Xam.Plugin.AutoUpdate [In Development]

Auto update for your Android/UWP - pull requests are accepted

What is it?

• Check for update and auto install sideloaded Android or UWP application
• Check for update and redirect to play store
• The auto install part works only with UWP and Android

How does it work?

• Developer provides a check for updates function, returning if there is an update available and the url to the file, if provided
• The plugin checks for updates every RunEvery period of time
• When a new version is available and the user clicks the confirm button, the file from the provided url is downloaded and started

Installation

Nuget package will be available soon.

Install the package on the mobile projects in your solution (.netstandard, Android, UWP, iOS).

Android

For Android API > 23 a FileProvider configuration is required:

• Add to AndroidManifest

  <application android:label="...">
    <provider android:name="android.support.v4.content.FileProvider" android:authorities="com.companyname.application" android:grantUriPermissions="true" android:exported="false">
      <meta-data android:name="android.support.FILE_PROVIDER_PATHS" android:resource="@xml/file_paths" />
    </provider>
  </application>

• Create a new file - Resources/xml/file_paths.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<paths>
  <files-path name="files" path="/" />
</paths>

• Add to MainActivity

AutoUpdate.Init(this, authority);

NOTE: The authority value is the same as the android:authorities in the AndroidManifest file.

NOTE: Since Android Oreo (API 27), every app needs additional access to install APKs. You must add this permission if you wish to support Oreo:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.REQUEST_INSTALL_PACKAGES" />

Usage

• Create an UpdateManagerParameters option.
• Use UpdateManager.Initialize(parameters, mode) somewhere in your forms project. (e.g in App.xaml.cs)

UpdateManagerParameters parameters = new UpdateManagerParameters
{
    Title = "Update available",
    Message = "A new version is available. Please update!",
    Confirm = "Update",
    Cancel = "Cancel",
    // choose how often to check when opening the app to avoid spamming the user every time
    RunEvery = TimeSpan.FromDays(1),
    CheckForUpdatesFunction = async () =>
    {
        // check for updates from external url ...
        return new UpdatesCheckResponse(true, downloadUrl);
    }
}

Use UpdateMode.AutoInstall to download and install the application

UpdateManager.Initialize(parameters, UpdateMode.AutoInstall);

or UpdateMode.OpenAppStore to open the corresponding app store

UpdateManager.Initialize(parameters, UpdateMode.OpenAppStore);

Auto install

Using the auto install mode, the plugin will download the file provided in the DownloadUrl parameter and launch it as apk or appxbundle, depending on the platform.

Note: As stated earlier, this option does not work with iOS, due to the restrictions of the operating system.

Open app store

Using the open app store mode, the plugin will open the specified platform's app store, if an update is available.

Note: Additional logic is used for android to determine that only the Google Play store can open the market:// url and no other app that has registered for it.