Laravel Device Detector Laravel Package

Getting Started

Minimal Steps

1. Installation:

   composer require sajidwarner/laravel-device-detector
   

   Auto-discovery handles service provider/facade registration.

2. Publish Config (if customization needed):

   php artisan vendor:publish --provider="SajidWarner\LaraTrack\LaraTrackServiceProvider"
   

3. First Use Case: Detect device type in a controller:

   use SajidWarner\LaraTrack\Facades\LaraTrack;
   
   public function show(Request $request) {
       $device = LaraTrack::detect($request);
       if ($device['is_mobile']) {
           return view('mobile.view');
       }
       return view('desktop.view');
   }
   

Where to Look First

• Facade Methods: LaraTrack::detect(), LaraTrack::isMobile(), LaraTrack::getBrowser()
• Blade Directives: @mobile, @desktop, @robot (for quick UI conditionals)
• Middleware: Predefined aliases like laratrack.block-bots (no manual registration)

Implementation Patterns

Core Workflows

1. Request-Based Detection:

   $device = LaraTrack::detect($request); // Pass request object
   

   • Why? Ensures accurate header/UA parsing (e.g., Sec-CH-UA for modern browsers).

2. Middleware Integration:

   Route::middleware(['laratrack.block-bots', 'laratrack.mobile-only'])->group(...);
   

   • Pattern: Group routes by device/access type (e.g., block bots from sensitive endpoints).

3. Event-Driven Actions:

   // EventServiceProvider.php
   protected $listen = [
       BotDetected::class => [LogBotAction::class],
   ];
   

   • Use Case: Log or block suspicious traffic (e.g., Tor/VPN) without middleware clutter.

4. Blade Templating:

   @mobile
       <link rel="stylesheet" href="/mobile.css">
   @endmobile
   

   • Pattern: Separate mobile/desktop styles/scripts without PHP logic.

Integration Tips

• Geolocation: Enable via .env (LARATRACK_GEO_ENABLED=true) and cache responses per-IP.
• Custom Logic: Extend detection with LaraTrack::extend() (e.g., add custom bot signatures).
• Testing: Use php artisan laratrack:test with custom UAs/IPs to validate edge cases.

Gotchas and Tips

Pitfalls

1. Geolocation API Limits:

   • Free tier (30k/month) may throttle high-traffic sites.
   • Fix: Cache responses aggressively (LARATRACK_GEO_CACHE_MINUTES=1440).

2. Tor/VPN Detection False Positives:

   • Some corporate networks use VPNs legitimately.
   • Fix: Whitelist IPs in config/laratrack.php:

     'allowed_ips' => ['192.168.1.0/24'],
     

3. Blade Directives in Loops:

   • @mobile directives render once per view. For dynamic content, use PHP checks:

     @if(LaraTrack::isMobile()) ... @endif
     

4. Client Hints (Sec-CH-UA):

   • Modern browsers (Chrome 114+) prefer Sec-CH-UA over User-Agent.
   • Tip: Test with php artisan laratrack:test using:

     Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/120.0.0.0 Safari/537.36
     Sec-CH-UA: "Not_A Brand";v="99", "Google Chrome";v="120", "Chromium";v="120"
     

Debugging

• Artisan Command: Test detection interactively:

  php artisan laratrack:test "Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 17_0)"
  

• Log Raw Data: Dump full detection array:

  \Log::debug('Device Data', LaraTrack::detect($request)->toArray());
  

Extension Points

1. Custom Bot Signatures:

   LaraTrack::extend('bot', function ($userAgent) {
       return str_contains($userAgent, 'CustomBot');
   });
   

2. Override Middleware Messages:

   // config/laratrack.php
   'middleware' => [
       'bot_message' => 'Access denied: {botName}',
   ];
   

3. Disable Features:

   // config/laratrack.php
   'disable_geolocation' => env('APP_ENV') === 'local',
   'fire_events' => false,
   

Performance

• Caching: Geolocation and Tor checks cache per-IP by default (TTL: 1 hour).
• Disable Unused Features: Set LARATRACK_GEO_ENABLED=false if geolocation isn’t needed.