How to: Detect Pocket Internet Explorer from Web Servers

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When Pocket Internet Explorer sends a request to your HTTP server, the following specific information is included in the HTTP request header:

UA-pixels: {i.e. 240x320}
UA-color: {mono2 | mono4 | color8 | color16 | color24 | color32}
UA-OS: {Windows CE (POCKET PC) - Version 3.0}
UA-CPU = {i.e. ARM SA1110}
UA-Voice = {TRUE | FALSE}

Note   The UA-Voice variable indicates whether the Windows Mobile-based device is equipped for voice telephony. It is not available on devices running software versions earlier than the Windows Mobile 2002 release.

If you are using Internet Information Server (IIS) 4.0 or later, the BROWSCAP.INI file in the \WINDOWS\system32\inetsrv directory contains descriptions of all known browsers at the time your version of Windows or your latest service pack was released. You can download the latest version of BROWSCAP.INI from cyScape.

If your version of BROWSCAP.INI doesn't include the information for Pocket Internet Explorer, you can edit it by adding the sections shown in the following table for each version.

Microsoft Pocket Internet Explorer 2000 Microsoft Pocket Internet Explorer 2002 Microsoft Pocket Internet Explorer 2003 
; Pocket PC 2000
[Mozilla/2.0 (compatible; MSIE 3.02; Windows CE; 240x320)]
browser=Pocket Internet Explorer 2000
version=4.0
majorver=#4
minorver=#0
platform=Windows CE
width=240
height=320
cookies=TRUE
frames=TRUE
backgroundsounds=TRUE
javaapplets=FALSE
javascript=TRUE
vbscript=FALSE
tables=TRUE
activexcontrols=TRUE
 
; Pocket PC 2002
[Mozilla/2.0 (compatible; MSIE 3.02; Windows CE; PPC; 240x320)]
browser=Pocket Internet Explorer 2002
version=4.1
majorver=#4
minorver=#1
platform=Windows CE
width=240
height=320
cookies=TRUE
frames=TRUE
backgroundsounds=TRUE
javaapplets=FALSE
javascript=TRUE
vbscript=FALSE
tables=TRUE
activexcontrols=TRUE
 
; Pocket PC 2003
[Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 4.01; Windows CE; PPC; 240x320)] 
browser=Pocket IE 
version=5.0    
majorver=#5 
minorver=#0 
platform=Windows CE 
width=240 
height=320 
cookies=TRUE 
frames=TRUE 
backgroundsounds=TRUE 
javaapplets=FALSE 
javascript=TRUE 
vbscript=FALSE 
tables=TRUE 
activexcontrols=TRUE

As shown in the following table, the user agent string sent by each version is slightly different, allowing the server to determine which version is sending the request.

Note The user agent string for Pocket Internet Explorer 2002 and later includes PPC.

Pocket Internet Explorer 2000 Pocket Internet Explorer 2002 Pocket Internet Explorer 2003 
Mozilla/2.0 (compatible; MSIE 3.02; Windows CE; 240x320)
 
Mozilla/2.0 (compatible; MSIE 3.02; Windows CE; PPC; 240x320)
 
Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 4.01; Windows CE; PPC; 240x320)]

See Also

Mobile Web Site Design Overview

Pocket Internet Explorer Overview

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