How to have activity touch passthrough except with snackbar

Question

So in my tasker plugin the user can have tasker make my plugin run. When my plugin runs it creates a transparent activity that shows a snackbar then terminates when done. The only problem is that when the activity shows, the user can not interact with the screen they are currently looking at. I know the app link bubble allows pass through while showing a snackbar so it is possible. All help is much appreciated thanks.

Here is the SnackbarActivity.java:

public class SnackbarActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

    public String message = "Not Set";
    public String button = "Not Set";
    public String length = "Short";
    public String color = "#5F9691";
    public String command = "Button";
    public Intent messageIntent;
    public String result = "";

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(final Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.invisible_activity);
        messageIntent = getIntent();
        message = messageIntent.getStringExtra("message");
        button = messageIntent.getStringExtra("button");
        length = messageIntent.getStringExtra("length");
        command = messageIntent.getStringExtra("command");
        switch (length) {
            case "Short":
                Snackbar.make(findViewById(R.id.toolbar), message, Snackbar.LENGTH_SHORT)
                        .setAction(button, new View.OnClickListener() {
                            @Override
                            public void onClick(View v) {
                                result = command;
                            }
                        }).setCallback(new Snackbar.Callback() {
                    @Override
                    public void onDismissed(Snackbar snackbar, int event) {
                        super.onDismissed(snackbar, event);
                        finish();
                        switch (event) {
                            case Snackbar.Callback.DISMISS_EVENT_TIMEOUT:
                                result = "Timeout";
                                break;
                            case Snackbar.Callback.DISMISS_EVENT_SWIPE:
                                result = "Swipe";
                                break;
                        }
                    }
                }).show();
                break;
            case "Long":
                Snackbar.make(findViewById(R.id.toolbar), message, Snackbar.LENGTH_LONG)
                        .setAction(button, new View.OnClickListener() {
                            @Override
                            public void onClick(View v) {
                                result = command;
                            }
                        }).setCallback(new Snackbar.Callback() {
                    @Override
                    public void onDismissed(Snackbar snackbar, int event) {
                        super.onDismissed(snackbar, event);
                        finish();
                        switch (event) {
                            case Snackbar.Callback.DISMISS_EVENT_TIMEOUT:
                                result = "Timeout";
                                break;
                            case Snackbar.Callback.DISMISS_EVENT_SWIPE:
                                result = "Swipe";
                                break;
                        }
                    }
                }).show();
                break;
            case "Forever":
                Snackbar.make(findViewById(R.id.toolbar), message, Snackbar.LENGTH_INDEFINITE)
                        .setAction(button, new View.OnClickListener() {
                            @Override
                            public void onClick(View v) {
                                result = command;
                            }
                        }).setCallback(new Snackbar.Callback() {
                    @Override
                    public void onDismissed(Snackbar snackbar, int event) {
                        super.onDismissed(snackbar, event);
                        finish();
                        switch (event) {
                            case Snackbar.Callback.DISMISS_EVENT_TIMEOUT:
                                result = "Timeout";
                                break;
                            case Snackbar.Callback.DISMISS_EVENT_SWIPE:
                                result = "Swipe";
                                break;
                        }
                    }
                }).show();
                break;
        }
    }

    @Override
    protected void onStop() {
        if ( TaskerPlugin.Setting.hostSupportsVariableReturn(messageIntent.getExtras())) {
            Bundle vars = new Bundle();
            vars.putString("%sb_command", result);
            TaskerPlugin.Setting.signalFinish(getApplicationContext(), messageIntent, TaskerPlugin.Setting.RESULT_CODE_OK, vars);
        }
        super.onStop();
    }
}

Here is styles.xml:

<style name="Theme.AppCompat.Translucent">
        <item name="android:windowNoTitle">true</item>
        <item name="android:windowBackground">@android:color/transparent</item>
        <item name="android:colorBackgroundCacheHint">@null</item>
        <item name="android:windowIsTranslucent">true</item>
        <item name="colorPrimaryDark">@android:color/transparent</item>
        <item name="android:windowAnimationStyle">@android:style/Animation</item>
        <item name="windowActionBar">false</item>
        <item name="windowNoTitle">true</item>
    </style>

Answer 1

You could use WindowManager to show the snackbar even when your app is not running and also making the background screen clickable.

private static final int mLayoutParamFlags = WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_WATCH_OUTSIDE_TOUCH
        | WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_NOT_TOUCH_MODAL;
        //| WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_NOT_FOCUSABLE;

public void onCreate() {
    super.onCreate();

    LayoutInflater layoutInflater = (LayoutInflater) getSystemService(LAYOUT_INFLATER_SERVICE);
    mSnackbarView = layoutInflater.inflate(R.layout.activity_snackbar, null);

    WindowManager.LayoutParams params = new WindowManager.LayoutParams(
            WindowManager.LayoutParams.WRAP_PARENT,
            WindowManager.LayoutParams.WRAP_PARENT,
            WindowManager.LayoutParams.TYPE_SYSTEM_ALERT,
            mLayoutParamFlags,
            PixelFormat.TRANSLUCENT);

    WindowManager windowManager = (WindowManager) getSystemService(WINDOW_SERVICE);
    windowManager.addView(mSnackbarView, params);
}

In the above code mSnackbar is a View and activity_snackbar is the view you wan tot show in WindowManager.

You can show the WindowManager using Service. Create a class and extend it with Service . Given above is the code for Service's onCreate() method.

EDIT

Here is how you customize the snackbar

Initialize mSnackbarView as Snackbar and not just View

private Snackbar mSnackbarView;

Cast mSnackbarView with Snackbar class

mSnackbarView = (Snackbar) layoutInflater.inflate(R.layout.activity_snackbar, null);

Now mSnackbarView is a normal Snackbar View, you can customize it the way you customize an actual Snackbar View.

// Changing action button text color
View sbView = mSnackbarView.getView();
TextView textView = (TextView)     sbView.findViewById(android.support.design.R.id.snackbar_text);
textView.setTextColor(Color.YELLOW);

EDIT 2

To make both the Snackbar and background screen clickable I commented third layout params for WindowManager WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_NOT_FOCUSABLE .

And add onClickListener on mSnackbarView.

mSnackbarView.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
        @Override
        public void onClick(View v) {
            System.out.println("Snackbar clicked");
        }
    });

Now both the snackbar as well as background screen is clickable.

EDIT 3

This is how you start a Service

Intent snackbarIntent = new Intent(context, snackbarService.class);
context.startService(snackbarIntent);

This is how you stop a service

Intent snackbarIntent = new Intent(context, snackbarService.class);
context.stopService(snackbarIntent);