Android Notification: start Activity on button click

Question

I want to show a notification when my recorder service is running. The user should be able to pause or stop the recorder directly from the notification. So I added two buttons to the Notification and implemented a BroadcastReceiver that handles the button clicks.

It works almost like I want, but there is one problem I cannot solve. When the user clicks on a button, I want to show the activity. Here is my code:

private void showNotification() {
    int requestID = (int) System.currentTimeMillis();

    IntentFilter filter = new IntentFilter();
    filter.addAction("STOP_RECORDING");
    filter.addAction("PAUSE_RECORDING");
    filter.addAction("SHOW_ACTIVITY");

    this.broadcastReceiver = new BroadcastReceiver() {
        @Override
        public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
            switch (intent.getAction()) {
                case "STOP_RECORDING": onStopClick(); break;
                case "PAUSE_RECORDING": onPauseClick(); break;
                case "SHOW_ACTITIVY": break;
                default: Log.i(T, "UNKNOWN ACTION IN NOTIFICATION INTENT");
            }
        }
    };

    Intent stdIntent = new Intent(getApplicationContext(), MyActivityClass.class);
    stdIntent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP | Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_SINGLE_TOP | Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_REORDER_TO_FRONT);
    PendingIntent pendingIntent = PendingIntent.getActivity(getApplicationContext(), requestID, stdIntent, PendingIntent.FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT);

    Intent intent1 = new Intent();
    intent1.setAction("STOP_RECORDING");
    PendingIntent stopIntent = PendingIntent.getBroadcast(getApplicationContext(), requestID, intent1, PendingIntent.FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT);

    Intent intent2 = new Intent();
    intent2.setAction("PAUSE_RECORDING");
    PendingIntent pauseIntent = PendingIntent.getBroadcast(getApplicationContext(), requestID, intent2, PendingIntent.FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT);



    NotificationCompat.Builder notificationBuilder;

    notificationBuilder = new NotificationCompat.Builder(this);
    // ... configure notification (title, text, icon)
    notificationBuilder.addAction(R.drawable.ic_pause_white_48dp, "Pause", pauseIntent);
    notificationBuilder.addAction(R.drawable.ic_stop_white_48dp, "Stop", stopIntent);

    registerReceiver(this.broadcastReceiver, filter);
    ((NotificationManager) getSystemService(NOTIFICATION_SERVICE)).notify(this.notificationID, notificationBuilder.build());
}

Currently the correct action for each button is executed, but if the app is not visible when the user clicks, the app is not shown. How can I achieve this?

Is it even neccessary to implement a BroadcastReceiver here? Is there a possibility to use getActivity instead of getBroadcast and determine which button has been clicked in another way?

Answer 1

Okay, I found a solution that is much easier and works. No BroadcastReceiver needed, I just add extra information to my intents and read them in onNewIntent.

My code looks like this:

public void onNewIntent(Intent intent) {
    String action = intent.getStringExtra("_ACTION_");

    if(action != null) {
        switch (action) {
            case "STOP_RECORDING": onStopClick(); break;
            case "PAUSE_RECORDING": onPauseClick(); break;
            default: Log.i(T, "UNKNOWN ACTION IN NOTIFICATION INTENT");
        }
    }
}

private void showNotification() {
    int requestID = (int) System.currentTimeMillis();

    Intent stdIntent = new Intent(getApplicationContext(), MyActivity.class);
    stdIntent.putExtra("_ACTION_", "test_dummy_value");
    stdIntent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP | Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_SINGLE_TOP | Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_REORDER_TO_FRONT);
    PendingIntent pendingIntent = PendingIntent.getActivity(getApplicationContext(), requestID, stdIntent, PendingIntent.FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT);

    Intent intent1 = new Intent(getApplicationContext(), MyActivity.class);
    intent1.setAction("STOP_RECORDING");
    intent1.putExtra("_ACTION_", "STOP_RECORDING");
    intent1.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP | Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_SINGLE_TOP | Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_REORDER_TO_FRONT);
    PendingIntent stopIntent = PendingIntent.getActivity(getApplicationContext(), requestID, intent1, PendingIntent.FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT);

    Intent intent2 = new Intent(getApplicationContext(), MyActivity.class);
    intent2.putExtra("_ACTION_", "PAUSE_RECORDING");
    intent2.setAction("PAUSE_RECORDING");
    intent2.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP | Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_SINGLE_TOP | Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_REORDER_TO_FRONT);
    PendingIntent pauseIntent = PendingIntent.getActivity(getApplicationContext(), requestID, intent2, PendingIntent.FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT);

    NotificationCompat.Builder notificationBuilder;

    notificationBuilder = new NotificationCompat.Builder(this);
    // ... irrelevant code
    notificationBuilder.addAction(R.drawable.ic_pause_white_48dp, "Pause", pauseIntent);
    notificationBuilder.addAction(R.drawable.ic_stop_white_48dp, "Stop", stopIntent);

    ((NotificationManager) getSystemService(NOTIFICATION_SERVICE)).notify(this.notificationID, notificationBuilder.build());
}

Can someone tell me if this is the best way to achieve my goal? I am new to Android programming and would like to learn it correctly :-)