Android back-stack not being created from Notification PendingIntent

Question

I'm having issue if the app isn't in memory when the notification is followed. The backstack won't be created. I've followed the steps according to the developers guide. Please show me the bit I've missed otherwise I'll have to route all intents through my HomeActivity in order to create the backstack manually on following intent.

AndroidManifest.xml:

<activity
    android:name=".activity.HomeActivity"
    android:clearTaskOnLaunch="true"
    android:configChanges="orientation|keyboard|keyboardHidden|screenSize"
    android:icon="@drawable/actionbar_logo"
    android:label="@string/activity_label_home"
    android:launchMode="singleTask"
    android:parentActivityName=".activity.Start"
    android:windowSoftInputMode="stateAlwaysHidden" >
    <meta-data
        android:name="android.support.PARENT_ACTIVITY"
        android:value=".activity.Start" />
    <intent-filter>
        <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
    </intent-filter>
</activity>
<activity
    android:name=".activity.ChatActivity"
    android:configChanges="orientation|keyboard|keyboardHidden|screenSize"
    android:label="@string/activity_label_in_chat"
    android:parentActivityName=".activity.HomeActivity"
    android:windowSoftInputMode="stateHidden"
    tools:ignore="UnusedAttribute" >
    <meta-data
        android:name="android.support.PARENT_ACTIVITY"
        android:value=".activity.HomeActivity" />

    <intent-filter>
        <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />

        <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />

        <data android:mimeType="vnd.android.cursor.item/vnd.myapp.chat" />
    </intent-filter>
</activity>

Building notification:

final String chatId = cursor.getString(cursor.getColumnIndexOrThrow(MessageColumns.CHAT));
final Intent chat = new Intent(c, ChatActivity.class);
chat.putExtra(ChatActivity.EXTRA_CHAT_ID, chatId);
PendingIntent intent = TaskStackBuilder.create(c).addNextIntentWithParentStack (chat).getPendingIntent (0, PendingIntent.FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT);
NotificationCompat.Builder builder = new NotificationCompat.Builder (c);
final NotificationManagerCompat nm = NotificationManagerCompat.from (c);
builder
    .setSmallIcon (R.drawable.ic_stat_notification)
    .setContentIntent (intent)
    .setGroup (GROUP_KEY_MYAPP)
    .setGroupSummary (true);
    Notification notification = builder.build ();
    nm.notify(NOTIFICATION_ID, notification);

On handling home click from actionbar:

public void onHomeActionDefault (final Activity baseActivity) {
    Keyboard.close (baseActivity);
    Intent upIntent = NavUtils.getParentActivityIntent (baseActivity);
    if (null != upIntent) {
        if (NavUtils.shouldUpRecreateTask (baseActivity, upIntent)) {
            android.support.v4.app.TaskStackBuilder.create (baseActivity)
                                                   .addNextIntentWithParentStack (upIntent)
                                                   .startActivities ();
        } else {
            NavUtils.navigateUpTo (baseActivity, upIntent);
        }
    } else {
        NavUtils.navigateUpFromSameTask (baseActivity);
    }
}

Is there something I'm missing here?

Answer 1

It turns out that I needed to add a flag to the intent and use the application context. I didn't need the whole creation of the backstack in java inside the target class, just in the manifest.xml. So I built this little method to build the pending intents properly and consistently for me.

public static PendingIntent addBackStack(final Context context, final Intent intent) {
   TaskStackBuilder stackBuilder = TaskStackBuilder.create (context.getApplicationContext ());
   stackBuilder.addNextIntentWithParentStack (intent);
   intent.addFlags (Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
   return stackBuilder.getPendingIntent (0,PendingIntent.FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT);
}