ASP Browser Capabilities Component

Example

Browser Capabilities component
This example demonstrates how to determine the type, performance, and version number of each browser that visits the website.

ASP Browser Capabilities Component

The ASP Browser Capabilities component creates a BrowserType object that can determine the type, performance, and version number of the visitor's browser.

When the browser connects to the server, it sends an HTTP User Agent header to the server. This header contains information about the browser (such as browser type and version number). The BrowserType object compares the information in the header with the information in the file named "Browscap.ini" on the server.

If the browser type and version number sent in the title can be matched with the information in the "Browsercap.ini" file, then we can use the BrowserType object to list the related properties of the matching browser. If the above conditions do not match, this object will set each property to "UNKNOWN".

Syntax

<%
Set MyBrow=Server.CreateObject("MSWC.BrowserType")　
%>

The following example demonstrates how to create a BrowserType object in an ASP file and display a table showing the current browser performance:

<html>
<body>
<%
Set MyBrow=Server.CreateObject("MSWC.BrowserType")
%>
<table border="1" width="100%">
<tr>
<th>Client OS</th>
<th><%=MyBrow.platform%></th>
</tr><tr>
<td >Web Browser</td>
<td ><%=MyBrow.browser%></td>
</tr><tr>
<td>Browser version</td>
<td><%=MyBrow.version%></td>
</tr><tr>
<td>Frame support?</td>
<td><%=MyBrow.frames%></td>
</tr><tr>
<td>Table support?</td>
<td><%=MyBrow.tables%></td>
</tr><tr>
<td>Sound support?</td>
<td><%=MyBrow.backgroundsounds%></td>
</tr><tr>
<td>Cookies support?</td>
<td><%=MyBrow.cookies%></td>
</tr><tr>
<td>VBScript support?</td>
<td><%=MyBrow.vbscript%></td>
</tr><tr>
<td>JavaScript support?</td>
<td><%=MyBrow.javascript%></td>
</tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>

Output:

Client OS WinNT
Web Browser IE
Browser version 5.0
Frame support? True
Table support? True
Sound support? True
Cookies support? True
VBScript support? True
JavaScript support? True

Browscap.ini file

"Browsercap.ini" file is used to declare properties and set default values for each browser.

This section is not a tutorial on how to use the Browscap.ini file; we only provide some basic knowledge and concepts about "Browsercap.ini".

"Browsercap.ini" file can include the following information:

[;comments]
[HTTPUserAgentHeader] 
[parent=browserDefinition]
[property1=value1]
[propertyN=valueN] 
[Default Browser Capability Settings]
[defaultProperty1=defaultValue1]
[defaultPropertyN=defaultValueN]
Parameters Description
comments Optional. Any code line starting with a semicolon is ignored by the BrowserType object.
HTTPUserAgentHeader Optional. Declares the HTTP User Agent header related to the browser-property value set in propertyN. Wildcards are allowed.
browserDefinition Optional. Specify the HTTP User Agent header-string of a browser to be used as a parent browser. The current browser's definition will inherit all declared property values from the parent browser's definition.
propertyN Optional. Specify the properties of the browser. The following table lists some possible properties:
  • ActiveXControls - Does it support ActiveX controls?
  • Backgroundsounds - Does it support background sounds?
  • Cdf - Does it support the Channel Definition Format (CDF) for network broadcasting (Webcasting)?
  • Tables - Does it support tables?
  • Cookies - Does it support cookies?
  • Frames - Does it support frames?
  • Javaapplets - Does it support Java applets?
  • Javascript - Does it support JScript?
  • Vbscript - Does it support VBScript?
  • Browser - Define the name of the browser
  • Beta - Is the browser beta software?
  • Platform - Specify the platform on which the browser runs
  • Version - Specify the browser version number.
valueN Optional. Specify the value of propertyN. It can be a string, an integer (prefixed with #), or a logical value.
defaultPropertyN Optional. Specify the name of the browser property. If there is no value in the defined HTTPUserAgentHeader that matches the HTTP user agent header sent by the browser, then assign a default value to this property.
defaultValueN Optional. Specify the value of defaultPropertyN. It can be a string, an integer (prefixed with #), or a logical value.

"Browsercap.ini" file will be similar to this:

;IE 5.0
[IE 5.0]
browser=IE
Version=5.0
majorver=#5
minorver=#0
frames=TRUE
tables=TRUE
cookies=TRUE
backgroundsounds=TRUE
vbscript=TRUE
javascript=TRUE
javaapplets=TRUE
ActiveXControls=TRUE
beta=False;DEFAULT BROWSER
[*]
browser=Default
frames=FALSE 
tables=TRUE 
cookies=FALSE 
backgroundsounds=FALSE 
vbscript=FALSE 
javascript=FALSE