Detecting Mac OS X (When feature detection doesn't work?)

[petermichaux]

Hi,

I don't know if there is a way to feature detect for this or not. I
have a list and the user can click on items to select. I would like
that they can command-click on Mac or control-click on other OS to
multiple select. This matches normal file system behavior.

I found this example which doesn't seem to work in Opera on Mac: the
mac variable will be false.

var mac = (navigator.appVersion.indexOf("Mac")!==-1) ? true : false;

if (mac && e.metaKey) || (!mac && e.ctrlKey) {
// do multiple selection
}

So is there a way to feature detect for what I'm doing?

Is there a reliable way to know if the OS is Mac or not?

Thanks,
Peter

[Randy Webb]

pe**********@gmail.com said the following on 7/30/2006 1:24 PM:

Hi,

I don't know if there is a way to feature detect for this or not. I
have a list and the user can click on items to select. I would like
that they can command-click on Mac or control-click on other OS to
multiple select. This matches normal file system behavior.

I found this example which doesn't seem to work in Opera on Mac: the
mac variable will be false.

var mac = (navigator.appVersion.indexOf("Mac")!==-1) ? true : false;

What does the navigator.appVersion give for Opera on the Mac? It could
be nothing more than a lowercase m versus uppercase M.

if (mac && e.metaKey) || (!mac && e.ctrlKey) {
// do multiple selection
}

So is there a way to feature detect for what I'm doing?

What you are doing above is not "feature detecting" though, it is OS
detection based on your "mac" variable. What happens if you drop the OS
code all together?

if (e.metaKey || e.ctrlKey){

}

Is there a reliable way to know if the OS is Mac or not?

Not if your method is based on the navigator object and it's spoof-able
properties.

--
Randy
comp.lang.javascript FAQ - http://jibbering.com/faq & newsgroup weekly
Javascript Best Practices - http://www.JavascriptToolbox.com/bestpractices/

[petermichaux]

Randy Webb wrote:

pe**********@gmail.com said the following on 7/30/2006 1:24 PM:

Hi,

I don't know if there is a way to feature detect for this or not. I
have a list and the user can click on items to select. I would like
that they can command-click on Mac or control-click on other OS to
multiple select. This matches normal file system behavior.

I found this example which doesn't seem to work in Opera on Mac: the
mac variable will be false.

Randy,

Thanks for the ideas. I tried your ideas but it turns out that maybe
Opera just doesn't support e.metaKey eventhough their site says it
does.

This is old but says opera will always return false

http://www.quirksmode.org/dom/w3c_events.html

My tests show the same.

Peter