Is there any way to enable scrollbars for RecyclerView in code?

Question

As we saw, RecyclerView is more effective than ListView, so I prefer to use it in my project. But recently I have a trouble when put it in my custom ViewGroup. RecyclerView is easy to set scrollbars in xml like this:

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

But I really can't find any method to set the scrollbars in code for RecyclerView, what I have tried is:

mRecyclerView.setVerticalScrollBarEnabled(true);

and then I saw this in Android's document.

So I tried to make my own LayoutManager and override the functions which I thought I need. But finally I failed. So can anyone tell me how should I make my own LayoutManager or just show me an other solution. Thank you!

score 144 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 22 '17 at 14:09

At the moment it seems to be impossible to enable scroll bars programmatically. The reason for that behaviour is that Android does not call either View.initializeScrollbarsInternal(TypedArray a) or View.initializeScrollbars(TypedArray a). Both methods are only called if you instantiate your RecyclerView with an AttributeSet.
As a workaround I would suggest, that you create a new layout file with your RecyclerView only: vertical_recycler_view.xml

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

Now you can inflate and add the RecyclerView with scrollbars everywhere you want: MyCustomViewGroup.java

public class MyCustomViewGroup extends FrameLayout
{
    public MyCustomViewGroup(Context context)
    {
        super(context);

        RecyclerView verticalRecyclerView = (RecyclerView) LayoutInflater.from(context).inflate(R.layout.vertical_recycler_view, null);
        verticalRecyclerView.setLayoutManager(new LinearLayoutManager(context, LinearLayoutManager.VERTICAL, false));
        addView(verticalRecyclerView);
    }
}

Now you can add scrollbars easily! Check this answer: https://stackoverflow.com/a/39125108/3162918 — bendaf, Jun 21 '17 at 14:49

score 88 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 11 '15 at 09:03

88

Set the vertical scrollbar in the xml layout

<android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView
      android:layout_width="match_parent"
      android:layout_height="match_parent"
      android:scrollbars="vertical" />

answered Sep 11 '15 at 09:03

Lilo

2,724
25
16

2

Is this enough, or do we also have to set `android:scrollbarStyle="outsideOverlay"`? – IgorGanapolsky Sep 22 '15 at 22:16
1

@IgorGanapolsky No need to set it, unless you want to specify if your scrollbar would be overlaid or inset – Lilo Sep 23 '15 at 12:48
3

This doesn't really answer the question, since OP didn't use XML layout at all and thus, wanted to have this programmatically. – Andrew T. Nov 24 '15 at 05:30
And you have optional attributes such as `android:fadeScrollbars="true"` – Junior Mayhé Dec 29 '15 at 09:43

score 46 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 24 '16 at 13:46

46

Just in xml properties

<android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:id="@+id/recyclerView"
    android:scrollbars="vertical" <!-- type of scrollbar -->
    android:scrollbarThumbVertical="@android:color/darker_gray"  <!--color of scroll bar-->
    android:scrollbarSize="5dp"> <!--width of scroll bar-->

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

answered Aug 24 '16 at 13:46

Dinesh Sunny

4,663
3
30
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how can set color from by scroll ? like recyclerview.scrollview.color = R.color.some_one – marlonpya Jun 27 '18 at 00:23

Ayaz Alifov · Answer 4 · 2022-01-07T15:47:40.807

I would prefer to use ContextThemeWrapper for that, because it can be used dynamically from code.

First define in Style.xml:

<style name="ScrollbarRecyclerView" parent="android:Widget">
    <item name="android:scrollbars">vertical</item>
</style>

And then whenever you initialize your RecyclerView use ContextThemeWrapper:

RecyclerView recyclerView = new RecyclerView(new ContextThemeWrapper(context, R.style.ScrollbarRecyclerView));

score 10 · Answer 5 · answered Nov 27 '16 at 20:40

You can do it without inflating an XML layout, but you'll need to declare a custom theme attribute and a style:

<resources>
    <attr name="verticalRecyclerViewStyle" format="reference"/>

    <style name="VerticalRecyclerView" parent="android:Widget">
        <item name="android:scrollbars">vertical</item>
    </style>
</resources>

Then set the value of the attribute to the style in your theme:

<style name="AppTheme" parent="Theme.AppCompat.Light.DarkActionBar">

    <item name="verticalRecyclerViewStyle">@style/VerticalRecyclerView</item>
</style>

Now you can create the RecyclerView programmatically with a vertical scrollbar:

RecyclerView recyclerView = new RecyclerView(context, null, R.attr.verticalRecyclerViewStyle);

score 8 · Answer 6 · edited Sep 05 '19 at 13:58

8

Use a code like:

<androidx.recyclerview.widget.RecyclerView
 android:id="@+id/categoryRecyclerLayout"
 android:layout_width="414dp"
 android:layout_height="652dp"
 android:scrollbars="vertical" .... />

edited Sep 05 '19 at 13:58

brooksrelyt

3,925
5
31
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answered Sep 05 '19 at 13:39

Achintha Isuru

2,662
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Is there any way to enable scrollbars for RecyclerView in code?

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