User permission dialog doesn't pop-up for tab application - facebook

Question

I have a strange behavior for an application that I have implemented and that captures the user's info when accessed.
The application, if accessed from outside Facebook URL, pops-up correctly a JavaScript permission dialog.
But when I inserted this application as a tab application into a Facebook page the permission request dialog doesn't pop-up anymore. Moreover, I have also placed in an FB.getLoginStatus() implementation the detection of the user's current login status in Facebook, with a JavaScript alert pop-up window if the user is not logged in. When the application is called from 'outside' the alert is triggered. When the application is on a Facebook page tab it doesn't.
Is this the correct behavior? If so, how can I enable the permission request in a Facebook tab application. I'm using both JS and PHP Facebook SDKs.
Edit 1 (following CBroe comment):
I'm using the following calls in the application's content.php markup (executed on page load):
<!-- Facebook JS SDK initialization -->
<div id="fb-root"></div>
<script>initFacebookJSSDK();</script>
<!-- End of Facebook JS initialization -->
<script>checkAccessPermission();</script>
<?php include_once 'sites/www.mysite.com/custom_code/custom_index.php';?> // I'm doing
custom code under Drupal
The JavaScript functions are implemented in the custom.js file, as following:
function initFacebookJSSDK() {
window.fbAsyncInit = function() {
FB.init({
appId : 'xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx', // Application's ID
channelUrl : 'www.appsite.com/channel.html', // Channel File
status : true, // check login status
cookie : true, // enable cookies to allow the server to access the session
xfbml : true, // parse XFBML
oauth : true // enable OAuth
});
.........
});
.........
}
function getPerms() {
FB.login(function(response) {
if (!response.authResponse) {
//user refused to grant permissions, redirect to the 'index' page
window.location = "/index";
}
}, {scope:"email"}); // I request the permission to get the email address
}
function checkAccessPermission() {
FB.getLoginStatus(function(response) {
if (response.status === 'connected') {
//user has granted permissions to the application
var uid = response.authResponse.userID; // not used
var accessToken = response.authResponse.accessToken; // not used
}
else if (response.status === 'not_authorized')
// user is logged into Facebook but didn't grand permissions to the app
getPerms();
else {
//user has not granted permissions, redirect to the 'index' page
alert('Please connect with your Facebook account');
window.location = "/index";
}
});
}
The PHP script - file 'custom_index.php' contains the following snippets:
$config = array();
$config["appId"] = FB_APP_ID;
$config["secret"] = FB_SECRET_ID;
$config["cookie"] = true;
$facebook = new Facebook($config);
// get user UID
$fb_user_id = $facebook->getUser();
// user's first visit, force the permission request window
if ($fb_user_id == 0) {
$location = $facebook->getLoginUrl(array('scope' => 'email'));
..........
}
// user already gave permission, get the profile and process
if ($fb_user_id != 0) {
$access_token = $facebook->getAccessToken();
$user_profile = $facebook->api('/me', array('access_token'=>$access_token));
..........
}
Again, it works very well when the user visits the site outside Facebook, but the permission request pop-up window doesn't show-up when it runs as Facebook tab application (frame inside Facebook). To note that, concerning my previous posting, now the JavaScript statement:
alert('Please connect with your Facebook account');
is executed in both cases, including when the application is run as tab app inside Facebook (I had just to clear the browser's cache).

Answer 1

Here is the solution.
All the code above is correct and stays in place.
I just added a jQuery function on the link that pulls-up the 'content.php' page, as following (the class '.open-content-page' is on the parent page of 'content.php'):
$(document).ready(function () {
$(".open-content-page").click(function() {
checkAccessPermission();
});
});
})(jQuery);

Answer 2

You’re calling your JS function without any user interaction – have you made sure it’s not just your browser’s popup blocker that keeps the dialog from coming up? (Maybe it distinguishes between popups called from a „simple” page vs popups from pages embedded in iframes on other domains.)
Since you can’t rely on your site’s users having their popup blockers set very liberal, it’s generally a better idea to call facebook dialogs on user interaction, f.e. when the user clicks a link/button. Popups called on user interaction are less likely to get blocked than popups that want to open all by themselves.