adbkit-apkreader

adbkit-apkreader provides a Node.js API for extracting information from Android APK files. For example, it allows you to read the AndroidManifest.xml of an existing APK file.

Getting started

Install via NPM:

npm install --save adbkit-apkreader

Note that while adbkit-apkreader is written in CoffeeScript, it is compiled to JavaScript before being published to NPM, which means that you are not required to use CoffeeScript.

Examples

Read the AndroidManifest.xml of an APK

var util = require('util')
var ApkReader = require('adbkit-apkreader')

var reader = ApkReader.readFile('HelloApp.apk')
var manifest = reader.readManifestSync()

console.log(util.inspect(manifest, { depth: null }))

API

ApkReader

ApkReader.readFile(file)

Alternate syntax to manually creating an ApkReader instance. Currently, only files are supported, but support for streams might be added at some point.

• file The path to the APK file.
• Throws: Error on error (e.g. if the file is not valid)
• Returns: An ApkReader instance.

constructor(file)

Manually construct an ApkReader instance. Useful for testing and/or playing around. Normally you would use ApkReader.readFile(file) to create the instance.

• file The path to the APK file.
• Throws: Error on error (e.g. if the file is not valid)
• Returns: N/A

reader.readManifestSync()

Synchronously reads and parses the AndroidManifest.xml file inside the APK and returns a simplified object representation of it.

• Throws: Error (e.g. if parsing was unsuccessful)
• Returns: A JavaScript Object representation of the manifest. See example output below:

{ versionCode: 1,
  versionName: '1.0',
  package: 'com.example.hello.helloapp.app',
  usesPermissions: [],
  permissions: [],
  permissionTrees: [],
  permissionGroups: [],
  instrumentation: null,
  usesSdk: { minSdkVersion: 7, targetSdkVersion: 19 },
  usesConfiguration: null,
  usesFeatures: [],
  supportsScreens: null,
  compatibleScreens: [],
  supportsGlTextures: [],
  application:
   { theme: 'resourceId:0x7f0b0000',
     label: 'resourceId:0x7f0a000e',
     icon: 'resourceId:0x7f020057',
     debuggable: true,
     allowBackup: true,
     activities:
      [ { label: 'resourceId:0x7f0a000e',
          name: 'com.example.hello.helloapp.app.MainActivity',
          intentFilters:
           [ { actions: [ { name: 'android.intent.action.MAIN' } ],
               categories: [ { name: 'android.intent.category.LAUNCHER' } ],
               data: [] } ],
          metaData: [] } ],
     activityAliases: [],
     launcherActivities:
      [ { label: 'resourceId:0x7f0a000e',
          name: 'com.example.hello.helloapp.app.MainActivity',
          intentFilters:
           [ { actions: [ { name: 'android.intent.action.MAIN' } ],
               categories: [ { name: 'android.intent.category.LAUNCHER' } ],
               data: [] } ],
          metaData: [] } ],
     services: [],
     receivers: [],
     providers: [],
     usesLibraries: [] } }

reader.readXmlSync(path)

Synchronously reads and parses the binary XML file at the given path inside the APK file. Attempts to be somewhat compatible with the DOM API.

• path The path to the binary XML file inside the APK. For example, giving AndroidManifest.xml as the path would parse the manifest (but you'll probably want to use reader.readManifestSync() instead).
• Throws: Error (e.g. if parsing was unsuccessful)
• Returns: A JavaScript Object representation of the root node of the XML file. All nodes including the root node have the following properties:
  • namespaceURI The namespace URI or null if none.
  • nodeType 1 for element nodes, 2 for attribute nodes, and 4 for CData sections.
  • nodeName The node name.
  • For element nodes, the following additional properties are present:
    • attributes An array of attribute nodes.
    • childNodes An array of child nodes.
  • For attribute nodes, the following additional properties are present:
    • name The attribute name.
    • value The attribute value, if possible to represent as a simple value.
    • typedValue May be available when the attribute represents a complex value. See android.util.TypedValue for more information. Has the following properties:
      • value The value, which might null, String, Boolean, Number or even an Object for the most complex types.
      • type A String representation of the type of the value.
      • rawType A raw integer presentation of the type of the value.
  • For CData nodes, the following additional properties are present:
    • data The CData.
    • typedValue May be available if the section represents a more complex type. See above for details.

More information

• android.util.TypedValue For more information about value types.
• Dong Liu's excellent Java-based APK parser, which was used as a reference implementation.
• A detailed blog port about Android's binary XML format
• Stackoverflow discussion about the topic
• android-apktool The most advanced CLI/Java-based APK tool.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md.

License

See LICENSE.

Copyright © CyberAgent, Inc. All Rights Reserved.