bowser

What is bowser?

The bowser npm package is a browser detection library. It helps in identifying the browser and rendering engine a user is using, as well as providing information about the browser's capabilities, such as whether it supports touch events or service workers. This can be particularly useful for tailoring user experiences to different environments or for analytics and debugging purposes.

What are bowser's main functionalities?

Browser Detection

Detects the browser name using the user agent string.

const Bowser = require('bowser');
const browser = Bowser.getParser(window.navigator.userAgent);
const browserName = browser.getBrowserName();

Browser Version Detection

Determines the version of the browser being used.

const Bowser = require('bowser');
const browser = Bowser.getParser(window.navigator.userAgent);
const browserVersion = browser.getBrowserVersion();

Platform Detection

Identifies the platform (desktop, mobile, tablet, etc.) on which the browser is running.

const Bowser = require('bowser');
const browser = Bowser.getParser(window.navigator.userAgent);
const platformType = browser.getPlatformType();

Feature Checks

Checks if the browser supports certain features, such as touch events.

const Bowser = require('bowser');
const browser = Bowser.getParser(window.navigator.userAgent);
const supportsTouch = browser.satisfies({
  'mobile': { 'touch': true }
});

OS Detection

Determines the operating system on which the browser is running.

const Bowser = require('bowser');
const browser = Bowser.getParser(window.navigator.userAgent);
const osName = browser.getOSName();

Other packages similar to bowser

useragent

The 'useragent' package is similar to 'bowser' in that it parses user agent strings to detect browser information. However, it focuses more on the parsing aspect and less on the browser's capabilities.

platform

The 'platform' package provides information about the operating system, browser, and device based on the user agent string. It is similar to 'bowser' but has a simpler API and less detailed detection of browser features.

detect-browser

The 'detect-browser' package is another alternative for detecting browser information from the user agent string. It is a smaller and more lightweight library compared to 'bowser', but it may not offer as comprehensive feature detection.

README

Bowser

A Browser detector. Because sometimes, there is no other way, and not even good modern browsers always provide good feature detection mechanisms.

So... it works like this:

if (bowser.msie && bowser.version <= 6) {
  alert('Hello China');
}

1.1.0 breaking changes

We don't save built script in the repo anymore. The main file (src/bowser.js) is available through NPM or Bower. Also you can download minified file from the release page.

1.0.0 breaking changes

browser = require('bowser').browser; becomes bowser = require('bowser');

---

API

bowser():Object

Use it to get object with detected flags of your current browser.

bowser._detect(ua :String):Object

Use it to get object with detected flags from User Agent string.

bowser.check(minVersions:Object, strictMode:Boolean, [ua]:String):Boolean

Use it to check if browser is supported. In default non-strict mode any browser family not present in minVersions will pass the check (like Chrome in the third call in the sample bellow). When strict mode is enabled then any not specified browser family in minVersions will cause check to return false (in the sample it is the fourth call, the last one).

/**
 * in case of using IE10
 */
bowser.check({msie: "11"});  // true
bowser.check({msie: "9.0"}); // false

/**
 * specific user agent
 */ 
bowser.check({chrome: "45"}, window.navigator.userAgent); // true

/**
 * but false in strict mode
 */
bowser.check({chrome: "45"}, true, window.navigator.userAgent); // false

bowser.compareVersions(versions:Array<String>):Number

Use it to compare two versions.

bowser.compareVersions(['9.0', '10']);
// -1

bowser.isUnsupportedBrowser(minVersions:Object, [strictMode]:Boolean, [ua]:string):Boolean

Use it to check if browser is unsupported.

bowser.isUnsupportedBrowser({msie: "10"}, window.navigator.userAgent);
// true / false

See more examples in tests.

---

Bowser Flags

Your mileage may vary, but these flags should be set. See Contributing below.

alert('Hello ' + bowser.name + ' ' + bowser.version);

All detected browsers

These flags are set for all detected browsers:

• name - A human readable name for this browser. E.g. 'Chrome', ''
• version - Version number for the browser. E.g. '32.0'

For unknown browsers, Bowser makes a best guess from the UA string. So, these may not be set.

Rendering engine flags

If detected, one of these flags may be set to true:

• webkit - Chrome 0-27, Android <4.4, iOs, BB, etc.
• blink - Chrome >=28, Android >=4.4, Opera, etc.
• gecko - Firefox, etc.
• msie - IE <= 11
• msedge - IE > 11

Safari, Chrome and some other minor browsers will report that they have webkit engines. Firefox and Seamonkey will report that they have gecko engines.

if (bowser.webkit) {
  // do stuff with safari & chrome & opera & android & blackberry & webos & silk
}

Device flags

If detected, one of these flags may be set to true:

• mobile - All detected mobile OSes are additionally flagged mobile, unless it's a tablet
• tablet - If a tablet device is detected, the flag tablet is set instead of mobile.

Browser flags

If detected, one of these flags may be set to true. The rendering engine flag is shown in []'s:

• chrome - [webkit|blink]
• firefox - [gecko]
• msie
• msedge
• safari - [webkit]
• android - native browser - [webkit|blink]
• ios - native browser - [webkit]
• opera - [blink if >=15]
• samsungBrowser - [blink]
• phantom - [webkit]
• blackberry - native browser - [webkit]
• webos - native browser - [webkit]
• silk - Amazon Kindle browser - [webkit]
• bada - [webkit]
• tizen - [webkit]
• seamonkey - [gecko]
• sailfish - [gecko]
• ucbrowser — [webkit]
• qupzilla — [webkit]
• vivaldi — [blink]
• sleipnir — [blink]
• kMeleon — [gecko]

For all detected browsers the browser version is set in the version field.

OS Flags

If detected, one of these flags may be set to true:

• mac
• windows - other than Windows Phone
• windowsphone
• linux - other than android, chromeos, webos, tizen, and sailfish
• chromeos
• android
• ios - also sets one of iphone/ipad/ipod
• blackberry
• firefoxos
• webos - may also set touchpad
• bada
• tizen
• sailfish

osversion may also be set:

• osversion - for Android, iOS, Windows Phone, WebOS, Bada, and Tizen. If included in UA string.

iOS is always reported as ios and additionally as iphone/ipad/ipod, whichever one matches best. If WebOS device is an HP TouchPad the flag touchpad is additionally set.

Browser capability grading

One of these flags may be set:

• a - This browser has full capabilities
• c - This browser has degraded capabilities. Serve simpler version
• x - This browser has minimal capabilities and is probably not well detected.

There is no b. For unknown browsers, none of these flags may be set.

Ender Support

package.json

"dependencies": {
  "bowser": "x.x.x"
}

if (require('bowser').chrome) {
  alert('Hello Silicon Valley')
}

Contributing

If you'd like to contribute a change to bowser, modify the files in src/, then run the following (you'll need node + npm installed):

$ npm install
$ make test

Please do not check-in the built files bowser.js and bowser.min.js in pull requests.

Adding tests

See the list in src/useragents.js with example user agents and their expected bowser object.

Whenever you add support for new browsers or notice a bug / mismatch, please update the list and check if all tests are still passing.

License

Licensed as MIT. All rights not explicitly granted in the MIT license are reserved. See the included LICENSE file for more details.

Changelog

1.6.0 (December 5, 2016)

• [ADD] Add some tests for Windows devices (#89)
• [ADD] Add root to initialization process (#170)
• [FIX] Upgrade .travis.yml config