android - Create a persistent notification and prevent notification in status bar

Question

I have the following code which I am using for an android app:

package com.authorwjf.e_notifications;

import android.app.Activity;
import android.app.Notification;
import android.app.NotificationManager;
import android.app.PendingIntent;
import android.content.Context;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.graphics.Bitmap;
import android.graphics.BitmapFactory;
import android.os.Bundle;

public class Main extends Activity {
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.main);
        Bitmap bm = Bitmap.createScaledBitmap(BitmapFactory.decodeResource(getResources(), R.drawable.avatar), 
                getResources().getDimensionPixelSize(android.R.dimen.notification_large_icon_width),
                getResources().getDimensionPixelSize(android.R.dimen.notification_large_icon_height), 
                true);
        Intent intent = new Intent(this, Main.class);
        PendingIntent pendingIntent = PendingIntent.getActivity(this, 01, intent, Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_CLEAR_TASK);
        Notification.Builder builder = new Notification.Builder(getApplicationContext());
        builder.setContentTitle("This is the title");
        builder.setContentText("This is the text");
        builder.setSubText("Some sub text");
        builder.setNumber(101);
        builder.setContentIntent(pendingIntent);
        builder.setTicker("Fancy Notification");
        builder.setSmallIcon(R.drawable.ic_launcher);
        builder.setLargeIcon(bm);
        builder.setAutoCancel(true);
        builder.setPriority(0);
        Notification notification = builder.build();
        NotificationManager notificationManger = 
                (NotificationManager) getSystemService(Context.NOTIFICATION_SERVICE);
        notificationManger.notify(01, notification);        
    }

}

Basically the app when launched creates a notification, now I have a few questions:

• Is it possible when the app is launched that the notification is displayed in the the pull down notification list but without the icon in the status bar. ie. refer to

http://imagebin.org/226494

can the icon circled in red not be displayed? Ultimately I would like to create a service that just sits in the pull down notification.

• Is there away to make the notification in the pulldown persist ie. if the icon circled in blue (http://imagebin.org/226494) is pressed that the notification still remains?

I am new to android dev and just trying to get to grips with what I can do with notifications.

Thanks

Answer 1

• A1: To remove the status bar icon, use this trick:

  builder.setSmallIcon(android.R.color.transparent); //Tested and worked in API 14
  

• A2: To make persistant Notification, add this line:

  builder.setOngoing(true)