Is it possible to have a facebook tab application without a tab? - facebook

A client wants to have a facebook page tab app, but they don't want the tab to be visible to the public. They're OK with the general public accessing the app if they obtain a link to it somehow, but don't want to advertise the app with a page tab icon at the top of their facebook page.
If I "Remove from favorites" on the page tab icon, the app itself becomes inaccessible. If I put the app in sandbox mode, only admins/testers can access it. All I really want to do is hide the icon itself but the leave the app up and running. Is this possible?

No, it's not possible to have a page tab app which doesn't appear as a tab.
You/They should probably use a canvas app ('App on Facebook' in the settings, accessed via apps.facebook.com) for this purpose.
This also has the advantage of giving them more screen real estate to work with, and it can be kept 'anonymous' by just linking directly to it and not promoting it any other way

Related

How to hide a tab from a fanpage during development

I'm wondering how to hide a Facebook tab from a published fanpage while the tab is under development, so that it only appears for page Admins?
In order to edit tabs it seems that they have to be added to the page, in order to be able to edit them. That's a problem when customizing a Facebook tab, as you don't want your fans to see your work-in-progress content until it's ready to be published.
Here I'm not referring to a custom built app, but apps like Static HTML.
Any one who has experience with this?
Enable sandbox mode in the app settings.
Goto dev https://developers.facebook.com/apps
Click on the app in the left hand column.
Under setting look to see if Sandbox mode is on or off.
If you want to change the setting click "Edit Settings"
The Sandbox setting is under basic settings.
For you and the client to test the app you have to give them permissions by adding them as a tester/developer/admin of the app. https://developers.facebook.com/docs/ApplicationSecurity/

How do I test a Facebook page tab app without creating a public page for it?

I'm developing a FB page tab app, and I want to provide my client a URL for testing the app. I don't have a page specifically for this app, nor do I want to create one - the test versions of the app should remain private. What is the normal process for testing page tab apps privately in this manner?
Try this:
Go to your application: developers.facebook.com/apps
open your app, on left side there is a section called advanced (settings->advanced),
just click on that and you will find create a facebook page option,
you can create a facebook page and after creating,
you can set setting for publish or unpublish.
You have to enable the Sandbox Mode in your app settings.
If you want to give other users access to the app, you need to add them as developers or testers in the Roles settings.

Invisible app on Facebook pages profile

Is there any way to have an app on a 'pages' profile on Facebook that doesn't show a tab on the public profile.
I have tried adding the app (with a pages tab) and hiding the tab after adding it to the page however this seems to cause it to be automatically removed completely.
Yes it is possible by enabling "Sandbox" mode for application. Once sandboxed application (as well as Page tab) will be visible only to Administrators/Developers/Test users of application.
So generally you may enable sandbox mode and add users as Test Users for an application.

How to make the facebook tab to go to a particular website?

We have a facebook fanpage and we would like to make a tab on left hand side menu bar such that user will go to a webpage after clicking on it.
Any idea? Previously, there is a static FBML app but now this app seems cannot be used anymore.
Thanks.
Page Tab is just an Application running in iframe, which may be static page if you wish so. You'll need to host it elsewhere. To add Tab to your Facebook Pages you need to leverage Application with Page Tab details configured.
Read Page Tab Tutorial about how to configure your Application to work as a Page Tab.
You may also want to watch the Facebook Platform Overview course (require Sliverlight), especially "Page Tab Apps" part.

Do I need to create a new Facebook app for each app tab on a page?

I recently made an app so i could have an iframe tab on my page. i want to add another tab with an iframe. Can this be done with the same app?
Can i determine which tab a request came from? Its going to be different content under each tab.
I want to keep it the same app so users will not have to grant permissions for a second app.
No, you can only define one tab per app. You can configure that tab to display different content for different pages, but you cannot install more than one tab to a page using the same app. You'll have to create multiple apps, but you should be able to point them at the same codebase and determine which app is requesting content to serve the proper tab.
Regarding permissions, I'd work it so that you don't do any authentication from the tab itself but instead you link them to the same installation endpoint.