Browser detection for IE

[praveshk]

Hi,

We are currently trying to use virtual capabilities to identify browser and browser version information for desktops. On the latest .net API version (1.5.0.3) we do not get any information for IE user agents.

As an example, we run the following code:

IDevice device = wurflManager.GetDeviceForRequest(userAgent);
string advertisedBrowser = device.GetVirtualCapability("advertised_browser");
string advertisedBrowserVersion = device.GetVirtualCapability("advertised_browser_version");

and pass the following user agent:

'"Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.3; Trident/7.0; rv:11.0) like Gecko"

This should give us MSIE11 as the browser. However, we do not get any results (returns a NULL). This works for Chrome, Firefox and other browsers.

[sriram]

Hi Pravesh,

We've added support for MSIE 11 related virtual capabilities in the next WURFL API update (v1.5.1). Please stay tuned for news about the release of the v1.5.1 update.

Thanks and cheers!

[praveshk]

Hi Sriram,

Thanks for the prompt response!
We dug in a little more and realized that certain mobile properties seem to work for IE11 desktop browser.

Specifically, the following code seems to work for IE11 desktop user agent:

IDevice device = wurflManager.GetDeviceForRequest(userAgent);
string mobileBrowser = device.GetCapability("mobile_browser");
string mobileBrowserVersion = device.GetCapability("mobile_browser_version");

Do you think we can use these properties for identifying IE11 on desktop devices? In other words, do you think they are reliable enough to use till v1.5.1 arrives?

It would also be helpful if you could provide a rough idea on the timeline for v1.5.1. Thanks again.

[sriram]

Hi Pravesh,

I think I was a bit unclear in my previous post. All WURFL APIs v1.5 onwards support MSIE 11 detection with the standard capabilities(mobile_browser, mobile_browser_version etc.) as you can see here. Although the capability name does say "mobile", it will work for desktop browsers as well. The naming stuck from back in the day, when WURFL was primarily oriented towards mobile device detection.

The changes in the forthcoming WURFL API 1.5.1 concerns the detection of the MSIE 11 virtual capabilities (advertised_browser, advertised_browser_version etc.). Here's more information about virtual capabilities in WURFL.

The WURFL API 1.5.1 is slated to be released in early February.

Thanks and cheers!

[sriram]

Hi Pravesh,

The WURFL API 1.5.1 has been released!

Cheers!