如何在Android设备上下载并安装另一个Android应用

Question

Is there way to be able to download and install another android app from a URL programmatically? I tried following

Intent promptInstall = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);

    promptInstall.setDataAndType(Uri.fromFiledwfile), "application/vnd.android.package_archive");
    promptInstall.addFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);

    startActivity(promptInstall);

but it gave me error

   java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to start activity 
ComponentInfo{com.example.test/com.example.test.MainActivity}: 

android.content.ActivityNotFoundException: No Activity found to handle Intent { 

act=android.intent.action.VIEW dat=file:///mnt/sdcard/download/Demo.apk 

typ=application/vnd.android.package_archive flg=0x10000000 }

Am I missing some permissions? I tried giving

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INSTALL_PACKAGES"  />

but that doesn't let me compile in eclipse

Can someone please help and let me know if I am doing soemthing wrong

Thanks Monty

Answer 1

There's no way you can install an app without the user acknowledgement.

Once you have donwloaded the apk, you should use ACTION_INSTALL_PACKAGE instead of ACTION_VIEW

From the documentation:

Activity Action: Launch application installer.

Input: The data must be a content: or file: URI at which the application can be retrieved. As of JELLY_BEAN_MR1, you can also use "package:" to install an application for the current user that is already installed for another user. You can optionally supply EXTRA_INSTALLER_PACKAGE_NAME, EXTRA_NOT_UNKNOWN_SOURCE, EXTRA_ALLOW_REPLACE, and EXTRA_RETURN_RESULT.

Output: If EXTRA_RETURN_RESULT, returns whether the install succeeded.

Answer 2

Intent browserIntent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, Uri.parse(pass the url to downlad app));

    startActivity(browserIntent);

Rest provide the persimmion of internet and storage in manifest.