The trick is to keep track of the last Toast that was shown, and to cancel that one.
What I have done is to create a Toast wrapper, that contains a static reference to the last Toast displayed.
When I need to show a new one, I first cancel the static reference, before showing the new one (and saving it in the static).
Here’s full code of the Boast wrapper I made – it mimics enough of the Toast methods for me to use it. By default the Boast will cancel the previous one, so you don’t build up a queue of Toasts waiting to be displayed.
This code can be found in my Github gist:
If you just want to know how to cancel the notifications when exiting your app, you will find lots of help in there. If you have improvements or suggestions, please feel free to fork it and get in touch. This is a very old answer, but code has been stable in production on a few apps for some time.
BTW – this should be a direct drop-in replacement for Toast in most use cases.
package mobi.glowworm.lib.ui.widget;
import android.annotation.SuppressLint;
import android.content.Context;
import android.content.res.Resources;
import android.support.annotation.Nullable;
import android.widget.Toast;
import java.lang.ref.WeakReference;
/**
* {@link Toast} decorator allowing for easy cancellation of notifications. Use this class if you
* want subsequent Toast notifications to overwrite current ones. </p>
* <p/>
* By default, a current {@link Boast} notification will be cancelled by a subsequent notification.
* This default behaviour can be changed by calling certain methods like {@link #show(boolean)}.
*/
public class Boast {
/**
* Keeps track of certain Boast notifications that may need to be cancelled. This functionality
* is only offered by some of the methods in this class.
* <p>
* Uses a {@link WeakReference} to avoid leaking the activity context used to show the original {@link Toast}.
*/
@Nullable
private volatile static WeakReference<Boast> weakBoast = null;
@Nullable
private static Boast getGlobalBoast() {
if (weakBoast == null) {
return null;
}
return weakBoast.get();
}
private static void setGlobalBoast(@Nullable Boast globalBoast) {
Boast.weakBoast = new WeakReference<>(globalBoast);
}
// ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
/**
* Internal reference to the {@link Toast} object that will be displayed.
*/
private Toast internalToast;
// ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
/**
* Private constructor creates a new {@link Boast} from a given {@link Toast}.
*
* @throws NullPointerException if the parameter is <code>null</code>.
*/
private Boast(Toast toast) {
// null check
if (toast == null) {
throw new NullPointerException("Boast.Boast(Toast) requires a non-null parameter.");
}
internalToast = toast;
}
// ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
/**
* Make a standard {@link Boast} that just contains a text view.
*
* @param context The context to use. Usually your {@link android.app.Application} or
* {@link android.app.Activity} object.
* @param text The text to show. Can be formatted text.
* @param duration How long to display the message. Either {@link Toast#LENGTH_SHORT} or
* {@link Toast#LENGTH_LONG}
*/
@SuppressLint("ShowToast")
public static Boast makeText(Context context, CharSequence text, int duration) {
return new Boast(Toast.makeText(context, text, duration));
}
/**
* Make a standard {@link Boast} that just contains a text view with the text from a resource.
*
* @param context The context to use. Usually your {@link android.app.Application} or
* {@link android.app.Activity} object.
* @param resId The resource id of the string resource to use. Can be formatted text.
* @param duration How long to display the message. Either {@link Toast#LENGTH_SHORT} or
* {@link Toast#LENGTH_LONG}
* @throws Resources.NotFoundException if the resource can't be found.
*/
@SuppressLint("ShowToast")
public static Boast makeText(Context context, int resId, int duration)
throws Resources.NotFoundException {
return new Boast(Toast.makeText(context, resId, duration));
}
/**
* Make a standard {@link Boast} that just contains a text view. Duration defaults to
* {@link Toast#LENGTH_SHORT}.
*
* @param context The context to use. Usually your {@link android.app.Application} or
* {@link android.app.Activity} object.
* @param text The text to show. Can be formatted text.
*/
@SuppressLint("ShowToast")
public static Boast makeText(Context context, CharSequence text) {
return new Boast(Toast.makeText(context, text, Toast.LENGTH_SHORT));
}
/**
* Make a standard {@link Boast} that just contains a text view with the text from a resource.
* Duration defaults to {@link Toast#LENGTH_SHORT}.
*
* @param context The context to use. Usually your {@link android.app.Application} or
* {@link android.app.Activity} object.
* @param resId The resource id of the string resource to use. Can be formatted text.
* @throws Resources.NotFoundException if the resource can't be found.
*/
@SuppressLint("ShowToast")
public static Boast makeText(Context context, int resId) throws Resources.NotFoundException {
return new Boast(Toast.makeText(context, resId, Toast.LENGTH_SHORT));
}
// ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
/**
* Show a standard {@link Boast} that just contains a text view.
*
* @param context The context to use. Usually your {@link android.app.Application} or
* {@link android.app.Activity} object.
* @param text The text to show. Can be formatted text.
* @param duration How long to display the message. Either {@link Toast#LENGTH_SHORT} or
* {@link Toast#LENGTH_LONG}
*/
public static void showText(Context context, CharSequence text, int duration) {
Boast.makeText(context, text, duration).show();
}
/**
* Show a standard {@link Boast} that just contains a text view with the text from a resource.
*
* @param context The context to use. Usually your {@link android.app.Application} or
* {@link android.app.Activity} object.
* @param resId The resource id of the string resource to use. Can be formatted text.
* @param duration How long to display the message. Either {@link Toast#LENGTH_SHORT} or
* {@link Toast#LENGTH_LONG}
* @throws Resources.NotFoundException if the resource can't be found.
*/
public static void showText(Context context, int resId, int duration)
throws Resources.NotFoundException {
Boast.makeText(context, resId, duration).show();
}
/**
* Show a standard {@link Boast} that just contains a text view. Duration defaults to
* {@link Toast#LENGTH_SHORT}.
*
* @param context The context to use. Usually your {@link android.app.Application} or
* {@link android.app.Activity} object.
* @param text The text to show. Can be formatted text.
*/
public static void showText(Context context, CharSequence text) {
Boast.makeText(context, text, Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
}
/**
* Show a standard {@link Boast} that just contains a text view with the text from a resource.
* Duration defaults to {@link Toast#LENGTH_SHORT}.
*
* @param context The context to use. Usually your {@link android.app.Application} or
* {@link android.app.Activity} object.
* @param resId The resource id of the string resource to use. Can be formatted text.
* @throws Resources.NotFoundException if the resource can't be found.
*/
public static void showText(Context context, int resId) throws Resources.NotFoundException {
Boast.makeText(context, resId, Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
}
// ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
/**
* Close the view if it's showing, or don't show it if it isn't showing yet. You do not normally
* have to call this. Normally view will disappear on its own after the appropriate duration.
*/
public void cancel() {
internalToast.cancel();
}
/**
* Show the view for the specified duration. By default, this method cancels any current
* notification to immediately display the new one. For conventional {@link Toast#show()}
* queueing behaviour, use method {@link #show(boolean)}.
*
* @see #show(boolean)
*/
public void show() {
show(true);
}
/**
* Show the view for the specified duration. This method can be used to cancel the current
* notification, or to queue up notifications.
*
* @param cancelCurrent <code>true</code> to cancel any current notification and replace it with this new
* one
* @see #show()
*/
public void show(boolean cancelCurrent) {
// cancel current
if (cancelCurrent) {
final Boast cachedGlobalBoast = getGlobalBoast();
if ((cachedGlobalBoast != null)) {
cachedGlobalBoast.cancel();
}
}
// save an instance of this current notification
setGlobalBoast(this);
internalToast.show();
}
}