to top
Android APIs
public class

NotificationManager

extends Object
java.lang.Object
   ↳ android.app.NotificationManager

Class Overview

Class to notify the user of events that happen. This is how you tell the user that something has happened in the background.

Notifications can take different forms:

  • A persistent icon that goes in the status bar and is accessible through the launcher, (when the user selects it, a designated Intent can be launched),
  • Turning on or flashing LEDs on the device, or
  • Alerting the user by flashing the backlight, playing a sound, or vibrating.

Each of the notify methods takes an int id parameter and optionally a String tag parameter, which may be null. These parameters are used to form a pair (tag, id), or (null, id) if tag is unspecified. This pair identifies this notification from your app to the system, so that pair should be unique within your app. If you call one of the notify methods with a (tag, id) pair that is currently active and a new set of notification parameters, it will be updated. For example, if you pass a new status bar icon, the old icon in the status bar will be replaced with the new one. This is also the same tag and id you pass to the cancel(int) or cancel(String, int) method to clear this notification.

You do not instantiate this class directly; instead, retrieve it through getSystemService(String).

Developer Guides

For a guide to creating notifications, read the Status Bar Notifications developer guide.

Summary

Public Methods
void cancel(int id)
Cancel a previously shown notification.
void cancel(String tag, int id)
Cancel a previously shown notification.
void cancelAll()
Cancel all previously shown notifications.
void notify(int id, Notification notification)
Post a notification to be shown in the status bar.
void notify(String tag, int id, Notification notification)
Post a notification to be shown in the status bar.
[Expand]
Inherited Methods
From class java.lang.Object

Public Methods

public void cancel (int id)

Since: API Level 1

Cancel a previously shown notification. If it's transient, the view will be hidden. If it's persistent, it will be removed from the status bar.

public void cancel (String tag, int id)

Since: API Level 5

Cancel a previously shown notification. If it's transient, the view will be hidden. If it's persistent, it will be removed from the status bar.

public void cancelAll ()

Since: API Level 1

Cancel all previously shown notifications. See cancel(int) for the detailed behavior.

public void notify (int id, Notification notification)

Since: API Level 1

Post a notification to be shown in the status bar. If a notification with the same id has already been posted by your application and has not yet been canceled, it will be replaced by the updated information.

Parameters
id An identifier for this notification unique within your application.
notification A Notification object describing what to show the user. Must not be null.

public void notify (String tag, int id, Notification notification)

Since: API Level 5

Post a notification to be shown in the status bar. If a notification with the same tag and id has already been posted by your application and has not yet been canceled, it will be replaced by the updated information.

Parameters
tag A string identifier for this notification. May be null.
id An identifier for this notification. The pair (tag, id) must be unique within your application.
notification A Notification object describing what to show the user. Must not be null.