Browser detection

[gwh]

Hi all,

I'm nearing the completion of a website and need some method to detect which browser viewers are using because I've only supported version 5 browsers and above. I've read a couple of times that browser detection isn't recommended but I feel that I have to use it because the site will look terrible in pre-5 browsers. I thought that maybe people don't recommend it because it uses javascript and that it's hard to get this to work across all browsers and some people may have it turned off.

Can you tell me if using php would be a good alternate method and if so is there somewhere where I can get this code?

Would really appreciate any advice on this matter.

Thanks.

[lozza1978]

Hi there

$_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'];

Will return the type of web browser or user agent that is being used to access the current script.

hope this helps

[gwh]

Thanks for the reply. I'm really new to php so I wouldn't even know where to place this, and since I need to divert the user to an alternate page wouldn't there need to be extra code?

[lozza1978]

Ok you need something like this,

This script will dectect the browser version, agent, platform..

if version is less than 5 to do what ever you want, to redirect the page use the "location" function.

<?php 

unset ($BROWSER_AGENT); 
unset ($BROWSER_VER); 
unset ($BROWSER_PLATFORM); 

function browser_get_agent () { 
  global $BROWSER_AGENT; 
  return $BROWSER_AGENT; 
} 

function browser_get_version() { 
  global $BROWSER_VER; 
  return $BROWSER_VER; 
} 

function browser_get_platform() { 
  global $BROWSER_PLATFORM; 
  return $BROWSER_PLATFORM; 
} 

function browser_is_mac() { 
  if (browser_get_platform()=='Mac') { 
    return true; 
  } else { 
    return false; 
  } 
} 

function browser_is_windows() { 
  if (browser_get_platform()=='Win') { 
    return true; 
  } else { 
    return false; 
  } 
} 

function browser_is_ie() { 
  if (browser_get_agent()=='IE') { 
    return true; 
  } else { 
    return false; 
  } 
} 

function browser_is_netscape() { 
  if (browser_get_agent()=='MOZILLA') { 
    return true; 
  } else { 
    return false; 
  } 
} 


/* 
  Determine browser and version 
*/ 


if (ereg( 'MSIE ([0-9].[0-9]{1,2})', $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'], $log_version)) { 
  $BROWSER_VER=$log_version[1]; 
  $BROWSER_AGENT='IE'; 
} elseif (ereg( 'Opera ([0-9].[0-9]{1,2})', $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'], $log_version)) { 
  $BROWSER_VER=$log_version[1]; 
  $BROWSER_AGENT='OPERA'; 
} elseif (ereg( 'Mozilla/([0-9].[0-9]{1,2})', $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'], $log_version)) { 
  $BROWSER_VER=$log_version[1]; 
  $BROWSER_AGENT='MOZILLA'; 
} else { 
  $BROWSER_VER=0; 
  $BROWSER_AGENT='OTHER'; 
} 

/* 
  Determine platform 
*/ 

if (strstr($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'],'Win')) { 
  $BROWSER_PLATFORM='Win'; 
} else if (strstr($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'],'Mac')) { 
  $BROWSER_PLATFORM='Mac'; 
} else if (strstr($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'],'Linux')) { 
  $BROWSER_PLATFORM='Linux'; 
} else if (strstr($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'],'Unix')) { 
  $BROWSER_PLATFORM='Unix'; 
} else { 
  $BROWSER_PLATFORM='Other'; 
} 

### THIS BROWSER VERSION IS LESS THAN 5 DO WHAT YOU WANT###
if($BROWSER_VER <= '5'){
	echo "What ever you want the script to do here";
}
?>

let us know how yoou get on

[gwh]

Thanks for the code - I'll see if I can put it to work.