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How can I access the documentation of Android APIs other than the current one?

My specific problem: I develop an Android app with minSdkVersion == 23 and targetSdkVersion ~= the current API version. The app accesses some content providers (e.g., Telephony.Sms) which have changed significantly over Android's history, with some columns added and others removed. The documentation for the current API version is readily available (e.g., here), but I need the documentation for the earlier API versions (from 23).

I have searched the web, but I just can't figure out how to access this earlier documentation in a straightforward way. I suppose I could use the Wayback Machine, or trawl through the Android source code version control, but surely there's an easier way to find this documentation?

Update: the Wayback Machine isn't helping; its earliest copies of the pages in question are from 2019, which is far too late in Android version history to be useful.

atrocia6
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  • ~No API has been removed from the SDK, as that would break every existing app, APIs are only deprecated. What makes you think the current list is not the complete list? – ianhanniballake Mar 13 '23 at 14:38
  • I didn't mean that the API has been removed, but that the columns returned by querying the content provider, which are documented in the API documentation, have changed, so although all the methods are still there, some of the columns they returned in previous versions are not currently returned. As an example, compare the columns listed [here](https://stackoverflow.com/a/38152331) with those present in [the current version of the API](https://developer.android.com/reference/android/provider/Telephony.TextBasedSmsColumns). – atrocia6 Mar 13 '23 at 16:36
  • Why would you care or rely on the default set of columns returned? Wouldn't you always want to specify exactly which columns you want in any case? – ianhanniballake Mar 13 '23 at 17:04
  • My app imports and exports records to and from various Android databases. It tries to preserve as much of the data as possible, so it exports all columns, and upon import, it tries to import as much of the data as possible. Importing certain columns sometimes causes problems, and documentation of these columns may help me understand and resolve the problems. – atrocia6 Mar 13 '23 at 17:38

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