The send dialog is a useful piece of functionality.
Sadly it is not available on mobile devices
I call the api in the following way;
app.sendMessage = function(){
FB.ui({
app_id: app.facebook_app_id,
method: "send",
link: "http://google.com"
});
};
Right now the outcome on a mobile device is a nasty error page.
Is there a way to detect in javascript whether or not the send dialog is available?
I'd suggest something like;
function sendDialogAvailable(){
return FB.supports("senddialog");
}
I could then change my app's functionality according to this property, but right now I fear I'll have to resort to browser sniffing.
Related
I am trying to send a message to a user through private inbox with Phonegap and the phonegap facebook plugin through this functionality:
https://developers.facebook.com/docs/sharing/reference/send-dialog
So when doing this :
FB.ui({
app_id:'XXXXXXXXX',
method: 'send',
name: "This is the name",
link: 'www.google.com',
to:to,
description:'This is the description'
});
as stated in this link : Send private messages to friends
Nothing happen. Why ?
Is it supported by the plugin ?
Please help.
Thanks
I am trying to implement the private message function in phonegap build, but it seems like its only working on desktop not in mobile device.
when I change the method from send to feed, and indicate display to touch.
It works on my IOS build, the window just popup
FB.ui({
app_id:'XXXXXXXXX',
method: 'feed',
link: 'www.google.com',
to:to,
display: touch
});
However, its not working any more when I change the method back to send.
I believe facebook api don't support FB.UI send method in mobile devices, just like what they already mentioned on their page: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/sharing/reference/send-dialog
"This dialog can be used with the JavaScript SDK and by performing a full redirect to a URL. It is not supported on mobile devices."
I STILL DON'T KNOW HOW TO SEND PRIVATE MESSAGE THROUGH FACEBOOK NOW, GOOD LUCK
I have an HTML5 application that uses Azure mobile services authentication to login (straight from the example code...provided below). It works fine in all desktop browsers and iPhone 5 in Safari. But from app / full screen mode, it does nothing (doesn't ask for permission to show a popup window like it does in safari and no popup windows shows up) and I can wait forever and nothing happens. If I invoke it a second time, it gives an error saying "Error: Unexpected failure"...perhaps because the 1st attempt is still running? Any help/insight is appreciated.
client.login ("facebook").done(function (results) {
alert("You are now logged in as: " + results.userId);
}, function (err) {
alert("Error: " + err);
});
edited update with more info and 2 potential ideas*
I did some more research and found a site that uses an approach that overcomes this problem and also solves two other side effects with the current Azure mobile approach to authentication. I think the Azure mobile team might be looking to do something similar because there are some hints of other authentication options in the code (although difficult to read and be sure because the minimized code is obsfucated). It might be just a matter of activating these in the code...
The "solution":
Go to http://m.bcwars.com/ and click on the Facebook login. You'll see it works perfectly in iPhone Safari in "app mode" becuase instead of doing a popup, it simply stays in the current browser window.
This approach solves two other problems with the current Azure mobile approach. First, the popup gets interpreted by most browsers as a potential ad and is either blocked automatically (desktop Chrome) ... and the user doesn't know why it's not working...or gives a warning which the user has to approve (iPhone Safari in "browser mode") which is a hassle. And if the user has a popup blocker, it gets more difficult and even more potential for the user not getting it to work properly. The bcwars.com method doesn't have this problem.
Second, in iPhone Safari, when the popup window auto closes, the original page doesn't get focus if there are other browser windows open in Safari. Instead, it's in the smaller/slide mode so they can choose which one to show. If this happens, the user has to go through one more sttep...click on the browser window to activate it and give it focus..again more of a pain and more potential for them to mess up and not do it correctly and need help. The m.bcwars.com doesn't have this problem.
Azure options:
Looking at the Azure mobile code it looks like may already have the solution. I can't read it easliy becuase it's minified/obsfucated, but it seems to have 4 options (including iFrame, etc.) for invoking the authentication, and only 1 (the "less ideal one" of a popup) is being used. An easy solution would be to set a property to allow one of the alternate authentications to work. But I can't read it well enough to figure it out. Another would be to hack the code (temporarily until a fix is put up by Microsoft).
Could I get some help there perhaps?
You can implement an authentication flow with Facebook that doesn't use a popup. The basic idea is to use the 'Web Flow' for doing the login, and once the window return from the login, use the access token to login the user in to Azure Mobile Services.
The Facebook documentation for doing this is here:
https://developers.facebook.com/docs/facebook-login/login-flow-for-web-no-jssdk/#step2
Some code samples to make it easier for you.
You would start by something like this:
(Remember to replace YOUR_APP_ID and YOUR_URL with something relevant to your site.
function logIn() {
window.location.replace('https://www.facebook.com/dialog/oauth?client_id=YOUR_APP_ID&redirect_uri=http%3A%2F%2FYOUR_URL&response_type=token')
}
This redirects the window to the Facebook page for the user to log in and authorize your app. When the user is done, Facebook will redirect the user back to YOUR_URL given above.
There you can handle the redirect and do the Mobile Services Login with something like this:
function handleLoginResponse() {
var frag = $.deparam.fragment();
if (frag.hasOwnProperty("access_token")) {
client.login("facebook", { access_token: frag.access_token }).then(function () {
// you're logged in
}, function (error) {
alert(error);
});
}
}
In here you parse the access token you get as a URL fragment and pass it as argument to the login call you make to Azure Mobile Services.
This code depends on the jquery BBQ plugin to handle the URL fragment easily.
Hope this solves your problem!
I've noticed that BranchOut requests have a custom notification message and stand apart from other app requests in my notifications.
Is this because BranchOut has a special partnership with Facebook?
The documentation states that the "message" value will not be displayed in the notification, so I'm curious how this is being done.
No it is not possible even with new_style_apprequest parameter in FB.ui options. This used to work earlier but it has stopped working lately. It was anyways an undocumented feature. This is my guess that you might require special permissions from Facebook to be able to achieve this.
it's definitely possible, using the parameter new_style_message set to true - you can double check this by reverse engineering their Javascript API library.
This is a sample code
FB.ui({
display: 'iframe',
method: 'apprequests',
new_style_message: true,
title: "Join my network",
message: "would like you to join his network",
to: [list of user ids to invite]
});
For some time now I try to figure out how these guys were able to add "Sign online here" button which is "install App" button on their fan-page tab:
http://www.facebook.com/GuinnessIreland?v=app_165491161181
I've read around the web and couldn't come up with any solid solution. The FBML and FBJS documentation left me with nothing.
So please, if anyone can help me with this.
NOTE: To make multiple tests on the Ajax request that are sent, do not accept the App install. It behaves differently after that.
I had some problems with finding out about it as well. There is no info about this kind of behavior in wiki or anywhere. I got it working after trying some possible solutions and the simplest one is to make user interact with content embedded in fan page tab such as click on something etc. Then you need to post an ajax request with requirelogin parameter to pop up to come out. The simple example would be:
user_ajax = function() {
var ajax = new Ajax();
ajax.responseType = Ajax.RAW;
ajax.requireLogin = true;
ajax.ondone = function(data) {
new Dialog(Dialog.DIALOG_POP).showMessage('Status', data, button_confirm = 'Okay');
}
var url = "http://yourappurl.com/request_handler"
ajax.post(url);
}
And the trigger for it:
Interaction
Then if user is known to be using your application (fan page tab) you can prompt him for additional permission like publish stream or email communication by calling:
Facebook.showPermissionDialog('publish_stream,email');
Hope this solves the problem.
I have a Facebook app that is built as an iFrame. I am using the JavaScript client API loaded via:
http://static.ak.connect.facebook.com/js/api_lib/v0.4/FeatureLoader.js.php
In my initialization code, I use the requireLogin method to ensure that the user has authorized the app. I have found this to be necessary to be able to gather the user's name, avatar, etc. for the scoreboard. Here's a representative code snippet:
FB_RequireFeatures(["Connect","Api"], function() {
FB.Facebook.init("...API_KEY_HERE...", "xd_receiver.htm");
var api = FB.Facebook.apiClient;
api.requireLogin(function() {
api.users_getInfo(
FB.Connect.get_loggedInUser(),
["name", "pic_square", "profile_url"],
function(users, ex) {
/* use the data here */
});
});
});
This causes the iframe to redirect causing the Facebook authorization screen to load within my app's iFrame. This looks junky and is somewhat confusing to the user, e.g. there are two Facebook bars, etc.
Question 1: is there anything I can do to clean this up while still implementing as an iFrame, and still using the JavaScript APIs?
According to the FB API documentation:
FB.ApiClient.requireLogin
This method is deprecated - use
FB.Connect.requireSession instead.
My experience though when I replace api.requireLogin with FB.Connect.requireSession it never gets invoked. I'd prefer the recommended way of doing it but I struggled and was not able to find a way to get it to work. I tried adding various arguments for the other two parameters as well with seemingly no effect. My expectation is that this method will load in a dialog box inside my app iFrame with a similar authorization message.
Question 2: what am I missing with getting FB.Connect.requireSession to properly prompt the user for authorization?
Finally, at the end of the game, the app prompts the user for the ability to publish their score to their stream via FB.Connect.streamPublish. Which leads me to...
Question 3: am I loading the correct features? Do I need both "Api" and "Connect"? Am I missing any others?
Here is a summary of the changes I needed to make to clean up the authorization process. It appears that iFrames must fully redirect to properly authorize. I tried using the FBConnect authorization but it was a strange experience of popup windows and FBConnect buttons.
Ultimately this game me the expected experience that I've seen with other FB apps:
FB_RequireFeatures(["Connect","Api"], function() {
var apiKey = "...",
canvasUrl = "http://apps.facebook.com/...";
function authRedirect() {
// need to break out of iFrame
window.top.location.href = "http://www.facebook.com/login.php?v=1.0&api_key="+encodeURIComponent(apiKey)+"&next="+encodeURIComponent(canvasUrl)+"&canvas=";
}
FB.Facebook.init(apiKey, "xd_receiver.htm");
FB.ensureInit(function() {
FB.Connect.ifUserConnected(
function() {
var uid = FB.Connect.get_loggedInUser();
if (!uid) {
authRedirect();
return;
}
FB.Facebook.apiClient.users_getInfo(
uid,
["name", "pic_square", "profile_url"],
function(users, ex) {
/* user the data here */
});
},
authRedirect);
});
For iFrames, the solution was ultimately to redirect to the login URL which becomes the authorization URL if they are not already logged in.
I think that FB.requireSession only works from a FB connect site outside of
Facebook. If you're using an app hosted on apps.facebook.com use the php api
call instead,
$facebook = new Facebook($appapikey, $appsecret);
$facebook->require_login();
or link to the login page.
Of these methods to login
* Using the PHP client library
* Directing users to login.php
* Including the requirelogin attribute in a link or form
* Using FBML
only the first 2 are available to iframe apps hosted on apps.facebook.com
I think requirelogin and fbml only work with fbml canvas apps.
see
http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/Authorization_and_Authentication_for_Canvas_Page_Applications_on_Facebook
Question 1: is there anything I can do
to clean this up while still
implementing as an iFrame, and still
using the JavaScript APIs?
Question 2: what am I missing with
getting FB.Connect.requireSession to
properly prompt the user for
authorization?
Please have a look at this. This article discusses correct use of require session and provides links on how to implement that. And yes, you are right, the requireLogin has been deprecated and won't help any more.
Question 3: am I loading the correct
features? Do I need both "Api" and
"Connect"? Am I missing any others?
As far as I know, you can use both API and Connect together, basically you access Facebook's API with the help of JavaScript.
For iframe apps however, there is no great help and minimum support of API with some handful functionality available. See this for more info.
This causes the iframe to redirect
causing the Facebook authorization
screen to load within my app's iFrame.
This looks junky and is somewhat
confusing to the user, e.g. there are
two Facebook bars, etc.
Finally and personally I have not seen any iframe app requiring user to add the app first. This will create the problem of two bars you mentioned as quoted above.
The link I posted at the beginning of my answer has some useful links to get you started and decide the next-steps or possibly making changes to your apps.