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Get visitors language & country code with javascript (client-side) [duplicate]
(3 answers)
How to determine user's locale within browser?
(10 answers)
Closed 4 years ago.
I have been trying to detect the browser language preference using JavaScript.
If I set the browser language in IE in Tools>Internet Options>General>Languages, how do I read this value using JavaScript?
Same problem for Firefox. I'm not able to detect the setting for tools>options>content>languages using navigator.language.
Using navigator.userLanguage , it detects the setting done thru
Start>ControlPanel>RegionalandLanguageOptions>Regional Options tab.
I have tested with navigator.browserLanguage and navigator.systemLanguage but neither returns the value for the first setting(Tools>InternetOptions>General>Languages)
I found a link which discusses this in detail, but the question remains unanswered :(
I think the main problem here is that the browser settings don't actually affect the navigator.language property that is obtained via javascript.
What they do affect is the HTTP 'Accept-Language' header, but it appears this value is not available through javascript at all. (Probably why #anddoutoi states he can't find a reference for it that doesn't involve server side.)
I have coded a workaround: I've knocked up a google app engine script at http://ajaxhttpheaders.appspot.com that will return you the HTTP request headers via JSONP.
(Note: this is a hack only to be used if you do not have a back end available that can do this for you. In general you should not be making calls to third party hosted javascript files in your pages unless you have a very high level of trust in the host.)
I intend to leave it there in perpetuity so feel free to use it in your code.
Here's some example code (in jQuery) for how you might use it
$.ajax({
url: "http://ajaxhttpheaders.appspot.com",
dataType: 'jsonp',
success: function(headers) {
language = headers['Accept-Language'];
nowDoSomethingWithIt(language);
}
});
Hope someone finds this useful.
Edit: I have written a small jQuery plugin on github that wraps this functionality: https://github.com/dansingerman/jQuery-Browser-Language
Edit 2: As requested here is the code that is running on AppEngine (super trivial really):
class MainPage(webapp.RequestHandler):
def get(self):
headers = self.request.headers
callback = self.request.get('callback')
if callback:
self.response.headers['Content-Type'] = 'application/javascript'
self.response.out.write(callback + "(")
self.response.out.write(headers)
self.response.out.write(")")
else:
self.response.headers['Content-Type'] = 'text/plain'
self.response.out.write("I need a callback=")
application = webapp.WSGIApplication(
[('/', MainPage)],
debug=False)
def main():
run_wsgi_app(application)
if __name__ == "__main__":
main()
Edit3: Have open sourced the app engine code here: https://github.com/dansingerman/app-engine-headers
var language = window.navigator.userLanguage || window.navigator.language;
alert(language); //works IE/SAFARI/CHROME/FF
window.navigator.userLanguage is IE only and it's the language set in Windows Control Panel - Regional Options and NOT browser language, but you could suppose that a user using a machine with Window Regional settings set to France is probably a French user.
navigator.language is FireFox and all other browser.
Some language code: 'it' = italy, 'en-US' = english US, etc.
As pointed out by rcoup and The WebMacheter in comments below, this workaround won't let you discriminate among English dialects when users are viewing website in browsers other than IE.
window.navigator.language (Chrome/FF/Safari) returns always browser language and not browser's preferred language, but: "it's pretty common for English speakers (gb, au, nz, etc) to have an en-us version of Firefox/Chrome/Safari." Hence window.navigator.language will still return en-US even if the user preferred language is en-GB.
Update of year 2014.
Now there is a way to get Accept-Languages in Firefox and Chrome using navigator.languages (works in Chrome >= 32 and Firefox >= 32)
Also, navigator.language in Firefox these years reflects most preferred language of content, not language of UI. But since this notion is yet to be supported by other browsers, it is not very useful.
So, to get most preferred content language when possible, and use UI language as fallback:
navigator.languages
? navigator.languages[0]
: (navigator.language || navigator.userLanguage)
I came across this piece of code to detect browser's language in Angular Translate module, which you can find the source here. I slightly modified the code by replacing angular.isArray with Array.isArray to make it independent of Angular library.
var getFirstBrowserLanguage = function () {
var nav = window.navigator,
browserLanguagePropertyKeys = ['language', 'browserLanguage', 'systemLanguage', 'userLanguage'],
i,
language;
// support for HTML 5.1 "navigator.languages"
if (Array.isArray(nav.languages)) {
for (i = 0; i < nav.languages.length; i++) {
language = nav.languages[i];
if (language && language.length) {
return language;
}
}
}
// support for other well known properties in browsers
for (i = 0; i < browserLanguagePropertyKeys.length; i++) {
language = nav[browserLanguagePropertyKeys[i]];
if (language && language.length) {
return language;
}
}
return null;
};
console.log(getFirstBrowserLanguage());
let lang = window.navigator.languages ? window.navigator.languages[0] : null;
lang = lang || window.navigator.language || window.navigator.browserLanguage || window.navigator.userLanguage;
let shortLang = lang;
if (shortLang.indexOf('-') !== -1)
shortLang = shortLang.split('-')[0];
if (shortLang.indexOf('_') !== -1)
shortLang = shortLang.split('_')[0];
console.log(lang, shortLang);
I only needed the primary component for my needs, but you can easily just use the full string. Works with latest Chrome, Firefox, Safari and IE10+.
var language = navigator.languages && navigator.languages[0] || // Chrome / Firefox
navigator.language || // All browsers
navigator.userLanguage; // IE <= 10
console.log(language);
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/NavigatorLanguage/languages
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/NavigatorLanguage/language
Try PWA Template https://github.com/StartPolymer/progressive-web-app-template
navigator.userLanguage for IE
window.navigator.language for firefox/opera/safari
I've been using Hamid's answer for a while, but it in cases where the languages array is like ["en", "en-GB", "en-US", "fr-FR", "fr", "en-ZA"] it will return "en", when "en-GB" would be a better match.
My update (below) will return the first long format code e.g. "en-GB", otherwise it will return the first short code e.g. "en", otherwise it will return null.
function getFirstBrowserLanguage() {
var nav = window.navigator,
browserLanguagePropertyKeys = ['language', 'browserLanguage', 'systemLanguage', 'userLanguage'],
i,
language,
len,
shortLanguage = null;
// support for HTML 5.1 "navigator.languages"
if (Array.isArray(nav.languages)) {
for (i = 0; i < nav.languages.length; i++) {
language = nav.languages[i];
len = language.length;
if (!shortLanguage && len) {
shortLanguage = language;
}
if (language && len>2) {
return language;
}
}
}
// support for other well known properties in browsers
for (i = 0; i < browserLanguagePropertyKeys.length; i++) {
language = nav[browserLanguagePropertyKeys[i]];
//skip this loop iteration if property is null/undefined. IE11 fix.
if (language == null) { continue; }
len = language.length;
if (!shortLanguage && len) {
shortLanguage = language;
}
if (language && len > 2) {
return language;
}
}
return shortLanguage;
}
console.log(getFirstBrowserLanguage());
Update: IE11 was erroring when some properties were undefined. Added a check to skip those properties.
I've just come up with this. It combines newer JS destructuring syntax with a few standard operations to retrieve the language and locale.
var [lang, locale] = (
(
(
navigator.userLanguage || navigator.language
).replace(
'-', '_'
)
).toLowerCase()
).split('_');
Hope it helps someone
There is no decent way to get that setting, at least not something browser independent.
But the server has that info, because it is part of the HTTP request header (the Accept-Language field, see http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616-sec14.html#sec14.4)
So the only reliable way is to get an answer back from the server. You will need something that runs on the server (like .asp, .jsp, .php, CGI) and that "thing" can return that info.
Good examples here: http://www.developershome.com/wap/detection/detection.asp?page=readHeader
I can't find a single reference that state that it's possible without involving the serverside.
MSDN on:
navigator.browserLanguage
navigator.systemLanguage
navigator.userLanguage
From browserLanguage:
In Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 and
earlier, the browserLanguage property
reflects the language of the installed
browser's user interface. For example,
if you install a Japanese version of
Windows Internet Explorer on an
English operating system,
browserLanguage would be ja.
In Internet Explorer 5 and later,
however, the browserLanguage property
reflects the language of the operating
system regardless of the installed
language version of Internet Explorer.
However, if Microsoft Windows 2000
MultiLanguage version is installed,
the browserLanguage property indicates
the language set in the operating
system's current menus and dialogs, as
found in the Regional Options of the
Control Panel. For example, if you
install a Japanese version of Internet
Explorer 5 on an English (United
Kingdom) operating system,
browserLanguage would be en-gb. If you
install Windows 2000 MultiLanguage
version and set the language of the
menus and dialogs to French,
browserLanguage would be fr, even
though you have a Japanese version of
Internet Explorer.
Note This property does not indicate
the language or languages set by the
user in Language Preferences, located
in the Internet Options dialog box.
Furthermore, it looks like browserLanguage is deprecated cause IE8 doesn't list it
I had the same problem, and I wrote the following front-end only library that wraps up the code for multiple browsers. It's not much code, but nice to not have to copy and paste the same code across multiple websites.
Get it: acceptedlanguages.js
Use it:
<script src="acceptedlanguages.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
console.log('Accepted Languages: ' + acceptedlanguages.accepted);
</script>
It always returns an array, ordered by users preference. In Safari & IE the array is always single length. In FF and Chrome it may be more than one language.
I would like to share my code, because it works and it is different than the others given anwers.
In this example, if you speak French (France, Belgium or other French language) you are redirected on the French page, otherwise on the English page, depending on the browser configuration:
<script type="text/javascript">
$(document).ready(function () {
var userLang = navigator.language || navigator.userLanguage;
if (userLang.startsWith("fr")) {
window.location.href = '../fr/index.html';
}
else {
window.location.href = '../en/index.html';
}
});
</script>
If you only need to support certain modern browsers then you can now use:
navigator.languages
which returns an array of the user's language preferences in the order specified by the user.
As of now (Sep 2014) this works on:
Chrome (v37),
Firefox (v32) and
Opera (v24)
But not on:
IE (v11)
Javascript way:
var language = window.navigator.userLanguage || window.navigator.language;//returns value like 'en-us'
If you are using jQuery.i18n plugin, you can use:
jQuery.i18n.browserLang();//returns value like '"en-US"'
If you are developing a Chrome App / Extension use the chrome.i18n API.
chrome.i18n.getAcceptLanguages(function(languages) {
console.log(languages);
// ["en-AU", "en", "en-US"]
});
DanSingerman has a very good solution for this question.
The only reliable source for the language is in the HTTP-request header.
So you need a server-side script to reply the request-header or at least the Accept-Language field back to you.
Here is a very simple Node.js server which should be compatible with DanSingermans jQuery plugin.
var http = require('http');
http.createServer(function (req, res) {
res.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/plain'});
res.end(JSON.stringify(req.headers));
}).listen(80,'0.0.0.0');
For what it's worth, Wikimedia's Universal Language Selector library has hooks for doing this:
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:UniversalLanguageSelector
See the function getFrequentLanguageList in resources/js/ext.uls.init.js . Direct link:
https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/gitweb?p=mediawiki/extensions/UniversalLanguageSelector.git;a=blob;f=resources/js/ext.uls.init.js;hb=HEAD
It still depends on the server, or more specifically, the MediaWiki API. The reason I'm showing it is that it may provide a good example of getting all the useful information about the user's language: browser language, Accept-Language, geolocation (with getting country/language info from the CLDR), and of course, user's own site preferences.
Dan Singerman's answer has an issue that the header fetched has to be used right away, due to the asynchronous nature of jQuery's ajax. However, with his google app server, I wrote the following, such that the header is set as part of the initial set up and can be used at later time.
<html>
<head>
<script>
var bLocale='raw'; // can be used at any other place
function processHeaders(headers){
bLocale=headers['Accept-Language'];
comma=bLocale.indexOf(',');
if(comma>0) bLocale=bLocale.substring(0, comma);
}
</script>
<script src="jquery-1.11.0.js"></script>
<script type="application/javascript" src="http://ajaxhttpheaders.appspot.com?callback=processHeaders"></script>
</head>
<body>
<h1 id="bLocale">Should be the browser locale here</h1>
</body>
<script>
$("#bLocale").text(bLocale);
</script>
</html>
If you don't want to rely on an external server and you have one of your own you can use a simple PHP script to achieve the same behavior as #DanSingerman answer.
languageDetector.php:
<?php
$lang = substr($_SERVER['HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE'], 0, 2);
echo json_encode($lang);
?>
And just change this lines from the jQuery script:
url: "languageDetector.php",
dataType: 'json',
success: function(language) {
nowDoSomethingWithIt(language);
}
If you have control of a backend and are using django, a 4 line implementation of Dan's idea is:
def get_browser_lang(request):
if request.META.has_key('HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE'):
return JsonResponse({'response': request.META['HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE']})
else:
return JsonResponse({'response': settings.DEFAULT_LANG})
then in urls.py:
url(r'^browserlang/$', views.get_browser_lang, name='get_browser_lang'),
and on the front end:
$.get(lg('SERVER') + 'browserlang/', function(data){
var lang_code = data.response.split(',')[0].split(';')[0].split('-')[0];
});
(you have to set DEFAULT_LANG in settings.py of course)
Based on the answer here Accessing the web page's HTTP Headers in JavaScript I built the following script to get the browser language:
var req = new XMLHttpRequest();
req.open('GET', document.location, false);
req.send(null);
var headers = req.getAllResponseHeaders().toLowerCase();
var contentLanguage = headers.match( /^content-language\:(.*)$/gm );
if(contentLanguage[0]) {
return contentLanguage[0].split(":")[1].trim().toUpperCase();
}
If you are using ASP .NET MVC and you want to get the Accepted-Languages header from JavaScript then here is a workaround example that does not involve any asynchronous requests.
In your .cshtml file, store the header securely in a div's data- attribute:
<div data-languages="#Json.Encode(HttpContext.Current.Request.UserLanguages)"></div>
Then your JavaScript code can access the info, e.g. using JQuery:
<script type="text/javascript">
$('[data-languages]').each(function () {
var languages = $(this).data("languages");
for (var i = 0; i < languages.length; i++) {
var regex = /[-;]/;
console.log(languages[i].split(regex)[0]);
}
});
</script>
Of course you can use a similar approach with other server technologies as others have mentioned.
For who are looking for Java Server solution
Here is RestEasy
#GET
#Path("/preference-language")
#Consumes({"application/json", "application/xml"})
#Produces({"application/json", "application/xml"})
public Response getUserLanguagePreference(#Context HttpHeaders headers) {
return Response.status(200)
.entity(headers.getAcceptableLanguages().get(0))
.build();
}
i had a diffrent approach, this might help someone in the future:
the customer wanted a page where you can swap languages.
i needed to format numbers by that setting (not the browser setting / not by any predefined setting)
so i set an initial setting depending on the config settings (i18n)
$clang = $this->Session->read('Config.language');
echo "<script type='text/javascript'>var clang = '$clang'</script>";
later in the script i used a function to determine what numberformating i need
function getLangsettings(){
if(typeof clang === 'undefined') clang = navigator.language;
//console.log(clang);
switch(clang){
case 'de':
case 'de-de':
return {precision : 2, thousand : ".", decimal : ","}
case 'en':
case 'en-gb':
default:
return {precision : 2, thousand : ",", decimal : "."}
}
}
so i used the set language of the page and as a fallback i used the browser settings.
which should be helpfull for testing purposes aswell.
depending on your customers you might not need that settings.
I have a hack that I think uses very little code and is quite reliable.
Put your site's files in a subdirectory. SSL into your server and create symlinks to that subdirectory where your files are stored that indicate your languages.
Something like this:
ln -s /var/www/yourhtml /var/www/en
ln -s /var/www/yourhtml /var/www/sp
ln -s /var/www/yourhtml /var/www/it
Use your web server to read HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE and redirect to these "different subdirectories" according to the language value it provides.
Now you can use Javascript's window.location.href to get your url and use it in conditionals to reliably identify the preferred language.
url_string = window.location.href;
if (url_string = "http://yoursite.com/it/index.html") {
document.getElementById("page-wrapper").className = "italian";
}
Related
I am attempting to make ie7-js work with my wordpress installation. After reading about this library it seems like it is a great solution to making my website more compatible with older versions of IE more specifically IE8. It may seem odd to try and still support an old browser like that but I have noticed that several hundred visitors a month are visiting our site using browsers as old as IE6. A majority of our users are elderly and still using Windows XP. Now on to the problem.
I am running a copy of the Windows XP virtual machine with IE8 from modern.ie I have followed the instructions on the library code page on how to include the file. I am trying to get the Specific IE9.js file to work. When I access the page in IE8 I get the error
permission denied: line 850 character 37
I have tracked it down to the line below:
for (var i = 0, imported; i < styleSheet.imports.length; i++)
from this function:
function getCSSText(styleSheet, path, media, level) {
var cssText = "";
if (!level) {
media = toSimpleMedia(styleSheet.media);
level = 0;
}
if (media === "none") {
styleSheet.disabled = true;
return "";
}
if (media === "all" || media === self.media) {
// IE only allows importing style sheets three levels deep.
// it will crash if you try to access a level below this
try {
var canAcess = !!styleSheet.cssText;
} catch (exe) {}
if (level < 3 && canAcess) {
var hrefs = styleSheet.cssText.match(IMPORTS);
// loop through imported style sheets
for (var i = 0, imported; i < styleSheet.imports.length; i++) {
var imported = styleSheet.imports[i];
var href = styleSheet._href || styleSheet.href;
imported._href = hrefs[i].replace(TRIM_IMPORTS, "");
// call this function recursively to get all imported style sheets
cssText += getCSSText(imported, getPath(href, path), media, level + 1);
}
}
// retrieve inline style or load an external style sheet
cssText += encode(styleSheet.href ? loadStyleSheet(styleSheet, path) : styleSheet.owningElement._cssText);
cssText = parseMedia(cssText, self.media);
}
return cssText;
};
Upon researching to see if anyone else has had the same issue I did find posts regarding it but none had solutions to them. I have been trying to sort this out for a few hours now only to be banging my head against the desk. Does anyone have possible solutions or things to check next? I have tried changing file permissions to 777 but that does not seem to work either.
Older browsers have limitations when working with CORS on client-side.
Not quite a "bug" from his javascript and can not be corrected by the client-side.
The best way is to work with CDNs that have permissions to CORS.
http://schock.net/articles/2013/07/03/hosting-web-fonts-on-a-cdn-youre-going-to-need-some-cors/
http://support.maxcdn.com/howto/use-cdn-with-webfonts/
Yet still can be difficult, so another alternative would be to put all the CSS on a sub domain your (or your own domain).
Read about CORS:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-origin_resource_sharing
http://enable-cors.org/
I would like to call js function via ExternalInterface from as3 code LOCALLY, not on remote server.
All browsers work great but not Chrome.
Note that in flash-debug player version (C:\Windows\system32\Macromed\Flash\NPSWF32_11_9_900_170.dll, version 11,9,900,170) I have installed in Chrome it works.
But in default flash player version (C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\33.0.1750.117\PepperFlash\pepflashplayer.dll, version 12.0.0.70) it doesn't work.
PS: I've also tried to open my old project (with ExternalInterface) I've developed 2 years ago -> same issue.
IDE I have used -> FlashBuilder4.6 and also tried in FlashDevelop.
I am using AC_OETags.js in order to include swf into web-page.
ExternalInterface.call("someFunc","testMsg") calls when swf initializes.
Chrome version is 33.0.1750.117 m
Thanks in advance.
This is a bug in Chrome using the pepper plugin: https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=137734
What's happening is that the trusted locations (set here: https://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager04.html) aren't taken into account, so any Flash <-> JS interaction is broken.
It doesn't look like this bug is getting fixed (judging by the comments on the issue today, there's a good chance it'll get marked as a "Won't fix"), so for now there's 3 ways around it:
Use another browser - not ideal
Use the NPAPI plugin - the pepper plugin is the default, but it's mostly a set-once-and-forget sort of task
Run a local webserver - either something like apache (http://www.easyphp.org/) or node (http://nodejs.org/). This is Google's preferred method of dealing with this, as it more closely mimics network behaviour (including security stuff)
This code helps you to check if PepperPlayer is installed:
checkPepperPlayer=function(){
var is_chrome = navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase().indexOf('chrome') > -1;
if (is_chrome) {
var pluginsList = navigator.plugins;
for (var plugin in pluginsList) {
if (plugin && pluginsList[plugin] && pluginsList[plugin].filename) {
var filename = pluginsList[plugin].filename;
if (filename == "pepflashplayer.dll" || filename == "PepperFlashPlayer.plugin" || filename == "libpepflashplayer.so") {
return true;
}
}
}
}
return false;
};
I'm using the Firefox Addon SDK to build something that monitors and displays the HTTP traffic in the browser. Similar to HTTPFox or Live HTTP Headers. I am interested in identifying which tab in the browser (if any) generated the request
Using the observer-service I am monitoring for "http-on-examine-response" events. I have code like the following to identify the nsIDomWindow that generated the request:
const observer = require("observer-service"),
{Ci} = require("chrome");
function getTabFromChannel(channel) {
try {
var noteCB= channel.notificationCallbacks ? channel.notificationCallbacks : channel.loadGroup.notificationCallbacks;
if (!noteCB) { return null; }
var domWin = noteCB.getInterface(Ci.nsIDOMWindow);
return domWin.top;
} catch (e) {
dump(e + "\n");
return null;
}
}
function logHTTPTraffic(sub, data) {
sub.QueryInterface(Ci.nsIHttpChannel);
var ab = getTabFromChannel(sub);
console.log(tab);
}
observer.add("http-on-examine-response", logHTTPTraffic);
Mostly cribbed from the documentation for how to identify the browser that generated the request. Some is also taken from the Google PageSpeed Firefox addon.
Is there a recommended or preferred way to go from the nsIDOMWindow object domWin to a tab element in the SDK tabs module?
I've considered something hacky like scanning the tabs list for one with a URL that matches the URL for domWin, but then I have to worry about multiple tabs having the same URL.
You have to keep using the internal packages. From what I can tell, getTabForWindow() function in api-utils/lib/tabs/tab.js package does exactly what you want. Untested code:
var tabsLib = require("sdk/tabs/tab.js");
return tabsLib.getTabForWindow(domWin.top);
The API has changed since this was originally asked/answered...
It should now (as of 1.15) be:
return require("sdk/tabs/utils").getTabForWindow(domWin.top);
As of Addon SDK version 1.13 change:
var tabsLib = require("tabs/tab.js");
to
var tabsLib = require("sdk/tabs/helpers.js");
If anyone still cares about this:
Although the Addon SDK is being deprecated in support of the newer WebExtensions API, I want to point out that
var a_tab = require("sdk/tabs/utils").getTabForContentWindow(window)
returns a different 'tab' object than the one you would typically get by using
worker.tab in a PageMod.
For example, a_tab will not have the 'id' attribute, but would have linkedPanel property that's similar to the 'id' attribute.
I want to access the user browser settings and change the browser language, is this possible using Javascript?
If it's possible, how can I access this? (sample code please)
You can detect, but cannot set.
var lang = navigator.language || navigator.userLanguage;
// navigator.language : Netscape & Firefox
// navigator.userLanguage : Internet Explorer
If you want to output different languages, the best way is to do it server-side. Either:
use an AJAX call to dynamically load the appropriate page
use a session variable to load the initial page correctly
This is impossible and a bad idea. A better idea is to detect the browser's language, which is possible to do reasonably well, and ask the user to change it (assuming the change is absolutely necessary).
No that is not possible. How would you find it if you open a page, and your browser turns Arabic (or some other language you can't read)?
This is possible if you do it from within a Chrome extension.
Check this answer to a similar question & contentScript.js of locale-switcher Chrome extension:
let locale = null;
chrome.storage.local.get(["locale"], result => {
if (result) {
locale = result.locale;
}
if (locale) embedScript();
});
const embedScript = () => {
const code = `
(() => {
Object.defineProperties(Navigator.prototype, {
language: {
value: '${locale}',
configurable: false,
enumerable: true,
writable: false
},
languages: {
value: ['${locale}'],
configurable: false,
enumerable: true,
writable: false
}
});
})();`;
const script = document.createElement("script");
script.textContent = code;
document.documentElement.prepend(script);
script.remove();
};
I'm aware of timing (this question was asked 10 years before this answer) & that would be particularly fun if you are the author of this extension.
If what you actually want to do is detect the language the user is using, which is what you want to do, because nothing will annoy your visitors more that their browser preferences getting changed, on the server-side, read the Accept-Language HTTP request header that all modern browsers send, it should contain all the info you need. If it is absent, assume the language of your largest audience.
Check out RFC2616 Section 14.4 for more information on Accept-Language and it's use.
This is definitely not possible using JavaScript on a web page.
A browser Extension might have the rights to change this - I'm not sure, it will also depend on the browser. However, building such an extension would require a fair amount of skill and work.
This question already has answers here:
Local file access with JavaScript
(14 answers)
Closed 8 years ago.
I was pretty sure the answer was NO, and hence google gears, adobe AIR, etc.
If I was right, then how does http://tiddlywiki.com work? It is persistent and written in javascript. It is also just a single HTML file that has no external (serverside) dependencies. WTF? Where/how does it store its state?
Tiddlywiki has several methods of saving data, depending on which browser is used. As you could see in the source.
If ActiveX is enabled, it uses Scripting.FileSystemObject.
On Gecko-based browsers, it tries to use UniversalXPConnect.
If Java is enabled, it uses the TiddlySaver Java applet.
If Java LiveConnect is enabled, it tries to use Java's file classes.
HTML5's File[1], FileWriter[2], and FileSystem[3] APIs are available in the latest Developer channel of Google Chrome. The FileSystem API lets you read/write to a sandbox filesystem within a space the browser knows about. You cannot, for example, open 'My Pictures' folder on the user's local FS and read/write to that. That's something in the works, but it won't be ready for a while. Example of writing a file:
window.requestFileSystem(
TEMPORARY, // persistent vs. temporary storage
1024 * 1024, // 1MB. Size (bytes) of needed space
initFs, // success callback
opt_errorHandler // opt. error callback, denial of access
);
function initFs(fs) {
fs.root.getFile('logFile.txt', {create: true}, function(fileEntry) {
fileEntry.createWriter(function(writer) { // FileWriter
writer.onwrite = function(e) {
console.log('Write completed.');
};
writer.onerror = function(e) {
console.log('Write failed: ' + e.toString());
};
var bb = new BlobBuilder();
bb.append('Lorem ipsum');
writer.write(bb.getBlob('text/plain'));
}, errorHandler);
}
}
Check out this HTML5 Storage slide deck for more code snippets.
It uses a java file references like this:
drivers.tiddlySaver = {
name: "tiddlySaver",
deferredInit: function() {
if(!document.applets["TiddlySaver"] && !$.browser.mozilla && !$.browser.msie && document.location.toString().substr(0,5) == "file:") {
$(document.body).append("<applet style='position:absolute;left:-1px' name='TiddlySaver' code='TiddlySaver.class' archive='TiddlySaver.jar' width='1'height='1'></applet>");
}
},
isAvailable: function() {
return !!document.applets["TiddlySaver"];
},
loadFile: function(filePath) {
var r;
try {
if(document.applets["TiddlySaver"]) {
r = document.applets["TiddlySaver"].loadFile(javaUrlToFilename(filePath),"UTF-8");
return (r === undefined || r === null) ? null : String(r);
}
} catch(ex) {
}
return null;
},
saveFile: function(filePath,content) {
try {
if(document.applets["TiddlySaver"])
return document.applets["TiddlySaver"].saveFile(javaUrlToFilename(filePath),"UTF-8",content);
} catch(ex) {
}
return null;
}
}
Technically you can do
netscape.security.PrivilegeManager.enablePrivilege('UniversalBrowserWrite');
in a netscape-compatible browser (Firefox, Mozilla, Netscape), and it will ask the user* whether or not to allow filesystem access, but this is not portable.
*once per browser process
Can javascript access a filesystem?
Not outside of the sandbox area mentioned above, to the best of my knowledge. However, it can access a signed java applet that has callable public methods which can get to all files. I have done it and it works fine and is cross browser.
The signing part is somewhat involved and for professional use you might need to pay for a code signing certificate which authorises your identity. Get it from some place like Verisign. That way users at least know who the applet is written by (if that helps). You can sign it yourself for free but one of those "possible security risk" popups will occur at first use for authorisation by the user.
You would think that such signed applets for file writing would exist already for download but I couldn't find any via searching. If they did, you could just plug it in your page, learn the API and off you go.
The answer is indeed NO. Java applets, and the dreaded ActiveX plugins are usually used if this is required