Detect SharePoint version from JavaScript ( 2013 / 2016 or Office365 )

Question

I have a javascript code that will run on different SharePoint platforms ( Office365, SharePoint 2013 & SharePoint 2016 )

I would like to detect the environment my code is running on, so I can add some CSS classes to control page behvaior based on the environment that I am running on.

How can I detect all those environment, note that code should still work if page is accessed anonymously ( SP.ClientContext is not an option here )

something like:

if ( isSharePoint2013() ) {
  document.documentElement.className += ' sharepoint-2013';
} else if ( isSharePoint2016() ) {
  document.documentElement.className += ' sharepoint-2016';
} else if ( isOffice365() ) {
  document.documentElement.className += ' office-365';
}

so what could be the logic behind those detection methods, in order to detect the right platform type ?

Answer 1

This code will work anonymously if you uncheck Remote Interfaces permission

 var clientContext;
// Make sure the SharePoint script file 'sp.js' is loaded before your code runs.
SP.SOD.executeFunc('sp.js', 'SP.ClientContext', sharePointReady);

// Create an instance of the current context.
function sharePointReady() {
    clientContext = SP.ClientContext.get_current();
    clientContext.executeQueryAsync(onRequestSucceeded, onRequestFailed);
}
function onRequestSucceeded() {
    //here you get the version
    console.log(clientContext.get_serverVersion());
}
function onRequestFailed(){
    console.log("Failed!");   
}

Answer 2

JSOM requires SP.js, so you can not check for version info early on in the Browser.

This is a snippet of the REST call I use to monitor SPOnline progress

fetch('/_vti_pvt/buildversion.cnf', {
    headers: new Headers({"content-type": "text/plain"})
}).then(function (r) {
    return r.text();
}).then(function (buildtext) {
    var build = buildtext.split('vti_buildversion:SR|')[1].split('\n')[0];
    console.info('SharePoint build:',build);
}).catch(function(e){
    console.error(,e);
});

This outputs 16.0.6008.1203 on one of my SPOnline tenants today
note: This changes weekly, sometimes hourly, and I even see Microsoft retract versions

On-Prem this version will only change on updates.
BUT read this: https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/stefan_gossner/2016/08/23/sharepoint-does-not-have-a-build-version-full-stop/

Since I only monitor SPOnlines deltas I don't care about what the Buildversion is.

The fetch API (http://caniuse.com/#feat=fetch) is standard in Chrome,
for IE you need the PolyFill: https://github.com/github/fetch