Cannot read notification which contains SpannableString instead of regular String

Question

Situation:

I have code that is reading the text of a notification

String notificationText = sbn.getNotification().extras.getString("android.text");

and it causes the following error when a notification with special characters is read:

Key android.text expected String but value was a android.text.SpannableString.  
The default value <null> was returned. 
java.lang.ClassCastException: android.text.SpannableString cannot be cast to java.lang.String

The particular text that caused this error was a notification from com.whatsapp with the text: "bold text regular text"

Note that some characters are in bold. (no exception is thrown without the bold).

Question:

Is there a way for me to get this text as a string?

I have already unsuccessfully tried:

• Casting it to a string.
• Looking for a different method other than getString to get the text from extras
• Adding a " " to the end of the string
• Checking if the function is returning a SpannableString with 'instanceof', then casting it to a SpannableString

Answer 1

In my case struggled almost 3 hrs

String.valueOf(sbn.getNotification().extras.get("android.text"));

worked like a charm