Java check latest version programmatically

Question

Goal: check java\'s version on a machine (I can get this from java -version). Compare it with latest available from java website

I woul

Answer 1

I have solved a similar issue some time ago with this groovy script (disclaimer: is somehow a "toy" script):

@Grapes([
    @Grab(group='org.ccil.cowan.tagsoup', module='tagsoup', version='1.2.1')
])

def slurper = new XmlSlurper(new org.ccil.cowan.tagsoup.Parser())
def url = new URL("http://www.java.com/download/manual.jsp")

def html
url.withReader { reader ->
    html = slurper.parse(reader)
}
def lastJava = html.body.div.div.div.strong.text()

println "Last available java version: ${lastJava}"
println "Currently installed java version: ${System.properties["java.version"]}"

It yields something like:

Last available java version: 
Version 7 Update 9

Currently installed java version: 1.7.0_07

If you want to avoid maintenance issues due to changes to the page structure, maybe a better option is to search for a line containing "Version x Update y".