setEmptyView on ListView not showing its view in a android app?

I have a problem with the setEmptyView method from a ListView.

Here is my Java code:

ListView view = (ListView)findViewById(R.id.listView1);
view.setEmptyView(findViewById(R.layout.empty_list_item));

ArrayAdapter<Session> adapter1 = new ArrayAdapter<Session>(this, android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1, 
        android.R.id.text1, MainController.getInstanz().getItems());
view.setAdapter(adapter1);

empty_list_item:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<TextView xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:text="@string/emptyList" >

</TextView>

listview:

<ListView
        android:id="@+id/listView1"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" >

What is wrong with my code? When I have items I see them in the list. But when the list is empty I don't see the TextView.

Your TextView should be placed right under the ListView item with its visibility set to gone (android:visibility="gone"), do not place it in another layout. This is how your main layout would look like

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical" >

    <ListView
        android:id="@+id/listViewFangbuch"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content" >
    </ListView>
    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/empty_list_item"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:visibility="gone"
        android:text="@string/emptyList" >
    </TextView>

</LinearLayout>

And this is how your code might look like

ListView view = (ListView)findViewById(R.id.listViewFangbuch);
view.setEmptyView(findViewById(R.id.empty_list_item));

ArrayAdapter<Session> adapter1 = new ArrayAdapter<Session>(this, android.R.layout.simple_list_item_1, 
        android.R.id.text1, MainController.getInstanz().getItems());
view.setAdapter(adapter1);

the problem is, i have to do a addContentView:

View empty = getLayoutInflater().inflate(R.layout.empty_list_item, null, false);
addContentView(empty, new LayoutParams(LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT, LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT));
view.setEmptyView(empty);

now its fine

For me, none of this answers worked for me. What I had to do was add the empty view manually (inflated) to the "parent" view of the Listview:

ListView my_list = (ListView) findViewById(R.id.my_list);
View emptyView = getLayoutInflater().inflate(R.layout.empty_view,null);
((ViewGroup)my_list.getParent()).addView(emptyView); 
listView.setEmptyView(emptyView);