application checking for patches/updates

I am working on (Java) Eclipse RCP windows desktop application and I need to implement a function which checks a website for any available updates to it. I would want to develop something that prompted the user to update the software if there are new version available, which will probably involve parsing the开发者_运维问答 html etc...

For people who have done this before, I would like to know what good options I have. I would appreciate any help?

Thanks!

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Eclipse comes with update support technology. http://wiki.eclipse.org/P2

See Simple "check for update" library in java

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You might also want to check Equinox/p2/Adding Self-Update to an RCP Application.

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While P2 solves the in-product updates problem, it puts a heavy burden on your servers, network, and clients' desktops. The reason for this is the P2 metadata is very verbose so you end up with lots of data transfer and processing.

We've found it easier to use P2 to manage package changes and update sites on our SDC Team Hub (http://genuitec.com/sdc) and control in-product updates via simple files that can be checked efficiently. This is especially relevant for RCP applications since you usually want to control plug-in additions.