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puchk?!?! Yes, puchk – the open source Palm (webOS) Update Check framework, brought to you by JDF Software. puchk is completely free and open source. puchk is intended solely for developers of webOS SDK (and hybrid SDK/PDK?) apps.

puchk is a framework for displaying update notifications to users of your webOS apps. The framework checks the version installed on the user’s device against the most recent version, which is parsed directly from your app details page on Palm’s web site. If there is a newer version available, the app will display a dialog with a notification that there is an update available and buttons to allow the user to update (by bringing up the Palm App Catalog to your app’s detail page) or cancel and continue using the currently-installed version of the app.

puchk has now become extremely simple to use in your new or current webOS apps! It is fully asynchronous, and will not disrupt the usage of your app in anyway, except by displaying the update dialog if an update is found.

Complete instructions on using puchk in your app can be found below, or in the README.txt file in the package.

Downloading puchk:

puchk now has a github repository: http://github.com/jdfsoftware/puchk Download the source by clicking the “Download Source” button to the right, or pull from the repository using git.

puchk is released under the New BSD License. If you need to use it in some way that the current license is not good for, e-mail me and ask.

The package also contains a sample app, com.jdfsoftware.puchk-sample, so you can see how all of this goes together. The sample app is downloadable to your device by visiting http://developer.palm.com/appredirect/?packageid=com.jdfsoftware.puchk-sample

The newest version also includes framework code and a sample app for Ares developers. Instructions are below.

SDK App Usage:

There is now only one file you need be concerned with in the puchk framework, /palm/main-assistant.js

1. Copy and paste everything from /palm/main-assistant.js, below (and not including) the setup() function, into your app’s main (first scene) assistant file.
2. Find and replace (normally CTRL+H on Windows or Linux) “MainAssistant” with the name of your assistant (e.g. “FirstAssistant”, etc.)
3. Modify the call to this.doUpdateCheck(interval); in your setup() function. interval is the number of hours you want to require in between update checks (so if the user uses your app multiple times per day, it will only check after the number of hours has elapsed).
4. Optionally, you can edit the text that is shown in the dialog. This is in the gotResults() function.

That’s it! puchk update checking is now enabled in your app!

Ares App Usage:

There is now only one file you need be concerned with in the puchk framework, /palm/ares-main-assistant.js

1. Copy and paste everything from /palm/ares-main-assistant.js, below (and not including) the setup() function and above (and not including) the cleanup() function, into your app’s main (first scene) assistant file.
2. Modify the call to this.doUpdateCheck(interval); in your setup() function. interval is the number of hours you want to require in between update checks (so if the user uses your app multiple times per day, it will only check after the number of hours has elapsed).
3. Optionally, you can edit the text that is shown in the dialog. This is in the gotResults() function.

That’s it! puchk update checking is now enabled in your app!

Testing puchk in Your App

There are a couple different methods to test the framework in your app, depending on whether your app is already published.

If your app is already published – you cannot submit an app with a lower version number to Palm for publishing, but there’s nothing that says you can’t test the updated app with a lower version number in the emulator or on your own device. So lower the version number in appinfo.json for testing, to ensure that the update scene is pushed properly. Be sure to change the version number back before trying to publish!

If your app is new and hasn’t been published, you can simply edit the first line in doUpdateCheck() to use an app id from an existing published app that has a higher version number. Pick any app you want and put the id in the line like this:

Previous line of code:

var url = “http://developer.palm.com/webChannel/index.php?packageid=” + Mojo.Controller.appInfo.id;

New line of code:

var url = “http://developer.palm.com/webChannel/index.php?packageid=com.jdfsoftware.tuneyourguitarpro”;

(Hint: Tune Your Guitar Pro is currently at v1.0.1 as of May 20, 2010)

This will fool puchk into getting the version for the other app with a higher version number for your testing purposes. Be sure to change the code back before publishing!

Localization

In order to make a more well-rounded framework, puchk has been updated to include better international support with better localization of the text used in the update dialog. There were two main issues to fix: the difference in sentence structure in different languages and the bug in webOS that always returns the English app title when using Mojo.Controller.appInfo.title. The sentence structure issue was fixed with help from Ian of onecrayon. The webOS bug was fixed via a workaround that localizes the app title separately from the rest of the text. If you use the localization example in puchk, you will freely be able to use $L(Mojo.Controller.appInfo.title) in your app to get the localized app title.

The final change was to use keys, prepended with “puchk_”, for better readability when editing localization (strings.json) files.

Check out the example app in the emulator and change languages to see how it looks. Create different folders in /resources and modify the strings.json and appinfo.json files for each language.

Please leave your comments below, or join me in the new JDF Software Forum at PreCentral.

Apps Currently Using puchk:

• Sabre – by JDF Software – A free, open source, lightsaber app for webOS devices – The first app to use the puchk framework
• Leaderboard – by JDF Software – A free, open source, Palm Hot Apps leaderboard app for webOS devices
• Touchnote – by onecrayon – A simple, but powerful, note taking app for webOS devices
• Shopping List – by Adaptive Code – A feature-packed shopping list manager for webOS devices
• EZ Button – by Simple Beta – An easy button for you webOS device
• BestPrice – by jaf0 Software – A cost-per-unit calculator for comparison shopping for webOS devices
• Pocket Party – by Killin’ It, LLC – A party in your pocket
• Jot It – by Killin’ It, LLC – tap, tap, type, swipe; the fastest memo app for webOS devices
• Cloud Hopper -by Killin’ It, LLC – A fun, cloud hopping game for webOS devices
• Cloud Hopper Lite – by Killin’ It, LLC – The lite version of Cloud Hopper
• Mosquitones – by Bryce Lund – A hearing test and annoyance app rolled into one – mosquito tones for webOS devices
• More apps using puchk are on their way to the Palm App Catalog! Check back soon for updates!