How to encapsulate an enhanced version of the get_client_version tool class

gitbox 1970-01-01

In web development, obtaining client version information (such as browser, operating system, device type, etc.) is a common requirement. Whether used for statistical analysis, functional compatibility judgment, or personalized display, accurately identifying the client environment can significantly improve the user experience.

PHP's own $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'] provides basic client information, but parsing it is not easy. In order to make this task more efficient and convenient, we can encapsulate a more powerful get_client_version function tool class to automatically identify browsers, operating systems, device types and even APP versions.

1. Why do packaging need to be done?

Directly using the original User-Agent string has the following pain points:

String format is not unified, parsing rules are complicated
The browser and operating system versions are updated frequently, and the recognition method is often invalid
Lack of flexibility and scalability, it is difficult to cope with multi-terminal application needs

To overcome these problems, we need a structured, modular, and extensible tool class.

2. Tool design ideas

We plan to create a ClientVersionHelper class with the following capabilities:

Automatically identify browser types and versions (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc.)
Automatically identify the operating system and version (Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS)
Determine whether it is a mobile device
Supports custom application version header recognition (such as the UA format of self-developed apps)
Provide a unified structured return format

3. Code implementation

The following is a basic implementation, which you can further expand according to project requirements in the future:

 <?php

class ClientVersionHelper
{
    protected $userAgent;

    public function __construct($userAgent = null)
    {
        $this->userAgent = $userAgent ?: ($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'] ?? '');
    }

    public function getClientInfo()
    {
        return [
            'browser' => $this->getBrowser(),
            'os'      => $this->getOS(),
            'device'  => $this->isMobile() ? 'Mobile' : 'Desktop',
            'raw'     => $this->userAgent,
        ];
    }

    protected function getBrowser()
    {
        $ua = $this->userAgent;

        if (preg_match('/Chrome\/([0-9\.]+)/i', $ua, $matches)) {
            return 'Chrome ' . $matches[1];
        }

        if (preg_match('/Firefox\/([0-9\.]+)/i', $ua, $matches)) {
            return 'Firefox ' . $matches[1];
        }

        if (preg_match('/Safari\/([0-9\.]+)/i', $ua) && !preg_match('/Chrome/i', $ua)) {
            return 'Safari';
        }

        if (preg_match('/MSIE ([0-9\.]+)/i', $ua, $matches)) {
            return 'Internet Explorer ' . $matches[1];
        }

        return 'Unknown';
    }

    protected function getOS()
    {
        $ua = $this->userAgent;

        if (preg_match('/Windows NT ([0-9\.]+)/i', $ua, $matches)) {
            return 'Windows ' . $matches[1];
        }

        if (preg_match('/Mac OS X ([0-9_\.]+)/i', $ua, $matches)) {
            return 'macOS ' . str_replace('_', '.', $matches[1]);
        }

        if (preg_match('/Android ([0-9\.]+)/i', $ua, $matches)) {
            return 'Android ' . $matches[1];
        }

        if (preg_match('/iPhone OS ([0-9_]+)/i', $ua, $matches)) {
            return 'iOS ' . str_replace('_', '.', $matches[1]);
        }

        if (preg_match('/Linux/i', $ua)) {
            return 'Linux';
        }

        return 'Unknown';
    }

    protected function isMobile()
    {
        return preg_match('/Mobile|Android|iPhone|iPad/i', $this->userAgent);
    }
}

4. Use examples

Structured client version information is obtained with just a simple call:

 $clientHelper = new ClientVersionHelper();
$info = $clientHelper->getClientInfo();

echo '<pre>';
print_r($info);
echo '</pre>';

The example of the return result is as follows:

 Array
(
    [browser] => Chrome 120.0.0.0
    [os] => Windows 10.0
    [device] => Desktop
    [raw] => Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 ...
)

5. Expansion direction suggestions

You can add the following extensions to the existing basis:

Add support for custom UA identifiers, such as MyApp/3.4.5 in your own app UA
Integrate UA databases (such as https://gitbox.net/ua-database ) to support more device recognition
Provide a caching mechanism to improve processing efficiency
Encapsulate this class into a Composer package for easy reuse and update

6. Conclusion

Encapsulating an efficient get_client_version tool class can not only greatly simplify the code logic recognized by the client, but also make your application more maintainable and scalable. Instead of manually parsing the User-Agent every time, it is better to leave it to a powerful and reliable tool class to handle it.

With the increasing number of device and browser types, a good package will keep your project at the forefront of user recognition.

get_client_version