Newbie question on check for updates on app startup android
<p>I'm trying the below code. It's suppose to check for newer version of my app once a day when the app starts. Got the code from <a href="http://www.androidsnippets.com/check-for-updates-once-a-day" rel="nofollow">http://www.androidsnippets.com/check-for-updates-once-a-day</a>.
The thing i can't figure out is, in the line URL updateURL = new URL("http://my.company.com/update"); whats should the <a href="http://mycompany.com/update" rel="nofollow">http://mycompany.com/update</a> point to? An xml, txt or .. file. I tried an xml and txt file with just the latest versionCode and named it version.txt, versionCode.txt and .xml.</p>

<p>It just doesn't work and should the url be just "http://mycompany.com/update" or with extension ie, "http://mycompany.com/update/version.txt" or something else.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance.</p>

<pre><code>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)) &lt; 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 &gt; 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();
       }
};    
</code></pre>

<p>}</p>
