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Creating Mobile Device Rules

Mobile Device Rules is available for Liferay 7.2 and prior only because Liferay Mobile Device Detection Lite is deprecated in 7.3.

As a prerequisite, you must install the Liferay Mobile Device Detection Lite (LMDD) app from Liferay Marketplace. This app provides the device detection database that’s required to detect which mobile devices are accessing it.

Creating a Mobile Device Family

A Mobile Device Family is a group of mobile device actions based on the type of device. Before creating mobile device actions, create a Mobile Device Family. For example, create a group for all Android devices; if Liferay detects an Android device, it can redirect the visitor to a mobile-friendly page.

To create a Mobile Device Family,

Navigate to the desired Site.
Click the () icon.
Go to Configuration → Mobile Device Families.
Click Add button () to add a New Device Family.
Enter a Name and Description.
Click Save.

The Mobile Device Families page lists the defined families.

Create a Mobile Device Family so you can create rules.

To add families for all Sites, go to the Global site by clicking the Site Selector () → My Sites → Global and then add a new device family.

The rules defined for a family, along with the priorities of the families selected for a particular Site or page, determine which family’s actions are applied to a given request. New rules can specify an operating system, rule type, physical screen size, and screen resolution. You can add as many rules to a family as you need in order to classify the devices on which you’d like to take actions.

In the Mobile Device Families page, click on the name of the Mobile Device Family. The Classification Rules page appears.
Click the Add button () to add a new rule.
Enter a Name and Description.
Select the classifications you want for this rule from Operating System and Type, Physical Screen Size, and Screen Resolution.
Click Save.

Applying a Mobile Device Rule

You can add families to a Site, individual page, or page set from their respective configuration pages. To do it for a Page Set,

Go to Site Builder → Pages in your Site.
Click the () icon for the Public Pages.
Click the Advanced tab.
Expand the Mobile Device Rules section.
Click Select to open the list of families.
Select the families to apply.
Click Save when finished.

Applying a Mobile Device Rule to a Page

You can configure each page to inherit the mobile device rules from the parent Site or you can apply a different rule to specific pages.

To configure a mobile device rule for a specific page,

Go to Site Builder → Pages in your Site.
Click on the icon next to the desired page then Configure.
Click the Advanced tab.
Expand the Mobile Device Rules section.
Slide the toggle to NO to choose a different mobile device rule from the parent site.
Click Select to open the list of families.
Select the families to apply.
Click Save when finished.

Adding Mobile Device Actions

Once you’ve created some mobile device families and added some rules to them, add mobile device actions. These actions defined for a family determine what happens to a request when the device is detected and the family has been found to apply.

tip

Segmentation and Personalization has a Device rule that evaluates whether a User is accessing content using a particular device family. This rule is integrated with the Mobile Device Families app.

You can add Mobile Device Actions to a Page Set or to a specific page.

To add actions to a Mobile Device Rule on a Site,

Open the Site Administration menu for the Liferay Guest Site.
Click Site Builder → Pages.
Click the () icon next to Public Pages.
Click the Advanced tab.
Expand the Mobile Device Rules section.
Click Options () → Manage Actions next to the device family that you wish to add an action for.
Click Add Action.
Enter a Name and Description.
Select a Type (for example, Redirect to Site). See the Mobile Device Actions Reference next to learn about the Types.
Select the desired Site where visitors will be redirected to.
Select the default landing page on the Site.
Click Save when finished.

The Mobile Device Action has been added to this Site.

Mobile Device Actions Reference

Mobile Device Actions defined for a Mobile Device Family determine what happens to a request when the device is detected and the family has been found to apply.

By default, there are four kinds of actions that can be configured for mobile families:

Add a Mobile Device Action to a Site, Page Set, or Page.

Mobile Device Action	Description
Layout Template Modification	Changes the way portlets are arranged on pages delivered to mobile devices. For example, you could have pages with more complex layouts automatically switch to a simpler template if it detects a mobile device—even if the resolution is theoretically high enough to support the standard layout.
Theme Modification	Selects a specific theme for different mobile device families. You’d have to have a mobile version of your Site’s theme that is automatically applied when a device hits your page.
URL Redirect	Sends mobile users to any URL. This can be used to direct mobile users to a mobile app download or a mobile version of the page.
Site Redirect	Sends mobile users to a different Site on your portal. In some cases, mobile content could be created on a mirror of your Site.

tip

Liferay was designed from the ground up to be responsive and adapt to any device that might be accessing it. Before creating new themes or forcing a layout template change, you should test how the Site behaves out-of-the-box. Certain features, like URL Redirects, can be disruptive and frustrating if used improperly.