How do I detect a mobile browser in a .NET MVC3 application

Question

I'm developing a .NET MVC3 application.

Is there a good way to detect if the user is using a mobile browser in the view (using RAZOR). I'm wanting to differ the display logic if it's a mobile browser.

Thanks!

Answer 1

MVC3 exposes an IsMobileDevice flag in the Request.Browser object.

So in your razor code, you can query this variable and render accordingly.

For example, in your view (razor):

@if (Request.Browser.IsMobileDevice) {   <!-- HTML here for mobile device --> } else {   <!-- HTML for desktop device --> } 

Answer 2

The built in browser detection capabilities are no longer being kept up to date. Take a look at Scott Hanselman's blog - refer to the "More to Come" section at the bottom for details.

From that article:

Since that post, the Live.com team in Ireland that released and supported the original Mobile Device Browser File (MDBF) has stopped producing it. The best source for mobile browser device data is WURFL (that was one of the places that MDBF pulled from.)

I suggest taking a look at 51Degrees.mobi for more accurate detection. Also see the Steve Sanderson blog that Hanselman references for how to implement this in MVC3.