Requirements

• ANT
• Java
• Ruby on Rails 3

Crawler

The crawler uses Open Source Android Market API developed by Thiel Alexandre; latest version can be found here: http://code.google.com/p/android-market-api/

Mohsin was kind enough to write a guide on how to use the crawler, which can be found here: http://mohsin-junaid.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/how-to-install-android-marketplace.html

APKs

The crawler does not download apks from the marketplace. Tim Strazzere wrote a blog post on how to do this - http://www.strazzere.com/blog/2009/09/downloading-market-applications-without-the-vending-app/

Authentication

You need a valid Google Account to run the crawler. Open and modify the constructor, getters and getUsers() method in the file Secure.java found in hg/crawler/src/com/marketplace/io/Secure.java

Building

Simply move directory hg/crawler/, which contains a build file. Run ant to build the program. It creates * a runnable jar file located in hg/crawler/dist/lib * java doc

Fetching

You need a crawl Market ID to fetch hidden apps. If you already know what your real Market ID is, you can modify the constructor of Device.java (line 54-58) located at hg/crawler/src/com/marketplace/util/Device.java. ``` public Device(int deviceVersion, String deviceName) { this.deviceName = deviceName; this.deviceVersion = deviceVersion; this.marketId = "308174787AB"; //Your real market id }

```

Check out how to:

CrawlAppsViaCategory

CrawlAppsViaPublisherNames

CrawlAppViaPackageName

Command Line Usage

Ensure that you move the permission file in the same directory as crawler.jar. If the rails server is not running on your local machine, modify the static variable 'url' in hg/crawler/src/com/marketplace/Constants.java to reflect the changes.

usage: android-marketplace-crawler

-c,--category fetch app(s) for all categories

-com,--comment fetch comment(s) for all app(s)

-i,--image fetch image for all app(s)

-l,--latest <arg> latest app(s), where <arg> is true or false

-pname,--package <arg> fetch app(s) by package(s), where <arg> is location to file

-pub,--publisher <arg> fetch app(s) by publisher(s), where <arg> is location to file

Server

Prerequisites

• gems defined in gemfile
• run rake:db:seed to initialise the database.