updatable

A Flutter Plugin to make an App Update-able

I've made this plugin to make easier integrating update functionality in my flutter apps.

On this address you could find an administrative interface for uploading versions: https://programtom.com/app_distribution/ This is version 1 in PHP that is discontinued for now.

I am doing a rework of the backend in Java that will be available at https://programtom.com/dev/ when ready.

What a new App that wants to use it require is - adding the dependency:

 updatable:
     git: https://github.com/tomavelev/flutter_updateable_plugin.git

Include a constants.dart file:

//this should be application specific. Use it in your own app

const APP_VERSION = 2;// an integer
const APP_CHANNEL = "Stable"; // String specifying the distribution target 
const APP_GUID = "appGuid1123324"; // a String identifying your app
const APP_PLATFORM = "Windows"; // Target Platform -  "Windows" | "Android" | "MacOS" | "Linux" | "WebApp" | "iOS"


//const UPDATE_HOST = "https://programtom.com/app_distribution/checkForNewVersion.php"; // the place to check for availability of new version.
const  UPDATE_HOST ="${APP_DISTRIBUTION_HOST}/ApplicationBuilds/${APP_GUID}/${APP_CHANNEL}/${APP_PLATFORM}"; 
//RESULT JSON:
/*
 {
    "appPackage":"appPackage",
    "message":"message",
    "latestVersion" : 1,
    "shouldForceTheUpgrade": false
}
 */

//const BUILDS_LIST = "https://programtom.com/app_distribution/buildsList.php"; // list of changes between the current app version and the available new versions
const  BUILDS_LIST ="${APP_DISTRIBUTION_HOST}/ApplicationBuilds/${APP_GUID}/${APP_CHANNEL}/${APP_PLATFORM}?offset=0&limit=20";
// RESULT JSON:
/*[
/// ....
{
"name": "1",
"number": 1,
"changesInThisVersion": "Initial version",
"appPackage": "Version URL",
"timestamp": 123123123,
"shouldForceTheUpgrade": false
}
]*/

//The second version has reworked result to be a page: 
/* 
{
"list":  [...],
"count": 2,
"message": null
}
 */

//and use it like this:

import 'constants.dart';

import 'package:updatable/updatable.dart';

//If your app is an external process:

Updatable(
          appCurrentVersion: APP_VERSION,
          appPlatform: APP_PLATFORM,
          buildsList: BUILDS_LIST,
          channel: APP_CHANNEL,
          updateHost: UPDATE_HOST,
          processToStart: ['java', '-jar', "myJar.jar"],
          appGuid: APP_GUID,
        )

//Or if your app is a flutter app

Updatable(
          appCurrentVersion: APP_VERSION,
          appPlatform: APP_PLATFORM,
          buildsList: BUILDS_LIST,
          channel: APP_CHANNEL,
          updateHost: UPDATE_HOST,
          child: yourAppContent(),
          appGuid: APP_GUID,
          
        )

I've also exposed all functionality with parameters, so you could integrate your own backend and never depend on my Platform.

The checkForNewVersion URL is:

Post Request containing a JSON Object :

{
              "APP_VERSION": appCurrentVersion,
              "APP_CHANNEL": channel,
              "APP_GUID": appGuid,
              "PLATFORM": appPlatform,
}

and ideally will return JSON Object with:

{
"appPackage" :"https://....",
"latestVersion": 3,
"shouldForceTheUpgrade": false

The buildsList URL is POST Request with JSON:

{
              "APP_VERSION": appCurrentVersion,
              "APP_CHANNEL": channel,
              "APP_GUID": appGuid,
              "PLATFORM": appPlatform,
              "lang": "en"
}

and should return list of objects with the fields:

 name: map['name'].toString(),
         number: map['number'] as int,
         changesInThisVersion: map['changesInThisVersion'].toString(),
         timestamp: map['timestamp'] as int?,
         appPackage: map['appPackage'].toString(),
         shouldForceTheUpgrade: map['shouldForceTheUpgrade'] as bool,                  

Note:

Every Version has an URL (also the latest after clicking download update). To be working on android you may need to have APK Installer and - on sdk 30+ it requires

<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
...
<queries>
    <intent>
        <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />
        <category android:name="android.intent.category.BROWSABLE" />
        <data android:scheme="https" />
    </intent>
</queries>
....