Reading HTTP Client Hints with .NET
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HTTP client hints are intended to completely replace the user agents (see mycsharp/HttpUserAgentParser) of the browser in the long term and pay more attention to data protection. We are currently in a phase in which client hints are generally regarded as expiremental and therefore do not represent a complete alternative.
Furthermore, in contrast to the User-Agent header, not all client hints are provided automatically, but only on request after the first response from the client.
The basic idea behind the implementation of MyCSharp.HttpClientHints
is to have as little impact as possible on performance and middleware.
The options are therefore registered solely via a simple configuration
// Add Http Client Hint Options
builder.Services.AddHttpClientHints(options =>
{
options.UserAgent = true;
options.Platform = true;
options.Architecture = true;
options.Device = true;
options.Mobile = true;
options.Lifetime = TimeSpan.FromDays(31);
});
The corresponding headers are set by middleware, which must also be registered.
...
app.UseHttpsRedirection();
// Register Http Client Hints Middleware
app.UseHttpClientHints();
app.UseRouting();
...
The client hints are not read by a separate dependency injection registration, but as an extension method to the header collection or to the HttpContext object.
using MyCSharp.HttpClientHints.AspNetCore;
HttpClientHints clientHints = HttpClientHintsHttpContextExtensions.GetClientHints(httpContext);
Since potentially all client hints are optional, all properties are potentially nullable, which means that the client has not provided this data.
The Additional
property can be used to define your own headers that are to be requested.
// Add Http Client Hint Options
builder.Services.AddHttpClientHints(options =>
{
options.UserAgent = true;
options.Platform = true;
options.Architecture = true;
options.Device = true;
options.Mobile = true;
options.Additional = ["Sec-CH-UA-Bitness"];
options.Lifetime = TimeSpan.FromDays(31);
});
The HttpClientHints
object has a reference to all headers received, making it very easy to read them out. Optionally, you can also inherit from the HttpClientHints
class itself to simplify access.
HttpClientHints clientHints = HttpClientHintsHttpContextExtensions.GetClientHints(httpContext);
clientHints.Headers.TryGetValue("Sec-CH-UA-Bitness", out StringValues bitness);
by @BenjaminAbt and @gfoidl
MIT License
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