How To Create Custom Notification In Android

Android Custom Notification Tutorial

Last Updated: May 19, 2013

In this tutorial, you will learn how to create Custom Notifications in your Android application. A notification is a message you can display to the user outside of your Android application. Notifications can be clicked to perform an action or to open a new activity. We will be creating a custom notification and a simple notification and on notification click will show results on a new activity. So lets begin…

Create a new project in EclipseFile >New >Android Application Project.Fill in the details and name your projectNotificationTutorial .

Application Name :NotificationTutorial

Project Name :NotificationTutorial

Package Name :com.androidbegin.notificationtutorial

Open yourMainActivity .java and paste the following code.

MainActivity.java

package com.androidbegin.notificationtutorial;  import android.os.Bundle; import android.app.Activity; import android.app.NotificationManager; import android.app.PendingIntent; import android.content.Intent; import android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat; import android.view.Menu; import android.view.View; import android.view.View.OnClickListener; import android.widget.Button; import android.widget.RemoteViews;  public class MainActivity extends Activity { 	@Override 	protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) { 		super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); 		setContentView(R.layout.notificationmain);  		Button bnotify = (Button) findViewById(R.id.notification);  		Button bcustomnotify = (Button) findViewById(R.id.customnotification);  		bnotify.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {  			public void onClick(View arg0) { 				Notification(); 				// TODO Auto-generated method stub 			} 		});  		bcustomnotify.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {  			public void onClick(View arg0) { 				CustomNotification(); 				// TODO Auto-generated method stub 			} 		});  	}  	public void Notification() { 		// Set Notification Title 		String strtitle = getString(R.string.notificationtitle); 		// Set Notification Text 		String strtext = getString(R.string.notificationtext);  		// Open NotificationView Class on Notification Click 		Intent intent = new Intent(this, NotificationView.class); 		// Send data to NotificationView Class 		intent.putExtra("title", strtitle); 		intent.putExtra("text", strtext); 		// Open NotificationView.java Activity 		PendingIntent pIntent = PendingIntent.getActivity(this, 0, intent, 				PendingIntent.FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT);  		//Create Notification using NotificationCompat.Builder  		NotificationCompat.Builder builder = new NotificationCompat.Builder(this) 				// Set Icon 				.setSmallIcon(R.drawable.logosmall) 				// Set Ticker Message 				.setTicker(getString(R.string.notificationticker)) 				// Set Title 				.setContentTitle(getString(R.string.notificationtitle)) 				// Set Text 				.setContentText(getString(R.string.notificationtext)) 				// Add an Action Button below Notification 				.addAction(R.drawable.ic_launcher, "Action Button", pIntent) 				// Set PendingIntent into Notification 				.setContentIntent(pIntent) 				// Dismiss Notification 				.setAutoCancel(true);  		// Create Notification Manager 		NotificationManager notificationmanager = (NotificationManager) getSystemService(NOTIFICATION_SERVICE); 		// Build Notification with Notification Manager 		notificationmanager.notify(0, builder.build());  	}  	public void CustomNotification() { 		// Using RemoteViews to bind custom layouts into Notification 		RemoteViews remoteViews = new RemoteViews(getPackageName(), 				R.layout.customnotification);  		// Set Notification Title 		String strtitle = getString(R.string.customnotificationtitle); 		// Set Notification Text 		String strtext = getString(R.string.customnotificationtext);  		// Open NotificationView Class on Notification Click 		Intent intent = new Intent(this, NotificationView.class); 		// Send data to NotificationView Class 		intent.putExtra("title", strtitle); 		intent.putExtra("text", strtext); 		// Open NotificationView.java Activity 		PendingIntent pIntent = PendingIntent.getActivity(this, 0, intent, 				PendingIntent.FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT);  		NotificationCompat.Builder builder = new NotificationCompat.Builder(this) 				// Set Icon 				.setSmallIcon(R.drawable.logosmall) 				// Set Ticker Message 				.setTicker(getString(R.string.customnotificationticker)) 				// Dismiss Notification 				.setAutoCancel(true) 				// Set PendingIntent into Notification 				.setContentIntent(pIntent) 				// Set RemoteViews into Notification 				.setContent(remoteViews);  		// Locate and set the Image into customnotificationtext.xml ImageViews 		remoteViews.setImageViewResource(R.id.imagenotileft,R.drawable.ic_launcher); 		remoteViews.setImageViewResource(R.id.imagenotiright,R.drawable.androidhappy);  		// Locate and set the Text into customnotificationtext.xml TextViews 		remoteViews.setTextViewText(R.id.title,getString(R.string.customnotificationtitle)); 		remoteViews.setTextViewText(R.id.text,getString(R.string.customnotificationtext));  		// Create Notification Manager 		NotificationManager notificationmanager = (NotificationManager) getSystemService(NOTIFICATION_SERVICE); 		// Build Notification with Notification Manager 		notificationmanager.notify(0, builder.build());  	}  	@Override 	public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) { 		// Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present. 		getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.activity_main, menu); 		return true; 	}  }

We have created two buttons in this application, the first button will show a simple notification and the other will show a custom notification. Both notifications are created using NotificationCompat.Builder. UsingNotificationCompat.Builder allows you to build your application below Android Version 4.1. A PendingIntent allows notifications to be clicked or to open a new activity. We have prepared a sample custom notification image for this tutorial. Put your downloaded sample images into yourres >drawable-hdpi.

Sample Image

[wpfilebase tag=file id=44 tpl=download-button /]

Next, create an XML file graphical layout for your MainActivity. Go tores >layout > Right Click onlayout >New >Android XML File
Name your new XML file notificationmain.xmland paste the following code.

notificationmain.xml

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"     xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"     android:layout_width="match_parent"     android:layout_height="match_parent"     tools:context=".MainActivity" >      <Button         android:id="@+id/notification"         android:layout_width="wrap_content"         android:layout_height="wrap_content"         android:layout_centerInParent="true"         android:text="@string/notification" />      <Button         android:id="@+id/customnotification"         android:layout_width="wrap_content"         android:layout_height="wrap_content"         android:layout_centerInParent="true"         android:layout_below="@+id/notification"         android:text="@string/customnotification" />  </RelativeLayout>

Output:

NotificationMain XML

Next, create an XML graphical layout for your Custom Notification. Go tores >layout > Right Click onlayout >New >Android XML File
Name your new XML file customnotification.xml and paste the following code.

customnotification.xml

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"     xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"     android:layout_width="match_parent"     android:layout_height="match_parent" >      <ImageView         android:id="@+id/imagenotileft"         android:layout_width="wrap_content"         android:layout_height="wrap_content" />      <TextView         android:id="@+id/title"         android:layout_width="wrap_content"         android:layout_height="wrap_content"         android:layout_toRightOf="@+id/imagenotileft" />      <TextView         android:id="@+id/text"         android:layout_width="wrap_content"         android:layout_height="wrap_content"         android:layout_below="@+id/title"         android:layout_toRightOf="@+id/imagenotileft" />      <ImageView         android:id="@+id/imagenotiright"         android:layout_width="wrap_content"         android:layout_height="wrap_content"         android:layout_alignParentRight="true"         android:padding="10dp" />  </RelativeLayout>

Next, create an activity to view notification click results. Go toFile >New >Class and name itNotificationView.java.Select your package namedcom.androidbegin.notificationtutorial and clickFinish .

Open yourNotificationView .java and paste the following code.

NotificationView.java

package com.androidbegin.notificationtutorial;  import android.app.Activity; import android.app.NotificationManager; import android.content.Intent; import android.os.Bundle; import android.widget.TextView;  public class NotificationView extends Activity { 	String title; 	String text; 	TextView txttitle; 	TextView txttext;  	@Override 	public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) { 		super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); 		setContentView(R.layout.notificationview);  		// Create Notification Manager 		NotificationManager notificationmanager = (NotificationManager) getSystemService(NOTIFICATION_SERVICE); 		// Dismiss Notification 		notificationmanager.cancel(0);  		// Retrive the data from MainActivity.java 		Intent i = getIntent();  		title = i.getStringExtra("title"); 		text = i.getStringExtra("text");  		// Locate the TextView 		txttitle = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.title); 		txttext = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.text);  		// Set the data into TextView 		txttitle.setText(title); 		txttext.setText(text); 	} }

Next, create an XML graphical layout for your NotificationView. Go tores >layout > Right Click onlayout >New >Android XML File
Name your new XML file notificationview.xml and paste the following code.

notificationview.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"     xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"     android:layout_width="fill_parent"     android:layout_height="fill_parent" >      <TextView         android:id="@+id/lbltitle"         android:layout_width="wrap_content"         android:layout_height="wrap_content"         android:text="@string/lbltitle" />      <TextView         android:id="@+id/lbltext"         android:layout_width="wrap_content"         android:layout_height="wrap_content"         android:layout_below="@+id/lbltitle"         android:text="@string/lbltext" />      <TextView         android:id="@+id/title"         android:layout_width="wrap_content"         android:layout_height="wrap_content"         android:layout_toRightOf="@+id/lbltitle" />      <TextView         android:id="@+id/text"         android:layout_width="wrap_content"         android:layout_height="wrap_content"          android:layout_below="@+id/title"         android:layout_toRightOf="@+id/lbltext" />  </RelativeLayout>

Change the application name and texts instrings.xml. Open yourstrings.xmland paste the following code. Go tores >values >strings.xml

strings.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <resources>      <string name="app_name">Notification Tutorial</string>     <string name="hello_world">Hello world!</string>     <string name="menu_settings">Settings</string>     <string name="notificationtitle">Android Notification Tutorial</string>     <string name="notificationtext">Notification Text</string>     <string name="notificationticker">Notification Ticker</string>     <string name="customnotificationtitle">Android Notification Tutorial</string>     <string name="customnotificationtext">Custom Notification Text</string>     <string name="customnotificationticker">Custom Notification Ticker</string>     <string name="lbltitle">"Title : "</string>     <string name="lbltext">"Text : "</string>     <string name="notification">Notification</string>     <string name="customnotification">Custom Notification</string>  </resources>

In yourAndroidManifest.xml, we need to declare an activity. Open yourAndroidManifest.xml and paste the following code.

AndroidManifest.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"     package="com.androidbegin.notificationtutorial"     android:versionCode="1"     android:versionName="1.0" >      <uses-sdk         android:minSdkVersion="8"         android:targetSdkVersion="15" />      <application         android:allowBackup="true"         android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"         android:label="@string/app_name"         android:theme="@style/AppTheme" >         <activity             android:name=".MainActivity"             android:label="@string/app_name" >             <intent-filter>                 <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />                  <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />             </intent-filter>         </activity>         <activity android:name=".NotificationView" >         </activity>     </application>  </manifest>

Output:

Android Notification Tutorial ScreenShot

Source Code

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