IssueTracker

* Which Developer Preview (or Android Beta) build are you using? (for
       example, NPC91K). See Settings > About phone > Build number

NPD56N

* What device are you using? (for example, Nexus 6P)

Nexus 9

* What are the steps to reproduce the problem? (Please provide the
minimal reproducible test case.)

Step #1: UnZIP, build, and install the attached app.

Step #2: From the command line, run adb shell dumpsys activity p | fgrep commonsware. This should show no results.

Step #2: Run the app.

Step #3: With the app's UI in the foreground, run adb shell dumpsys activity p | fgrep commonsware. This should show, among other lines:

Proc # 0: fore  T/A/T  trm: 0 30057:com.commonsware.android.rotation.bundle/u0a98 (top-activity)

The "fore" and "top-activity" indicates that our app has foreground importance, as expected.

Step #4: Press HOME, to bring up the HOME screen.

Step #5: Run adb shell dumpsys activity p | fgrep commonsware. This should show, among other lines:

Proc # 3: prev  B/ /LA trm: 0 30057:com.commonsware.android.rotation.bundle/u0a98 (previous)

The "prev" and "previous" means that our app has "previous"-level importance.

Step #6: Using the RECENTS button, return to the running activity. There, press the "Foreground Service" button. Then press HOME.

Step #7: Run adb shell dumpsys activity p | fgrep commonsware. This should show, among other lines:

Proc # 2: prcp  F/S/SF trm: 0 30057:com.commonsware.android.rotation.bundle/u0a98 (fg-service)

This indicates that the process as foreground service importance.

Step #8: Look at your status bar and notice that there is no icon associated with this app.

Step #9: Slide open the notification shade, and notice that there is a notification there for us, even though there is no icon.

Step #10: Press the RECENTS button and return to our activity. Click the "Stop Service" button to stop that running service. Press HOME.

Step #11: Run adb shell dumpsys activity p | fgrep commonsware. This should show, among other lines:

Proc # 3: prev  B/ /LA trm: 0 30057:com.commonsware.android.rotation.bundle/u0a98 (previous)

The "prev" and "previous" means that our app has "previous"-level importance. In other words, we are back to where we were after Step #5.

Step #12: Using the RECENTS button, return to the running activity. There, press the "Hidden Service" button. Then press HOME.

Step #13: Run adb shell dumpsys activity p | fgrep commonsware. This should show, among other lines:

Proc # 2: prcp  F/S/SF trm: 0 30057:com.commonsware.android.rotation.bundle/u0a98 (fg-service)

This indicates that the process as foreground service importance.

Step #14: Look at your status bar and notice that there is no icon associated with this app.

Step #15: Slide open the notification shade, and notice that there is no notification for our app, even though we have foreground service importance

* What was the expected result?

Either:

- We should not have foreground service importance, or

- We should have both a notification tile in the shade and a notification icon in the status bar

* What was the actual result?

We have foreground service importance, with no status bar icon, and in the latter case, no notification at all.

-----------------

This was recognized as a problem years ago. See this G+ post from Dianne Hackborn, for example:

https://plus.google.com/+DianneHackborn/posts/MTinJWdNL8t

When the user taps the "Foreground Service" button, I just call startForeground() with a largely empty Notification:

startForeground(NOTIFICATION_ID, new Notification.Builder(this).build());

This should cause an icon to appear in the status bar, derived from my app's icon, but it does not. The icon appears in the tile in the notification shade, though.

When the user taps the "Hidden Service" button, I employ a trick that was reported as an issue over a year ago (see issue 36949180) and is written up in various places online (see http://stackoverflow.com/a/37579862/115145). Basically, you use a second service, have that service call startForeground() with the same notification ID, then have it call stopForeground() with that ID.

Based on the available evidence, my guess is that while Android tracks process importance based upon any running service that has called startForeground(), the code to manage the notification is simply honoring the stopForeground() call and removing the notification. Those two bits of code need to coordinate: you need to show the notification (with the icon) so long as *any* service has called startForeground() without a corresponding stopForeground().

Thanks!