Version Checking Class for PAD files.

Last Night I wrote what I thougt was some really brilliant code for checking a PAD file for the proper version. For my software I keep a pad file online which allows me to simply upload the PAD file for my software to another site. It also allows me to use the same file to check the version in my software. Here is the class that I use to do this. Calling it is really simple, just invoke the method with the current version and the URL to the pad file. If there is no internet access or an error, it returns that there is no update available.

Imports System.io
Imports System.Net
Imports System.Text
Imports System.Xml
Imports System.Xml.XmlDocument
Public Class clsCheckVersion
    Private strListedVersion As String
    Private strDownloadURL As String
    Private strApplicationInfoURL As String
    Public ReadOnly Property ListedVersion() As String
        Get
            Return strListedVersion
        End Get
    End Property
    Public ReadOnly Property PrimaryDownloadURL() As String
        Get
            Return strDownloadURL
        End Get
    End Property
    Public ReadOnly Property ApplicationInfoURL() As String
        Get
            Return strApplicationInfoURL
        End Get
    End Property
    Public Function CheckVersion(ByVal strCurrentVersion As String, ByVal strPadFile As String) As Boolean
        Try
            Dim xmlPad As New Xml.XmlDocument
            Dim xmlNode As XmlNode
            Dim strXMLFileName As String
            strXMLFileName = GetURL(strPadFile)
            xmlPad.Load(strXMLFileName)

            ' Primary Download URL (not required)
            Try
                xmlNode = xmlPad.SelectSingleNode("/XML_DIZ_INFO/Web_Info/Download_URLs/Primary_Download_URL")
                strDownloadURL = xmlNode.InnerText
            Catch ex As Exception
                strDownloadURL = ""
            End Try

            ' Primary Application info URL (Not Required)
            Try
                xmlNode = xmlPad.SelectSingleNode("/XML_DIZ_INFO/Web_Info/Application_URLs/Application_Info_URL")
                strApplicationInfoURL = xmlNode.InnerText
            Catch ex As Exception
                strApplicationInfoURL = ""
            End Try

            ' Required Program version, if not present, exception fired and returns false (no new version information available)
            xmlNode = xmlPad.SelectSingleNode("/XML_DIZ_INFO/Program_Info/Program_Version")
            ' Compare Version length based on dest this is in case build information is not
            ' included in the version in the pad file.  
            strListedVersion = xmlNode.InnerText.Trim()
            If strCurrentVersion.StartsWith(xmlNode.InnerText.Trim()) Then
                CheckVersion = False
            Else
                CheckVersion = True
            End If
            xmlPad = Nothing
            System.IO.File.Delete(strXMLFileName)
        Catch ex As Exception
            Debug.WriteLine(ex.ToString)
            CheckVersion = False
        End Try
    End Function
    Public Function GetURL(ByVal destURL As String) As String
        Dim oWebReq As HttpWebRequest = CType(WebRequest.Create(destURL), HttpWebRequest)
        Dim oWebResp As HttpWebResponse = CType(oWebReq.GetResponse(), HttpWebResponse)
        Dim oStream As Stream = oWebResp.GetResponseStream()
        Dim objXMLStream As StreamWriter
        GetURL = System.IO.Path.GetTempFileName
        Debug.WriteLine(GetURL)
        objXMLStream = System.IO.File.CreateText(GetURL)
        Dim iByte As Integer
        iByte = oStream.ReadByte
        While iByte <> -1
            objXMLStream.Write(Chr(iByte))
            iByte = oStream.ReadByte
        End While
        objXMLStream.Close()
    End Function
End Class

Quick Test Case

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  Downloading And Installation
  
  
  Simply download the file, and run the .MSI installer.
  
  
  
  QTCSetup.msi