The Navigator Object

By Stephen Bucaro

The navigator object can be used to report information about the user's web browser and what computer or device they are using to visit your website. Shown below are some of the most useful navigator object properties.

Shown below is code that displays some of the navigator object property values in a message box.

<script type="text/javascript">

txt = "Browser CodeName: " + navigator.appCodeName + '\n';
txt+= "Browser Name: " + navigator.appName + '\n';
txt+= "Browser Version: " + navigator.appVersion + '\n';
txt+= "Cookies Enabled: " + navigator.cookieEnabled + '\n';
txt+= "Platform: " + navigator.platform + '\n';
txt+= "User-agent header: " + navigator.userAgent + '\n';
alert(txt);

</script>

Using Navigator User-agent Property to Detect Mobile Devices

Because mobile devices have only a small screen some websites redirect their webpage requests to a webpage specialy designed for small screens. Shown below is code that examines the navigator object's user-Agent property to detect some mobile devices and redirect the web browser.

<script type="text/javascript">

if ((navigator.userAgent.match(/iPhone/i)) ||
(navigator.userAgent.match(/Android/i)) ||
(navigator.userAgent.match(/iPod/i)))
(navigator.userAgent.match(/Windows Phone OS 7/i)))
{
   location.replace("http://www.domain.com/special_page");
}

</script>

The code uses regular expressions to find mobile devices names in the user-Agent string. The i option means the expression is case-insensitive.

There are many more user-Agent properties than listed here, but there is no standard as to which ones are available in different browser versions, and the data contained in the properties is also unreliable.

More Java Script Code:
• Access Web Page Elements With getElementById
• The do/while Loop
• Java Script prompt Message Box
• JavaScript to Concatenate Strings
• Java Script Strings
• Java Script Character Encoding and Decoding
• Define Lines in a String
• Use Escape to Replace Dangerous Characters
• The break Statement
• Convert a Number to a String

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