README

Sniffer

Sniffer is a browser/engine/os/device detection tool. Works both in a browser and with Node.

Live demo (tests your browser UA string)

You have three options:

1. Default Sniffer build

Get sniffer.js from dist/. Drop the script tag in the <head>:

<script src="path/to/sniffer.js"></script>

It will run automatically, collect the information on current device/os/browser and put the results in window.Sniff object (or expose it via module.exports, if available). See “Detection results” for details. Now you can do horrible things:

if (Sniff.os.name=='android' &&
    Sniff.os.majorVersion &&
    Sniff.os.majorVersion < 3 &&
    !Sniff.browser.name &&
    Sniff.browser.engine=='webkit') {
        //looks like default Android 2.x browser!
        myMagicOverflowScrollPolyfill();
}

It will also add browser name shortcode, browser engine shortcode, OS name shortcode and device features’ shortcodes to <html> tag’s className, so you can alter the styles accordingly (pretty much the Modernizr way):

/* contrast colors for monochrome devices */
html.bw body {
    color: black;
    background: white;
}

/* make sure code snippets are readable in Opera Mini */
html.operamini pre code {
    white-space: pre-wrap;
}

2. Sniffer module

Get sniffer.module.js from dist/. It exposes Sniffer function into global scope or via module.exports, if available. Compatible with Node. Just feed it a user agent string:

Sniffer(userAgent);

It will return detection result, see “Detection results” for details.

Also available via npm: npm install snifferjs.

3. Pure Sniffer function

Get sniffer.pure.js from dist/. It contains pure Sniffer function (no wrap, no autolaunch, no css classes, no exports), you decide how to use it.

Detection results

Sniffer returns an object which looks like this:

{
    browser: {
        fullName: String, // full human readable name
        name: String, // shortcode
        version: String, // semantic version, up to three parts (major.minor.patch)
        majorVersion: Number,
        minorVersion: Number,
        patchVersion: Number,
        engine: String // shortcode
    },
    os: {
        fullName: String, // full human readable name
        name: String, // shortcode
        version: String, // semantic version, up to three parts (major.minor.patch)
        versionName: String, // human readable version name, e.g. 'Vista', 'Mavericks', etc.
        versionAltNames: Array, // possible alternatives, e.g. Windows NT 5.2 can be 'XP' or 'Server 2003'
        majorVersion: Number,
        minorVersion: Number,
        patchVersion: Number
    },
    features: {
        bw: Boolean, /* black and white (e-book readers) */
        mobile: Boolean, /* includes phones, tablets, e-book readers, portable game consoles, etc. */
        tv: Boolean, /* smart tv */
        proxy: Boolean /* serverside js & rendering, like in Opera Mini */
    }
}

Detects

Class names/shortcodes in square brackets.

Browsers:

Chrome [chrome]
Firefox [firefox]
IE [ie]
Edge [edge]
Safari [safari]
Opera [opera]
Opera Mini [operamini]
Opera Coast [coast]
Nokia Browser [nokiabrowser] (!= Nokia Xpress) — Symbian Belle phones
Ovi Browser a.k.a Nokia Xpress [ovi] — Nokia Asha, Series40 & Series60 phones, etc.
Sailfish Browser [sailfishbrowser]

Engines:

WebKit [webkit]
Gecko [gecko]
Trident [trident]
Presto [presto]
EdgeHTML [edgehtml]

OS/Devices:

Windows [win]
Mac OS X [osx]
Ubuntu [ubuntu]
Fedora [fedora]
Windows Phone [winphone]
Android [android]
iOS [ios]
BlackBerry [blackberry]
Sailfish OS [sailfish]
Symbian [symbian]
Kindle [kindle] (Kindle Fire should be detected as Android)
PlayStation [playstation]
PlayStation Vita [psvita]
Nintendo DSi [dsi]
Nintendo 3DS [3ds]
New Nintendo 3DS [n3ds]
Viera [viera] (Panasonic Viera smart tv)

Features:

Black and white [bw]
Mobile [mobile]
TV [tv]
Proxy broswer (serverside rendering) [proxy]

License

MIT license.

Have fun, lads.

Usage no npm install needed!