Develop Reference

Android: How to distinguish CLEAR all events from notification bar from user action

According to the specification, .setDeleteIntent(pendingIntent) is associated to both actions (CLEAR all events from notification bar and user action like swiping).
My requirements are that when the user touches the notification that appears on the notification bar, he must be forwarded to the NotificationsList.class. This is done with my pendingInent:
PendingIntent sendPendingIntent = PendingIntent.getActivity(context, reminderId, new Intent(context, NotificationsList.class), PendingIntent.FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT);
However, on clicking the CLEAR button, the user must not be navigated to the application at all. With the .setDeleteIntent(pendingIndent) I cannot fulfill the 2nd requirement. The user is still navigated to NotificationsList.class.
Is there a way to programmatically distinguish the CLEAR all notifications events fired from the CLEAR button from user actions like touch or swipe on the specific notification on the notification bar?

What you're describing is very obtuse behavior. You need only set the pending intent to your notification and when it is clicked, the intent that is backing it will be executed.
If your code is navigating the user back to the app when the notification is cleared, then you already have a problem with your design. If the user clears your notification you should NOT be trying to navigate them back. Hence the setDeleteIntent() should NOT be associated with starting any activity.
Note that the intent that is backed when you click the notification (setContentIntent()) and clear (setDeleteIntent()) the notification are basically two PendingIntents, they should not be the same, which is what your problem is describing.

You cannot distinguish the two events. As the documentation says:
Notifications remain visible until one of the following happens:
The user dismisses the notification either individually or by using "Clear All" (if the notification can be cleared).
The user clicks the notification, and you called setAutoCancel() when you created the notification.
You call cancel() for a specific notification ID. This method also deletes ongoing notifications.
You call cancelAll(), which removes all of the notifications you previously issued.
So there are basically three different events in the view of a programmer:
You dismisses the notification
The user clicks on the notification
The user dismisses the notification (either by swiping or clearing it)
The first event is fired by yourself by calling cancelAll() or cancel().
You can handle the second like (which you wanna do I think):
NotificationCompat.Builder builder = new NotificationCompat.Builder(this)
//....
.setContentIntent(sendPendingIntent);
And you can handle the third event like (as you have described above):
builder.setDeleteIntent(pendingIndent)
I don't recommend to start an activity after the user dismisses your notification, because the user won't expect it and it will be a bad user experience.
I hope I could help.

According to the design guidelines, the user can expect to interact with your notification using higher-level gestures like click, swipe, and pinch zoom. Responding instantly to a lower level event like touch would short circuit these gestures, so your requirements would violate the design guidelines and you should not implement it.
If the requirements are changed so that the user is forwarded when they click on the notification, there is no need to distinguish between swiping and clearing, which is impossible in any case.
So your issue should be resolved by changing one word in the requirements: touch --> click.

I googled deleteIntent to find some info for a problem which led me here.
English is my second language. Sorry for some misuse of words in advance. I'm an android newbie, just downvote the answer if it sucks :)
For your last question, just as #x-code and #bendaf said, it's impossible to
distinguish swiping and clearing.
I am following the codelabs about notifications and encountered the same question(The description in your title). So I decided to offer more detail about how to use .setDeleteIntent in your case. Maybe you had done that.
In your case, the wrapped intent is for starting an activity, so do the pendingIntent.
PendingIntent sendPendingIntent = PendingIntent.getActivity(context, reminderId, new Intent(context, NotificationsList.class), PendingIntent.FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT);
But for performing a broadcast, e.g. doing some stuff when the notification is cleared, use:
PendingIntent pendingIntent = PendingIntent.getBroadcast(context, NOTIFICATION_ID, new Intent(yourCustomActionString), PendingIntent.FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT);
builder.setDeleteIntent(pendingIntent); // the pendingIntent will be sent when the notification is cleared
Then we need a custom broadcast receiver receive that custom action contained in the Intent object, in your case, this action relates to the clearing:
// Inside onCreate, register the broadcast receiver;
registerReceiver(new MyReceiver(), new IntentFilter(yourCustomActionString));
.
.
// Create an inner class
public class MyReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {
public NotificationReceiver() {}
#Override
public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
// code inside will be executed when pendingIntent is sent
Log("taG", "Notification is cleared"); // a message will be logged if the notification is cleared
// for more than one action, using switch...case to decide
}
}

Can an activity be triggered immediately when a notifcation arrives?

I need to implement this feature but I am not sure if this is possible on android.
We have gcm listener service running. But let's say the app is open, and a notification arrives from the server. I need to have an activity triggered automatically without touching the notification status bar on the top of the phone screen.
In other words, without any user interaction once the notification arrives, if the app is running, an activity must be triggered immediately.
I took a look at this thread, but this is not really what I need.
Intent - if activity is running, bring it to front, else start a new one (from notification)
any clues or more info?
thx!

You can start an activity without another prior activity by using the FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK flag.
Context c = getApplicationContext(); // or getContext(), or any other context you can find from the current app
Intent i = new Intent(c, YourActivity.class);
i.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
startActivity(i);

How to define started activity when relaunching Android application?

I am fairly new to Android, and am currently working on a simple XMPP Client. A user should be able to log in, and should be notified whenever an XMPP message arrives. It should be possible to access an overview of all messages that arrived during the current session.
When launching the application, a LoginActivity is started, prompting the user to fill in his or her credentials. If the right credentials are provided, a background service is started:
Intent intent = new Intent(this, NotificationService.class);
startService(intent);
On startup, the notification service adds a packet listener to the XMPP connection and requests to be running in the foreground. The users is prompted with a notification caused by this foreground request ("Ongoing"). Now I have provided a second activity called XMPPClientActivity, showing all messages that are received during the session and a simple logout button. When opening the application from within the "Ongoing" notification, the XMPPClientActivity is started because the notification is defined like this:
xmppIntent = new Intent(this, XMPPClientActivity.class);
pendingIntent = PendingIntent.getActivity(this, 0, xmppIntent, 0);
NotificationCompat.Builder xmppBuilder = new NotificationCompat.Builder(this);
xmppBuilder.setContentIntent(pendingIntent);
// Notification details
startForeground(id, xmppBuilder.build());
When opening the application from the home screen however, the LoginActivity is opened again. Of course I want the XMPPActivity to be started, but I can't seem to figure out how this should be done. I have been looking into binding an activity to a service, but I'm unsure if this can be of any help. What is the right way to do this?

What you can do, as I understand you issue, is use ShaeredPreferences. Create a preference like "loggedin" and set a boolean variable to true the first time they log in. Now you can set this to false when they click the "logout" Button.
When the Activity is started you can check the SharedPreference before calling setContentView() and if the value is true then finish() the LoginActivity and open your other Activity.
The link to the docs I provided has a good example of creating, opening, and editing SharedPreferences

Android: Pending Intent of Notification shall be used just once

I've a problem which seems strange to me. I've different notifications that are thrown when an alarm goes off. Each notification has an pendingIntent that contains a serializable object. As I am working with fragments, every pendingIntent is sent to the same activity, namely the main activity. Depending on the contained object in the pendingIntent, another fragment is shown. This works perfect. The problem is if I am closing the app and open it again via the launcher icon, not the defined main fragment but the previous fragment (that has been created from the notification) is shown. As I've observed it in Logcat, it seems to be that the MainActivity that is started when i click on the launcher icon reads still the pendingIntent. Isn't the pendingIntent deleted after having been used? I've created the pendingIntent with the FLAG_ONE_SHOT....
I would be grateful for help!

Change notification intent in Android

I have a service that shows a notification that I wish that will be able to go to a specific activity of my app each time the user presses on it. Usually it would be the last one that the user has shown, but not always.
If the activity was started before, it should return to it, and if not, it should open it inside of the app's task, adding it to the activities tasks.
In addition, on some cases according to the service's logic, I wish to change the notification's intent so that it will target a different activity.
How do i do that? Is it possible without creating a new notification and dismissing the previous one? Is it also possible without creating a new task or an instance of an activity?

No it wouldn't be possible to change the Activity once you have sent the notification.
You can start an Activity on your task stack that is not a problem, check out the notification service in the tutorial here:
http://blog.blundell-apps.com/notification-for-a-user-chosen-time/
You have to set a pending intent on the notification:
// The PendingIntent to launch our activity if the user selects this notification
PendingIntent contentIntent = PendingIntent.getActivity(this, 0, new Intent(this, SecondActivity.class), 0);
// Set the info for the view that shows in the notification panel.
notification.setLatestEventInfo(this, title, text, contentIntent);
You can see the pending intent takes a normal intent "new Intent(this, SecondActivity.class" so if you want specific behaviour (like bringing to the top instead of starting a new activity. Add the flags like you would normally to this intent. i.e. FLAG_ACTIVITY_REORDER_TO_FRONT (something like that)

Since platform version 11, you can build a notification using Notification.Builder. The v4 support library has an equivalent class NotificationCompat.Builder.
You can't change the Activity once you've sent the notification, but you can update the notification with a new Intent. When you create the PendingIntent, use the flag FLAG_CANCEL_CURRENT. When you send the new notification, use the ID of the existing notification when you call NotificationManager.notify().
Also, you should be careful how you start your app. The Status Bar Notifications guide tells you how to set up the back stack.