My app needed a simple Android notification with sound and icon. So here’s the code I used to make that happen. I know that there are many other types of notification in Android, but this time, I just want to show you a very simple code that can be a solution to your problem too!

I will probably create a series of blog posts regarding Android notifications, and make it like a cheat sheet for all of us. Anyway, here are some screenshots of today’s code output:

Download Code

AndroidNotificationBar.zip

Hide Notification

How to hide the notification? There are two ways:

1. First, you can click the “Cancel Notification” button.
2. Or, second, swipe the notification to left or right (swipe the notification in the third image).

These ways were set programatically, so read the code (with comments) below.

Let’s Code!

Here’s are our awesome code: MainActivity.java

package com.example.androidnotificationbar;

import android.media.RingtoneManager;
import android.net.Uri;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.View;
import android.app.Activity;
import android.app.Notification;
import android.app.NotificationManager;
import android.app.PendingIntent;
import android.content.Context;
import android.content.Intent;

public class MainActivity extends Activity {

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

        // listener handler
        View.OnClickListener handler = new View.OnClickListener(){
            public void onClick(View v) {
                
                switch (v.getId()) {

                    case R.id.btnShowNotification:
                        showNotification();
                        break;
                    
                    case R.id.btnCancelNotification:
                        cancelNotification(0);
                        break;
                }
            }
        };
            
        // we will set the listeners
        findViewById(R.id.btnShowNotification).setOnClickListener(handler);
        findViewById(R.id.btnCancelNotification).setOnClickListener(handler);
        
    }
    
    public void showNotification(){

        // define sound URI, the sound to be played when there's a notification
        Uri soundUri = RingtoneManager.getDefaultUri(RingtoneManager.TYPE_NOTIFICATION);
        
        // intent triggered, you can add other intent for other actions
        Intent intent = new Intent(MainActivity.this, NotificationReceiver.class);
        PendingIntent pIntent = PendingIntent.getActivity(MainActivity.this, 0, intent, 0);
        
        // this is it, we'll build the notification!
        // in the addAction method, if you don't want any icon, just set the first param to 0
        Notification mNotification = new Notification.Builder(this)
            
            .setContentTitle("New Post!")
            .setContentText("Here's an awesome update for you!")
            .setSmallIcon(R.drawable.ninja)
            .setContentIntent(pIntent)
            .setSound(soundUri)
            
            .addAction(R.drawable.ninja, "View", pIntent)
            .addAction(0, "Remind", pIntent)
            
            .build();
        
        NotificationManager notificationManager = (NotificationManager) getSystemService(NOTIFICATION_SERVICE);

        // If you want to hide the notification after it was selected, do the code below
        // myNotification.flags |= Notification.FLAG_AUTO_CANCEL;
        
        notificationManager.notify(0, mNotification);
    }
    
    public void cancelNotification(int notificationId){
        
        if (Context.NOTIFICATION_SERVICE!=null) {
            String ns = Context.NOTIFICATION_SERVICE;
            NotificationManager nMgr = (NotificationManager) getApplicationContext().getSystemService(ns);
            nMgr.cancel(notificationId);
        }
    }
    
}

I also put the ninja icon in our drawable folder, that’s the source of our icon.

Please share what Android notification example you want next!

Thanks for reading this Android Notification with Sound and Icon Tutorial!