awesome_notifications 0.0.6+5

A complete solution to create Local Notifications and Push Notifications (Media Notifications, Big Picture, Big text, etc), through Firebase or another services, using Flutter.

Awesome Notifications - Flutter

Features

• Create Local Notifications on Android, iOS and Web using Flutter.
• Easy to integrate with Push notification's service as Firebase Messaging or any another one;
• Easy to use and highly customizable.
• Add images, sounds, emoticons, buttons and different layouts on your notifications.
• Notifications could be created at any moment (on Foreground, Background or even when the application is terminated/killed).
• High trustworthy on receive notifications in any Application lifecycle.
• Notifications are received on Flutter level code when they are created, displayed, dismissed or even tapped by the user.
• Notifications could be scheduled repeatedly or not, with seconds precision.
  

Some android notification examples:

Some iOS notification examples (work in progress):

Notification Types Available

• Basic notification
• Big picture notification
• Media notification
• Big Text notification
• Inbox notification
• Notifications with action buttons
• Grouped notifications
• Progress bar notifications

All notifications could be created locally or via Firebase services, with all the features.

ATENTION - PLUGIN UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Working progress percentages of awesome notifications plugin

Next steps

• Include Firebase Cloud Message support for iOS (Finished)
• Finish notifications layouts for iOS (Finished)
• Finish notifications schedules for iOS (Finished)
• Expiration date for notifications (not accomplished due to iOS limitations) (https://github.com/rafaelsetragni/awesome_notifications/issues/7)
• Add an option to choose if a notification action should bring the app to foreground or not.
• Include Web support
• Include support for another push notification services (Wonderpush, One Signal, IBM, AWS, Azure, etc) (Finished)
• Video layout for notifications
• Carousel layout for notifications
• Increase the tolerance in the json deserialization process, to accept different types and convert them to the expected.
  

Main Philosophy

Considering all the many different devices available, with different hardware and software resources, this plugin ALWAYS shows the notification, trying to use the maximum resources available. If the resource is not available, the notification ignores that specific resource, but shows the rest of notification anyway.

Example: If the device has LED colored lights, use it. Otherwise, ignore the lights, but shows the notification with all another resources available. In last case, shows at least the most basic notification.

Also, the Notification Channels follows the same rule. If there is no channel segregation of notifications, use the channel configuration as only defaults configuration. If the device has channels, use it as expected to be.

And all notifications sent while the app was killed are registered and delivered as soon as possible to the Application, after the plugin initialization, respecting the delivery order.

This way, your Application will receive all notifications at Flutter level code.

How to show Local Notifications

1. Add awesome_notifications as a dependency in your pubspec.yaml file.

awesome_notifications: any # Any attribute updates automatically your source to the last version

2. import the plugin package to your dart code

import 'package:awesome_notifications/awesome_notifications.dart';

3. Initialize the plugin on main.dart, with at least one native icon and one channel

AwesomeNotifications().initialize(
    // set the icon to null if you want to use the default app icon
    'resource://drawable/res_app_icon',
    [
        NotificationChannel(
            channelKey: 'basic_channel',
            channelName: 'Basic notifications',
            channelDescription: 'Notification channel for basic tests',
            defaultColor: Color(0xFF9D50DD),
            ledColor: Colors.white
        )
    ]
);

4. Request the user authorization to send local and push notifications (Remember to show a dialog alert to the user before call this request)

AwesomeNotifications().isNotificationAllowed().then((isAllowed) {
  if (!isAllowed) {
    // Insert here your friendly dialog box before call the request method
    // This is very important to not harm the user experience
    AwesomeNotifications().requestPermissionToSendNotifications();
  }
});

5. On your main page, starts to listen the notification actions (to detect tap)

AwesomeNotifications().actionStream.listen(
    (receivedNotification){

        Navigator.of(context).pushName(context,
            '/NotificationPage',
            arguments: { id: receivedNotification.id } // your page params. I recommend to you to pass all *receivedNotification* object
        );

    }
);

6. In any place of your app, create a new notification

AwesomeNotifications().createNotification(
  content: NotificationContent(
      id: 10,
      channelKey: 'basic_channel',
      title: 'Simple Notification',
      body: 'Simple body'
  )
);

THATS IT! CONGRATZ MY FRIEND!!!

Example Apps

With the examples bellow, you can check all the features and how to use the Awesome Notifications in your app.

https://github.com/rafaelsetragni/awesome_notifications
Complete example with all the features available

https://github.com/bayuramadeza/Awesome-Notification-FCM
An simple but excellent app example of how to implement FCM with Awesome Notifications, created by bayuramadeza

To run the examples, follow the steps bellow:

1. Install GitHub software in your local machine. I strongly recommend to use GitHub Desktop.
2. Go to one of the GitHub repositories
3. Clone the project to your local machine
4. Open the project with Android Studio or any other IDE
5. Sync the project dependencies running flutter pub get
6. On iOS, run pod install to sync the native dependencies
7. Debug the application with a real device or emulator

Schedule Limitations

Due to the way that background task and notification schedules works on iOS, wasn't possible yet to enable all the schedule features on iOS while the app is in Background and even when the app is terminated (Killed). Thanks to this, the scheduling for android has also regressed to the iOS limitations level, to ensure for the developer the same behaviour in any platform. But it could be manually reactivated in java native code.

A support ticket was opened for Apple in order to resolve this issue. You can follow the progress of the process here.

Using Firebase Services (Optional)

The service used for this tutorial is Firebase Messaging, but you could use any other of your choice.

1 - To activate the Firebase Cloud Messaging service, please follow the respective step for your desired platform:

Android

First things first, to create your Firebase Cloud Message and send notifications even when your app is terminated (killed), go to the Firebase Console and create a new project.

After that, go to "Cloud Messaging" option and add an "Android app", put the packge name of your project (certifies to put the correct one) to generate the file google-services.json.

Download the file and place it inside your [app]/android/app/ folder.

Add the classpath to the [project]/android/build.gradle file. (Firebase ones was already added by the plugin)

dependencies {
    classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:3.5.0'
    // Add the google services classpath
    classpath 'com.google.gms:google-services:4.3.3'
}

Add the apply plugin to the [project]/android/app/build.gradle file.

// ADD THIS AT THE BOTTOM
apply plugin: 'com.google.gms.google-services'

iOS

Based on https://firebase.flutter.dev/docs/messaging/apple-integration

Go to "Cloud Messaging" option and add an "iOS app", put the package name of your project (certifies to put the correct one) to generate the file GoogleService-info.plist.

Download the file and place it inside your [app]/ios/Runner/ folder using XCode. (Do not use Finder to copy and paste the file, use the XCode)

After that, in your Google Console, go to General (Gear icon) -> Cloud Messaging -> iOS configuration and send your APNs key and include your iOS Team ID. To generate your APNs keys, follow the tutorial bellow:

https://docs.oracle.com/en/cloud/saas/marketing/responsys-develop-mobile/ios/auth-key/

Enabling Push Notifications in your Dart/Flutter code

(those steps are based on https://firebase.flutter.dev/docs/messaging/overview/ instructions)

2 - Add the firebase_core and firebase_messaging dependency to your pubspec.yaml file.

dependencies:
  flutter:
    sdk: flutter
  firebase_core: "^1.0.4"
  firebase_messaging: "^9.1.2"

3 - Download the dependencies with $ flutter pub get.

4 - Inside your main.dart file, add the follow lines:

void main() async {
  WidgetsFlutterBinding.ensureInitialized();

  AwesomeNotifications().initialize(
    'resource://drawable/res_app_icon',
    [
        // Your notification channels go here
    ]
  );

  // Create the initialization for your desired push service here
  FirebaseApp firebaseApp = await Firebase.initializeApp();
  FirebaseMessaging.onBackgroundMessage(_firebaseMessagingBackgroundHandler);

  runApp(App());
}

// Declared as global, outside of any class
Future<void> _firebaseMessagingBackgroundHandler(RemoteMessage message) async {

  // If you're going to use other Firebase services in the background, such as Firestore,
  // make sure you call `initializeApp` before using other Firebase services.
  await Firebase.initializeApp();

  print("Handling a background message: ${message.messageId}");

  // Use this method to automatically convert the push data, in case you gonna use our data standard
  AwesomeNotifications().createNotificationFromJsonData(message.data);
}

Now, firebase messaging should work at any application lifecycle, for any supported platform.

Notification Life Cycle

Notifications are received by local code or Push service using native code, so the messages will appears immediately or at schedule time, independent of your application state.

Flutter Streams

The Flutter code will be called as soon as possible using Dart Streams.

createdStream: Fires when a notification is created displayedStream: Fires when a notification is displayed on system status bar actionStream: Fires when a notification is tapped by the user dismissedStream: Fires when a notification is dismissed by the user

Platform	App in Foreground	App in Background	App Terminated (Killed)
Android	Fires all streams immediately after occurs	Fires all streams immediately after occurs	Fires createdStream, displayedStream and dismissedStream after the plugin initializes on Foreground, but fires actionStream immediately after occurs
iOS	Fires all streams immediately after occurs	Fires createdStream, displayedStream and dismissedStream after the app returns to Foreground, but fires actionStream immediately after occurs	Fires createdStream, displayedStream and dismissedStream after the plugin initializes on Foreground, but fires actionStream immediately after occurs

Notification Structures

Notification Layout Types

To show any images on notification, at any place, you need to include the respective source prefix before the path.

Layouts can be defined using 4 prefix types:

• Default: The default layout. Also is the layout used in case of any failure found on other ones
• BigPicture: Is the layout that shows a big picture and/or a small image.
• BigText: Is the layout that shows more than 2 lines of text.
• Inbox: Is the layout who lists messages or items separated by lines
• ProgressBar: Is the layout that shows a progress bar, such as download progress bar
• Messaging: (in construction)
• MediaPlayer: Is the layout that shows a media controller with action buttons, that allows the user to send commands without brings the application to foreground.

Media Source Types

To show any images on notification, at any place, you need to include the respective source prefix before the path.

Images can be defined using 4 prefix types:

• Asset: images access through Flutter asset method. Example: asset://path/to/image-asset.png
• Network: images access through internet connection. Example: http(s)://url.com/to/image-asset.png
• File: images access through files stored on device. Example: file://path/to/image-asset.png
• Resource: images access through drawable native resources. On Android, those files are stored inside [project]/android/app/src/main/drawabe folder. Example: resource://drawable/res_image-asset.png

OBS: Unfortunately, icons and sounds can be only resource media types.
OBS 2: To protect your native resources on Android against minification, please include the prefix "res_" in your resource file names. The use of the tag shrinkResources false inside build.gradle or the command flutter build apk --no-shrink is not recommended. To know more about it, please visit Shrink, obfuscate, and optimize your app

Notification Importance (Android's channel)

Defines the notification's importance level and how it should be displayed to the user. The possible importance levels are the following:

• Max: Makes a sound and appears as a heads-up notification.
• Higher: shows everywhere, makes noise and peeks. May use full screen intents.
• Default: shows everywhere, makes noise, but does not visually intrude.
• Low: Shows in the shade, and potentially in the status bar (see shouldHideSilentStatusBarIcons()), but is not audibly intrusive.
• Min: only shows in the shade, below the fold.
• None: disable the respective channel.

OBS: Unfortunately, the channel's importance can only be defined on first time. After that, it cannot be changed.

Notification Action Button Types

Notifications action buttons could be classified in 4 types:

• Default: after user taps, the notification bar is closed and an action event is fired.
• InputField: after user taps, a input text field is displayed to capture input by the user.
• DisabledAction: after user taps, the notification bar is closed, but the respective action event is not fired.
• KeepOnTop: after user taps, the notification bar is not closed, but an action event is fired.

Android	App in Foreground	App in Background	App Terminated (Killed)
Default	keeps the app in foreground	brings the app to foreground	brings the app to foreground
InputField	keeps the app in foreground	brings the app to foreground	brings the app to foreground
DisabledAction	keeps the app in foreground	keeps the app in background	keeps the app terminated
KeepOnTop	keeps the app in foreground	keeps the app in background	keeps the app terminated

If the app is terminated (killed):

• Default: Wake up the app.
• InputField: Wake up the app.
• DisabledAction: Does not Wake up the app.
• KeepOnTop: Does not Wake up the app.

Scheduling a notification

Notifications could be scheduled into two exclusive types:

• Interval: represents a interval of seconds that the notification should wait to be displayed
• Calendar: represents a simple set of date rules that the notification should obey to be displayed

Also, both of then could be configured using:

• allowWhileIdle: Determines if notification will send, even when the device is in critical situation, such as low battery.
• repeats: Determines if the schedule should be repeat after be displayed. If there is no more valid date compatible with the schedule rules, the notification is automatically canceled.

Emojis (Emoticons)

To send emojis in your local notifications, concatenate the class Emoji with your text. For push notifications, copy the emoji (unicode text) from http://www.unicode.org/emoji/charts/full-emoji-list.html and send it or use the format \u{1f6f8}.

OBS: not all emojis work with all platforms. Please, test the specific emoji before using it in production.

  await AwesomeNotifications().createNotification(
      content: NotificationContent(
          id: id,
          channelKey: 'basic_channel',
          title: 'Emojis are awesome too! '+ Emojis.smille_face_with_tongue + Emojis.smille_rolling_on_the_floor_laughing + Emojis.emotion_red_heart,
          body: 'Simple body with a bunch of Emojis! ${Emojis.transport_police_car} ${Emojis.animals_dog} ${Emojis.flag_UnitedStates} ${Emojis.person_baby}',
          bigPicture: 'https://tecnoblog.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/emoji.jpg',
          notificationLayout: NotificationLayout.BigPicture,
  ));

How to send Push Notifications using Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM)

To send a notification using Awesome Notifications and FCM Services, you need to send a POST request to the address https://fcm.googleapis.com/fcm/send. Due to limitations on Android and iOS, you should send a empty notification field and use only the data field to send your data, as bellow:

OBS: actionButtons and schedule are optional
OBS 2: you should not implement any native code to use FCM with Awesome Notifications. All of then was already implemented inside the plugin.
OBS 3: data only messages are classed as "low priority". Devices can throttle and ignore these messages if your application is in the background, terminated, or a variety of other conditions such as low battery or currently high CPU usage. To help improve delivery, you can bump the priority of messages. Note; this does still not guarantee delivery. More info here

{
    "to" : "[YOUR APP TOKEN]",
    "mutable_content" : true,
    "content_available": true,
    "priority": "high",
    "data" : {
        "content": {
            "id": 100,
            "channelKey": "big_picture",
            "title": "Huston!\nThe eagle has landed!",
            "body": "A small step for a man, but a giant leap to Flutter's community!",
            "notificationLayout": "BigPicture",
            "largeIcon": "https://media.fstatic.com/kdNpUx4VBicwDuRBnhBrNmVsaKU=/full-fit-in/290x478/media/artists/avatar/2013/08/neil-i-armstrong_a39978.jpeg",
            "bigPicture": "https://www.dw.com/image/49519617_303.jpg",
            "showWhen": true,
            "autoCancel": true,
            "privacy": "Private"
        },
        "actionButtons": [
            {
                "key": "REPLY",
                "label": "Reply",
                "autoCancel": true,
                "buttonType":  "InputField"
            },
            {
                "key": "ARCHIVE",
                "label": "Archive",
                "autoCancel": true
            }
        ],
        "schedule": {
            "hour": "10",
            "minute": "0",
            "second": "0",
            "allowWhileIdle": true,
            "repeat": true
        }
    }
}

Using this pattern, you can create a notification just by calling the method below:

AwesomeNotifications().createNotificationFromJsonData(yourReceivedMapData);

You can download a example of how to send Push Notifications through FCM using "Postman" here

Notification channels

Notification channels are means by which notifications are send, defining the characteristics that will be common among all notifications on that same channel. A notification can be created, deleted and updated at any time in the application, however it is required that at least one exists during the initialization of this plugin. If a notification is created using a invalid channel key, the notification is discarded. After a notification being created, especially for Android Oreo devices and above, most of his definitions cannot be updated any more. To update all channel's definitions, it is necessary to use the ´forceUpdate´ option, which has the negative effect of automatically closing all active notifications on that channel.

Main methods to manipulate a notification channel:

• AwesomeNotifications().setChannel: Create or update a notification channel.
• AwesomeNotifications().removeChannel: Remove a notification channel, closing all current notifications on that same channel.

Attribute	Required	Description	Type	Updatable without force mode	Value Limits	Default value
channelKey	YES	String key that identifies a channel where not	String	NOT AT ALL	channel must be enabled	basic_channel
channelName	YES	The title of the channel (is visible for the user on Android)	String	YES	unlimited
channelDescription	YES	The channel description (is visible for the user on Android)	String	YES	unlimited
channelShowBadge	NO	The notification should automatically increment the badge counter	bool	YES	true or false	false
importance	NO	The notification should automatically increment the badge counter	NotificationImportance	NO	Enumerator	Normal
playSound	NO	Determines if the notification should play sound	bool	NO	true or false	true
soundSource	NO	Specify a custom sound to be played (must be a native resource file)	String	NO	unlimited
defaultRingtoneType	NO	Determines what default sound type should be played (only for Android)	DefaultRingtoneType	YES	Enumerator	Notification
enableVibration	NO	Activate / deactivate the vibration functionality	bool	NO	true or false	true
enableLights	NO	Determines that the LED lights should be on in notifications	bool	NO	true or false	true
ledColor	NO	Determines the LED lights color to be played on notifications	Color	NO	unlimited	Colors.white
ledOnMs	NO	Determines the time, in milliseconds, that the LED lights must be on	int	NO	1 - 2.147.483.647
ledOffMs	NO	Determines the time, in milliseconds, that the LED lights must be off	int	NO	1 - 2.147.483.647
groupKey	NO	Determines the common key used to group notifications in a compact form	String	NO	unlimited
groupSort	NO	Determines the notifications sort order inside the grouping	GroupSort	NO	Enumerator	Desc
groupAlertBehavior	NO	Determines the alert type for notifications in same grouping	GroupAlertBehavior	NO	Enumerator	All
defaultPrivacy	NO	Determines the privacy level to be applied when the device is locked	NotificationPrivacy	NO	Enumerator	Private
icon	NO	Determines the notification small top icon on status bar	String	NO	unlimited
defaultColor	NO	Determines the notification global color (only for Android)	Color	NO	unlimited	Color.black
locked	NO	Determines if the user cannot manually dismiss the notification	bool	NO	true or false	false
onlyAlertOnce	NO	Determines if the notification should alert once, when created	bool	NO	true or false	false

Notification types, values and defaults

NotificationContent ("content" in Push data) - (required)

Attribute	Required	Description	Type	Value Limits	Default value
id	YES	Number that identifies a unique notification	int	1 - 2.147.483.647
channelKey	YES	String key that identifies a channel where not. will be displayed	String	channel must be enabled	basic_channel
title	NO	The title of notification	String	unlimited
body	NO	The body content of notification	String	unlimited
summary	NO	A summary to be displayed when the content is protected by privacy	String	unlimited
showWhen	NO	Hide/show the time elapsed since notification was displayed	bool	true or false	true
displayOnForeground	NO	Hide/show the notification if the app is in the Foreground (streams are preserved )	bool	true or false	true
displayOnBackground	NO	Hide/show the notification if the app is in the Background (streams are preserved )	bool	true or false	true
icon	NO	Small icon to be displayed on the top of notification (Android only)	String	must be a resource image
largeIcon	NO	Large icon displayed at right middle of compact notification	String	unlimited
bigPicture	NO	Big image displayed on expanded notification	String	unlimited
autoCancel	NO	Notification should auto cancel when gets tapped by the user	bool	true or false	true
color	NO	Notification text color	Color	0x00000000 to 0xFFFFFFFF	0xFF000000 (Colors.black)
backgroundColor	NO	Notification background color	Color	0x00000000 to 0xFFFFFFFF	0xFFFFFFFF (Colors.white)
payload	NO	Hidden payload content	Map<String, String>	Only String for values	null
notificationLayout	NO	Layout type of notification	Enumerator	NotificationLayout	Default
hideLargeIconOnExpand	NO	Hide/show the large icon when notification gets expanded	bool	true or false	false
locked	NO	Blocks the user to dismiss the notification	bool	true or false	false
progress	NO	Current value of progress bar (percentage). Null for indeterminate.	int	0 - 100	null
ticker	NO	Text to be displayed on top of the screen when a notification arrives	String	unlimited

NotificationActionButton ("actionButtons" in Push data) - (optional)

• Is necessary at least one *required attribute

Attribute	Required	Description	Type	Value Limits	Default value
key	YES	Text key to identifies what action the user took when tapped the notification	String	unlimited
label	*YES	Text to be displayed over the action button	String	unlimited
icon	*YES	Icon to be displayed inside the button	String	must be a resource image
enabled	NO	On Android, deactivates the button. On iOS, the button disappear	bool	true or false	true
autoCancel	NO	Notification should auto cancel when gets tapped by the user	bool	true or false	true
buttonType	NO	Button action response type	Enumerator	ActionButtonType	Default

NotificationInterval ("schedule" in Push data) - (optional)

Attribute	Required	Description	Type	Value Limits	Default value
interval	*YES	Mandatory initial notification fire date	Int (seconds)	Positive unlimited
allowWhileIdle	NO	Displays the notification, even when the device is low battery	bool	true or false	false
repeats	NO	List of precise notification fire dates	bool	true or false	false

NotificationCalendar ("schedule" in Push data) - (optional)

• Is necessary at least one *required attribute
• Cron expression must respect the format (with seconds precision) as described in this article

Attribute	Required	Description	Type	Value Limits	Default value
era,	*YES	Schedule era condition	Integer	Positive unlimited
year,	*YES	Schedule year condition	Integer	Positive unlimited
month,	*YES	Schedule month condition	Integer	Positive unlimited
day,	*YES	Schedule day condition	Integer	Positive unlimited
hour,	*YES	Schedule hour condition	Integer	Positive unlimited
minute,	*YES	Schedule minute condition	Integer	Positive unlimited
second,	*YES	Schedule second condition	Integer	Positive unlimited
millisecond,	*YES	Schedule millisecond condition	Integer	Positive unlimited
weekday,	*YES	Schedule weekday condition	Integer	Positive unlimited
weekOfMonth,	*YES	Schedule weekOfMonth condition	Integer	Positive unlimited
weekOfYear,	*YES	Schedule weekOfYear condition	Integer	Positive unlimited
allowWhileIdle	NO	Displays the notification, even when the device is low battery	bool	true or false	false
repeats	NO	List of precise notification fire dates	bool	true or false	false

Common Known Issues

Issue: The name 'DateUtils' is defined in the libraries 'package:awesome_notifications/src/utils/date_utils.dart (via package:awesome_notifications/awesome_notifications.dart)' and 'package:flutter/src/material/date.dart (via package:flutter/material.dart)'.

Fix: Use a prefix while importing or hide one of the DateUtils declarations:

import 'package:flutter/material.dart' hide DateUtils;
import 'package:flutter/material.dart' as Material show DateUtils;

DateUtils.utcToLocal(DateTime.now());
Material.DateUtils.dateOnly(DateTime.now());

Issue: So, because myApp depends on both awesome_notifications and "OtherPackageName" from sdk, version solving failed. pub get failed

Fix: The awesome_notifications plugin must be limited to all other last plugin versions in the stable bracket, to be the most compatible as possible to any flutter application in production stage. Sometimes, one of our dependencies getting older and need to be updated. Please, open a issue with this error on our GitHub community, and we gonna update it as fast as possible. But, case necessary, you can manually upgrade those dependencies into your local files. Just change the pubspec.yaml inside your awesome_notifications local folder and you should be ready to go.

To see an example of how to solve it, please go to https://github.com/rafaelsetragni/awesome_notifications/issues/49

Issue: Invalid notification content

Fix: The notification sent via FCM services MUST respect the types of the respective Notification elements. Otherwise, your notification will be discarded as invalid one. Also, all the payload elements MUST be a String, as the same way as you do in Local Notifications using dart code.

To see more information about each type, please go to https://github.com/rafaelsetragni/awesome_notifications#notification-types-values-and-defaults

Issue: Undefined symbol: OBJC_CLASS$_FlutterStandardTypedData / OBJC_CLASS$_FlutterError / OBJC_CLASS$_FlutterMethodChannel

Fix: Please, remove the old target extensions and update your awesome_notification plugin to the last version available