include() vs. require()

Anon

Hey,

I'm trying to do a browser detect that will determine which header to include on a site, and I'm having problems...

Here's what I have now :

// browser detection
// MSIE 4 or 5?
if(eregi("msie.[4|5]",$HTTP_USER_AGENT))
$browser = "ie";
// Netscape Navigator?
else if(eregi("nav",$HTTP_USER_AGENT))
$browser = "ns";
else
$browser = "other";

// select which header to include
if($browser == "ie")
{

require('IE4.php');

}
elseif($browser == "ns")

require('NS4.php');

else

require('NS4.php');

Any thoughts on how to do this? Thanks in advance!

-Ken

Anon

Ken,

I did not check your code in deep details, but keep in mind that require and include work in a different way :

require() will happen in all circumstances, whatever code you put around it
include() will happen like any classical function

This means that, in your example, IE4.php, NS4.php and NS4.php are loaded in your page !

Hope this helps,

Ronan

Anon

From p. 92 of her book:

$agent = getenv("HTTP_USER_AGENT");

// i = case insensitive search

if (preg_match("/MSIE/i", "$agent"))
{
$result = "Using Microsoft Internet Explorer.";
}

else if (preg_match("/Mozilla/i", "$agent"))
{
$result = "Using Netscape.";
}

else
{
$result = "Using $agent.";
}

edwardsbc

ref: your example

Included yes, but still not necessarily executed. This represents a perfomance hit of two additional file reads, but is not necessarily a programming (logic) error.

kparker

Well, why don't you actually state what the problems are, instead of making us guess. However, if I do guess correctly that your include-files each define the same set of functions, you of course will run into problems with require() since you can't define two or more functions with the same name. So use include().

Also, there's no reason to set a single variable just to test it later--go ahead and to both actions up front:

// browser detection

if (eregi('msie.[4|5]',$HTTP_USER_AGENT))
   {
   $browser = 'ie';
   include('ie4.php');
   }

elseif (eregi('nav',$HTTP_USER_AGENT))
   {
   $browser = 'ns';
   include('ns4.php');
   }

else
   {
   $browser = 'other';
   include('ns4.php');
   }

Anon

include, always include, i hate require, hehehe

That's just me tho.

Instead of going to all this trouble, why not just design a page that is compatible in both browsers?

Also remember that browsers often lie about their identity- in the new version of NS, you can actually select in the options what it should ident itself as! madness.

if only everyone used IE 🙂

Anon

Got it. Thanks 🙂

kparker

if only everyone used IE 🙂

If only everyone used NS, then some of the cr*p-html generators such as Front Page might go out of business! :-)

sucro

i never use em except to make layouts and colour schemes 🙂

you will never see one of my pages generated by those pos proggies hehe

to be honest i don't really give a sh*t about which one is better. i prefer IE but that's just a matter of taste really.

If only the world could make a decision and use either one of them ONLY, life would be somuch easier....

sigh