Detector v4
Implementation

2021-05-04, 08:23
Martin Kæstel Nielsen
- think.dk

The Detector v4 API is easy to use. We have collected a couple of simplified implementation examples below. Please forward additional implementations, if you wish to share them with others.

Janitor v0.7.8 uses Detector v4 - if you're using Janitor, all you need is the latest version.

Make sure you store the received segment (in session or similar), to avoid redundant requests/identifications and provide the best possible user experience.

Be aware of our terms.

As of Detector v3 it is also possible to build a static version of Detector for production implementations to reduce dependencies of the API.

PHP - API

As simple as it gets

$request = "http://detector-v4.dearapi.com/text";
$request .= "?ua=".urlencode($_SERVER["HTTP_USER_AGENT"]);
$request .= "&site=".urlencode($_SERVER["HTTP_HOST"]);
$request .= "&file=".urlencode($_SERVER["SCRIPT_NAME"]);

$segment = file_get_contents($request);

Now you have a $segment variable you can insert in your code.

With SESSION storage and segment parameter override options.

session_start();

// segment parameter sent
if(isset($_GET["segment"])) {

	$segment = $_GET["segment"];

}
// no session value, look up segment
else if(!isset($_SESSION["segment"])) {

	$request = "http://detector-v4.dearapi.com/text";
	$request .= "?ua=".urlencode($_SERVER["HTTP_USER_AGENT"]);
	$request .= "&site=".urlencode($_SERVER["HTTP_HOST"]);
	$request .= "&file=".urlencode($_SERVER["SCRIPT_NAME"]);

	$segment = file_get_contents($request);

}

// update segment session value
if(isset($segment) && $segment) {
	$_SESSION["segment"] = $segment;
}

Now you have a $_SESSION["segment"] variable you can insert in your code – and the option to force a given segment by passing a segment parameter to the page. Include this script in all your pages and you're good to go.

PHP - Static Detector class

As simple as it gets

Build a static version of Detector and put the downloaded PHP class somewhere on your server.

include_once("#PATH-TO-DETECTOR#/detector.class.php");
$detector = new Detector();
$segment = $detector->identify((isset($_SERVER["HTTP_USER_AGENT"]) ? $_SERVER["HTTP_USER_AGENT"] : ""));

Now you have a $segment variable you can insert in your code.

Ruby on Rails

Detector as a Gem

Include in Gemfile

gem 'deardetector', '~> 0.2', :git => "ssh://git@github.com/parentnode/deardetector.git", :tag => "v0.2"

Usage

<%= browser_segment %>

Now you have a browser_segment variable you can insert in your code.

The gem always uses the latest version of the Detector API (http://detector.dearapi.com).

HTML

The "script tag"-detector

For static HTML sites, you have the option to place the following script tag in your head.

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://detector-v4.dearapi.com/js-include"></script>

This will inject a CSS (/css/seg_segment.css) and JavaScript (/js/seg_segment.js) include with the segment of the current user's browser. See APIs for additional settings.

Detector v4 Implementation

PHP - API

As simple as it gets

With SESSION storage and segment parameter override options.

PHP - Static Detector class

As simple as it gets

Ruby on Rails

Detector as a Gem

HTML

The "script tag"-detector

Detector v4
Implementation