How to get Category for each App on device on Android?

Question

I\'ve got an Android app which scans for all Apps installed on the device and then reports this to a server (it\'s an MDM agent). Any suggestions on how to get the Category

Answer 1

You can use below AsyncTask for extract Android app category from playStore by using app package id.

import android.content.Context;
import android.content.pm.PackageManager;
import android.os.AsyncTask;
import android.util.Log;
import org.jsoup.Jsoup;
import org.jsoup.nodes.Document;
import org.jsoup.nodes.Element;
import org.jsoup.select.Elements;
import java.io.IOException;

public class GetAppCategory extends AsyncTask {

    //Main URL for each app on Play Store
    public static final String APP_URL = "https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=";

    //Use below String if extracting 'CATEGORY' from href tag.
    private final String CATEGORY_STRING = "category/";

    private final int cat_size = 9;

    /*Use below String for identified 'GAME' apps, which must start with this prefix.
    Here I only display 'Games' as category for all Games app instead of showing their subCategory also*/
    private final String CATEGORY_GAME_STRING = "GAME_";

    //Name of the app package for which you want to get category.
    private String packageName = null;

    private PackageManager pm = null;

    //Activity or Application context as per requirement.
    private Context appContext;

    /* You can add default system app OR non play store app package name here as comma seprated for ignore them
     and set their category directly 'Others' OR anythings you wish. */
    private final String extractionApps = "com.android.providers.downloads.ui, com.android.contacts," +
            " com.android.gallery3d, com.android.vending, com.android.calculator2, com.android.calculator," +
            " com.android.deskclock, com.android.messaging, com.android.settings, com.android.stk";

    //Class level TAG, use for Logging.
    private final String TAG = "GetAppCategory";

    /**
     * @param packageName: package name of the app, you want to extract category.
     * @param appContext:  Activity/Application level Context ap per requirement.
     */
    public GetAppCategory(String packageName, Context appContext) {
        this.packageName = packageName;
        this.appContext = appContext;
    }

    @Override
    protected String doInBackground(String... params) {
        try {

            pm = appContext.getPackageManager();

            if (packageName != null && packageName.length() > 1) {

                if (packageName.contains("package:")) {
                    packageName = packageName.replace("package:", "");
                }
                /**
                 * Mathod used for parse play store html page and extract category from their.
                 */
                String appCategoryType = parseAndExtractCategory(packageName);

                Log.i(TAG, "package :" + packageName);
                Log.i(TAG, "APP_CATEGORY: " + appCategoryType);
            }

        } catch (Exception e) {
            //TODO:: Handle Exception
            e.printStackTrace();
        } finally {
            //TODO::
        }
        return null;
    }

    @Override
    protected void onPostExecute(String result) {

    }


    /**
     * @param packageName
     * @return
     */

    private String parseAndExtractCategory(String packageName) {

        //You can pass hl={language_code} for get category in some other langauage also other than English.
        //String url = APP_URL + packageName + "&hl=" + appContext.getString(R.string.app_lang);

        String url = APP_URL + packageName + "&hl=en"; //{https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.example.app&hl=en}
        String appCategoryType = null;
        String appName = null;

        try {

            if (!extractionApps.contains(packageName)) {
                Document doc = null;
                try {
                    doc = Jsoup.connect(url).get();

                    if (doc != null) {

                        //TODO: START_METHOD_1
                        //Extract category String from a  tag value directly.
                        //NOTE: its return sub category text, for apps with multiple sub category.
                        //Comment this method {METHOD_1}, if you wish to extract category by href value.
                        Element CATEGORY_SUB_CATEGORY = doc.select("a[itemprop=genre]").first();
                        if (CATEGORY_SUB_CATEGORY != null) {
                            appCategoryType = CATEGORY_SUB_CATEGORY.text();
                        }
                        //TODO: END_METHOD_1

                        //TODO: START_METHOD_2
                        // Use below code only if you wist to extract category by href value.
                        //Its return parent or Main Category Text for all app.
                        //Comment this method {METHOD_2}, If you wihs to extract category from a value.
                        if (appCategoryType == null || appCategoryType.length() < 1) {
                            Elements text = doc.select("a[itemprop=genre]");

                            if (text != null) {
                                if (appCategoryType == null || appCategoryType.length() < 2) {
                                    String href = text.attr("abs:href");
                                    if (href != null && href.length() > 4 && href.contains(CATEGORY_STRING)) {
                                        appCategoryType = getCategoryTypeByHref(href);
                                    }
                                }
                            }
                        }
                        //TODO: END_METHOD_2

                        if (appCategoryType != null && appCategoryType.length() > 1) {
                            /**
                             * Ger formatted category String by removing special character.
                             */
                            appCategoryType = replaceSpecialCharacter(appCategoryType);
                        }

                    }
                } catch (IOException e) {
                    //appCategoryType = appContext.getString(R.string.category_others);
                    appCategoryType = "OTHERS";
                    //TODO:: Handle Exception
                    e.printStackTrace();
                }
            } else {
                //appCategoryType = appContext.getString(R.string.category_others);
                appCategoryType = "OTHERS";
            }
        } catch (Exception e) {
            //TODO:: Handle Exception
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
        return appCategoryType;
    }

    /**
     * @param href
     * @return
     */
    private String getCategoryTypeByHref(String href) {
        String appCategoryType = null;
        try {
            appCategoryType = href.substring((href.indexOf(CATEGORY_STRING) + cat_size), href.length());
            if (appCategoryType != null && appCategoryType.length() > 1) {
                if (appCategoryType.contains(CATEGORY_GAME_STRING)) {
                    //appCategoryType = appContext.getString(R.string.games);
                    appCategoryType = "GAMES";
                }
            }
        } catch (Exception e) {
            //TODO:: Handle Exception
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
        return appCategoryType;
    }

    /**
     * @param appCategoryType
     * @return: formatted String
     */
    private String replaceSpecialCharacter(String appCategoryType) {
        try {
            //Find and Replace '&' with '&' in category Text
            if (appCategoryType.contains("&")) {
                appCategoryType = appCategoryType.replace("&", " & ");
            }

            //Find and Replace '_AND_' with ' & ' in category Text
            if (appCategoryType.contains("_AND_")) {
                appCategoryType = appCategoryType.replace("_AND_", " & ");
            }

            //Find and Replace '_' with ' '  in category Text
            if (appCategoryType.contains("_")) {
                appCategoryType = appCategoryType.replace("_", " ");
            }
        } catch (Exception e) {
            //TODO:: Handle Exception
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
        return appCategoryType;
    }
}

It's requires jsoup library for parsing the html page. you can find it here org.jsoup.jsoup1.11.1