Android VPL

A VPL Helper library. A Virtual PreLoad (VPL) is a tiny APK that serves a single purpose: to launch the Play Store (or another app store) with your actual app. This helps with preloading your app on devices as it takes much less space in the user’s precious /system directory.

VPL

From your VPL app, call VPLHelper.onVPLLaunched (context, analyticsToken) to register a VPL launch. VPLHelper takes care of launching the Play Store. The ‘VPL Launched’ even is reported every time the VPL is launched regardless of whether the user installs your full APK or not.

Actual APK

There is more than one way to record an upgrade: Via a BroadcastReceiver, through your launcher activity’s onCreate(Bundle) method, and from your Application’s onCreate method.

BroadcastReceiver

Using a BroadcastReceiver is the most efficient way as the code only runs once when your application is updated on the device. This method does not require the user to ever launch your application. Create a BroadcastReceiver extending VPLUpgradeReceiver and declare it in your manifest. Use the following intent filter:

<receiver
  android:name="com.airg.vpl.sample.UpgradeReceiver"
  android:enabled="true"
  android:exported="true">
    <intent-filter>
      <action android:name="android.intent.action.MY_PACKAGE_REPLACED" />
    </intent-filter>
</receiver>

On Activity Create

The next best method is to call VPLHelper.onApplicationLaunched (Context, String) in your launcher Activity’s onCreate() method. This is less efficient as it is

1. Executed every time your application is launched (as opposed to only on update)
2. Requires the application to be launched at least once after update.

On Application Create

The least efficient method is to call VPLHelper.onApplicationLaunched (Context, String) in your Application’s onCreate() method. This is less efficient than the previous method because aside from the points above, it is also launched every time a component of your application is activated (e.g. you receive a push message).

Regardless of which method you use and how many times you call the methods, the upgrade event is only reported once.

Usage

To use the android-vpl library in your product, add the following line to your Gradle build script:

compile 'com.airg.android:vpl:+@aar'

Or download the library from the download link at the top of this page.

Contributions

Please refer to the contribution instructions.