RecyclerView doesn't have an emptyView support, we gotta fix that (but you may also need to show a view when it's non empty, that's why the fork)

EmptyRecyclerView.java

import android.content.Context;
import android.support.v7.widget.RecyclerView;
import android.util.AttributeSet;
import android.view.View;

public class EmptyRecyclerView extends RecyclerView {

    private View emptyView, nonEmptyView;

    final private AdapterDataObserver observer = new AdapterDataObserver() {
        @Override
        public void onChanged() {
            checkIfEmpty();
        }

        @Override
        public void onItemRangeInserted(int positionStart, int itemCount) {
            checkIfEmpty();
        }

        @Override
        public void onItemRangeRemoved(int positionStart, int itemCount) {
            checkIfEmpty();
        }
    };

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

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

    public EmptyRecyclerView(Context context, AttributeSet attrs,
                             int defStyle) {
        super(context, attrs, defStyle);
    }

    void checkIfEmpty() {
        if (emptyView != null && getAdapter() != null) {
            final boolean emptyViewVisible =
                    getAdapter().getItemCount() == 0;
            emptyView.setVisibility(emptyViewVisible ? VISIBLE : GONE);
            if (nonEmptyView != null)
            {
                nonEmptyView.setVisibility(emptyViewVisible ? GONE : VISIBLE);
            }
            setVisibility(emptyViewVisible ? GONE : VISIBLE);

        }
    }

    @Override
    public void setAdapter(Adapter adapter) {
        final Adapter oldAdapter = getAdapter();
        if (oldAdapter != null) {
            oldAdapter.unregisterAdapterDataObserver(observer);
        }
        super.setAdapter(adapter);
        if (adapter != null) {
            adapter.registerAdapterDataObserver(observer);
        }

        checkIfEmpty();
    }

    public void setNonEmptyView(View nonEmptyView)
    {
        this.nonEmptyView = nonEmptyView;
        checkIfEmpty();
    }

    public void setEmptyView(View emptyView) {
        this.emptyView = emptyView;
        checkIfEmpty();
    }
}