Introduction

I have an app and want to force the user to update it, if a new version is at the google play market. This is working fine with the following code but is not very stable.
I am doing it via AsyncTask and getting data from the php file.
But it gives me a feeling that there must be a better way or a way that makes it much more stable.

Question

How can I set a timeout to the procedure, for example because of a very low internetconnection from the user?

Code

get_newest_apk.php

<?PHP



    /*  GET APK VERSION FROM ANDROID DEVICE

        Example: [PATH]/get_newest_apk.php?apkversion=6

    */

    if($_GET["apkversion"]){

        $apkversion= $_GET["apkversion"];



        //MYSQL LOGIN PARAMETERS

        $host = '*****';

        $user = '*****';

        $pass = '*****';

        $db =   '*****';



        $mysqli = new mysqli($host, $user, $pass, $db);



            $result = $mysqli->query("SELECT MAX(VERSION) FROM TBL_APK");

            $row = $result->fetch_row();

            $count = $row[0];



            if($count > $apkversion){

                //Newer APK is avaiable

                echo "1";

            }else{

                //There is no never APK avaiable

                echo "2";

            }



    }else{

        //Error by GETTING apkversion from Android device

        echo "3";

    }

?>

AsyncTask Class

class checkForNewAPK extends AsyncTask<Void, Void, String> {

    @Override

    protected void onPreExecute() {

        //Do not show the user a progress because he don't want to see it in every onResume

    }



    @Override

    protected void onPostExecute(String s) {

        super.onPostExecute(s);

        int intResult = Integer.parseInt(s);



        //strResult as intResult; 1 = Newer APK avaiable, 2 = No newer APK avaiable, 3 = Error at $_GET["apkversion"] line 6

        if(intResult == 1){

            //Force to Update App

            Log.v("APKResult: ", "1");

        }else if(intResult == 2){

            //No update needed

            Log.v("APKResult: ", "2");

        }else if(intResult == 3){

            //Error in PHP-File

            Log.v("APKResult: ", "3");

        }else{

            //Unknown error

            Log.v("APKResult: ", "Unkown Error");

        }

    }



    //in this method we are fetching the json string

    @Override

    protected String doInBackground(Void... voids) {

        try {

            int intApkVersion = getApplication().getPackageManager().getPackageInfo(getPackageName(), 0).versionCode;

            URL url = new URL(strUrlGetNewestAPK+"?apkversion="+intApkVersion);

            String strResultFromEcho;



            HttpURLConnection con = (HttpURLConnection) url.openConnection();

            StringBuilder strResult = new StringBuilder();



            BufferedReader bufferedReader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(con.getInputStream()));

            while ((strResultFromEcho = bufferedReader.readLine()) != null) {

                strResult.append(strResultFromEcho + "n");

            }



            return strResult.toString().trim();

        } catch (Exception e) {

            return null;

        }

    }

}

How can I set a timeout to the procedure, for example because of a very low internetconnection from the user?

You need to use setConnectTimeout and setReadTimeout

setConnectTimeout

• Sets a specified timeout value, in milliseconds, to be used when opening a communications link to the resource referenced by this URLConnection. If the timeout expires before the connection can be established, a java.net.SocketTimeoutException is raised. A timeout of zero is interpreted as an infinite timeout.

setReadTimeout

• Sets the read timeout to a specified timeout, in milliseconds. A non-zero value specifies the timeout when reading from Input stream when a connection is established to a resource. If the timeout expires before there is data available for read, a java.net.SocketTimeoutException is raised. A timeout of zero is interpreted as an infinite timeout.

SAMPLE CODE

   HttpURLConnection con = (HttpURLConnection) url.openConnection();

   con.setConnectTimeout(3000); //set connection time out in milliseconds

   con.setReadTimeout(3000); // set read time out in milliseconds

Make below changes in your code

class checkForNewAPK extends AsyncTask<Void, Void, String> {

    @Override

    protected void onPreExecute() {

        //Do not show the user a progress because he don't want to see it in every onResume

    }



    @Override

    protected void onPostExecute(String s) {

        super.onPostExecute(s);

        int intResult = Integer.parseInt(s);



        //strResult as intResult; 1 = Newer APK avaiable, 2 = No newer APK avaiable, 3 = Error at $_GET["apkversion"] line 6

        if(intResult == 1){

            //Force to Update App

            Log.v("APKResult: ", "1");

        }else if(intResult == 2){

            //No update needed

            Log.v("APKResult: ", "2");

        }else if(intResult == 3){

            //Error in PHP-File

            Log.v("APKResult: ", "3");

        }else{

            //Unknown error

            Log.v("APKResult: ", "Unkown Error");

        }

    }



    //in this method we are fetching the json string

    @Override

    protected String doInBackground(Void... voids) {

        try {

            int intApkVersion = getApplication().getPackageManager().getPackageInfo(getPackageName(), 0).versionCode;

            URL url = new URL(strUrlGetNewestAPK+"?apkversion="+intApkVersion);

            String strResultFromEcho;



            HttpURLConnection con = (HttpURLConnection) url.openConnection();

            con.setConnectTimeout(3000); //set connection time outt in milliseconds

            con.setReadTimeout(3000); // set read time outt in milliseconds



            StringBuilder strResult = new StringBuilder();



            BufferedReader bufferedReader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(con.getInputStream()));

            while ((strResultFromEcho = bufferedReader.readLine()) != null) {

                strResult.append(strResultFromEcho + "n");

            }



            return strResult.toString().trim();

        } catch (SocketTimeoutException e) {

            // this block code execute when time out exception is occur

            // you need to perform your logic here when time out exception occur

            return "Request timeout occur.nTap on 'TRY AGAIN' to retry";

        }

    }

}

Note : You can also use library for API Calling

You can use Volley library

• Volley is an HTTP library that makes networking for Android apps easier and most importantly, faster. Volley is available on GitHub.

FROM DOCS

Volley offers the following benefits:

• Automatic scheduling of network requests.




• Multiple concurrent network connections.




• Transparent disk and memory response caching with standard HTTP cache coherence.
  Support for request prioritization.




• Cancellation request API. You can cancel a single request, or you can set blocks or scopes of requests to cancel.




• Ease of customization, for example, for retry and backoff.




• Strong ordering that makes it easy to correctly populate your UI with data fetched asynchronously from the network.




• Debugging and tracing tools.

You can use Retrofit library

• Type-safe HTTP client for Android and Java by Square, Inc.
  Retrofit Github link
  

Retrofit vs Volley

Please read this post Comparison of Android networking libraries: OkHTTP, Retrofit, and Volley