Magento Request - Frontend or Backend?

Question

How can I tell if the current request is for a backend or frontend page? This check will be done inside an observer, so I do have access to the request object if that helps

Answer 1

If you're able to use an observer, you can limit it to the 'adminhtml' event area.

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            singleton
            mynamespace_mymodule/observer
            adminPrepareLayoutBefore