Replace script if viewed in IE9?

Question

How easy would it be to run a different javascript depending on the user browser?

For example if someone visits the site with IE9 I would like it to run a different script to the one it would run normally for Chrome users.

why? there is probably a better way. – David Murdoch Jan 05 '11 at 15:43 — David Murdoch, Jan 05 '11 at 15:43

karim79 · Accepted Answer · 2011-01-06T14:25:30.427

4

You can use conditional comments for this:

<!--[if lte IE 6]>
    <script>alert('lte stands for less than or equal to')</script>
<![endif]-->

<!--[if lt IE 7]>
    <script>alert('lt stands for less than')</script>
<![endif]-->

<!--[if gte IE 9]>
    <script>alert('gte stands for greater than or equal to')</script>
<![endif]-->

etc.

edited Jan 06 '11 at 14:25

answered Jan 05 '11 at 15:42

karim79

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score 1 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:01

1

There are various browser detection techniques. You can try detecting the browser (by yourself by examining the navigator.userAgent property) or you can use methods available in almost every Javascript framework. For example:

Alternatively you can use conditional comments but they are only recognized by IE.

-- Pavel

edited May 23 '17 at 12:01

Community

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answered Jan 05 '11 at 15:45

volpav

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I'm sure `` works in most browsers. Don't rely on it though! These should be last resorts. – Raynos Jan 05 '11 at 15:52
@Raymos: No, they don't, it's IE-specific feature. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conditional_comment, http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms537512(v=vs.85).aspx – volpav Jan 05 '11 at 15:58
Right. `` are IE specific. After much try and errors, I've found out that FF (or Safari or Chrome) don't care about those bits of code (which is OK because it's what that hack is for). So basically, you only want to use those to target IE (less than, greater than, less than or equal to, etc...). So, ` – morespace54 May 24 '13 at 16:27

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 05 '11 at 15:43

0

You can use conditional comments in the HTML.

<!--[if IE]>
   <script src="ie_only.js"></script>
<![endif]-->

This can also be used for external stylesheets

more info on this post http://css-tricks.com/how-to-create-an-ie-only-stylesheet/

answered Jan 05 '11 at 15:43

erickb

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score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 05 '11 at 15:50

May i recommend feature detection instead.

if (someIEAPI) {
    // ie code
} else if (someChromeAPI) {
    // chrome code
}

This code is more robust and if firefox or opera supports one of the API's you don't have to check for their browsers anyway.

Besides browsers have a habit of lying to you and pretending to be whatever is hip.

Replace script if viewed in IE9?

4 Answers4

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