android - Cannot get the NotificationListenerService class to work

Question

I have a android application that is trying to use the new NotificationListenerService class from api 18. I have created my own service class that inherits from this class and overrode the onNotificationPosted and onNotificationRemoved events and although my service seems to start just fine these 2 events never seem to be called when I get or remove a notification.

Has anyone had any success with this class or possibly any source code they are will to share demonstrating exactly how to use this class?

Answer 1

In my experience, almost all of these answers are so damn close to the right solution!

The CORE problem seems to happen during development; as you are developing your code the "Notification access" settings stop being honored when you update your app between debug sessions.

If your APK/binary changes and your NotificationListenerService stops:

• Rebooting fixes it.
• Going back in to "Notification access" and disabling and re-enabling your app it fixes it.

Hopefully this isn't a problem when updating your app through Google Play.

As a best practice, for my app I add an overflow menu option that only shows up in non-release builds that allows me easy access to the settings:

NotificationListener.java:

public class NotificationListener
    extends NotificationListenerService
    implements RemoteController.OnClientUpdateListener
{
    private static final int VERSION_SDK_INT = VERSION.SDK_INT;

    public static boolean supportsNotificationListenerSettings()
    {
        return VERSION_SDK_INT >= 19;
    }

    @SuppressLint("InlinedApi")
    @TargetApi(19)
    public static Intent getIntentNotificationListenerSettings()
    {
        final String ACTION_NOTIFICATION_LISTENER_SETTINGS;
        if (VERSION_SDK_INT >= 22)
        {
            ACTION_NOTIFICATION_LISTENER_SETTINGS = Settings.ACTION_NOTIFICATION_LISTENER_SETTINGS;
        }
        else
        {
            ACTION_NOTIFICATION_LISTENER_SETTINGS = "android.settings.ACTION_NOTIFICATION_LISTENER_SETTINGS";
        }

        return new Intent(ACTION_NOTIFICATION_LISTENER_SETTINGS);
    }

    ...
}

menu_my_activity.xml:

<menu
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    tools:context=".MyActivity"
    >

    <item
        android:id="@+id/action_application_info"
        android:title="@string/action_application_info"
        app:showAsAction="never"
        />

    <item
        android:id="@+id/action_notification_settings"
        android:title="Notification Settings"
        app:showAsAction="never"
        />

</menu>

MyActivity.java:

@Override
public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu)
{
    getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.menu_my_activity, menu);
    return super.onCreateOptionsMenu(menu);
}

@Override
public boolean onPrepareOptionsMenu(Menu menu)
{
    MenuItem menuItem;
    menuItem = menu.findItem(R.id.action_application_info);
    if (menuItem != null)
    {
        menuItem.setVisible(BuildConfig.DEBUG);
    }
    menuItem = menu.findItem(R.id.action_notification_settings);
    if (menuItem != null)
    {
        menuItem.setVisible(BuildConfig.DEBUG && NotificationListener.supportsNotificationListenerSettings());
    }
    return super.onPrepareOptionsMenu(menu);
}

@Override
public boolean onOptionsItemSelected(MenuItem item)
{
    switch (item.getItemId())
    {
        case R.id.action_application_info:
            startActivity(new Intent(Settings.ACTION_APPLICATION_DETAILS_SETTINGS, Uri.parse("package:" + getPackageName())));
            return true;
        case R.id.action_notification_settings:
            startActivity(NotificationListener.getIntentNotificationListenerSettings());
            return true;
        default:
            return super.onOptionsItemSelected(item);
    }
}