The component, packaged as a plugin, is available at GitHub.

CakePHP’s built-in CakeRequest object can easily determine if a request is from a mobile device:

$this->request->is('mobile');

However, sometimes an application needs finer control over what to serve certain devices, such as a mobile layout to smartphones and a desktop layout to tablets. The MobileDetect project is a “lightweight PHP class for detecting mobile devices”. This component, packaged as a plugin, makes MobileDetect available in a CakePHP controller.

Compatibility:

Tested with CakePHP 2.3.x, but should work fine with any CakePHP 2.x version.

Installation:

Using Composer/Packagist:

In your project composer.json file:

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{
  "require": {
      "chronon/mobile_detect": "*"
  },
  "config": {
        "vendor-dir": "Vendor"
    }
}

This will install the plugin into Plugin/MobileDetect, and install the Mobile_Detect lib (from Packagist) into your Vendor directory.

In your app’s Config/bootstrap.php, import composer’s autoload file:

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<?php
App::import('Vendor', array('file' => 'autoload'));

Using git:

You will need the component (packaged as a plugin), and the MobileDetect PHP library (not included). The MobileDetect library needs to be in this plugin’s Vendor directory and must be named ‘MobileDetect’. Using git, something like this:

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git clone [email protected]:chronon/CakePHP-MobileDetectComponent-Plugin.git APP/Plugin/MobileDetect
git clone [email protected]:serbanghita/Mobile-Detect.git APP/Plugin/MobileDetect/Vendor/MobileDetect

The MobileDetect library could also be added as a git submodule…

Usage:

The component has only one method, named detect. It accepts two arguments: the method to pass to the MobileDetect library, and any arguments for the passed method.

Example: check if a request is from a tablet:

$result = $this->MobileDetect->detect('isTablet');

Example: check if a request is from an iOS device :

$result = $this->MobileDetect->detect('isiOS');

Example: get version number of an Android device:

$result = $this->MobileDetect->detect('version', 'Android');

See the demo at mobiledetect.net for a list of all available methods.

Example:

Let’s say we want to serve a mobile layout to smartphones and a desktop layout to tablets. Instead of loading the component on every request (by adding it to your controller’s $components array), we’ll load the component on the fly when needed. This example sets a session variable tablet if the request is from a tablet, calling the component only once.

In Controller/AppController.php:

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<?php
public function beforeFilter() {
  // check if the request is 'mobile', includes phones, tablets, etc.
  if ($this->request->is('mobile')) {
      if (!$this->_isTablet()) {
          // if the request is mobile, but not a tablet, activate the mobile layout
          $this->_setMobile();
      }
  }
}

protected function _setMobile() {
  $this->theme = 'Mobile';
  // etc...
}

protected function _isTablet() {
  if ($this->Session->check('tablet')) {
      if ($this->Session->read('tablet') == true) {
          return true;
      }
      return false;
  }
  // load the component
  $this->MobileDetect = $this->Components->load('MobileDetect.MobileDetect');
  // pass the component the 'isTablet' method
  $result = $this->MobileDetect->detect('isTablet');
  $this->Session->write('tablet', $result);
  return $result;
}