Google Maps API not serving up the latest release version - google-maps

Two days ago the released version of the google maps API was updated to 3.19
Version 3.18 broke some things in our application so we had been explicitly asking for 3.17 until it was deprecated. We updated the application to work with 3.19 and ask for the latest release version, instead of explicitly specifying the version.
Yesterday it went back to 3.18.20, which again broke our application.
We have since updated to explicitly request 3.19, but I'm wondering why the default version is now returning 3.18 instead of the current release version?
Thanks

If you don't specify the version number the version you get will vary according to the documentation on versioning:
You can indicate which version of the API to load within your application by specifying it using the v parameter of the Maps Javascript API bootstrap request. Three options are supported:
The experimental version, specified with v=3.exp.
The release version, specified with v=3
The frozen version, specified with v=3.0
If you do not explicitly specify a version, you will receive the experimental version by default. Google Maps API for Work customers who specify a client ID will receive the release version by default.
If you specify a specific version (i.e. v=3.18), you will get that version while it is available. Once it is retired, you will get the frozen version.

I experienced this same issue, and submitted a bug to Google. See their answer here:
https://code.google.com/p/gmaps-api-issues/issues/detail?id=7694
To reiterate their answer, there were apparently some issues with 3.19, so they reverted their experimental/release/frozen versions. I've chosen to directly use 3.19, as it doesn't seem to introduce any issues for my purposes.

Related

REQUEST_INSTALL_PACKAGES issue detected by google even though we don't have one

App build with ActionScript3/Harman SDK but we don't even have REQUEST_INSTALL_PACKAGES declared in our xml.
Also, I already checked the APK via Android Studio, the AndroidManifest doesn't contain also REQUEST_INSTALL_PACKAGES.
Any fix or advice for this? Thank you.
We checked our SDKs/ANE DISTRIQT and none of them that we are using is using the REQUEST_INSTALL_PACKAGES.
Check all of the available APKs for your application.
Google will check all available versions of your application so even if your update doesn't have the permission an older build may have. When updating you may have an older version available for different users.
Go through and disable or remove all older versions as part of the update have this permission before releasing.

Track functionality missing from latest SDK update

I updated my pods today and got the latest 6.0.0 version of the SDK. However this seems to be missing the "track" function that was used to interact with the whispers setup on the dashboard. What is the alternative for this?
Whispers support, including the track API, was removed from all three Smooch SDKs in the latest major version releases, since the Whispers feature is currently deprecated and set to be removed from the platform on October 1st. The deprecation was communicated to all Whispers users at the beginning of July 2017.
If you send an email to help#smooch.io describing your use case, there may be the possibility of a workaround, but the newest SDKs were not designed to support Whispers or Whispers-style use cases, so workarounds won't be possible in every case.

What Google Maps API version is used by default?

What version of the Google Maps API is used if you don't specify a version number? The latest release version perhaps? The documentation about versioning doesn't say.
The documentation does recommend that production apps specify a minor version number. But it also says "all API changes will be backwards-compatible," so is there any reason I should specify a version number if I'm not using any experimental features?
English is not my first language, so I might be reading this part wrong (from the versioning doc you linked)
You can indicate which version of the API to load within your application by specifying it using the v parameter ... The nightly (development) version, specified with v=3 or by omitting the v parameter.
Further down, there's a mention of 3.9 being nightly.
Documentation of Versions
Version 3.9 Reference (Nightly)
So, sounds like leaving out the v (which I do) will load the nightly, version 3.9.
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/js?sensor=false"></script>
About part two of your question: I can think of a very good reason to specify a version:
Consistency, predictability, reliability
You might want to keep the same look-and-feel while working on a update for the latest release of the Maps API. For example, the labels or map controls may move around.
On the other hand, it's good to keep track of the latest versions, too. By lagging too far behind your application might stop working when it becomes unsupported.
I'm sure there are better reasons. I'm not a professional Maps developer.
I've been building extensive Google Maps based applications and according to my experience it's better to specify API version for a long term projects. For example an issue I was facing recently:
The system was built and tested along with v3.6 but Google released an experimental version
Which is loaded by default but from the other hand not recommended for business or professional development.
Therefore to avoid some malfunction that appeared suddenly I had to specify API version:
<script src="http://maps.google.com/maps/api/js?sensor=false&v=3.16" type="text/javascript"></script>
Then after that everything came back to normal. You may quickly consult API version by typing in the browser console google.maps.version.
I hope someone may find it useful.

Customize the auto update functionality for chrome extensions

So i am working in a chrome extension which won't be hosted on the google webstore, thus i will need to add the auto-update functionality to it, however i need it to be a little more dynamic, i will try to illustrate what i am trying to accomplish by a little scenario so it won't seem pointless.
Scenario
I need to have an extension that's kinda have different editions for each version, i.e. each version have a free edition and a paid (feature rich) edition, and whenever a new version is released the extension will be updated according to it's edition.
In other words, the server should be able detect the user's edition and provide the crx file according to it "i.e. dynamic".
What i tried / think of
1.I tried to set a cookie with the extension edition, so when the auto-update occurs the server can check it and generate the xml file, unfortunately i found that cookies don't get sent in the auto-update headers sent by chrome.
2.I can make the extension talk to the serve when chrome start-up, so it will send it's edition, so the server will store it along with the ip and when the auto-update occurs the server will check the request ip and match it with the edition to provide the xml, i think this could work but it's kinda lame method.
3.I can use native apps to modify the manifest file to point to a different xml file according to the edition, i guess this will work too but i am not in favor of using native apps.
4.I tried to find a way to modify the get-request parameters (i.e. to add custom parameters like the edition), but it seems that there is no way to do so.
5.I can separate different editions to be different extensions (i.e. free edition will be a in different package than the paid one), however i am interested to make it all in one, so the user can upgrade/downgrade their subscription without installing/removing the extension they already have.
I guess that's it and i hope some one would have a better idea on how i can accomplish what i am trying to do.
P.S. I know the title is kinda vague but i couldn't find a better one, so if you came up with better title please let me know.
Why not make the free edition version 1.* and the paid edition version 2.*? Then make your update page generated dynamically by a simple PHP page, that gets the app id and version (see the autoupdate docs).
Put "update":"http://www.mysite.com/update_app.php in your manifest. In your PHP script, read $_GET['version'], and serve an XML update document to match the major version number (1.* free version, 2.* paid version). Basically, keep two XML update files on your server (and two CRX files) and have the script decide which one to serve.
It doesn't have to be PHP, of course; any server-side language will do.

How can I get the pervious version for Chrome

I need to check a bug in Google Chrome for specific version like 14.0.802.30. How can I get the pervious version for that? Also, how can I switch off automatic update functionailty of Chrome?
Some old Chrome-Versions can be found on oldapps.com if you can't find the version there, you can maybe use the corresponding Chromium release? Its basically Chrome minus the Google-Spyware. For Operating Systems other than linux you have to build your own version tough (easy to follow instructions are published on the website).
Chromium-Releases can be found here