Question

Summary

I have an ASP.NET 3.5 website and a mobile detection method inside a C# class file inside my app_code folder. I want to call this method which sets a cookie, then switch my master page file if it’s a mobile device.

I’m using a method i got from the comment section down in this article: http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/34422/Detecting-a-mobile-browser-in-ASP-NET

This just seemed simpler than using the 51degrees method of detection since i didn’t really need a high level of detection, and i didn’t want to send them to a different URL, but rather just flip to a different masterpage, and the NuGet package which makes a nice easy install doesn’t work for ASP.NET 3.5.

The problem i’m at currently is with calling the method.

Here’s the Code

External app_code class

public static class fooBar // test method
{
    public static bool ean()
    {
        return true;
    }
}

public static class HttpRequestExt
{
    #region Private Fields

    // These regular expressions retrieved from http://detectmobilebrowser.com/ "Open source mobile phone detection".
    private static Regex MobileBrowsers = new Regex(@"android|avantgo|blackberry|blazer|compal|elaine|fennec|hiptop|iemobile|ip(hone|od)|iris|kindle|lge |maemo|midp|mmp|opera m(ob|in)i|palm( os)?|phone|p(ixi|re)\\/|plucker|pocket|psp|symbian|treo|up\\.(browser|link)|vodafone|wap|windows (ce|phone)|xda|xiino", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase | RegexOptions.Multiline);
    private static Regex MobileApps = new Regex(@"1207|6310|6590|3gso|4thp|50[1-6]i|770s|802s|a wa|abac|ac(er|oo|s\\-)|ai(ko|rn)|al(av|ca|co)|amoi|an(ex|ny|yw)|aptu|ar(ch|go)|as(te|us)|attw|au(di|\\-m|r |s )|avan|be(ck|ll|nq)|bi(lb|rd)|bl(ac|az)|br(e|v)w|bumb|bw\\-(n|u)|c55\\/|capi|ccwa|cdm\\-|cell|chtm|cldc|cmd\\-|co(mp|nd)|craw|da(it|ll|ng)|dbte|dc\\-s|devi|dica|dmob|do(c|p)o|ds(12|\\-d)|el(49|ai)|em(l2|ul)|er(ic|k0)|esl8|ez([4-7]0|os|wa|ze)|fetc|fly(\\-|_)|g1 u|g560|gene|gf\\-5|g\\-mo|go(\\.w|od)|gr(ad|un)|haie|hcit|hd\\-(m|p|t)|hei\\-|hi(pt|ta)|hp( i|ip)|hs\\-c|ht(c(\\-| |_|a|g|p|s|t)|tp)|hu(aw|tc)|i\\-(20|go|ma)|i230|iac( |\\-|\\/)|ibro|idea|ig01|ikom|im1k|inno|ipaq|iris|ja(t|v)a|jbro|jemu|jigs|kddi|keji|kgt( |\\/)|klon|kpt |kwc\\-|kyo(c|k)|le(no|xi)|lg( g|\\/(k|l|u)|50|54|e\\-|e\\/|\\-[a-w])|libw|lynx|m1\\-w|m3ga|m50\\/|ma(te|ui|xo)|mc(01|21|ca)|m\\-cr|me(di|rc|ri)|mi(o8|oa|ts)|mmef|mo(01|02|bi|de|do|t(\\-| |o|v)|zz)|mt(50|p1|v )|mwbp|mywa|n10[0-2]|n20[2-3]|n30(0|2)|n50(0|2|5)|n7(0(0|1)|10)|ne((c|m)\\-|on|tf|wf|wg|wt)|nok(6|i)|nzph|o2im|op(ti|wv)|oran|owg1|p800|pan(a|d|t)|pdxg|pg(13|\\-([1-8]|c))|phil|pire|pl(ay|uc)|pn\\-2|po(ck|rt|se)|prox|psio|pt\\-g|qa\\-a|qc(07|12|21|32|60|\\-[2-7]|i\\-)|qtek|r380|r600|raks|rim9|ro(ve|zo)|s55\\/|sa(ge|ma|mm|ms|ny|va)|sc(01|h\\-|oo|p\\-)|sdk\\/|se(c(\\-|0|1)|47|mc|nd|ri)|sgh\\-|shar|sie(\\-|m)|sk\\-0|sl(45|id)|sm(al|ar|b3|it|t5)|so(ft|ny)|sp(01|h\\-|v\\-|v )|sy(01|mb)|t2(18|50)|t6(00|10|18)|ta(gt|lk)|tcl\\-|tdg\\-|tel(i|m)|tim\\-|t\\-mo|to(pl|sh)|ts(70|m\\-|m3|m5)|tx\\-9|up(\\.b|g1|si)|utst|v400|v750|veri|vi(rg|te)|vk(40|5[0-3]|\\-v)|vm40|voda|vulc|vx(52|53|60|61|70|80|81|83|85|98)|w3c(\\-| )|webc|whit|wi(g |nc|nw)|wmlb|wonu|x700|xda(\\-|2|g)|yas\\-|your|zeto|zte\\-", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase | RegexOptions.Multiline);

    #endregion

    public const string ViewMobileSiteCookieName = "ViewMobile";

    /// <summary>
    /// Determines if the request emanated from a mobile-device client; 
    /// and stores the result in a cookie on the response.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="request"></param>
    /// <param name="Response"></param>
    /// <returns></returns>
    /// 
    public static bool IsMobileClient(this System.Web.HttpRequest request, System.Web.HttpRequest Response)
    {
        bool isMobile = false;
        bool isCookieSet = false;
        var viewMobileCookie = request.Cookies[ViewMobileSiteCookieName];

        if (viewMobileCookie != null && bool.TryParse(viewMobileCookie.Value, out isMobile))
        {
            isCookieSet = true;
        }
        else if (request.Browser.IsMobileDevice)
        {
            isMobile = true;
        }
        else if (request.ServerVariables["HTTP_X_WAP_PROFILE"].IsNotEmpty())
        {
            isMobile = true;
        }
        else if
            (
                request.ServerVariables["HTTP_ACCEPT"].IsNotEmpty()
                &&
                (
                    request.ServerVariables["HTTP_ACCEPT"].ToLower().Contains("wap")
                    || request.ServerVariables["HTTP_ACCEPT"].ToLower().Contains("wml+xml")
                )
            )
        {
            isMobile = true;
        }
        else if (request.ServerVariables["HTTP_USER_AGENT"].IsNotEmpty())
        {
            string userAgent = request.ServerVariables["HTTP_USER_AGENT"];
            isMobile = ((MobileBrowsers.IsMatch(userAgent) || MobileApps.IsMatch(userAgent.Substring(0, 4))));
        }

        // Store the result as a cookie.
        if (!isCookieSet)
            Response.Cookies.Add(new HttpCookie(ViewMobileSiteCookieName, isMobile.ToString()));

        return isMobile;
    }

    public static bool IsNotEmpty(this string instance)
    {
        return instance != null && instance.Length > 0;
    }
}

My call to it)

Right now im doing it on the page, but i figure i’ll do this in global.asax on session start?

sectionTitle.InnerHtml = fooBar.ean().ToString(); // test works
sectionTitle.InnerHtml = HttpRequestExt.IsMobileClient.ToString(); // compile error

Compile Error:

CS0119: ‘SWIC.HttpRequestExt.IsMobileClient(System.Web.HttpRequest, System.Web.HttpRequest)’ is a ‘method’, which is not valid in the given context

Do i have to somehow cast this to the current instance? Should i just be doing this differently all together?

Answer 1

You’re trying to call a method like a property. Methods need parentheses:

HttpRequestExt.IsMobileClient().ToString()
                             ^^

You’ll also have to call it on the current request, not just statically, as it is an extension method (which takes a parameter). E.g.:

sectionTitle.InnerHtml = Page.Request.IsMobileClient(Page.Response).ToString();