docs/html/guide/publishing/publishing.jd

page.title=Publishing on Android Market
@jd:body

<div id="qv-wrapper">
<div id="qv">

<h2>Quickview</h2>

<ul>
<li>You can publish your application using a hosted service such as Android Market or through a web server.</li>
<li>Before you publish, make sure you have prepared your application properly.</li>
<li>Android Market makes it easy for users of Android-powered devices to see and download your application.</li>
</ul>


<h2>In this document</h2>

<ol>
<li><a href="#overview">About Android Market</a>
<li><a href="#marketupgrade">Publishing Updates on Android Market</a></li>
<li><a href="#marketLicensing">Using Android Market Licensing Service</a></li>
<li><a href="#marketintent">Linking to Your Apps on Android Market</a>
  <ol>
    <li><a href="#OpeningDetails">Opening an app's details page</a></li>
    <li><a href="#PerformingSearch">Performing a search</a></li>
    <li><a href="#BuildaButton">Build an Android Market button</a></li>
    <li><a href="#UriSummary">Summary of URI formats</a></li>
  </ol>  
</li>
</ol>

<h2>See also</h2>

<ol>
<li><a href="{@docRoot}guide/publishing/licensing.html">Application Licensing</a></li>
<li><a href="{@docRoot}guide/publishing/preparing.html">Preparing to Publish</a></li>
</ol>

<div id="qv-extra">
  <img id="rule" src="{@docRoot}assets/images/grad-rule-qv.png">
  <div id="qv-sub-rule">
    <img src="{@docRoot}assets/images/icon_market.jpg" style="float:left;margin:0;padding:0 5px;">
    <h2 style="color:#669999;">Interested in publishing your app on Android Market?</h2>
    <p><a href="http://market.android.com/publish">Go to Android Market</a> to
create a developer account and upload your application. For more information about the
required assets, listing details, and options, see <a
href="http://market.android.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=113469">Uploading
applications</a>.</p>
  </div>
</div>

</div>
</div>

<p>If you've followed the steps outlined in <a
href="{@docRoot}guide/publishing/preparing.html">Preparing to Publish</a>, the result of the process
is a compiled {@code .apk} file that is signed with your private release key. Your application is
now ready to be published publicly so users can install it.</p>

<p>You can publish your application and allow users to install it any way you choose, including
from your own web server. This document provides information about publishing your Android
application with Android Market.</p>


<h2 id="overview">About Android Market</h2>

<p>Android Market is a service that makes it easy for users to find and download Android
applications to their Android-powered devices, either from the Android Market application on their
device or from the Android Market web site (<a
href="http://market.android.com">market.android.com</a>). As a developer, you can use Android Market
to distribute your applications to users on all types of Android-powered devices, all around the
world.</p>

<p>To publish your application on Android Market, you first need to register
with the service using a Google account and agree to the terms of service.
Once you are registered, you can upload your application to the service whenever
you want, update it as many times as you want, and then publish it when you are ready.
Once published, users can see your application, download it, and rate it. </p>

<p>To register as an Android Market developer and get started with publishing,
visit the Android Market publisher site: </p>

<p style="margin-left:3em;"><a
href="http://market.android.com/publish">http://market.android.com/publish</a>
</p>

<p>If you plan to publish your application on Android Market, you must make sure
that it meets the requirements listed below, which are enforced by the Market
server when you upload the application.</p>

<div class="special">
<p>Requirements enforced by the Android Market server:</p>
<ol>
<li>Your application must be signed with a cryptographic private key whose
validity period ends after <span style="color:red">22 October 2033</span>. </li>
<li>Your application must define both an <code>android:versionCode</code> and an
<code>android:versionName</code> attribute in the
<a
href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/manifest-element.html"><code>&lt;manifest&gt;</code></a>
element of its manifest file. The server uses the <code>android:versionCode</code> as
the basis for identifying the application internally and handling updates, and
it displays the <code>android:versionName</code> to users as the application's
version.</li>
<li>Your application must define both an <code>android:icon</code> and an
<code>android:label</code> attribute in the <a
href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/application-element.html"><code>&lt;application&gt;</code></a>
element of its manifest file.</li>
</ol>
</div>


<h2 id="marketupgrade">Publishing Updates on Android Market</h2>

<p>At any time after publishing an application on Android Market, you can upload
and publish an update to the same application package. When you publish an
update to an application, users who have already installed the
application may receive a notification that an update is
available for the application. They can then choose to update the application
to the latest version.</p>

<p>Before uploading the updated application, be sure that you have incremented
the <code>android:versionCode</code> and <code>android:versionName</code>
attributes in the <a
href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/manifest-element.html"><code>&lt;manifest&gt;</code></a>
element of the manifest file. Also, the package name must be the same as the existing version and
the {@code .apk} file must be signed with the same private key. If the package name and signing
certificate do <em>not</em> match those of the existing version, Market will
consider it a new application, publish it as such, and will not offer it to existing users as an
update.</p>


<h2 id="marketLicensing">Using Android Market Licensing Service</h2>

<p>Android Market offers a licensing service that lets you enforce licensing
policies for paid applications that you publish through Android Market. With
Android Market Licensing, your applications can query Android Market at runtime
to obtain the licensing status for the current user, then allow or disallow
further use of the application as appropriate. Using the service, you can apply a flexible
licensing policy on an application-by-application basis&mdash;each 
application can enforce its licensing status in the way most appropriate
for it. </p>

<p>Any application that you publish through Android Market can use the Android
Market Licensing Service. The service uses no dedicated framework APIs, so you can
add licensing to any application that uses a minimum API Level of 3 or
higher.</p>

<p>For complete information about Android Market Licensing Service and how to
use it in your application, read <a
href="{@docRoot}guide/publishing/licensing.html">Application Licensing</a>.</p>



<h2 id="marketintent">Linking to Your Apps on Android Market</h2>

<p>To help users discover your published applications, you can use two special Android Market URIs
that direct users to your application's details page or perform a search for all of your published
applications in Android Market. You can use these URIs to create a button in your application or a
link on a web page that:</p>

<ul>
  <li>Opens your application's details page in the Android Market application or web site.</li>
  <li>Searches for all your published applications in the Android Market application or web
site.</li>
</ul>

<p>You can launch the Android Market application or web site in the following ways:</p>
<ul>
  <li>Initiate an {@link android.content.Intent} from your application that launches the
Android Market application on the user's device.</li>
  <li>Provide a link on a web page that opens the Android Market web site (but will also
open the Android Market application if clicked from a device).</li>
</ul>

<p>In both cases, whether you want to initiate the action from your application or from a web
page, the URIs are quite similar. The only difference is the URI prefix.</p>

<p>To open the Android Market application from your application, the prefix for the intent's data
URI is:</p>

<p style="margin-left:2em"><code>market://</code></p>

<p>To open Android Market from your web site, the prefix for the link URI is:</p>

<p style="margin-left:2em"><code>http://market.android.com/</code></p>

<p>The following sections describe how to create a complete URI for each action.</p>

<p class="note"><strong>Note:</strong> If you create a link to open Android Market from your web
site and the user selects it from an Android-powered device, the device's Market application will
resolve the link so the user can use the Market application instead of opening the web
site. As such, you should always use {@code http://market.android.com/} URIs when creating a link on
a web page. When pointing to your apps from within your Android app, use the
{@code market://} URIs in an intent, so that the Market application always opens.</p>


<h3 id="OpeningDetails">Opening an app's details page</h3>

<p>As described above, you can open the details page for a specific application either on the
Android Market application or the Android Market web site. The details page allows the user to see
the application description, screenshots, reviews and more, and choose to install it.</p>

<p>The format for the URI that opens the details page is:</p>

<p style="margin-left:2em"><code>&lt;URI_prefix&gt;<b>details?id=</b>&lt;package_name&gt;</code></p>

<p>The <code>&lt;package_name&gt;</code> is a placeholder for the target application's
fully-qualified package name, as declared in the <a
href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/manifest-element.html#package">{@code
package}</a> attribute of the <a href="{@docRoot}guide/topics/manifest/manifest-element.html">{@code
&lt;manifest&gt;}</a> element.</p>


<h4>Opening the app details page from your Android app</h4>

<p>To open the Android Market details page from your application,
create an intent with the {@link android.content.Intent#ACTION_VIEW} action and include a data URI
in this format:</p>

<p style="margin-left:2em"><code>market://details?id=&lt;package_name&gt;</code></p>

<p>For example, here's how you can create an intent and open an application's details page in
Android Market:</p>

<pre>
Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
intent.setData(Uri.parse("market://details?id=com.android.example"));
startActivity(intent);
</pre>

<p>This will open the Android Market application on the device to view the {@code
com.android.example} application.</p>


<h4>Opening the app details page from a web site</h4>

<p>To open the details page from your web site, create a link with a URI in this
format:</p>

<p style="margin-left:2em">
  <code>http://market.android.com/details?id=&lt;package_name&gt;</code>
</p>

<p>For example, here's a link that opens an application's details page on Android Market:</p>

<pre>
&lt;a href="http://market.android.com/details?id=com.android.example">App Link&lt;/a>
</pre>

<p>When clicked from a desktop web browser, this opens the Android Market web site to view the
{@code com.android.example} application. When clicked from an Android-powered device, users are
given the option to use either their web browser or the Android Market application to view the
application.</p>



<h3 id="PerformingSearch">Performing a search</h3>

<p>To initiate a search in Android Market, the format for the URI is:</p>

<p style="margin-left:2em">
  <code>&lt;URI_prefix&gt;<b>search?q=</b>&lt;query&gt;</code>
</p>

<p>The <code>&lt;query&gt;</code> is a placeholder for the search query to execute in Android
Market. The query can be a raw text string or you can include a parameter that performs a search
based on the publisher name:</p>

<ul>
  <li>To perform a raw text search, append the query string:
  <p><code>&lt;URI_prefix&gt;<b>search?q=</b>&lt;search_query&gt;</code></p></li>

  <li>To search based on the publisher name, use the {@code pub:} parameter in the query, followed
by the publisher name:
  <p><code>&lt;URI_prefix&gt;<b>search?q=pub:</b>&lt;publisher_name&gt;</code></p>
  <p>You can use this type of search to show all of your published applications.</p></li>
</ul>


<h4>Searching from your Android app</h4>

<p>To initiate a search on Android Market from your application, create an intent with the
{@link android.content.Intent#ACTION_VIEW} action and include a data URI in this format:</p>

<p style="margin-left:2em"><code>market://search?q=&lt;query&gt;</code></p>

<p>The query may include the {@code pub:} parameter described above.</p>

<p>For example, here's how you can initiate a search in the Android Market application, based on the
publisher name:</p>

<pre>
Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
intent.setData(Uri.parse("market://search?q=pub:Your Publisher Name"));
startActivity(intent);
</pre>

<p>This opens the Android Market application to perform the search. The search result shows all
applications published by the publisher that are compatible with the current device.</p>


<h4>Searching from a web site</h4>

<p>To initiate a search on Android Market from your web site, create a link with a URI in this
format:</p>

<p style="margin-left:2em">
  <code>http://market.android.com/search?q=&lt;query&gt;</code>
</p>

<p>The query may include the {@code pub:} parameter described above.</p>

<p>For example, here's a link that initiates a search on Android Market, based on the
publisher name:</p>

<pre>
&lt;a href="http://market.android.com/search?q=pub:Your Publisher Name">Search Link&lt;/a>
</pre>

<p>When clicked from a desktop web browser, this opens the Android Market web site and performs the
search. When clicked from an Android-powered device, users are given the option to use either their
web browser or the Android Market application to perform the search.</p>



<h3 id="BuildaButton">Build an Android Market button</h3>

<p>Use the following form to generate an "Available in Android Market" button that you can use on
your web site. Input either your application's package name or publisher name and the button will
take users to Android Market to either view your application's information or view a list of
your published apps. If users click the button while on an Android-powered device, the Android
Market application will respond to show users your application(s).</p>

<p>This form offers four versions of the official "Available in Android Market" button at
recommended sizes. If you want to create a different size, you can download an EPS file for
the button images from the <a href="http://www.android.com/branding.html">Android Brand
Guidelines</a>.</p>

<style type="text/css">
  
form.button-form {
  margin-top:2em;
}

/* the label and input elements are blocks that float left in order to
   keep the left edgets of the input aligned, and IE 6/7 do not fully support "inline-block" */
label.block {
  display: block;
  float: left;
  width: 100px;
  padding-right: 10px;
}

input.text {
  display: block;
  float: left;
  width: 250px;
}

div.button-row {
  white-space:nowrap;
  min-height:80px;
}

div.button-row input {
  vertical-align:120%;
}

#jd-content div.button-row img {
  margin: 0;
}

</style>

<script type="text/javascript">

// variables for creating 'try it out' demo button
var imagePath = "http://www.android.com/images/brand/"
var linkStart = "<a href=\"http://market.android.com/";
var imageStart = "\">\n"
        + "  <img src=\"" + imagePath;
var imageEnd = ".png\"\n"
        + "       alt=\"Available in Android Market\" />\n</a>";

// variables for creating code snippet
var linkStartCode = "&lt;a href=\"http://market.android.com/";
var imageStartCode = "\"&gt;\n"
        + "  &lt;img src=\"" + imagePath;
var imageEndCode = ".png\"\n"
        + "       alt=\"Available in Android Market\" />\n&lt;/a>";

/** Generate the HTML snippet and demo based on form values */
function buildButton(form) {
  if (form["package"].value != "com.android.example") {
    $("#preview").show();
    $("#snippet").show().html(linkStartCode + "details?id=" + form["package"].value
            + imageStartCode + $('form input[type=radio]:checked').val() + imageEndCode);
    $("#button-preview").html(linkStart + "details?id=" + form["package"].value
            + imageStart + $('form input[type=radio]:checked').val() + imageEnd);
  } else if (form["publisher"].value != "Example, Inc.") {
    $("#preview").show();
    $("#snippet").show().html(linkStartCode + "search?q=pub:" + form["publisher"].value
            + imageStartCode + $('form input[type=radio]:checked').val() + imageEndCode);
    $("#button-preview").html(linkStart + "search?q=pub:" + form["publisher"].value + imageStart +
    $('form input[type=radio]:checked').val() + imageEnd);
  } else {
    alert("Please enter your package name or publisher name");
  }
  return false;
}

/** Listen for Enter key */
function onTextEntered(event, form, me) {
  // 13 = enter
  if (event.keyCode == 13) {
    buildButton(form);
  }
}

/** When input is focused, remove example text and disable other input */
function onInputFocus(object, example) {
  if (object.value == example) {
    $(object).val('').css({'color' : '#000'});
  }
  $('input[type="text"]:not(input[name='+object.name+'])',
          object.parentNode).attr('disabled','true');
  $('#'+object.name+'-clear').show();
}

/** When input is blured, restore example text if appropriate and enable other input */
function onInputBlur(object, example) {
  if (object.value.length < 1) {
    $(object).attr('value',example).css({'color':'#ccc'});
    $('input[type="text"]', object.parentNode).removeAttr('disabled');
    $('#'+object.name+'-clear').hide();
  }
}

/** Clear the form to start over */
function clearLabel(id, example) {
  $("#preview").hide();
  $('#'+id+'').html('').attr('value',example).css({'color':'#ccc'});
  $('input[type="text"]', $('#'+id+'').parent()).removeAttr('disabled');
  $('#'+id+'-clear').hide();
  return false;
}

/** When the doc is ready, find the inputs and color the input grey if the value is the example
    text. This is necessary to handle back-navigation, which can auto-fill the form with previous
    values (and text should not be grey) */
$(document).ready(function() {
  $(".button-form input.text").each(function(index) {
    if ($(this).val() == $(this).attr("default")) {
      $(this).css("color","#ccc");
    } else {
      /* This is necessary to handle back-navigation to the page after form was filled */
      $('input[type="text"]:not(input[name='+this.name+'])',
              this.parentNode).attr('disabled','true');
      $('#'+this.name+'-clear').show();
    }
  });
});

</script>

<form class="button-form">
  <label class="block" for="package">Package name:</label>
  <input class="text" type="text" id="package" name="package"
         value="com.android.example"
         default="com.android.example"
         onfocus="onInputFocus(this, 'com.android.example')"
         onblur="onInputBlur(this, 'com.android.example')"
         onkeyup="return onTextEntered(event, this.parentNode, this)"/>&nbsp;
         <a id="package-clear" style="display:none" href="#"
            onclick="return clearLabel('package','com.android.example');">clear</a>
  <p style="clear:both;margin:0">&nbsp;<em>or</em></p>
  <label class="block" style="margin-top:5px" for="publisher">Publisher name:</label>
  <input class="text" type="text" id="publisher" name="publisher"
         value="Example, Inc."
         default="Example, Inc."
         onfocus="onInputFocus(this, 'Example, Inc.')"
         onblur="onInputBlur(this, 'Example, Inc.')"
         onkeyup="return onTextEntered(event, this.parentNode, this)"/>&nbsp;
         <a id="publisher-clear" style="display:none" href="#"
            onclick="return clearLabel('publisher','Example, Inc.');">clear</a>
         <br/><br/>

<div class="button-row">
  <input type="radio" name="buttonStyle" value="45_avail_market_logo1" id="ns" checked="checked" />
    <label for="ns"><img src="http://www.android.com/images/brand/45_avail_market_logo1.png"
alt="narrow and small logo" /></label>
    &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
  <input type="radio" name="buttonStyle" value="60_avail_market_logo1" id="nm" />
    <label for="nm"><img src="http://www.android.com/images/brand/60_avail_market_logo1.png"
alt="narrow and large logo" /></label>
</div>

<div class="button-row">
  <input type="radio" name="buttonStyle" value="45_avail_market_logo2" id="ws" />
    <label for="ws"><img src="http://www.android.com/images/brand/45_avail_market_logo2.png"
alt="wide and small logo" /></label>
    &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
  <input type="radio" name="buttonStyle" value="60_avail_market_logo2" id="wm" />
    <label for="wm"><img src="http://www.android.com/images/brand/60_avail_market_logo2.png"
alt="wide and large logo" /></label>
</div>

  <input type="button" onclick="return buildButton(this.parentNode)" value="Build my button"
style="padding:5px" />
  <br/>
</form>

<div id="preview" style="display:none">
  <p>Copy and paste this HTML into your web site:</p>
  <textarea id="snippet" cols="80" rows="4" onclick="this.select()"
style="font-family:monospace;background-color:#efefef;padding:5px;display:none;margin-bottom:1em">
  </textarea >

<p>Try it out:</p>
<div id="button-preview" style="margin-top:1em"></div>
</div>






<h3 id="UriSummary">Summary of URI formats</h3>

<p>The table below provides a summary of the URIs currently supported by the Android Market (both on
the web and in the Android application), as discussed in the previous sections.</p>

<table>
<tr>
<th>For this result</th>
<th>Use this URI in a web page link</th>
<th>Or this URI in an {@link android.content.Intent#ACTION_VIEW} intent</th>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>Display the details screen for a specific application</td>
<td><code>http://market.android.com/details?id=&lt;package_name&gt;</code> 
<td><code>market://details?id=&lt;package_name&gt;</code></td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>Search for applications using a general string query.</td>
<td><code>http://market.android.com/search?q=&lt;query&gt;</code></td>
<td><code>market://search?q=&lt;query&gt;</code></td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>Search for applications by publisher name</td>
<td><nobr><code>http://market.android.com/search?q=pub:&lt;publisher_name&gt;</code></nobr></td>
<td><nobr><code>market://search?q=pub:&lt;publisher_name&gt;</code></nobr></td>
</tr>

</table>