Get Browser Type and Version Using Angular and Bootstrap

Introduction

In this article, we learn the steps to get the browser version and browser name in the Angular application. Sometimes you have a requirement to get a browser version in angular, or you might also need to get a browser name in angular. We can easily detect if the Angular application is loaded inside the IE Legacy, Edge, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera, or any other browser. In this step-by-step article, we learn steps to add a reusable method in the angular application and easily detect the browser and its version.

Note. Before going through this session, please visit my previous article on Angular applications as mentioned below.

• Angular articles

Step 1. Create a service to check the browser

We can create a separate service in your Angular application by executing the below command.

D:\EmployeeManagement\CallWebAPIAngular> ng g s services/detect-browser

Then you can service and its related files are shown below

PS D:\EmployeeManagement\CallWebAPIAngular> ng g s services/detect-browser
CREATE src/app/services/detect-browser.service.spec.ts (393 bytes)
CREATE src/app/services/detect-browser.service.ts (142 bytes)

Step 2. Configure browser name with version detection method

After creating the DetectBrowserService, add the getBrowserNameAndVersion() method to return an object with name and version keys. This method will fetch the User-Agent strings on the browser in which the Angular application is loaded.

Open the ~app\services\detect-browser.service.ts file and add as shown below.

import { Injectable } from '@angular/core';
@Injectable({
  providedIn: 'root'
})
export class DetectBrowserService {
  constructor() { }
  getBrowserNameAndVersion() {
    var ua = navigator.userAgent,
        tem,
        M = ua.match(/(opera|chrome|safari|firefox|msie|trident(?=\/))\/?\s*(\d+)/i) || []; 

    if (/trident/i.test(M[1])) {
        tem = /\brv[ :]+(\d+)/g.exec(ua) || []; 
        return { name: 'IE', version: (tem[1] || '') };
    }   
    if (M[1] === 'Chrome') {
        tem = ua.match(/\bEdg\/(\d+)/);
        if (tem != null) {
            return { name: 'Edge(Chromium)', version: tem[1] };
        }
        tem = ua.match(/\bOPR\/(\d+)/);
        if (tem != null) {
            return { name: 'Opera', version: tem[1] };
        }
    }   
    M = M[2] ? [M[1], M[2]] : [navigator.appName, navigator.appVersion, '-?'];
    if ((tem = ua.match(/version\/(\d+)/i)) != null) {
        M.splice(1, 1, tem[1]);
    }
    return {
      name: M[0],
      version: M[1]
    };
  }
}

Here, we detect the name and version of the browser by creating a new service with a common method. The getBrowserNameAndVersion method returns an object with name and version keys. This method is fetching the User-Agent string that provides the browser information.

Step 3. Detect browser name with version

Now, we will import the DetectBrowserService in the AppComponent‘s constructor function. The service instance method named getBrowserNameAndVersion() will assign the name and version object to the browserNameAndVersion variable.

Open the app.component.ts file and add as shown below

import { Component } from '@angular/core';
import { DetectBrowserService } from './services/detect-browser.service';

@Component({
  selector: 'app-root',
  templateUrl: './app.component.html',
  styleUrls: ['./app.component.css']
})
export class AppComponent {
  title = 'Display Browser Name & Version';

  public requiredVersion = 98;
  public isBrowserOutdated: boolean | undefined;
  public browserVersion = '';
  browserNameAndVersion: any;

  constructor(
    detectBrowserService: DetectBrowserService
  ) {
    this.browserNameAndVersion = detectBrowserService.getBrowserNameAndVersion();
    this.browserVersion = this.browserNameAndVersion.version;
    if (parseFloat(this.browserNameAndVersion.version) < this.requiredVersion) {
      this.isBrowserOutdated = true;
    }
  }
}

Here we configure for displaying browser name and version along with browser up-to-date or not.

this.browserNameAndVersion = detectBrowserService.getBrowserNameAndVersion();
this.browserVersion = this.browserNameAndVersion.version;
if (parseFloat(this.browserNameAndVersion.version) < this.requiredVersion) {
  this.isBrowserOutdated = true;
}

Step 4. HTML template to show browser name with version

Update the HTML template of AppComponent to display the browser name and version. Open the app.component.html file and update it as shown below:

<div class="card bg-danger text-white">
  <div class="card-body text-center">
    <h1>{{ title }}</h1>
  </div>
  <table class="table table-striped mt-5">
    <thead>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
      <tr>
        <td><h4>Browser Name: {{ browserNameAndVersion.name | titlecase }}</h4></td>
        <td><h4>Current Browser Version: {{ browserNameAndVersion.version | titlecase }}</h4></td>
        <td><h4>Required Version: {{ requiredVersion }}</h4></td>
      </tr>
    </tbody>
  </table>
</div>

<div class="toast show" style="position: fixed; top: 60%; left: 50%; width: 30em; height: 17em; margin-top: -9em; margin-left: -15em; border: 1px solid #ccc; background-color: #f3f3f3; color: red; font-weight: 900; font-size: larger;">
  <div class="toast-header">
    Angular Detect Browser Name and Version
    <button type="button" class="btn-close" data-bs-dismiss="toast"></button>
  </div>
  <div class="toast-body">
    <div class="base-block" *ngIf="isBrowserOutdated">
      <h1>Oops</h1>
      <h3>Browser is outdated</h3>
      <h5>
        Your {{ browserNameAndVersion.name }} browser is outdated ({{ browserNameAndVersion.version }}) as less than required Version
        ({{ requiredVersion }}) and no longer supported, please update your browser.
      </h5>
    </div>
    
    <div class="base-block" *ngIf="!isBrowserOutdated">
      <h1>Cheers!</h1>
      <h3>Browser is up to date</h3>
      <h5>
        Your {{ browserNameAndVersion.name }} browser is updated ({{ browserNameAndVersion.version }}).
      </h5>
    </div>
  </div>
</div>

Use the interpolation to display the browser name and version with the help of the interpolation. An Interpolation is defined using the double curly braces that permit the user to bind a value to a UI element. Also, we will use the angular pipe to transform the value in the title case.

<td>
  <h4>Browser Name: {{ browserNameAndVersion.name | titlecase }}</h4>
</td>
<td>
  <h4>Current Browser Version: {{ browserNameAndVersion.version | titlecase }}</h4>
</td>
<td>
  <h4>Required Version: {{ requiredVersion }}</h4>
</td>

Check browser is up-to-date or not based on some condition using the *ngIf directive.

<div class="toast-body">
  <div class="base-block" *ngIf="isBrowserOutdated">
    <h1>Oops</h1>
    <h3>Browser is outdated</h3>
    <h5>
      Your {{ browserNameAndVersion.name }} browser is outdated ({{ browserNameAndVersion.version }}) as less than required Version
      ({{ requiredVersion }}) and no longer supported, please update your browser.
    </h5>
  </div>
  
  <div class="base-block" *ngIf="!isBrowserOutdated">
    <h1>Cheers!</h1>
    <h3>Browser is up to date</h3>
    <h5>
      Your {{ browserNameAndVersion.name }} browser is updated ({{ browserNameAndVersion.version }}).
    </h5>
  </div>
</div>

Step 5. Add Bootstrap to make the page responsive

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <title>Title Service Example</title>
  <base href="/">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <link rel="icon" type="image/x-icon" href="favicon.ico">
  <link href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet">
  <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/dist/js/bootstrap.bundle.min.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
  <app-root></app-root>
</body>
</html>

Output

Finally, run the application by executing the ng serve command in the terminal window. It opens the application at the following URL: http://localhost:4200/

Checking Chrome Browser is up to date i.e. based required Version

Checking whether Chrome Browser is up to date or not i.e. based on the Required Version

Checking whether another Browser is up to date or not i.e. based on the Required Version

Why need to configure the browser detection process?

We need to detect the browser name and version to inform the visitors that this browser or its version is incompatible with loading the application properly, and they can switch to the latest available browsers. In today’s era, we have many latest web browsers available in the market which are fully compatible with the latest WebKit to support modern Javascript and CSS principles. In such a case, we need to detect the browser name and version to inform the visitors that this browser or its version is incompatible with loading the application properly, and they can switch to the latest available browsers.

Summary

In this write-up, we have learned the details below.

• Steps to find out browser names and browser versions in the Angular application using the Angular pipe
• Steps to detect the name and version of the browser by creating a service with a common method

Thank You & Stay Tuned For More