google play - Checking my app version programmatically in Android market

Question

Currently I'm checking the app version code on launch and match it with latest version code on my server and based on this matching I send user to get latest update from Android market.

It's working well but my problem is that I have to manually change the latest version code on my server and I don't know exactly when new version of APK gets activated in market.

Is there any way to check version code of app in Android market directly so that I can send user directly to market when new apk gets activated?

Answer 1

Google Play does not provide any official APIs for retrieving metadata. You could however, check the unofficial API at http://code.google.com/p/android-market-api/.

Specifically, take a look at the Wiki page HowToSearchApps. The response to the query contains version information:

{
  "app": [
    {
      "rating": "4.642857142857143",
      "title": "Ruboto IRB",
      "ratingsCount": 14,
      "creator": "Jan Berkel",
      "appType": "APPLICATION",
      "id": "9089465703133677000",
      "packageName": "org.jruby.ruboto.irb",
      "version": "0.1",
      "versionCode": 1,
      "creatorId": ""Jan Berkel"",
      "ExtendedInfo": {
        "category": "Tools",
        "permissionId": [
...