Displaying an icon in status bar when my task is running

Question

I am creating an android service which will start running after the device boot process completed. In my service i am creating a task. This task will be started or stopped at any time depending on some conditions. My intention is whenever i started my task, i want to display an icon in status bar to know that my task is running like bluetooth icon will be displayed when it is turned ON.

Answer 1

You need a Notification. Code is talking :)

In your Service:

private NotificationManager mNM;
private int NOTIFICATION = 10002; //Any unique number for this notification

To show the notification:

private void showNotification() {
    // In this sample, we'll use the same text for the ticker and the expanded notification
    CharSequence text = getText(R.string.local_service_started);

    // Set the icon, scrolling text and timestamp
    Notification notification = new Notification(R.drawable.status_icon, text, System.currentTimeMillis());

    // The PendingIntent to launch our activity if the user selects this notification
    PendingIntent contentIntent = PendingIntent.getActivity(this, 0,
            new Intent(this, MainActivity.class), 0);

    // Set the info for the views that show in the notification panel.
    notification.setLatestEventInfo(this, getText(R.string.local_service_label), text, contentIntent);

    // Send the notification.
    mNM.notify(NOTIFICATION, notification);
}

and to hide it, you simply do this:

mNM.cancel(NOTIFICATION); //The same unique notification number.

Here are some clarifications:

• R.drawable.status_icon : Notification icon
• R.string.local_service_started : Notification title
• R.string.local_service_label : Notification latest info (sub-title)
• MainActivity.class : The Activity that will be launched when the user click the notification