is-webview

JavaScript WebView detection for Node and the browser.

Sometimes you need to know if a DOM document or an HTTP request is performed by a UIWebView/WebView or not. Especially to serve a more contextualised experience or to dynamically load components.

WebView detection is twofold:

• Browser features and properties;
• User-Agent sniffing.

Install

npm install --save is-webview

The library is browserify and webpack friendly. Use them!

Usage in Node

var iswebview = require('is-webview');
 
module.exports = function(req, res, next){
  if (iswebview(req.headers['User-Agent'])) {
    // set-up whatever is needed for a WebView
    // ...
    next();
  }
};

Usage in the browser

if (isWebview(navigator.userAgent)) {
  // do whatever is needed for a WebView display
  // ...
};

API

iswebview(userAgent)

• userAgent (String): Browser User-Agent header string

Detects a WebView from browser properties (if available) and from a User-Agent string.

if (iswebview(navigator.userAgent)) {
  // ...
}

iswebview(userAgent, configObject)

• userAgent (String): Browser User-Agent header string
• configObject (Object): see below.

Detects a WebView from a custom User-Agent string, browser properties (if available) and fallbacks to regular User-Agent string.

if (iswebview(navigator.userAgent, { appName: 'FooBar' })) {
  // ...
}

configObject

A configuration object conveys cues to assist the detection:

• appName (String): the app name explicitly set in your WebView properties/settings.

Sources

• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4460205/detect-ipad-iphone-webview-via-javascript
• http://blogs.msdn.com/b/wsdevsol/archive/2012/10/18/nine-things-you-need-to-know-about-webview.aspx
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/19404974/how-to-detect-if-using-android-browser-or-android-native-webview-client
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/16383776/detect-in-app-browser-webview-with-php-javascript
• http://stackoverflow.com/a/10348353/103396
• http://stackoverflow.com/a/21633431/103396

Licence

Copyright 2014 British Broadcasting Corporation

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at

http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.