V6 - Tablet and Phone (mobile version) recognition

Gabbitas

My Dilemma

I went to see a prospective client a few weeks back with a view to selling them my app. At the time I was running AwareIM5.9. I use the mobile version quite heavily in my application - the idea is that my clients staff members (sales reps etc on the road) can get details of all of their appointments on their mobile and report back to the office in real time (the office use the desktop version to see the data created out on the road). This was a real selling point for me and as part of my initial meeting with this client we had set up one of his phones to access the mobile app - the phone was a sony experia z3 and everything worked great. I was successful in my pitch and I signed them up. My client went out and signed a contract for sony experia z3's for his whole out of office workforce and everything worked great. Good times. Happy client.

Now, very recently, I have upgraded my AwareIM installation to run version 6. Since then this client has come back to me to tell me that none of his out of office staff can access the mobile version! My heart sank! At first we went through a few ideas- clearing browser cache, changed passwords etc all the usual. We were able to log in as their staff members on iPhones but not on these sony phones. Since the basic stuff I have investigated this properly and it seems to be that AwareIM thinks these phones are in fact tablets.

My Setup

For regular users (staff members) I have the following:
I have a visual perspective set for 'Desktops Only'
I have a visual perspective set for 'Tablets Only' - is the same as desktop but has a collapsed menu and no titlebar.
I have purchased the mobile option in AwareIM and so I have a visual perspective set to 'Phones Only' and this perspective is accessed via the special mobile URL.

My Findings

If I try to log in to the mobile version (using the special URL with the mobile=true parameter) on a sony experia I get a very confused perspective displayed. Its kind of half mobile half desktop perspective.

If I try to log in to the desktop/tablet version on a sony experia (NOT using the mobile=true parameter) I get the desktop/tablet visual perspective show and it works as well as you would expect on a small screen. This is no good to me though. The desktop/tablet perspective is for desktops and tablets. I want the mobile version when I'm on a mobile and I call it using the special URL.

I also tried to log in using the mobile URL on my iPad. It's the same as on the sony experia phone - I get the confused half mobile half desktop perspective and its completely unusable. It looks like it loads the desktop perspective but applies the css used for the mobile version. In AwareIM 5.9 I would get the mobile app showing, this was perfect. Some of my clients like to use the mobile version on their tablet and now they can't.

If I try to log into the desktop version on my iPhone I get a different, but very confused perspective displayed. It looks like the mobile perspective but it has the desktop css applied to it (opposite to the previous paragraph). In this scenario it would be great if AwareIM could just display a message to say "Please use the mobile login, access denied" or something similar.

My Conclusion / Questions / Suggestions

AwareIM seems to confuse itself when deciding on which perspective it should show and which css it should use. Is there a bug here?

I think that regardless of if I'm on a mobile, tablet or desktop and I use the special mobile URL then AwareIM should show the mobile version. After all I'm telling it that I want the mobile version. There should be no confusion.

If I'm on a mobile and I try to access the desktop version then I can understand why AwareIM doesn't show the desktop perspective. It would be largely unusable but also no one would have a need to purchase the mobile option from Awaresoft. I think if someone tries to log into the desktop version from a mobile they should just get an error message similar to what was suggested above.

I have followed the below post but changing my mobile perspective to 'Phones and Tablets' doesn't make any difference the results are the same as described above.
Visual Perspective Issues with Tablet Recognition>

Support, can this be fixed? Does anyone else experience this?

Thanks

Gabbitas

Ok.......

Scrap most of my previous post. I figured it out about half hour after posting! :roll: Why does that always happen!

To force a tablet or desktop or phone that thinks its a tablet to open the mobile version one has to add an additional parameter to the end of the special mobile URL like this:

&mobile_platform=Phone

This does the trick nicely. But.....

If I try to log into the desktop version on my iPhone I get a different, but very confused perspective displayed. It looks like the mobile perspective but it has the desktop css applied to it (opposite to the previous paragraph). In this scenario it would be great if AwareIM could just display a message to say "Please use the mobile login, access denied" or something similar.

It would still be nice to have something done about this one!

Thanks

hpl123

Gabbitas,
A workaround for your last problem is to use CSS media queries or other ways like js to conditionally show different links to users (links on for example company website) meaning if a user press "Login" on the company website, the media query (or js script) then directs them to the right login page with the right parameters etc. (i.e. there is no way they can login to the desktop version).

Support,
It would be very helpful if you could share the additional parameters after 6.0 we can use to force platform (like the one Gabbitas discovered: &mobile_platform=Phone).

Thanks

aware_support

Another value that you can use is mobilePlatform=Tablet

Rennur

Another value that you can use is mobilePlatform=Tablet

Are you sure mobilePlatform is the correct parameter?

size=130 No success with mobilePlatform=Tablet. Cannot find the mobile VP when logging in with a tablet.
(a) No success with mobilePlatform=Ext.os.deviceType. Cannot find the mobile VP when logging in with a tablet.
(b) No success with mobile_platform=Tablet. Cannot find the mobile VP when logging in with a tablet.
(b) The only parameter I had success with is mobile_platform=Ext.os.deviceType. This parameter is compulsory for mobile VPs.
Also, notice there is an underscore in (c), mobile_platform. [/size]

Possible issues:
1) mobilePlatform paramater is invalid
2) mobilePlatform paramater has bugs
3) 'Tablet' value does not work with either mobilePlatform or mobile_platform
4) mobile_platform does not recognise the generic values of deviceType Tablet, Phone & Desktop

Environment Detection
http://docs.sencha.com/touch/2.3.1/#!/guide/environment_package
Device check in sencha touch 2
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10850932/device-check-in-sencha-touch-2

Cheers

Rennur

Also, notice there is an underscore in (c), mobile_platform.

In (b) 😉

Rennur

Support confirmed the parameter should be mobile_platform=

Still, mobile_platform=Tablet does not work only mobile_platform=Ext.os.deviceType works.

hpl123

I have also experienced problems when trying to use the mobilePlatform parameter.

PS: The device detection is also not working fully I think, one example is using an Ipad Air. If I have a Tablet VP (Tablet Only) and a Desktop BP (Desktop Only), when I log on from an Ipa Air, I get the Desktop VP.

aware_support

It should be mobile_platform=Tablet or mobile_platform=Phone or mobile_platform=Desktop

Sorry for the mistake above.

Markfre1

You have to use the mobile_platform command and use a special URL as the repsonsiveness does not work. Mark