Android Custom Push Notifications

Custom Push Notifications 

In Android Push Notifications, it often happens that the a complete message/text is not visible. For small message/text it is ok but in case of longer message/text it is necessary to show complete message/text on a single push notification. It can be easily done by creating custom push notification in android. By using custom notification it does not matter how longer message/text you want to display on a single notification.

For custom push notification, first you need to create a custom layout. Here is sample layout which you can use or create your own custom layout for push notification. Then you can use this custom layout for notification.

 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RelativeLayout
      xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
      android:layout_width="fill_parent"
      android:layout_height="100dp"
      android:gravity="center_vertical"
      android:background="#f0f0f0">
    <ImageView
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:src="@drawable/ic_launcher"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:id="@+id/image"
        android:layout_marginLeft="10dip"
        android:layout_centerVertical="true"
        android:contentDescription="icon" />
    <LinearLayout
        android:gravity="center_vertical"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:layout_width="fill_parent"
        android:layout_toRightOf="@+id/image"
        android:orientation="vertical">
          <TextView
            android:text="TextView" 
            android:textStyle="bold"
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:textSize="14sp"        
            android:id="@+id/title"
            android:textColor="#3D3A34"
            android:layout_marginLeft="10dip"/> 
          <TextView
            android:gravity="center_vertical"
            android:text="TextView" 
            android:layout_height="wrap_content"
            android:layout_width="fill_parent"
            android:textSize="12sp"
            android:id="@+id/text"
            android:textColor="#3D3A34"
            android:layout_marginLeft="10dip"
            android:singleLine="false"
            android:maxLines="8"/>              
    </LinearLayout>
</RelativeLayout>

Save this layout with "custom_notification.xml". This layout will be used in GCMIntentService Class.
After creating custom layout, create a method in GCMIntentService class as given below:

    private static void generateCustomNotification(Context context,
            String message, String title) {
               
        try{            
           
  int icon = R.drawable.applogo; // this is the icon which you can set for notification, I set applogo as icon.
            long when = System.currentTimeMillis();
            RemoteViews contentView = new RemoteViews("com.yourpackname", R.layout.custom_notification);// custom_notification.xml layout used here

            contentView.setImageViewResource(R.id.image,icon);
            contentView.setTextViewText(R.id.title,  title); // title of push notification
            contentView.setTextViewText(R.id.text,  message); //// message/text of push notification

            NotificationManager notificationManager = (NotificationManager)
                    context.getSystemService(Context.NOTIFICATION_SERVICE);
            Notification notification = new Notification(icon, message, when);
          
            Intent notificationIntent = new Intent(context, YourActivity.class); //YourActivity will be activity of your project where you want to redirect user when he/she taps on push notification.
            notificationIntent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK | Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP);
            // set intent so it does not start a new activity 
            notificationIntent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP |
                    Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_SINGLE_TOP | Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_BROUGHT_TO_FRONT);
            PendingIntent intent =PendingIntent.getActivity(context, 0, notificationIntent, Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
            notification.contentIntent = intent ;
            notification.flags |= Notification.FLAG_AUTO_CANCEL;
            notification.flags |= Notification.FLAG_SHOW_LIGHTS;
            notification.defaults |= Notification.DEFAULT_VIBRATE; //Whenever a push notification receives, phone vibrates. For this, you need Vibrate permission in Manifest file. Otherwise, app crashes.
            notification.defaults |= Notification.DEFAULT_LIGHTS;
            notification.contentView = contentView;
            notificationManager.notify(counter, notification); //static int counter = 0; this counter will be used if you send multiple push notifications so each notification displays as separate notification.
            counter ++;
        }catch (Exception e) {
           
        }
    }



That's all about Custom push notification. 


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