How can I display numbers in status bar in Android?

Question

I am working on an application where I need to show the download speed in status bar. I have tried using notificationBuilder.setSmallIcon() but it takes a constant drawable as parameter. I want the number to change after every 3 seconds. I have seen many apps that show some number in status bar e.g temperature, download percentage etc. So, there is a way for sure. But I can't figure it out.

Answer 1

You can achieve that by converting text string to bitmap drawable.

Use below method to convert your text to bitmap. And use return bitmap as smallIcon in notification builder.

public Bitmap textAsBitmap(String text, float textSize, int textColor) {
    Paint paint = new Paint(Paint.ANTI_ALIAS_FLAG);
    paint.setTextSize(textSize);
    paint.setColor(textColor);
    paint.setTextAlign(Paint.Align.LEFT);
    float baseline = -paint.ascent(); // ascent() is negative
    int width = (int) (paint.measureText(text) + 0.5f); // round
    int height = (int) (baseline + paint.descent() + 0.5f);
    Bitmap image = Bitmap.createBitmap(width, height, Bitmap.Config.ARGB_8888);
    Canvas canvas = new Canvas(image);
    canvas.drawText(text, 0, baseline, paint);
    return image;
}