HTTP::BrowserDetect - Determine the Web browser, version, and platform from an HTTP user agent string


NAME

HTTP::BrowserDetect - Determine the Web browser, version, and platform from an HTTP user agent string


SYNOPSIS

    use HTTP::BrowserDetect;
    my $browser = new HTTP::BrowserDetect($user_agent_string);
    # Detect operating system
    if ($browser->windows) {
      if ($browser->winnt) ...
      if ($brorwser->win95) ...
    }
    print $browser->mac;
    # Detect browser vendor and version
    print $browser->netscape;
    print $browser->ie;
    if (browser->major(4)) {
        if ($browser->minor() > .5) {
            ...
        }
    }
    if ($browser->version() > 4) {
      ...;
    }

    # Process a different user agent string
    $browser->user_agent($another_user_agent_string);


DESCRIPTION

The HTTP::BrowserDetect object does a number of tests on an HTTP user agent string. The results of these tests are available via methods of the object.

This module is based upon the JavaScript browser detection code available at http://www.mozilla.org/docs/web-developer/sniffer/browser_type.html.

CREATING A NEW BROWSER DETECT OBJECT AND SETTING THE USER AGENT STRING

new HTTP::BrowserDetect($user_agent_string)
The constructor may be called with a user agent string specified. Otherwise, it will use the value specified by $ENV{'HTTP_USER_AGENT'}, which is set by the web server when calling a CGI script.

You may also use a non-object-oriented interface. For each method, you may call HTTP::BrowserDetect::method_name(). You will then be working with a default HTTP::BrowserDetect object that is created behind the scenes.

user_agent($user_agent_string)
Returns the value of the user agent string. When called with a parameter, it resets the user agent and reperforms all tests on the string. This way you can process a series of user agent strings (from a log file, perhaps) without creating a new HTTP::BrowserDetect object each time.

DETECTING BROWSER VERSION

major($major)
Returns the integer portion of the browser version. If passed a parameter, returns true if it equals the browser major version.

minor($minor)
Returns the decimal portion of the browser version as a floating-point number less than 1. For example, if the version is 4.05, this method returns .05; if the version is 4.5, this method returns .5. This is a change in behavior from previous versions of this module, which returned a string.

If passed a parameter, returns true if equals the minor version.

On occasion a version may have more than one decimal point, such as 'Wget/1.4.5'. The minor version does not include the second decimal point, or any further digits or decimals.

version($version)
Returns the version as a floating-point number. If passed a parameter, returns true if it is equal to the version specified by the user agent string.

beta($beta)
Returns any the beta version, consisting of any non-numeric characters after the version number. For instance, if the user agent string is 'Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.0b2; Windows NT)', returns 'b2'. If passed a parameter, returns true if equal to the beta version.

DETECTING OS PLATFORM AND VERSION

The following methods are available, each returning a true or false value. Some methods also test for the operating system version.

  windows win16 win3x win31 win95 win98 winnt win32 win2k winme
  mac mac68k macppc
  os2
  unix 
  sun sun4 sun5 suni86 irix irix5 irix6 hpux hpux9 hpux10 
  aix aix1 aix2 aix3 aix4 linux sco unixware mpras reliant 
  dec sinix freebsd bsd
  vms
  amiga

It may not be possibile to detect Win98 in Netscape 4.x and earlier. On Opera 3.0, the userAgent string includes ``Windows 95/NT4'' on all Win32, so you can't distinguish between Win95 and WinNT.

os_string()
Returns one of the following strings, or undef. This method exists solely for compatibility with the HTTP::Headers::UserAgent module.
  Win95, Win98, WinNT, Mac, Win3x, OS2, Unix, Linux

DETECTING BROWSER VENDOR

The following methods are available, each returning a true or false value. Some methods also test for the browser version, saving you from checking the version separately.

  netscape nav2 nav3 nav4 nav4up nav45 nav45up navgold nav6 nav6up
  gecko
  ie ie3 ie4 ie4up ie5 ie55
  neoplanet neoplanet2 
  mosaic
  aol aol3 aol4 aol5 aol6
  webtv
  opera
  lynx
  emacs
  staroffice
  lotusnotes
  icab
  konqueror
  java

Netscape 6, even though its called six, in the userAgent string has version number 5. The nav6 and nav6up methods correctly handle this quirk.

browser_string()
Returns one of the following strings, or undef.

Netscape, MSIE, WebTV, AOL Browser, Opera, Mosaic, Lynx

DETECTING OTHER DEVICES

The following methods are available, each returning a true or false value.

  wap
  audrey
  iopener
  palm
  avantgo

DETECTING ROBOTS

robot()
Returns true if the user agent appears to be a robot, spider, crawler, or other automated Web client.

The following additional methods are available, each returning a true or false value. This is by no means a complete list of robots that exist on the Web.

  wget
  getright
  yahoo 
  altavista 
  lycos 
  infoseek 
  lwp
  webcrawler 
  linkexchange 
  slurp 
  google


AUTHOR

Lee Semel, lee@semel.net


SEE ALSO

``The Ultimate JavaScript Client Sniffer, Version 3.0'', http://www.mozilla.org/docs/web-developer/sniffer/browser_type.html.

perl(1), the HTTP::Headers manpage, the HTTP::Headers::UserAgent manpage.


COPYRIGHT

Copyright 1999-2001 Lee Semel. All rights reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

 HTTP::BrowserDetect - Determine the Web browser, version, and platform from an HTTP user agent string