Android Programming Tutorials

A Subtle Notification

something suitable from the Android SDK (look for status_* icons), draw

one yourself, or use the one supplied in the source code for this book.

Step #2: Raise the Notification..........................................................

Next, we need to add a method to PostMonitor that will use the

NotificationManager and raise a Notification. Add the following

showNotification() method to PostMonitor:

private void showNotification() {

final NotificationManager mgr=

(NotificationManager)getSystemService(NOTIFICATION_SERVICE);

Notification note=new Notification(R.drawable.status,

"New matching post!",

System.currentTimeMillis());

Intent i=new Intent(this, Patchy.class);

i.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP|

Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_SINGLE_TOP);

PendingIntent pi=PendingIntent.getActivity(this, 0 ,

i,

0 );

note.setLatestEventInfo(this, "Identi.ca Post!",

"Found your keyword: "+NOTIFY_KEYWORD,

pi);

mgr.notify(NOTIFICATION_ID, note);

}

Here we get access to the NotificationManager via getSystemService(), create

an configure a Notification object, and tell the NotificationManager to show

the Notification.

The one part of this that is a bit tricky is the work with the Intent and

PendingIntent. A PendingIntent is a wrapper around an Intent, stating how it

should be used (in our case, to start an Activity) and allowing some other

process to execute this Intent using our security profile. In this case, this

means that the operating system will call startActivity() on the Intent

using the Patchy application's set of permissions, not the permissions of the

operating system itself.

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