Develop Reference

Why can't I start an Activity from a page Notification on Android Wear?

I just succesfully created a bunch of pages notifications on my Wear device.
The only problem is that the PendingIntent does not seems to start an Activity
(which is of course declared in Manifest).
Here is my code:
List extras = new ArrayList();
Intent viewIntent = new Intent(getApplicationContext(), DetailActivity.class);
viewIntent.putExtra("KEY", "TEST123");
//Note: I also tried: Intent viewIntent = new Intent(getApplicationContext(), DetailActivity.class).setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
PendingIntent viewPendingIntent = PendingIntent.getActivity(getApplicationContext(), 0, viewIntent, 0);
for (Route aRoute : myRoutes) {
Notification aNotif = new NotificationCompat.Builder(getApplicationContext())
.setContentTitle("BUS " + aRoute.route_short_name)
.setContentText(aRoute.directions.get(0).trip_headsign)
.setLargeIcon(bitmap)
.setContentIntent(viewPendingIntent)
.setSmallIcon(R.mipmap.ic_launcher).build();
extras.add(aNotif);
}
NotificationCompat.Builder builder1 = new NotificationCompat.Builder(this)
.setContentTitle(title)
.setContentText(desc)
.setContentIntent(viewPendingIntent)//Just in case
.setSmallIcon(R.mipmap.ic_launcher);
Notification notification = builder1
.extend(new NotificationCompat.WearableExtender()
.addPages(extras))
.setContentIntent(viewPendingIntent)//Just in case
.build();
NotificationManagerCompat notificationManager = NotificationManagerCompat.from(this);
notificationManager.notify(0, notification);
When I press on a Notification, I expect the intent to start, but nothing happens..
Any suggestion is welcome.
EDIT:
This code works, just after the notification, so, the second activity can easily be launched withour bug:
startActivity(viewIntent);
EDIT2:
There is now an "open" button at the end that works fine, but still nothing happens on individual notifications (every pages)

Pages are not clickable - on Android Wear, only actions are clickable. For phone generated notifications, those only appear after all pages
If you have a content intent on your phone generated notification, that will always appear as an 'Open on phone' action. There is no way to disable this unless you remove your content intent (making the notification unclickable on phones).
I say 'phone generated' as you can also create a Wear app. By using the data layer to push messages to your Wear app, the Wear app can then build custom notifications. These notifications allow you to use setDisplayIntent() and display activities inline (either as the main page or as separate pages). These activities can, of course, contain any View you want, including actions to perform any action (such as send a message back to the phone to start a particular activity).
Note that because pages are not clickable by default, styling of a custom notification should make it very obvious that the items are clickable. Rather than using a custom notification activity, you may consider using setContentAction() to display the action icon inline with the rest of the layout - this removes the action as a separate element past the action and places it directly on the notification/page.

Go back to previous screen on backbutton pressed after responding to notification

I am using code similar to Creating a simple notification to create and show a notification from a network call.
The issue is that I want the activity that responds to the notification to do it's business and then on a backbutton click, put the previously active activity back in the foreground, with it's back stack intact. This is regardless of if the previously active activity was part of my app or somebody elses.
Currently it is following the generated TaskStackBuilder. Leading it back up the app hierarchy and out to the home screen. This is bad UI-design as it breaks the work-flow of anyone using the device, forcing them to manually go back to their app and spending more buttonclicks than necessary. It is also rather unintuitive.
According to the official desing guidelines this is how it should work. The implementation I linked to higher up makes back button have the same functionality as up button should have
It is also a common way to implement it in a plethora of other apps, including official google ones (google-play update notifications come to mind), so there must be a relatively standard way to do this.

Intent intent = new Intent(getApplicationContext(), MainActivity.class)
//add Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TASK flag this will clear all activitys and
//launched activity at top. Means no other activity of this application will be running
.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TASK);
or
// add Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_MULTIPLE_TASK which start one more task your applications
// where activity will not be cleared;
.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_MULTIPLE_TASK);
PendingIntent pendingIntent = PendingIntent.getActivity(context, 0, intent, 0);
Notification n = new Builder(context.getApplicationContext())
.setContentTitle("simple notification title")
.setContentText("simple message")
.setContentIntent(pendingIntent)
.setAutoCancel(true)
.addAction(R.drawable.ic_launcher, "And more",pendingIntent ).build();
NotificationManager notificationManager =(NotificationManager) context.getApplicationContext().getSystemService(Context.NOTIFICATION_SERVICE);
notificationManager.notify(0, n);

Changing default style in notification list to BigTextStyle

I have a method which receives text from a push notification, via the Parse API, and packages it into a notification object. Pretty standard stuff. My problem is that I'm trying to use a BigTextStyle to display my notification in the list, but it refuses to do so, and only shows one line of text and the two-finger gesture does not cause it to expand.
However, if I tap the notification, which opens the app, then return to the notification list, it is displayed in the BigTextStyle and is responsive to gestures. So, my guess is that somehow tapping on the notification is activating it and allowing the BigTextStyle code to kick in.
I like that tapping on the notification opens the app, but I don't want to force my users to open the app then close it again to see the full text of my messages. So is there a way I could either make the notification display in the BigTextStyle format from the start, or to make it so that the first click "activates" the notification, allowing the full message text to be seen, and then a second click opens the app? Any help would be appreciated.
Here is my code from the Notification method:
public void receiveNotification() {
NotificationCompat.BigTextStyle bts = new NotificationCompat.BigTextStyle();
bts.bigText(SplashActivity.globalDataString);
bts.setSummaryText("Tap to open app, swipe to dismiss message");
NotificationCompat.Builder m = new NotificationCompat.Builder(this);
m.setContentTitle("New Push Notification")
.setContentText(SplashActivity.globalDataString)
.setSmallIcon(R.drawable.app_icon)
.setStyle(bts)
.build();
Intent openApp = new Intent(this, MenuActivity.class);
// This ensures that navigating backward from the Activity leads out of
// the application to the Home screen.
TaskStackBuilder stackBuilder = TaskStackBuilder.create(this);
// Adds the back stack for the Intent (but not the Intent itself)
stackBuilder.addParentStack(MenuActivity.class);
// Adds the Intent that starts the Activity to the top of the stack
stackBuilder.addNextIntent(openApp);
PendingIntent resultPendingIntent =
stackBuilder.getPendingIntent(
0,
PendingIntent.FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT
);
m.setContentIntent(resultPendingIntent);
NotificationManager mNotificationManager =
(NotificationManager) getSystemService(Context.NOTIFICATION_SERVICE);
// mId allows you to update the notification later on.
mNotificationManager.notify(pushMessageID, m.build());
pushMessageID++;
//reset notification
flag1 = false;
}
EDIT: I think my problem is with where I'm calling my receiveNotification() method from. Right now I have it in the onCreate() method of my app's starting activity, which doesn't make much sense looking back. Should I put it in my broadcastReceiver class, or would there be a better place to put it?

Yes, the creation and display of the notification is usually done either in the broadcast receiver, or in an intent service started by the broadcast receiver. Only when the user taps the notification, the relevant activity is launched. You can see Google's client code sample here.

How to close notification drop-down in Android >= 3.0 from custom rich notification with additional button?

I successfully created a custom rich notification for Android >= 3.0 that shows some text and an additional button. If you click the notification anywhere but on the button in the notification drop-down, the notification is dismissed, the drop-down closed and the specified Intent is launched as expected.
If the dedicated button in the notification is clicked, a different Intent is successfully launched, but the drop-down keeps open (and the notification is still there, but I cancel it later, that is not the problem). The Intent launches an Activity which appears behind the notifications drop-down.
What I like to achieve is to keep all the current behavior as described, but also close the notification drop-down from the Intent the button launches - is this possible? Alternatively it would be enough if the Activity from the button Intent gains the window focus.
Here the code for the custom notification, if that helps:
Notification.Builder builder = new Notification.Builder(main)
.setSmallIcon(R.drawable.notification)
.setAutoCancel(true)
.setTicker(text)
.setContentIntent(...);
RemoteViews layout = new RemoteViews(
main.getPackageName(), R.layout.notification);
layout.setTextViewText(R.id.title, title);
layout.setTextViewText(R.id.text, text);
Intent i = new Intent(
"snooze", null, main, Snooze.class
);
i.putExtra(KEY_WIDGET_ID, widgetId);
layout.setOnClickPendingIntent(R.id.notification_zzz, PendingIntent.getActivity( main, 0, i, PendingIntent.FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT ));
builder.setContent(layout);
...
NotificationManager nm =
(NotificationManager)main.getSystemService(Context.NOTIFICATION_SERVICE);
nm.notify(0, builder.getNotification());

Asked the question in the Android developer office hours:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvLBvdml_Fs (question starting 49:10)
The answer was, that it is not possible and I should not even do this, which I question.
That is why I have created a feature request:
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=24762
EDIT 08-10-12:
Starting with Android 4.1 this is possible as notifications can now include additional actions. See the following page for more information:
https://developer.android.com/about/versions/android-4.1.html#UI

Android Notification without click event?

I would like to try and make a Notification that does not respond to a click. Is this possible? i.e. when it is visible in the Notification area, and the user touches it, I want "nothing" to happen.
This is different to a normal Notification - when it is visible, and the user touches it, the Notification Area hides, and the Intent is launched. I do not want the Notification Area to hide when it is touched.
I can make one that doesn't launch an activity:
Possible to make an Android Notification that does not call an Intent?
Android - notification manager, having a notification without an intent
But it still responds to a click, by hiding the notification bar again (i.e. standard expected behaviour).
This question is a duplicate of How to disable a click event of notification in android development but that question does not have an answer. (if there is a better way to ~bump~ that question up again, I will do that & delete this question)
Note: I know this is not "the Android way", but it is still something I would like to try.

I do not want the Notification Area to hide when it is touched.
That would require firmware modifications. You are not in control over the notification area; the OS is.

Use Intent intent = new Intent() and insert this into the PendingIntent.

Have you ever tried
new NotificationCompat.Builder(this, CHANNEL_ID)
.setSmallIcon(R.drawable.notification_icon)
.setContentTitle("My notification")
.setContentText("Hello World!")
.setPriority(NotificationCompat.PRIORITY_DEFAULT)
// Set the intent null or empty and autoCancel false
.setContentIntent(null)
.setAutoCancel(false);
For more info about setAutoCancel() check Android Document here.