:layout_scrollFlags="enterAlways"
            app:theme="@style/ToolbarStyle" />
    </android.support.design.widget.AppBarLayout>

    <android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView
        android:id="@+id/recycler"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        app:layout_behavior="@string/appbar_scrolling_view_behavior" />
</android.support.design.widget.CoordinatorLayout>