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51Degrees.mobi properties in client side script

Data Team

10/14/2012 12:12 AM

Device Detection Mobile JavaScript Development

To get 51Degrees.mobi properties client side by generating dynamic JavaScript from the server using 51Degrees.mobi device detection capability, simply follow the steps of this blog.

Overall the results will be similar to Modernizr, but more efficient as some of the browser's features will have already been detected previously by RingMark, meaning there is a lot less for the device to do. Further, the resulting object will contain properties not possible to detect via the browser such as the physical screen size, the hardware make and model.

The JavaScript will create an object called feature, which exposes the available properties. A full list of properties is available on our Properties Dictionary page. This guide shows usage with our full Premium dataset in use on the server. If Lite data is being used less properties will be available and Premium properties will return undefined in JavaScript.

Step 1: You'll need to download the 51Degrees.mobi Device Detection API. The latest version can be found here. Although this blog is using the PHP API, the same result is possible with any of our APIs, including Java, .NET and C code.

Step 2: Follow the online installation instructions, available here.

Step 3: In your project, ensure you include:

<?php include_once('MyFolder/Test/51Degrees.mobi.php') ?>

Replace MyFolder/Test/ with your file path to 51Degrees.mobi.php

Step 4: The PHP code generates JavaScript, therefore the PHP code is within the script tags. $_51d contains information about the connecting device.

<div id="output"></div> <script> var feature = new Array(); <?php $invalidChars = array("-", "/"); //Define any invalid charaters foreach($_51d as $key => $value) { //if $invalidChars found within the $key string replace with nothing $replacestr = str_replace($invalidChars, "", $key); if(is_array($value))//Lists are stored as arrays, checking for this $finalValue = implode("|", $value); //'glue' properties together and seperate by a "|" else $finalValue = $value; echo "feature.$replacestr = '$finalValue';\n"; //print $finalValue as array followed by a new line } ?> document.getElementById("output").innerHTML = feature.HardwareVendor;// anything you want to display as HTML insert here </script>

Step 5: 51Degrees.mobi has a large catalogue of device properties available for both Lite and Premium users. See the complete list of available device properties here.

To changethe property displayed in the browser, simply change feature.HardwareVendor, in the above code, to the name of the property you wish to display. ie To display the ScreenInchesDiagonal of the device the code will look like the following:

document.getElementById("output").innerHTML = feature.HardwareVendor;// anything you want to display as HTML insert here

Finished!

You will now be able to implement 51Degrees.mobi properties in client side script. Below is a snapshort section of the output result. In this case, the 'Samsung Nexus S' is the device detected.

var feature = new Array();

feature.BitsPerPixel = '16';

feature.HardwareModel = 'Nexus S';

feature.HardwareName = 'GT-I9020T|GT-I9023';

feature.HardwareVendor = 'Samsung';

feature.Has3DCamera = 'False';

feature.Has3DScreen = 'False';

As you can see, the feature array is filled with 51Degrees.mobi properties. These can then be incorporated into your page logic and display.