file_get_contents not working with facebook graph api - facebook

Question

file_get_contents not working with following url (failed to open stream: HTTP request failed! HTTP/1.0 400 Bad Request)
$token_url = "https://graph.facebook.com/oauth/access_token?client_id=235326466577139&redirect_uri=http%3A%2F%2Fapps.facebook.com%2Flikeablephotos%2F&client_secret=CLIENT_SECRET&code=AQDFZbjpAUda8c_gz4wDDuBOVrsn0dApz3s8UA--7hFQIi1wb70-tDE56xXcCtDq-hV5UWzR5YEw_ozuGT24FLfvh9KnqHZ3xdn46P_KxYCf3DHJQA3AAu2ICHBqTk1-6fHTsl6FbagKz83H6dn15kkbKksajA4KcVIoPse5JbuBLlh6V5L1ANe8fzR94iH_SMU";
$response = file_get_contents($token_url);
but if you copy and paste the above URL into the browser address bar it works just fine! and returns:
access_token=AAADWBzZAyUvMBAL2Th6CRtxh2Up5soTCK8N4HJcy0ZBhQgJPxtZArKbuITISMoGLDxNiyeNW4GUZCBvJPeBTH6mx4v83ueUIAAYQJA1WrAZDZD&expires=5112501
but his similar URL (for a different user) also works:
$token_url = "https://graph.facebook.com/oauth/access_token?client_id=235326466577139&redirect_uri=http%3A%2F%2Fapps.facebook.com%2Flikeablephotos%2F&client_secret=CLIENT_SECRET&code=AQC2kTEV96-1Cki2oYUhyzjH6yFe6AJRd1Q3G8fbUXW-IsLJUlactzSwCvGVBK6jh1tL-t7v6dOWJZzbkSYhk0n2z6BHQcpljWAdoXFGB5zLC4FgW8fmxT6hwdRIQOr2dZ95CD_q5yJuOUz_2DItUa3_FF9m2_TmFYGEbxPoiaF47YSTUuZp6g-8ffziJcKDAdo";
when using file_get_contents
Please help, thanks

Answer 1

As an alternative to file_get_contents have you considered using cURL. I use curl for alot of requests with great results and on fail it will not expose your client secret.
refer to http://php.net/manual/en/book.curl.php
this code snippet is a standard for all my apps to get application access token. Can be used for all api calls.
$app_access_token = GetCH();
function GetCH(){
$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, "https://graph.facebook.com/oauth/access_token?client_id=YOUR_APP_ID&client_secret=YOUR_APP_SECRET&grant_type=client_credentials");
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_USERAGENT, $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT']);
if(substr($url,0,8)=='https://'){
// The following ensures SSL always works. A little detail:
// SSL does two things at once:
// 1. it encrypts communication
// 2. it ensures the target party is who it claims to be.
// In short, if the following code is allowed, CURL won't check if the
// certificate is known and valid, however, it still encrypts communication.
curl_setopt($ch,CURLOPT_HTTPAUTH,CURLAUTH_ANY);
curl_setopt($ch,CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER,false);
}
$sendCH = curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);
return $sendCH;
};

Answer 2

Finally found the answer, had the same issue..the problem is most likely because facebook's code that they give you has spaces in between the params. If you just copied and pasted from Facebook, you will get a HTTP/1.1 400 Bad Request error. Put all the params on one line and remove all spaces and this should fix it. Worked for me. I know this is an older post but if you are having this problem let me know if it works for you!

Answer 3

For debugging:
Take the actual string in $token_url and paste into a browser address field and see what happens.
You will get some back some json error code.
For me, it was the my token was expired. Starting fresh request worked fine.

Answer 4

same problem happened to me the problem was access token supplied with the URL was expired since access token have 1 hour validity ,so i created a new access token and it works again ,hope this info helps .