Launch market place with id of an application that doesn't exist in the android market place

Question

I am creating an application that checks the installation of a package and then launches the market-place with its id.

When I try to launch market place with id of an application say com.mybrowser.android by throwing an intent android.intent.action.VIEW with url: market://details?id=com.mybrowser.android, the market place application does launches but crashes after launch.

Note: the application com.mybrowser.android doesn't exists in the market-place.

MyApplication is my application.

$ adb logcat

I/ActivityManager( 1030): Starting activity: Intent { act=android.intent.action.MAIN cat=[android.intent.category.LAUNCHER] flg=0x10200000 cmp=myapp.testapp/.MyApplication }
I/ActivityManager( 1030): Start proc myapp.testapp for activity myapp.testapp/.MyApplication: pid=3858 uid=10047 gids={1015, 3003}
I/MyApplication( 3858): [ Activity CREATED ]
I/MyApplication( 3858): [ Activity STARTED ]
I/MyApplication( 3858): onResume
D/dalvikvm( 1109): GC freed 6571 objects / 423480 bytes in 73ms
I/MyApplication( 3858): Pressed OK button
I/MyApplication( 3858): Broadcasting Intent: android.intent.action.VIEW, data: market://details?id=com.mybrowser.android
I/ActivityManager( 1030): Starting activity: Intent { act=android.intent.action.VIEW dat=market://details?id=com.mybrowser.android flg=0x10000000 cmp=com.android.ven
ding/.AssetInfoActivity }
I/MyApplication( 3858): onPause
I/ActivityManager( 1030): Start proc com.android.vending for activity com.android.vending/.AssetInfoActivity: pid=3865 uid=10023 gids={3003}
I/ActivityThread( 3865): Publishing provider com.android.vending.SuggestionsProvider: com.android.vending.SuggestionsProvider
D/dalvikvm( 1030): GREF has increased to 701
I/vending ( 3865): com.android.vending.api.RadioHttpClient$1.handleMessage(): Handle DATA_STATE_CHANGED event: NetworkInfo: type: WIFI[], state: CONNECTED/CO
NNECTED, reason: (unspecified), extra: (none), roaming: false, failover: false, isAvailable: true
I/ActivityManager( 1030): Displayed activity com.android.vending/.AssetInfoActivity: 609 ms (total 7678 ms)
D/dalvikvm( 1030): GC freed 10458 objects / 676440 bytes in 128ms
I/MyApplication( 3858): [ Activity STOPPED ]
D/dalvikvm( 3865): GC freed 3538 objects / 254008 bytes in 84ms
W/dalvikvm( 3865): threadid=19: thread exiting with uncaught exception (group=0x4001b180)
E/AndroidRuntime( 3865): Uncaught handler: thread AsyncTask #1 exiting due to uncaught exception
E/AndroidRuntime( 3865): java.lang.RuntimeException: An error occured while executing doInBackground()
E/AndroidRuntime( 3865):        at android.os.AsyncTask$3.done(AsyncTask.java:200)
E/AndroidRuntime( 3865):        at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerSetException(FutureTask.java:273)
E/AndroidRuntime( 3865):        at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.setException(FutureTask.java:124)
E/AndroidRuntime( 3865):        at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerRun(FutureTask.java:307)
E/AndroidRuntime( 3865):        at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:137)
E/AndroidRuntime( 3865):        at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1068)
E/AndroidRuntime( 3865):        at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:561)
E/AndroidRuntime( 3865):        at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:1096)
E/AndroidRuntime( 3865): Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
E/AndroidRuntime( 3865):        at com.android.vending.AssetItemAdapter$ReloadLocalAssetInformationTask.doInBackground(AssetItemAdapter.java:845)
E/AndroidRuntime( 3865):        at com.android.vending.AssetItemAdapter$ReloadLocalAssetInformationTask.doInBackground(AssetItemAdapter.java:831)
E/AndroidRuntime( 3865):        at android.os.AsyncTask$2.call(AsyncTask.java:185)
E/AndroidRuntime( 3865):        at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerRun(FutureTask.java:305)
E/AndroidRuntime( 3865):        ... 4 more
I/Process ( 1030): Sending signal. PID: 3865 SIG: 3
I/dalvikvm( 3865): threadid=7: reacting to signal 3
I/dalvikvm( 3865): Wrote stack trace to '/data/anr/traces.txt'
I/DumpStateReceiver( 1030): Added state dump to 1 crashes
D/AndroidRuntime( 3865): Shutting down VM
W/dalvikvm( 3865): threadid=3: thread exiting with uncaught exception (group=0x4001b180)
E/AndroidRuntime( 3865): Uncaught handler: thread main exiting due to uncaught exception
E/AndroidRuntime( 3865): java.lang.NullPointerException
E/AndroidRuntime( 3865):        at com.android.vending.controller.AssetInfoActivityController.getIdDeferToLocal(AssetInfoActivityController.java:637)
E/AndroidRuntime( 3865):        at com.android.vending.AssetInfoActivity.displayAssetInfo(AssetInfoActivity.java:556)
E/AndroidRuntime( 3865):        at com.android.vending.AssetInfoActivity.access$800(AssetInfoActivity.java:74)
E/AndroidRuntime( 3865):        at com.android.vending.AssetInfoActivity$LoadAssetInfoAction$1.run(AssetInfoActivity.java:917)
E/AndroidRuntime( 3865):        at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:587)
E/AndroidRuntime( 3865):        at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:92)
E/AndroidRuntime( 3865):        at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:123)
E/AndroidRuntime( 3865):        at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4363)
E/AndroidRuntime( 3865):        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
E/AndroidRuntime( 3865):        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:521)   
E/AndroidRuntime( 3865):        at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:860)
E/AndroidRuntime( 3865):        at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:618)
E/AndroidRuntime( 3865):        at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)
I/Process ( 1030): Sending signal. PID: 3865 SIG: 3
W/ActivityManager( 1030): Process com.android.vending has crashed too many times: killing!
D/ActivityManager( 1030):   Force finishing activity com.android.vending/.AssetInfoActivity
I/dalvikvm( 3865): threadid=7: reacting to signal 3
D/ActivityManager( 1030): Force removing process ProcessRecord{44e48548 3865:com.android.vending/10023} (com.android.vending/10023)

However, when I try to launch the market place for a package that exists in the market place say com.opera.mini.android, everything works. Log for this case:

D/dalvikvm(  966): GC freed 2781 objects / 195056 bytes in 99ms
I/MyApplication( 1165): Pressed OK button
I/MyApplication( 1165): Broadcasting Intent: android.intent.action.VIEW, data: market://details?id=com.opera.mini.android
I/ActivityManager(   78): Starting activity: Intent { act=android.intent.action.VIEW dat=market://details?id=com.opera.mini.android flg=0x10000000 cmp=com.android.vending/.AssetInfoActivity }
I/AndroidRuntime( 1165): AndroidRuntime onExit calling exit(0)
I/WindowManager(   78): WIN DEATH: Window{44c72308 myapp.testapp/myapp.testapp.MyApplication paused=true}
I/ActivityManager(   78): Process myapp.testapp (pid 1165) has died.
I/WindowManager(   78): WIN DEATH: Window{44c72958 myapp.testapp/myapp.testapp.MyApplication paused=false}
D/dalvikvm(   78): GC freed 31778 objects / 1796368 bytes in 142ms
I/ActivityManager(   78): Displayed activity com.android.vending/.AssetInfoActivity: 214 ms (total 22866 ms)
W/KeyCharacterMap(  978): No keyboard for id 65540
W/KeyCharacterMap(  978): Using default keymap: /system/usr/keychars/qwerty.kcm.bin
V/RenderScript_jni(  966): surfaceCreated
V/RenderScript_jni(  966): surfaceChanged
V/RenderScript(  966): setSurface 480 762 0x573430
D/ViewFlipper(  966): updateRunning() mVisible=true, mStarted=true, mUserPresent=true, mRunning=true
D/dalvikvm(  978): GC freed 10065 objects / 624440 bytes in 95ms

Any ideas?

Answer 1

instead of launching with the exact ID, you can try doing it by searching by the package.

Intent intent = new Intent( Intent.ACTION_VIEW,
Uri.parse("market://search?q=pname:com.package.package2.package3"));
startActivity(intent);

Answer 2

I am having similar problem when trying to open a detail page in Market app using "market://details?id=pname:org.rabold.android.puzzleblox" URL from an application.

I can create a shortcut using AnyCut like this:

action: android.intent.action.VIEW data: market://details?id=pname:org.rabold.android.puzzleblox type:

then it works fine.

However, if I create an Android application with a button to launch Market with the same Uri as above, then I get an error in Market app like this: "Attention: A server error has occurred. Retry, or cancel and return to the previous screen."

The code of my button's listener looks like this:

okButton = (Button) findViewById(R.id.okButton);
okButton.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
    public void onClick(View v) {
        Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, 
            Uri.parse("market://details?id=pname:org.rabold.android.puzzleblox"));
            //Uri.parse("market://search?q=pname:org.rabold.android.puzzleblox"));
            startActivity(intent);
   }
});

Note in the above code, if I use 'search' instead of 'details' then it works. I'd like to use 'details' instead of 'search' because I know that my app will be available on Market when it's done. Thanks.