Mobiledetectlib Laravel Package

Getting Started

Minimal Setup

1. Installation:

   composer require mobiledetect/mobiledetectlib
   

   Use version ^4.11 for Laravel (PHP 8.2+).

2. Basic Usage:

   use Detection\MobileDetect;
   
   $detect = new MobileDetect();
   if ($detect->isMobile()) {
       // Mobile-specific logic
   }
   

3. First Use Case: Redirect mobile users to a mobile-optimized URL in Laravel middleware:

   use Detection\MobileDetect;
   
   public function handle($request, Closure $next)
   {
       $detect = new MobileDetect();
       if ($detect->isMobile() && !$request->is('mobile/*')) {
           return redirect()->route('mobile.home');
       }
       return $next($request);
   }
   

Key Entry Points

• isMobile(): Detects phones/tablets (returns bool).
• isTablet(): Explicit tablet detection.
• getUserAgent(): Access raw User-Agent string.
• setHttpHeaders(): Manually set headers (useful for testing).

Implementation Patterns

Core Workflows

1. Middleware Integration:

   // app/Http/Middleware/MobileDetectMiddleware.php
   public function handle($request, Closure $next)
   {
       $detect = new MobileDetect();
       $request->merge(['is_mobile' => $detect->isMobile()]);
       return $next($request);
   }
   

   Access via $request->is_mobile in controllers/views.

2. Dynamic View Logic:

   @if($request->is_mobile)
       @include('mobile.partial')
   @else
       @include('desktop.partial')
   @endif
   

3. API Feature Gating:

   if ($detect->isMobile() && $detect->isTablet()) {
       return response()->json(['features' => ['touch-optimized']]);
   }
   

Advanced Patterns

• Caching User-Agent Parsing (for long-running processes):

  $detect = new MobileDetect([
      'cache' => new \Detection\Cache\Cache(
          new \Psr\SimpleCache\CachePool([
              'psr16' => new \Symfony\Component\Cache\Adapter\FilesystemAdapter()
          ])
      )
  ]);
  

• Custom Device Detection: Extend the library by overriding regex patterns:

  $detect->setUserAgent('Custom-UA');
  if ($detect->match('CustomDeviceRegex')) {
      // Handle custom device
  }
  

• CloudFront/Proxy Headers:

  $detect->setHttpHeaders([
      'HTTP_CF_CONNECTING_IP' => $request->ip(),
      'HTTP_USER_AGENT' => $request->userAgent()
  ]);
  

Laravel-Specific Tips

1. Service Provider Binding:

   // app/Providers/AppServiceProvider.php
   public function register()
   {
       $this->app->singleton(MobileDetect::class, function () {
           return new MobileDetect(['autoInitOfHttpHeaders' => true]);
       });
   }
   

2. Request Macro:

   // app/Providers/AppServiceProvider.php
   public function boot()
   {
       Request::macro('isMobile', function () {
           return app(MobileDetect::class)->isMobile();
       });
   }
   

   Usage: $request->isMobile().

3. Testing:

   $detect = new MobileDetect();
   $detect->setUserAgent('Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 15_0 like Mac OS X)');
   $this->assertTrue($detect->isMobile());
   

Gotchas and Tips

Common Pitfalls

1. Missing User-Agent:

   • Error: No user-agent has been set (since v4.8.01).
   • Fix: Ensure autoInitOfHttpHeaders is true (default) or manually set:

     $detect->setHttpHeaders($_SERVER);
     

2. Cache Bloat:

   • Issue: Unbounded memory growth in long-running processes (e.g., Laravel Octane).
   • Fix: Configure cache size:

     $cache = new \Detection\Cache\Cache(new \Psr\SimpleCache\CachePool(), 1000); // Max 1000 entries
     $detect = new MobileDetect(['cache' => $cache]);
     

3. Regex Overrides:

   • Gotcha: Custom regex arrays must be strings or string arrays (not mixed types).
   • Fix: Use:

     $detect->setRegex('CustomDevice', ['iPhone', 'iPad']);
     

4. PHP 8.4 Implicit Nulls:

   • Issue: Deprecated in PHP 8.4 (affects v4.8.01+).
   • Fix: Update to ^4.9.0 for compatibility.

Debugging Tips

1. Inspect Raw Data:

   $detect->setUserAgent($request->userAgent());
   dd($detect->getUserAgent(), $detect->getHttpHeaders());
   

2. Test User-Agents: Use the demo site to validate detection logic.

3. Cache Debugging:

   $detect->getCache()->evictExpired(); // Manually clean expired entries
   

Extension Points

1. Custom Cache Backends: Implement Psr\SimpleCache\CacheInterface and inject:

   $detect = new MobileDetect([
       'cache' => new \Detection\Cache\Cache(new \RedisCache())
   ]);
   

2. Override Detection Logic: Extend the class and override methods like isMobile():

   class CustomMobileDetect extends MobileDetect {
       public function isMobile() {
           return parent::isMobile() && $this->isTouchScreen();
       }
   }
   

3. HTTP Headers: Use Sec-CH-UA-Mobile (Chrome 114+) for modern detection:

   $detect->setHttpHeaders([
       'HTTP_SEC_CH_UA_MOBILE' => '?0'
   ]);
   

Configuration Quirks

• maximumUserAgentLength: Default 500 (truncates longer strings).

• cacheKeyFn: Customize key generation (e.g., for multi-tenant apps):

  $detect = new MobileDetect([
      'cacheKeyFn' => fn($key) => "tenant_{$tenantId}_{$key}"
  ]);
  

• autoInitOfHttpHeaders: Set to false if using custom headers (e.g., in tests).