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

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" />