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Detecting a mobile browser in ASP.NET

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4.22/5 (16 votes)
24 Mar 2009CPOL 228.5K   69   28
How to detect a mobile device accessing your ASP.NET website.

Introduction

A simple function to detect if a user vesting your site is on a mobile device or not.

Background

This is my first CodeProject article. The articles on this site have helped me out so much in learning .NET. I just hope this can help someone out as well.

I needed the ability to detect if a user was browsing from a mobile device or a normal web browser and redirect to the appropriate version of my site. I found very little ASP.NET tutorials that worked. So I decided to take a few different methods and language options I found on the net and put them into one simple ASP.NET method.

Using the Code

It is just a static boolean method that gets called, isMobileBrowser():

C#
public static bool isMobileBrowser()
{
    //GETS THE CURRENT USER CONTEXT
    HttpContext context = HttpContext.Current;

    //FIRST TRY BUILT IN ASP.NT CHECK
    if (context.Request.Browser.IsMobileDevice)
    {
        return true;
    }
    //THEN TRY CHECKING FOR THE HTTP_X_WAP_PROFILE HEADER
    if (context.Request.ServerVariables["HTTP_X_WAP_PROFILE"] != null)
    {
        return true;
    }
    //THEN TRY CHECKING THAT HTTP_ACCEPT EXISTS AND CONTAINS WAP
    if (context.Request.ServerVariables["HTTP_ACCEPT"] != null && 
        context.Request.ServerVariables["HTTP_ACCEPT"].ToLower().Contains("wap"))
    {
        return true;
    }
    //AND FINALLY CHECK THE HTTP_USER_AGENT 
    //HEADER VARIABLE FOR ANY ONE OF THE FOLLOWING
    if (context.Request.ServerVariables["HTTP_USER_AGENT"] != null)
    {
        //Create a list of all mobile types
        string[] mobiles =
            new[]
                {
                    "midp", "j2me", "avant", "docomo", 
                    "novarra", "palmos", "palmsource", 
                    "240x320", "opwv", "chtml",
                    "pda", "windows ce", "mmp/", 
                    "blackberry", "mib/", "symbian", 
                    "wireless", "nokia", "hand", "mobi",
                    "phone", "cdm", "up.b", "audio", 
                    "SIE-", "SEC-", "samsung", "HTC", 
                    "mot-", "mitsu", "sagem", "sony"
                    , "alcatel", "lg", "eric", "vx", 
                    "NEC", "philips", "mmm", "xx", 
                    "panasonic", "sharp", "wap", "sch",
                    "rover", "pocket", "benq", "java", 
                    "pt", "pg", "vox", "amoi", 
                    "bird", "compal", "kg", "voda",
                    "sany", "kdd", "dbt", "sendo", 
                    "sgh", "gradi", "jb", "dddi", 
                    "moto", "iphone"
                };

        //Loop through each item in the list created above 
        //and check if the header contains that text
        foreach (string s in mobiles)
        {
            if (context.Request.ServerVariables["HTTP_USER_AGENT"].
                                                ToLower().Contains(s.ToLower()))
            {
                return true;
            }
        }
    }

    return false;
}

Points of Interest

As you can see, the above code is written in new syntax. But, it can easily be changed to work on any version of .NET. Instead of using the short hand array initializer, use new string[] {} (instead of new[] {}).

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)


Written By
Team Leader Blueworld Communities
South Africa South Africa
I am fairly new to programming as I began programming in asp.net and C# in 2005.

But I have learned a lot in a very short space of time thanks to code project and sitepoint. I work in a very fast past company which also helped speed things up

Comments and Discussions

 
QuestionSite site can be opened in Mobile's chrome browser easily Pin
sachin.kaushik09114-Sep-21 1:49
sachin.kaushik09114-Sep-21 1:49 
Questioni have an issue in Auto detect mobile browser Pin
araskurd15-Sep-15 23:41
araskurd15-Sep-15 23:41 
Questiongood Pin
mirrortom17-Jan-15 23:35
mirrortom17-Jan-15 23:35 
Questiondon't repeat the request.servervariables request Pin
Mark Findlay9-Jun-14 6:04
Mark Findlay9-Jun-14 6:04 
QuestionThe way to build mobiles array is inportant Pin
Member 773936631-Jan-13 8:27
Member 773936631-Jan-13 8:27 
GeneralMy vote of 1 Pin
fawad13-Mar-12 22:56
fawad13-Mar-12 22:56 
SuggestionNew devices Pin
István Kovács (HU)5-Dec-11 9:53
István Kovács (HU)5-Dec-11 9:53 
GeneralRe: New devices Pin
blagoja29-Dec-11 0:50
blagoja29-Dec-11 0:50 
Questionthanks Pin
el bayames20-Jun-11 9:58
el bayames20-Jun-11 9:58 
GeneralThanks Pin
Nikhil_Patel12327-Apr-11 4:01
Nikhil_Patel12327-Apr-11 4:01 
GeneralImproved version Pin
Harvo23-Nov-10 15:08
Harvo23-Nov-10 15:08 
GeneralRe: Improved version Pin
Daniel Gidman5-May-11 9:04
professionalDaniel Gidman5-May-11 9:04 
GeneralRe: Improved version Pin
Harvo5-May-11 10:02
Harvo5-May-11 10:02 
GeneralRe: Improved version Pin
sanilpnair8-Aug-11 4:03
sanilpnair8-Aug-11 4:03 
GeneralRe: Improved version Pin
Le Cong Thanh16-Sep-11 6:19
Le Cong Thanh16-Sep-11 6:19 
GeneralGreat article Pin
ORamses5-Sep-10 0:42
ORamses5-Sep-10 0:42 
Generalsome little enhancements PinPopular
smartcatxxx11-Oct-09 7:02
smartcatxxx11-Oct-09 7:02 
GeneralDetect Mobile Infomation Pin
Amimpat31-Jul-09 1:12
Amimpat31-Jul-09 1:12 
GeneralMessage Closed Pin
13-Aug-09 3:44
CappuccinoRob13-Aug-09 3:44 
GeneralRe: Detect Mobile Infomation Pin
Amaresh Jois5-Aug-10 18:46
Amaresh Jois5-Aug-10 18:46 
GeneralRe: Detect Mobile Infomation Pin
Amaresh Jois27-Aug-10 2:40
Amaresh Jois27-Aug-10 2:40 
GeneralRe: Detect Mobile Infomation Pin
JMatthewson14-Sep-12 3:00
JMatthewson14-Sep-12 3:00 
GeneralThis code contains false positives! Pin
EricLaw14-Jul-09 8:28
EricLaw14-Jul-09 8:28 
GeneralRe: This code contains false positives! Pin
Wendy Youngblood30-Mar-10 6:58
Wendy Youngblood30-Mar-10 6:58 
GeneralBug Pin
thezone1237-Apr-09 22:44
thezone1237-Apr-09 22:44 

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