Update application programmatically from Google store while autoupdate is off in android

Question

I am facing one challenge in our application that, our customer groups are always keeping "Auto update" of App features off. so they are not even getting updates of my app on their device although it is on google play. I want to check programmatically that if any new version of my app is being uploaded on google play then user will get alerts like "new version is on google play, update it now" and when user clicks on "Ok" then new version will be installed on the device.

it would be good if you share the code snippet for this.

Answer 1

You can check manually for updates and notify user. Try the following:

public class Test extends Activity {
    private Handler mHandler;

    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.front);
        mHandler = new Handler();

        /* Get Last Update Time from Preferences */
        SharedPreferences prefs = getPreferences(0);
        lastUpdateTime =  prefs.getLong("lastUpdateTime", 0);

        /* Should Activity Check for Updates Now? */
        if ((lastUpdateTime + (24 * 60 * 60 * 1000)) < System.currentTimeMillis()) {

            /* Save current timestamp for next Check*/
            lastUpdateTime = System.currentTimeMillis();            
            SharedPreferences.Editor editor = getPreferences(0).edit();
            editor.putLong("lastUpdateTime", lastUpdateTime);
            editor.commit();        

            /* Start Update */            
            checkUpdate.start();
        }
    }

    /* This Thread checks for Updates in the Background */
    private Thread checkUpdate = new Thread() {
        public void run() {
            try {
                URL updateURL = new URL("http://my.company.com/update");                
                URLConnection conn = updateURL.openConnection(); 
                InputStream is = conn.getInputStream();
                BufferedInputStream bis = new BufferedInputStream(is);
                ByteArrayBuffer baf = new ByteArrayBuffer(50);

                int current = 0;
                while((current = bis.read()) != -1){
                     baf.append((byte)current);
                }

                /* Convert the Bytes read to a String. */
                final String s = new String(baf.toByteArray());         

                /* Get current Version Number */
                int curVersion = getPackageManager().getPackageInfo("your.app.id", 0).versionCode;
                int newVersion = Integer.valueOf(s);

                /* Is a higher version than the current already out? */
                if (newVersion > curVersion) {
                    /* Post a Handler for the UI to pick up and open the Dialog */
                    mHandler.post(showUpdate);
                }                
            } catch (Exception e) {
            }
        }
    };

    /* This Runnable creates a Dialog and asks the user to open the Market */ 
    private Runnable showUpdate = new Runnable(){
           public void run(){
            new AlertDialog.Builder(Test.this)
            .setIcon(R.drawable.icon)
            .setTitle("Update Available")
            .setMessage("An update for is available!\\n\\nOpen Android Market and see the details?")
            .setPositiveButton("Yes", new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
                    public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int whichButton) {
                            /* User clicked OK so do some stuff */
                            Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, Uri.parse("market://search?q=pname:your.app.id"));
                            startActivity(intent);
                    }
            })
            .setNegativeButton("No", new DialogInterface.OnClickListener() {
                    public void onClick(DialogInterface dialog, int whichButton) {
                            /* User clicked Cancel */
                    }
            })
            .show();
           }
    };    
}

Source