This plugin currently adds 2 main things to jQuery.support:
a) Detects the existence of the console.
b) Detects the browser engine by feature-detection rather than user-agent sniffing.
b.1) Detects Internet Explorer version. Not implemented for the other browsers, may or may not be possible.
b) Detects the browser engine by feature-detection rather than user-agent sniffing.
b.1) Detects Internet Explorer version. Not implemented for the other browsers, may or may not be possible.
The jQuery good practices say that the developer should not rely on browser detection to do its thing, and I mostly agree. There are moments, though, that you really just need to check for the browser in use. Like, for example, if you want to blacklist IE6 from you site. Instead of digging through ways to do it with user-agent sniffing, which is unreliable, I have gone through this thinking and made this plugin available for your enjoyment and simplicity.
You can download it here.
Plugin comment header:
/*
* jQuery more support variables 1.0.0
*
* Copyright 2011 Tiago Mikhael Pastorello Freire a.k.a Brazilian Joe
*
* Licensed under the MIT license.
* http://www.opensource.org/licenses/MIT
*
* Functionality:
* Detects the existence of console (to workaround IE < 9)
* Adds properties to jQuery.support for browser detection without sniffing,
* but using engine feature detection instead.
* engine version detection is only implemented for IE
* It is also somewhat pointless to look for browser version in the others,
* since hey are now adopting transparent auto-update behind the scenes.
* IE is also the thorn which needs to be treated specially anyway.
*
* Tested with:
* Firefox 5.0
* Safari 5.1
* Google Chrome 12
* Opera 11.50
* Internet Explorer 9 - also in IE 8 & IE 7 compatibility modes
* Internet Explorer 6
*
* Variables added:
* jQuery.support.console (true,false)
* jQuery.support.engine (ie,webkit,firefox,opera)
* jQuery.support.engineVersion (ie: 6,7,8,9, others: na)
* jQuery.support.browser (ie6,ie7,ie8,ie9,webkit,firefox,opera)
*
*/
* jQuery more support variables 1.0.0
*
* Copyright 2011 Tiago Mikhael Pastorello Freire a.k.a Brazilian Joe
*
* Licensed under the MIT license.
* http://www.opensource.org/licenses/MIT
*
* Functionality:
* Detects the existence of console (to workaround IE < 9)
* Adds properties to jQuery.support for browser detection without sniffing,
* but using engine feature detection instead.
* engine version detection is only implemented for IE
* It is also somewhat pointless to look for browser version in the others,
* since hey are now adopting transparent auto-update behind the scenes.
* IE is also the thorn which needs to be treated specially anyway.
*
* Tested with:
* Firefox 5.0
* Safari 5.1
* Google Chrome 12
* Opera 11.50
* Internet Explorer 9 - also in IE 8 & IE 7 compatibility modes
* Internet Explorer 6
*
* Variables added:
* jQuery.support.console (true,false)
* jQuery.support.engine (ie,webkit,firefox,opera)
* jQuery.support.engineVersion (ie: 6,7,8,9, others: na)
* jQuery.support.browser (ie6,ie7,ie8,ie9,webkit,firefox,opera)
*
*/
