Intent from notification does not have extras

This seem to be a common problem and I went through all the related questions I could find already: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5628382/activity-isnt-picking-up-new-intent, https://stackoverflow.com/questions/10456655/why-extra-data-integer-is-not-sent-in-android-notification-intent, https://stackoverflow.com/questions/7370324/notification-passes-old-intent-extras/9330144, https://stackoverflow.com/questions/7098893/cant-put-extras-for-an-intent-in-notification, https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3009059/android-pending-intent-notification-problem; but still cannot figure this out.

Problem is the same. I set a notification with a PendingIntent carrying some extra information and I don't get it on the other side.

Here is the code for generating the notification:

Notification notification = new Notification(R.drawable.icon, getResources().getString(R.string.notification_ticker), System.currentTimeMillis());
notification.flags = Notification.FLAG_AUTO_CANCEL | Notification.FLAG_ONLY_ALERT_ONCE;

Intent start_test = new Intent(this, MyActivity.class);
start_test.putExtra("start_test", true);
start_test.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);

PendingIntent pi = PendingIntent.getActivity(this, (int) System.currentTimeMillis(), start_test, PendingIntent.FLAG_CANCEL_CURRENT);
notification.setLatestEventInfo(this, getResources().getString(R.string.notification_title), getResources().getString(R.string.notification_content, expired), pi);
nm.notify(NOTIFICATION_ID, notification);

And on the other side:

boolean start_test=getIntent().getBooleanExtra("start_test", false);

The bundle is actually not there (getExtras() returns null).

I tried the different flags for PendingIntent.getActivity (FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT, FLAG_CANCEL_CURRENT, FLAG_ONE_SHOT), none of those helped.

As shown in the code, I use getCurrentMillis to make sure the requestID changes....

Also found that in MyActivity, onCreate and onNewIntent are not getting called. only onResume is. Even though the FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK is set... ?

Am I missing something very simple ?

Setting FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK for the notification Intent will cause the following:

• If the activity is not already running in a task, a new task will be started and the Intent will be delivered to the activity in onCreate()

• However, if the activity is already running in a task, that task will be brought to the foreground. That's all. The Intent will not be delivered and onNewIntent() will not be called.

If you want the Intent to actually be delivered you need to specify:

start_test.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK | 
                    Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_SINGLE_TOP);

It makes no difference whether the launchMode of the activity is singleTop or not, you still must specify Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_SINGLE_TOP in the Intent.

Note: If the activity is already running in a task and the activity is not on top of the activity stack in that task, the task will be brought to the foreground. That's all. The Intent will not be delivered. The only way to make this happen would be to add Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TOP to the other 2 flags, but this may not be what you want to happen (depends on your specific scenario).

See my (still) open issue on Google code at http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=17137

I just added the PendingIntent.FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT flag to my pending intent, and it started working for me (skipped all flags for Intent).

Example Code:

PendingIntent pendIntent = PendingIntent.getActivity(getApplicationContext(), 0, intent, PendingIntent.FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT);

1. If not needed then avoid setting your activity in manifest as a single task. omit this line or change it to singleTop if you can:

      android:launchMode="singleTask”
   

2. If you must have a single task then in pending intent set flags to : Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK | Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TASK And PendingIntent.FLAG_CANCEL_CURRENT.

    resultIntent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK |Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TASK);
    pIntent = PendingIntent.getActivity(context, 0, resultIntent,    PendingIntent.FLAG_CANCEL_CURRENT );
   

3. If you have a single task - Reset your extras in your activity inside onNewIntent() by setIntent(intent);

    protected void onNewIntent(Intent intent) {
           setIntent(intent);
           ... 
     }
   

You can send extras in intent following way

PendingIntent contentIntent ;
Intent intent = new Intent(this,TestActivity.class);
intent.putExtra("extra","Test");
TaskStackBuilder stackBuilder = TaskStackBuilder.create(this);

stackBuilder.addParentStack(ArticleDetailedActivity.class);

contentIntent = stackBuilder.getPendingIntent(0,PendingIntent.FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT);

To Get Intent extra value in Test Activity class you need to write following code :

Intent intent = getIntent();
 String extra = intent.getStringExtra("extra") ;

Simpler approach: the real problem is that the Intent, being to the same target, gets replaced. I've solved this by just created a new service, a "NotificationDismissalService". The only intent going to that service is the setDeleteIntent item. Because it's a unique service, the parameters do not get replaced. The body of NotificationDismissalService (and it would really be one such dismissal service per unique intent type) is a simple implementation of "onStartCommand" that sends an intent to the preferred service (reading/writing the correct parameters). Because that's an actual send of a service, without a pendingintent in between, it works just fine.

When app is not running or is in background and user clicks on Notification in tray, you can get Intent extra and check the keys:

@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState){
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
    setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
    Log.d("RC","MainActivity.onCreate() called");

    if (getIntent().getExtras() != null){
        Bundle extra = getIntent().getExtras();
        Log.d("RC", "MainActivity.onCreate() : keys count = " + extra.keySet().size());

        for ( String key : extra.keySet()) {
            Log.d("RC","MainActivity.onCreate() : key = " + key + " = " + extra.getString(key));
        }

    }
}

This will show:

D/RC: MainActivity.onCreate() called
D/RC: MainActivity.onCreate() : keys count = 8
D/RC: MainActivity.onCreate() : key = google.delivered_priority = high
D/RC: MainActivity.onCreate() : key = google.sent_time = null
D/RC: MainActivity.onCreate() : key = google.ttl = null
D/RC: MainActivity.onCreate() : key = google.original_priority = high
D/RC: MainActivity.onCreate() : key = from = 631131412302
D/RC: MainActivity.onCreate() : key = google.message_id = 0:1627370460932539%952b1da9952b1da9
D/RC: MainActivity.onCreate() : key = gcm.n.analytics_data = null
D/RC: MainActivity.onCreate() : key = collapse_key = com.reflectcode.demo.cloudmessaging

I have used something like this

Intent myIntent = new Intent(context, DoSomething.class);
 PendingIntent pendingIntent = PendingIntent.getActivity(
        context, 
        0, 
        myIntent, 
        Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);

Check out the full example here