NAME
    HTTP::BrowserDetect - Determine the Web browser, version, and
    platform from an HTTP user agent string

SYNOPSIS
        use HTTP::BrowserDetect;

        my $browser = new HTTP::BrowserDetect($user_agent_string);

        # Detect operating system
        if ($browser->windows) {
          if ($browser->winnt) ...
          if ($brorwser->win95) ...
        }
        print $browser->mac;

        # Detect browser vendor and version
        print $browser->netscape;
        print $browser->ie;
        if (browser->major(4)) {
            if ($browser->minor() > .5) {
                ...
            }
        }
        if ($browser->version() > 4) {
          ...;
        }
        
        # Process a different user agent string
        $browser->user_agent($another_user_agent_string);

DESCRIPTION
    The HTTP::BrowserDetect object does a number of tests on an HTTP
    user agent string. The results of these tests are available via
    methods of the object.

    This module is based upon the JavaScript browser detection code
    available at http://www.mozilla.org/docs/web-
    developer/sniffer/browser_type.html.

  CREATING A NEW BROWSER DETECT OBJECT AND SETTING THE USER AGENT STRING

    new HTTP::BrowserDetect($user_agent_string)
        The constructor may be called with a user agent string
        specified. Otherwise, it will use the value specified by
        $ENV{'HTTP_USER_AGENT'}, which is set by the web server when
        calling a CGI script.

        You may also use a non-object-oriented interface. For each
        method, you may call HTTP::BrowserDetect::method_name(). You
        will then be working with a default HTTP::BrowserDetect
        object that is created behind the scenes.

    user_agent($user_agent_string)
        Returns the value of the user agent string. When called with
        a parameter, it resets the user agent and reperforms all
        tests on the string. This way you can process a series of
        user agent strings (from a log file, perhaps) without
        creating a new HTTP::BrowserDetect object each time.

  DETECTING BROWSER VERSION

    major($major)
        Returns the integer portion of the browser version. If
        passed a parameter, returns true if it equals the browser
        major version.

    minor($minor)
        Returns the decimal portion of the browser version as a
        floating-point number less than 1. For example, if the
        version is 4.05, this method returns .05; if the version is
        4.5, this method returns .5. This is a change in behavior
        from previous versions of this module, which returned a
        string.

        If passed a parameter, returns true if equals the minor
        version.

        On occasion a version may have more than one decimal point,
        such as 'Wget/1.4.5'. The minor version does not include the
        second decimal point, or any further digits or decimals.

    version($version)
        Returns the version as a floating-point number. If passed a
        parameter, returns true if it is equal to the version
        specified by the user agent string.

    beta($beta)
        Returns any the beta version, consisting of any non-numeric
        characters after the version number. For instance, if the
        user agent string is 'Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.0b2;
        Windows NT)', returns 'b2'. If passed a parameter, returns
        true if equal to the beta version.

  DETECTING OS PLATFORM AND VERSION

    The following methods are available, each returning a true or
    false value. Some methods also test for the operating system
    version.

      windows win16 win3x win31 win95 win98 winnt win32 win2k winme
      mac mac68k macppc
      os2
      unix 
      sun sun4 sun5 suni86 irix irix5 irix6 hpux hpux9 hpux10 
      aix aix1 aix2 aix3 aix4 linux sco unixware mpras reliant 
      dec sinix freebsd bsd
      vms
      amiga

    It may not be possibile to detect Win98 in Netscape 4.x and
    earlier. On Opera 3.0, the userAgent string includes "Windows
    95/NT4" on all Win32, so you can't distinguish between Win95 and
    WinNT.

    os_string()
        Returns one of the following strings, or undef. This method
        exists solely for compatibility with the
        HTTP::Headers::UserAgent module.

          Win95, Win98, WinNT, Mac, Win3x, OS2, Unix, Linux

  DETECTING BROWSER VENDOR

    The following methods are available, each returning a true or
    false value. Some methods also test for the browser version,
    saving you from checking the version separately.

      netscape nav2 nav3 nav4 nav4up nav45 nav45up navgold nav6 nav6up
      gecko
      ie ie3 ie4 ie4up ie5 ie55
      neoplanet neoplanet2 
      mosaic
      aol aol3 aol4 aol5 aol6
      webtv
      opera
      lynx
      emacs
      staroffice
      lotusnotes
      icab
      konqueror
      java

    Netscape 6, even though its called six, in the userAgent string
    has version number 5. The nav6 and nav6up methods correctly
    handle this quirk.

    browser_string()
        Returns one of the following strings, or undef.

        Netscape, MSIE, WebTV, AOL Browser, Opera, Mosaic, Lynx

  DETECTING OTHER DEVICES

    The following methods are available, each returning a true or
    false value.

      wap
      audrey
      iopener
      palm
      avantgo

  DETECTING ROBOTS

    robot()
    Returns true if the user agent appears to be a robot, spider,
    crawler, or other automated Web client.

    The following additional methods are available, each returning a
    true or false value. This is by no means a complete list of
    robots that exist on the Web.

      wget
      getright
      yahoo 
      altavista 
      lycos 
      infoseek 
      lwp
      webcrawler 
      linkexchange 
      slurp 
      google

AUTHOR
    Lee Semel, lee@semel.net

SEE ALSO
    "The Ultimate JavaScript Client Sniffer, Version 3.0",
    http://www.mozilla.org/docs/web-
    developer/sniffer/browser_type.html.

    perl(1), the HTTP::Headers manpage, the HTTP::Headers::UserAgent
    manpage.

COPYRIGHT
    Copyright 1999-2001 Lee Semel. All rights reserved. This program
    is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
    the same terms as Perl itself.