Codeigniter user_agent

Question

This is my first time developing a responsive website, and I attempted using the CodeIgniter user_agent class.

I notice that there's

is_mobile()

and

is_browser()

However, the picture I have in mind is for the website on a tablet to look pretty similar to the browser, and only the mobile site to load a different view file altogether.

However, is_mobile() includes both tablets and mobile phones, and it's not what I'm hoping for. Is there an alternative to this?

Reason: I am using jQuery mobile, and I load a completely different layout for the mobile phone, and I don't want this view to appear on tablets.

Answer 1

You have a couple of options.

You can extend the library and create a method to check for tablet:

class MY_User_agent extends CI_User_agent {

    public function __construct()
    {
        parent::__construct();
    }

    public function is_tablet()
    {
        //logic to check for tablet
    }
}

// usage
$this->load->library('user_agent');
$this->user_agent->is_tablet();

Or you could override the existing is_mobile() method in the library to have the functionality you want:

class MY_User_agent extends CI_User_agent {

    public function __construct()
    {
        parent::__construct();
    }

    public function is_mobile()
    {
        // you can copy the original method here and modify it to your needs
    }
}

// usage
$this->load->library('user_agent');
$this->user_agent->is_mobile();

https://www.codeigniter.com/user_guide/general/creating_libraries.html

---

Example

application/libraries/MY_User_agent.php:

class MY_User_agent extends CI_User_agent {

    public function __construct()
    {
        parent::__construct();
    }

    public function is_ipad()
    {
        return (bool) strpos($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'],'iPad');
            // can add other checks for other tablets
    }
}

controller:

public function index()
{
    $this->load->library('user_agent');

    ($this->agent->is_ipad() === TRUE) ? $is_ipad = "Yes" : $is_ipad = "No";

    echo "Using ipad: $is_ipad";

}