i am trying to use facebook api.i get the short term access token.now i can get longterm fb access_token.its validity will be around 60 days.In google apis there is a refresh token.using that we can get valid access token again and again.there is no such way in facebook so that we can get a new long term token without user to login again.i am creating a server app which will retrieve a user's post on daily basis and i dont want them to restrict to again login after 60 days .is there method possible.please guideline.
As explained in the docs, you have to send the user through the login flow to get a new access token. However, as long as you haven't added any new permissions and the user is already logged into Facebook, they won't have to login or grant access to your app again -- they will be immediately redirected back to your app.
I have a an application which will make posts on multiple user profile pages and Fan Pages.
To obtain permission to do this, the app will process a client side auth and obtain the short-lived access token for each user who uses the app.
My app will then immediately exchange that for a 60 day long-lived access token, and store this for future use in a local DB. The app will then be able to update that users profile and pages for up to 60 days, whether the user is logged into FB or not.
The next bit is the important bit:
Each time the user uses my app, my app will test the validity of the current access token, in case the user has changed their password etc, or the 60 days have elapsed.
If the access token is no longer valid, my app will seek to obtain a new one.
If the user is not logged into Facebook at this point, it is my understanding that I will have to prompt a login and force a client side auth, to obtain a new short-lived access token which I will have to exchange for a new 60 day long-lived token.
Is this correct? ie that the user has to login again? ie there is not way to process the access_token update on the server side?
Also, is it the case the the 60 day expiry only applies in respect of user access tokens, and does not apply in respect of page access tokens?
thx
Is this correct? ie that the user has to login again? ie there is not way to process the access_token update on the server side?
No. You need a valid short-lived user access token first, and that you get through the process of client-side login.
Also, is it the case the the 60 day expiry only applies in respect of user access tokens, and does not apply in respect of page access tokens?
Correct, page tokens do not expire by default, if they where obtained using a long-lived user access token.
I'm making a facebook application that will scan a users' news feed on a daily basis - but the offline access token has been deprecated.
I know that the access token can be extended to 60 days. So if a user doesn't use my application for 60 days, would I be not able to access their information after that?
I read the developers section but didn't understand it properly.
That's exactly the point. You'll need to code your app to run through an authentication flow if the access token expires. Remember, the access token can expire for other (legitimate) reasons, other than timeout. If you're not asking for new permissions, and need to grab a new access tokens, the flow should happen without any user actions required.
You'll need to code for access tokens failing regardless of offline_access - so do it right! :)
I want to write a Facebook Application that checks a user defined RSS feed periodically and import new items to users'/pages' wall(I know, there are similar apps). But I couldn't find an useful manual for authenticating for background processes. I mean, you know, I must publish streams when user not online. I know, a permission named "offline_access" for that, but I'm confused about that; do I have that I must store the access token key that I took while the user is online? Or are there any other method to using access token when user is offline?
Facebook API access tokens that taken with offline_access are long-lived tokens.(It's expires in 60 days). So yes, we must store access token key in our database but Facebook user must give access again in 60 days.
https://developers.facebook.com/roadmap/offline-access-removal/
I am playing around with the Oauth 2.0 authorization in Facebook and was wondering if the access tokens Facebook passes out ever expire. If so, is there a way to request a long-life access token?
After digging around a bit, i found this. It seems to be the answer:
Updated (11/April/2018)
The token will expire after about 60 days.
The token will be refreshed once per day, for up to 90 days, when the person using your app makes a request to Facebook's servers.
All access tokens need to be renewed every 90 days with the consent of the person using your app.
Facebook change announce (10/04/2018)
Facebook updated token expiration page (10/04/2018)
offline_access:
Enables your application to perform authorized requests on behalf of the user at any time. By default, most access tokens expire after a short time period to ensure applications only make requests on behalf of the user when the are actively using the application. This permission makes the access token returned by our OAuth endpoint long-lived.
Its a permission value requested.
http://developers.facebook.com/docs/authentication/permissions
UPDATE
offline_access permission has been removed a while ago.
https://developers.facebook.com/docs/roadmap/completed-changes/offline-access-removal/
Try this may be it will help full for you
https://graph.facebook.com/oauth/authorize?
client_id=127605460617602&
scope=offline_access,read_stream,user_photos,user_videos,publish_stream&
redirect_uri=http://www.example.com/
To get lifetime Access Token you have to use scope=offline_access
Meaning of scope=offline_access is that :-
Enables your application to perform authorized requests on behalf of
the user at any time. By default, most access tokens expire after a
short time period to ensure applications only make requests on behalf
of the user when the are actively using the application. This
permission makes the access token returned by our OAuth endpoint
long-lived.
But according to facebook future upgradation the offline_acees functionality will be deprecated for forever from the 3rd October, 2012.
and the user will be given 60 days long-lived access token and before expiration of the access token Facebook will notify or you can get your custom notification functionality fetching the expiration value from the Facebook Api..
Note that Facebook is now deprecating the offline_access permission in favor of tokens for which you can request an "upgrade" to the expiry. I'm just now dealing with this, myself, so I don't have much more to say, but this doc may help:
https://developers.facebook.com/docs/offline-access-deprecation/
I came here with the same question as the OP, but the answers suggesting the use of offline_access are raising red flags for me.
Security-wise, getting offline access to a user's Facebook account is qualitatively different and far more powerful than just using Facebook for single sign on, and should not be used lightly (unless you really need it). When a user grants this permission, "the application" can examine the user's account from anywhere at any time. I put "the application" in quotes because it's actually any tool that has the credentials -- you could script up a whole suite of tools that have nothing to do with the web server that can access whatever info the user has agreed to share to those credentials.
I would not use this feature to work around a short token lifetime; that's not its intended purpose. Indeed, token lifetime itself is a security feature. I'm still looking for details about the proper usage of these tokens (Can I persist them? How do/should I secure them? Does Facebook embed the OAuth 2.0 "refresh token" inside the main one? If not, where is it and/or how do I refresh?), but I'm pretty sure offline_access isn't the right way.
Yes, they do expire. There is an 'expires' value that is passed along with the 'access_token', and from what I can tell it's about 2 hours. I've been searching, but I don't see a way to request a longer expiration time.
since i had the same problem - see the excellent post on this topic from ben biddington, who clarified all this issues with the wrong token and the right type to send for the requests.
http://benbiddington.wordpress.com/2010/04/23/facebook-graph-api-getting-access-tokens/
You can always refresh the user's access token every time the user logs into your site through facebook.
The offline access can't guarantee you get a life-long time access token, the access token changes whenever the user revoke you application access or the user changes his/her password.
Quoted from facebook http://developers.facebook.com/docs/authentication/
Note: If the application has not requested offline_access permission, the access token is time-bounded. Time-bounded access token also get invalidated when the user logs out of Facebook. If the application has obtained offline_access permission from the user, the access token does not have an expiry. However it gets invalidated whenever the user changes his/her password.
Assume you store the user's facebook uid and access token in a users table in your database,every time the user clicks on the "Login with facebook" button, you check the login statususing facebook Javascript API, and then examine the connection status from the response,if the user has connected to your site, you can then update the access token in the table.
Hit this to exchange a short living access token for a long living/non expiring(pages) one:
https://graph.facebook.com/oauth/access_token?
client_id=APP_ID&
client_secret=APP_SECRET&
grant_type=fb_exchange_token&
fb_exchange_token=EXISTING_ACCESS_TOKEN
log into facebook account and edit your application settings(account -> application setting ->additional permission of the application which use your account). uncheck the permission (Access my data when I'm not using the application(offline_access)). Then face will book issue a new token when you log in to the application.
Basic the facebook token expires about in a hour. But you can using 'exchange' token to get a long-lived token
https://developers.facebook.com/docs/facebook-login/access-tokens
GET /oauth/access_token?
grant_type=fb_exchange_token&
client_id={app-id}&
client_secret={app-secret}&
fb_exchange_token={short-lived-token}
This is a fair few years later, but the Facebook Graph API Explorer now has a little info symbol next to the access token that allows you to access the access token tool app, and extend the API token for a couple of months. Might be helpful during development.
check the following things when you interact with facebook graph api.
1) Application connect URL should be the base of your "redirect_uri"
connect URL:- www.x-minds.org/fb/connect/
redirect_uri - www.x-minds.org/fb/connect/redirect
2) Your "redirect_uri" should be same in the both case (when you request for a verification code and request for an access_token)
redirect_uri - www.x-minds.org/fb/connect/redirect
3) you should encode the the argument when you request for an access_token
4) shouldn't pass the argument (type=client_cred) when you request for an access_token. the authorization server will issue a token without session part. we can't use this token with "me" alias in graph api. This token will have length of (40) but a token with session part will have a length of(81).
An access token without session part will work with some cases
eg: -https://graph.facebook.com/?access_token=116122545078207|EyWJJYqrdgQgV1bfueck320z7MM.
But Graph API with "me" alias will work with only token with session part.
I don't know when exactly the tokens expire, but they do, otherwise there wouldn't be an option to give offline permissions.
Anyway, sometimes requiring the user to give offline permissions is an overkill. Depending on your needs, maybe it's enough that the token remains valid as long as the website is opened in the user's browser. For this there may be a simpler solution - relogging the user in periodically using an iframe: facebook auto re-login from cookie php
Worked for me...