fix(Android, Stack v4+): transition RecyclerView as a unit on screen removal

[drhops]

Note: this fix was discovered via callstack/react-native-pager-view#1005 (comment) and all credit goes to @mozzius

Description

When a screen is removed, Screen.startTransitionRecursive calls startViewTransition on every descendant so the outgoing screen keeps drawing through the exit animation. That works by delaying ViewGroup's detachment contract and the transitioning view keeps its parent when it is removed:

// ViewGroup.removeFromArray
if (!(mTransitioningViews != null && mTransitioningViews.contains(children[index]))) {
    children[index].mParent = null;      // skipped while transitioning
}

RecyclerView owns the attach/detach lifecycle of its children, and rejects any holder whose parent is still set:

// RecyclerView.Recycler.recycleViewHolderInternal
if (holder.isScrap() || holder.itemView.getParent() != null) {
    throw new IllegalArgumentException("Scrapped or attached views may not be recycled. ...");
}

So once a screen removal has marked a ViewPager2 page, the next recycle throws:

java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Scrapped or attached views may not be recycled.
  isScrap:false isAttached:true androidx.viewpager2.widget.ViewPager2$RecyclerViewImpl{...},
  adapter:com.reactnativepagerview.ViewPagerAdapter@...

  at ...RecyclerView$Recycler.recycleViewHolderInternal(RecyclerView.java:7071)
  at ...RecyclerView$LayoutManager.removeAndRecycleViewAt(RecyclerView.java:9741)
  at ...LinearLayoutManager.recycleChildren(LinearLayoutManager.java:1464)
  at ...LinearLayoutManager.fill(LinearLayoutManager.java:1613)
  at ...RecyclerView.scrollStep(RecyclerView.java:2047)
  at ...RecyclerView$ViewFlinger.run(RecyclerView.java:5835)

Repro Steps:

Setup: a RecyclerView inside of a native stack:

1. A native stack. ScreenStackViewManager.removeViewAt is the only caller of startRemovalTransition()
2. A RecyclerView anywhere in the popped screen's subtree. Depth is irrelevant and <PagerView> is the example in our app.
3. ≥3 pages, so a page actually leaves the retained window and recycleChildren runs.

Minimal test screen

import { NavigationContainer } from '@react-navigation/native';
import { createNativeStackNavigator } from '@react-navigation/native-stack';
import React from 'react';
import { Button, Text, View } from 'react-native';
import PagerView from 'react-native-pager-view';

const Stack = createNativeStackNavigator();

function Home({ navigation }) {
  return <Button title="Open pager" onPress={() => navigation.navigate('Pager')} />;
}

function Pager() {
  return (
    <PagerView style={{ flex: 1 }} initialPage={0}>
      {Array.from({ length: 6 }, (_, i) => (
        <View key={i} style={{ flex: 1, backgroundColor: i % 2 ? '#cde' : '#edc' }}>
          <Text style={{ fontSize: 64, textAlign: 'center', marginTop: 240 }}>{i}</Text>
        </View>
      ))}
    </PagerView>
  );
}

export default function Test2461() {
  return (
    <NavigationContainer independent>
      <Stack.Navigator>
        <Stack.Screen name="Home" component={Home} />
        <Stack.Screen name="Pager" component={Pager} />
      </Stack.Navigator>
    </NavigationContainer>
  );
}

On Android: open the pager screen, drag horizontally and release mid-page, then immediately press Back while it's still gliding. Use a back button rather than back gesture. Repeat a couple times given the animation settle window is only a few hundred milliseconds.

Notes

Fixes the crash reported in #2461 (closed without a fix).
Downstream: callstack/react-native-pager-view#1005.

Changes

• legacy/Screen.kt: skip recursion into a RecyclerView in startTransitionRecursive, and mirror
  the skip in endTransitionRecursive.
• android/build.gradle: declare androidx.recyclerview:recyclerview explicitly. It was already on
  the compile classpath transitively via Material, but the new import should not rely on that. Pinned
  at 1.1.0, which is what Material already resolves.

[coderabbitai]

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📒 Files selected for processing (2)

• android/build.gradle
• android/src/main/java/com/swmansion/rnscreens/legacy/Screen.kt

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📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

Changes

RecyclerView transition handling

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Atomic RecyclerView transitions android/build.gradle, android/src/main/java/com/swmansion/rnscreens/legacy/Screen.kt	The library adds AndroidX RecyclerView 1.1.0. Legacy transition start and end recursion now excludes RecyclerView children and processes each RecyclerView as a single unit.

Estimated code review effort: 2 (Simple) | ~5 minutes

Merge Risk: ⚪ Minimal · up to 9333f

This localized Android change adjusts screen-removal transitions and declares the required RecyclerView dependency; no actionable merge-blocking risk remains beyond normal checks and review.

Suggested reviewers: kmichalikk, t0maboro

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 4 | ❌ 1

❌ Failed checks (1 warning)

Check name	Status	Explanation	Resolution
Docstring Coverage	⚠️ Warning	Docstring coverage is 0.00% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%. Docstring coverage is scoped to functions touched by this diff. Analyzed 2 functions across 1 files. (1 skipped: 1 …	Write docstrings for the functions missing them to satisfy the coverage threshold.

✅ Passed checks (4 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly and concisely describes the main Android fix: transitioning RecyclerView as a unit when removing a screen.
Description check	✅ Passed	The description directly explains the RecyclerView recycling crash, provides reproduction details, and documents the code and dependency changes.

Full details: Docstring Coverage

Explanation

Docstring coverage is 0.00% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%. Docstring coverage is scoped to functions touched by this diff. Analyzed 2 functions across 1 files. (1 skipped: 1 unsupported.)

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[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Fixes an Android native-stack crash by treating RecyclerView as a single transition unit during screen removal.

Changes:

• Stops transition recursion into RecyclerView children.
• Adds an explicit RecyclerView dependency.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated no comments.

File	Description
android/src/main/java/com/swmansion/rnscreens/legacy/Screen.kt	Skips RecyclerView descendants during transition start and end.
android/build.gradle	Declares the RecyclerView dependency explicitly.

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[kkafar]

This is less than perfect and what actually stops me from landing this change.

Additional dependency just for a symbol is a lot.

What's the impact of this on package size?
Also why outdated 1.1.0, when newer versions are available?

[drhops]

@kkafar this dependency is already included transitively, so this change just makes it direct/explicit given we now rely on it in the code. 1.1.0 because that's what was already being included transitively, and it shouldn't affect package size at all.