How to write build time stamp into apk

Question

1. Making some changes in Android Contacts package
2. Using mm (make) command to build this application

Because I have to change and

Answer 1

I use the same strategy as Pointer Null except I prefer the MANIFEST.MF file. This one is regenerated even if a layout is modified (which is not the case for classes.dex). I also force the date to be formated in GMT to avoid confusion between terminal and server TZs (if a comparison has to be made, ex: check latest version).

It result in the following code:

  try{
     ApplicationInfo ai = getPackageManager().getApplicationInfo(getPackageName(), 0);
     ZipFile zf = new ZipFile(ai.sourceDir);
     ZipEntry ze = zf.getEntry("META-INF/MANIFEST.MF");
     long time = ze.getTime();
     SimpleDateFormat formatter = (SimpleDateFormat) SimpleDateFormat.getInstance();
     formatter.setTimeZone(TimeZone.getTimeZone("gmt"));
     String s = formatter.format(new java.util.Date(time));
     zf.close();
  }catch(Exception e){
  }