Android Nested RecyclerViews with expandable list

The following is an example for creating nested RecyclerViews in Android. A list RecyclerViews are items of a parent RecyclerView. The parent RecyclerView with vertical scrolling containing a list of RecyclerViews that are also with vertical scrolling and each of them can be expanded or collapsed.

Dependencies used:

compile 'com.android.support:recyclerview-v7:25.1.0'
compile 'com.android.support:cardview-v7:25.1.0'
compile 'com.jakewharton:butterknife:7.0.1'

Model classes:

public class Child {
    String child_name;
    public Child() {}
    public String getChild_name() {
        return child_name;
    }
    public void setChild_name(String child_name) {
        this.child_name = child_name;
    }
}

import java.util.ArrayList;

public class ParentChild {
    ArrayList child;

    public ParentChild() {}

    public ArrayList getChild() {
        return child;
    }

    public void setChild(ArrayList child) {
        this.child = child;
    }
}

Adapter classes:

import android.os.Handler;
import android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView;
import android.view.LayoutInflater;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.ViewGroup;
import android.widget.ImageView;
import android.widget.TextView;

import com.example.nestedrecyclerview.R;
import com.example.nestedrecyclerview.model.Child;

import java.util.ArrayList;

import butterknife.Bind;
import butterknife.ButterKnife;

public class ChildAdapter extends RecyclerView.Adapter {

    private ArrayList childData;
    private ArrayList childDataBk;

    public ChildAdapter(ArrayList childData) {
        this.childData = childData;
        childDataBk = new ArrayList<>(childData);
    }

    public static class ViewHolder extends RecyclerView.ViewHolder {

        @Bind(R.id.tv_child) TextView tvChild;
        @Bind(R.id.iv_expand_collapse_toggle) ImageView tvExpandCollapseToggle;

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

    }

    @Override
    public RecyclerView.ViewHolder onCreateViewHolder(ViewGroup parent, int viewType) {
        View itemLayoutView = LayoutInflater.from(parent.getContext())
                .inflate(R.layout.nested_recycler_item_child, parent, false);

        ChildAdapter.ViewHolder cavh = new ChildAdapter.ViewHolder(itemLayoutView);
        return cavh;
    }


    final Handler handler = new Handler();
    Runnable collapseList = new Runnable() {
        @Override
        public void run() {
            if (getItemCount() > 1) {
                childData.remove(1);
                notifyDataSetChanged();
                handler.postDelayed(collapseList, 50);
            }
        }
    };

    Runnable expandList = new Runnable() {
        @Override
        public void run() {
            int currSize = childData.size();
            if (currSize == childDataBk.size()) return;

            if (currSize == 0) {
                childData.add(childDataBk.get(currSize));
            } else {
                childData.add(childDataBk.get(currSize));
            }
            notifyDataSetChanged();

            handler.postDelayed(expandList, 50);
        }
    };


    @Override
    public void onBindViewHolder(RecyclerView.ViewHolder holder, final int position) {
        final ViewHolder vh = (ViewHolder) holder;

        if (position == 0 && getItemCount() == 1) {
            vh.tvExpandCollapseToggle.setImageResource(R.drawable.ic_expand_more_white_24dp);
            vh.tvExpandCollapseToggle.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
        } else if (position == childDataBk.size() - 1) {
            vh.tvExpandCollapseToggle.setImageResource(R.drawable.ic_expand_less_white_24dp);
            vh.tvExpandCollapseToggle.setVisibility(View.VISIBLE);
        } else {
            vh.tvExpandCollapseToggle.setVisibility(View.GONE);
        }

        Child c = childData.get(position);
        vh.tvChild.setText(c.getChild_name());

        vh.itemView.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
            @Override
            public void onClick(View v) {
                if (getItemCount() > 1) {
                    handler.post(collapseList);
                } else {
                    handler.post(expandList);
                }
            }
        });
    }

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

import android.content.Context;
import android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView;
import android.view.LayoutInflater;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.ViewGroup;

import com.example.nestedrecyclerview.NestedRecyclerLinearLayoutManager;
import com.example.nestedrecyclerview.R;
import com.example.nestedrecyclerview.model.Child;
import com.example.nestedrecyclerview.model.ParentChild;

import java.util.ArrayList;

import butterknife.Bind;
import butterknife.ButterKnife;


public class ParentAdapter extends RecyclerView.Adapter {

    ArrayList parentChildData;
    Context ctx;

    public ParentAdapter(Context ctx, ArrayList parentChildData) {
        this.ctx = ctx;
        this.parentChildData = parentChildData;
    }

    public static class ViewHolder extends RecyclerView.ViewHolder {
        @Bind(R.id.rv_child)
        RecyclerView rv_child;

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

    @Override
    public RecyclerView.ViewHolder onCreateViewHolder(ViewGroup parent, int viewType) {
        View itemLayoutView = LayoutInflater.from(parent.getContext()).inflate(R.layout.nested_recycler_item_parent, parent, false);
        ParentAdapter.ViewHolder pavh = new ParentAdapter.ViewHolder(itemLayoutView);
        return pavh;
    }

    @Override
    public void onBindViewHolder(RecyclerView.ViewHolder holder, int position) {
        ViewHolder vh = (ViewHolder) holder;
        ParentChild p = parentChildData.get(position);
        initChildLayoutManager(vh.rv_child, p.getChild());
    }

    private void initChildLayoutManager(RecyclerView rv_child, ArrayList childData) {
        rv_child.setLayoutManager(new NestedRecyclerLinearLayoutManager(ctx));
        ChildAdapter childAdapter = new ChildAdapter(childData);
        rv_child.setAdapter(childAdapter);
    }

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

Layouts
activity_main.xml

nested_recycler_item_child.xml

nested_recycler_item_parent

NestedRecyclerLinearLayoutManager.java

import android.content.Context;
import android.support.v7.widget.LinearLayoutManager;
import android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.ViewGroup;

/**
 * http://stackoverflow.com/a/32086918/2069407
 */
public class NestedRecyclerLinearLayoutManager extends LinearLayoutManager {

    private static final String TAG = NestedRecyclerLinearLayoutManager.class.getSimpleName();

    public NestedRecyclerLinearLayoutManager(Context context) {
        super(context);
    }

    public NestedRecyclerLinearLayoutManager(Context context, int orientation, boolean reverseLayout) {
        super(context, orientation, reverseLayout);
    }

    private int[] mMeasuredDimension = new int[2];

    @Override
    public void onMeasure(RecyclerView.Recycler recycler, RecyclerView.State state, int widthSpec, int heightSpec) {

        final int widthMode = View.MeasureSpec.getMode(widthSpec);
        final int heightMode = View.MeasureSpec.getMode(heightSpec);
        final int widthSize = View.MeasureSpec.getSize(widthSpec);
        final int heightSize = View.MeasureSpec.getSize(heightSpec);

        int width = 0;
        int height = 0;
        for (int i = 0; i < getItemCount(); i++) {
            measureScrapChild(recycler, i, View.MeasureSpec.makeMeasureSpec(i, View.MeasureSpec.UNSPECIFIED),
                    View.MeasureSpec.makeMeasureSpec(i, View.MeasureSpec.UNSPECIFIED),
                    mMeasuredDimension);


            if (getOrientation() == HORIZONTAL) {
                width = width + mMeasuredDimension[0];
                if (i == 0) {
                    height = mMeasuredDimension[1];
                }
            } else {
                height = height + mMeasuredDimension[1];
                if (i == 0) {
                    width = mMeasuredDimension[0];
                }
            }
        }
        switch (widthMode) {
            case View.MeasureSpec.EXACTLY:
                width = widthSize;
            case View.MeasureSpec.AT_MOST:
            case View.MeasureSpec.UNSPECIFIED:
        }

        switch (heightMode) {
            case View.MeasureSpec.EXACTLY:
                height = heightSize;
            case View.MeasureSpec.AT_MOST:
            case View.MeasureSpec.UNSPECIFIED:
        }

        setMeasuredDimension(width, height);
    }

    private void measureScrapChild(RecyclerView.Recycler recycler, int position, int widthSpec,
                                   int heightSpec, int[] measuredDimension) {
        try {
            View view = recycler.getViewForPosition(0); //fix IndexOutOfBoundsException

            if (view != null) {
                RecyclerView.LayoutParams p = (RecyclerView.LayoutParams) view.getLayoutParams();

                int childWidthSpec = ViewGroup.getChildMeasureSpec(widthSpec,
                        getPaddingLeft() + getPaddingRight(), p.width);

                int childHeightSpec = ViewGroup.getChildMeasureSpec(heightSpec,
                        getPaddingTop() + getPaddingBottom(), p.height);

                view.measure(childWidthSpec, childHeightSpec);
                measuredDimension[0] = view.getMeasuredWidth() + p.leftMargin + p.rightMargin;
                measuredDimension[1] = view.getMeasuredHeight() + p.bottomMargin + p.topMargin;
                recycler.recycleView(view);
            }
        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}

MainActivity.java

import android.support.v7.app.AppCompatActivity;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.support.v7.widget.LinearLayoutManager;
import android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView;

import com.example.nestedrecyclerview.adapter.ParentAdapter;
import com.example.nestedrecyclerview.model.Child;
import com.example.nestedrecyclerview.model.ParentChild;

import java.util.ArrayList;

/**
 * Reference
 * https://github.com/aimanbaharum/RecyclerViewCeption
 */
public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
    private RecyclerView recyclerViewParent;

    ArrayList parentChildObj;


    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
        recyclerViewParent = (RecyclerView) findViewById(R.id.rv_parent);


        LinearLayoutManager manager = new LinearLayoutManager(this);
        manager.setOrientation(LinearLayoutManager.VERTICAL);
        recyclerViewParent.setLayoutManager(manager);
        recyclerViewParent.setHasFixedSize(true);

        ParentAdapter parentAdapter = new ParentAdapter(this, createData());
        recyclerViewParent.setAdapter(parentAdapter);
    }


    private ArrayList createData() {
        parentChildObj = new ArrayList<>();
        ArrayList list1 = new ArrayList<>();
        ArrayList list2 = new ArrayList<>();
        ArrayList list3 = new ArrayList<>();
        ArrayList list4 = new ArrayList<>();
        ArrayList list5 = new ArrayList<>();

        for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
            Child c1 = new Child();
            c1.setChild_name("Child 1." + (i + 1));
            list1.add(c1);
        }

        for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
            Child c2 = new Child();
            c2.setChild_name("Child 2." + (i + 1));
            list2.add(c2);
        }


        for (int i = 0; i < 2; i++) {
            Child c3 = new Child();
            c3.setChild_name("Child 3." + (i + 1));
            list3.add(c3);
        }


        for (int i = 0; i < 4; i++) {
            Child c4 = new Child();
            c4.setChild_name("Child 4." + (i + 1));
            list4.add(c4);
        }

        for (int i = 0; i < 2; i++) {
            Child c5 = new Child();
            c5.setChild_name("Child 5." + (i + 1));
            list5.add(c5);
        }


        ParentChild pc1 = new ParentChild();
        pc1.setChild(list1);
        parentChildObj.add(pc1);

        ParentChild pc2 = new ParentChild();
        pc2.setChild(list2);
        parentChildObj.add(pc2);


        ParentChild pc3 = new ParentChild();
        pc3.setChild(list3);
        parentChildObj.add(pc3);

        ParentChild pc4 = new ParentChild();
        pc4.setChild(list4);
        parentChildObj.add(pc4);

        ParentChild pc5 = new ParentChild();
        pc5.setChild(list5);
        parentChildObj.add(pc5);


        return parentChildObj;
    }
}

Complete example in Github