Facebook App Setup - facebook

I created FB application that use iframes, and it's working okay, as it should, BUT I need to check from what page is calling it.
I want different pages to pass different variables to that iframe location.
I already know how to set up it to three levels ( original page, application page, and on tab page, with different display content ), but I need to check from what page it's called.
I am thinking that it can be done in 2 ways:
1 way: Find way to pass specific variable based on page that is using this application as tab, and then redirect it to right location
2 way: Find way to create new application outside facebook ( maybe API or something ) and then enter all those values including: App name, app link that have this variable included, app tab link, using iframe and not FBML...
I will love to use 2. way...
I'm not asking you to show me code, I know that I need to do my job, I'm not asking you to do it for me, I'm just asking for help, for directions from someone who already create something like this, to point me to right direction where can I find way...
Also, please don't tell me to read bunch of stuffs, like FB Documentation or whole book that have all other "not-used-here" stuffs, I need specific part where there is a word about this...
If someone know anything about this, write it here...
Thank you!

The "page" parameter is passed along within the "new" signed_request parameter on (iframe) tabs. You get what you need for "free" ;)
page: A JSON object containing the page
id string, the liked boolean if the
user has liked the page, the admin
boolean if the user is an admin. Only
available if your app is an iframe
loaded in a Page tab.
http://developers.facebook.com/docs/authentication/signed_request/

Related

Callback from Facebook app as a tab app on multiple pages

Salon owners can create an account with their salon information on our platform and they get a page that they can use as a tab app.
I want to be able to serve all these pages from one app instead of having to install each one seprately and I also want to make the life of the salon owner easier by helping them to install the tab.
I know about the link I can create to help them install the app and I know that when a visitor visits the app that facebook will send the page ID. So far so good.
https://developers.facebook.com/docs/appsonfacebook/pagetabs/
But how do I make sure that when the salonowner follows the link to install the app that I get the page ID back (through callback or other) so that I can register which page ID belongs to which salon account.
I've read sone 2011 article about a callback but I can't find any recent info on this.
I think it should be possible as a lot of sites offer easy fb apps to businesses.
Any help would be welcome!
EDIT: Could this last piece of info in the Facebook link above be used to do this? I don't quite get it yet.
In addition, your app will also receive a string parameter called app_data as part of signed_request if an app_data parameter was set in the original query string in the URL your tab is loaded on. It could look like this: "https://www.facebook.com/YourPage?v=app_1234567890&app_data=any_string_here". You can use that to customize the content you render if you control the generation of the link.
Well... Preventing users from adding your application to their page is impossible. You can't prevent that.
What you will be able to do is to detect who has added your application and according to that, change the content (or not display it at all). So you'll have to start with a list of "allowed" page_ids to match to the accounts you want.
Your application will receive a signed_request each time a user arrives at your application (within a page). Inside that signed_request is information not only on the user but also on the page that the application is on (provided it is a page tab app).
Once you have obtained the signed_request, it will hold a page key which contains:
A JSON object containing the page id string, the liked boolean (set to
true if the user has liked the page, false if not) and the admin
boolean (set to true if the user is an admin of the page, false if
they're not). This field is only present if your app is being loaded
within a Page Tab.
So you'll be able to access the page_id from within this variable and make a decision on the type of content you want to be displayed.
Ok, after running some tests I found out that when you add a URL as 'next' parameter to the install URL Facebook will send the admin(user) back to this URL while adding an array to the request containing all the page Id's the app was installed to.
Like this: YOUR_CALLBACK_URL?tabs_added[ID]=1
Proved to be quite easy in the end

Facebook Like posting different to what debugger showing

I cant figure this one out, i have built a site with an e commerce system and i want visitors to be able to like an individual product and thus that product be added to their feed.
I have added all the open graph code to the relevant place, but when someone clicks "Like" is shares a default thing rather than the perticular product. this is the one i have been using for an example
https://pinnaclesupplement.co.uk/index.php/shop/168/10/weight-gainers/serious-mass-2-72kg-detail
so I tried using the facebook debugger to see if i could figure it out, but thats is showing the correct info and exactly what i want to show up on peoples feeds! here is a link for that.
https://developers.facebook.com/tools/debug/og/object?q=https%3A%2F%2Fpinnaclesupplement.co.uk%2Findex.php%2Fshop%2F168%2F10%2Fweight-gainers%2Fserious-mass-2-72kg-detail
You have your Like button set up to point to http://www.pinnaclesupplement.co.uk – so when people klick like, they only get the “default thing”, your basic site’s description.
If you want customers to like a specific product page’s URL – then you should point the href parameter of the Like button there.

passing variables into new page tab installations

I would like to build a customized Facebook page tab for other page owners to instal onto their Facebook pages. Each page tab will need to have its own ID in the links that lead out of the page tab in order for us to track that page activity.
For example each page tab will have a list of products that link to the relevant product pages on an external website. Each of those links will have a unique ID parameter to we can track clicks and purchases. [e.g http://www.mydomain.com/products/product123.aspx?userid=12345]
So I need to create the userid variable in the link. Possibly using GET (or Request.QueryString for asp) to receive from the initial page tab installation.
From what i can see I might be able to use the app_data parameter to pass data over to the page, but when i tried it, it didn't work.
This is what i am using to install the page tabs
[https://www.facebook.com/dialog/pagetab?app_id=YOUR_APP_ID&app_data=12345]
I thought that this will pass the userid over to the new page tab, but it doesnt seem to work.
If anyone could point me in the right direction i would be very grateful.
Cheers
From what i can see I might be able to use the app_data parameter to pass data over to the page, but when i tried it, it didn't work.
This is what i am using to install the page tabs [https://www.facebook.com/dialog/pagetab?app_id=YOUR_APP_ID&app_data=12345]
But you are aware, that appending &app_data=12345 does not mean you will get a GET parameter by the name 'app_data', right …?
The app_data will be passed as a property inside the signed_request parameter – so you’ll have to decode that one, and inside you’ll find your app_data value.
Why does 'each page tab' need to have an ID?
The Page ID should be enough for you to determine which content to show (and it's passed to your app on each page load via the signed_request, and the page ID is also passed back to your app in the callback to the pagetab dialog
You could also request manage_pages Permission from the user to determine the list of pages they administer and if your app is installed on each

Tab links using only the page and app_id has stopped working, is there an alternative beyond querying Facebook each time?

A few days ago these type of links worked: http://www.facebook.com/pages/132456789?sk=app_132465798465 but now they give 404's.
The alternative is link to the namespace of the page like so: http://www.facebook.com/pages/foo/1456798324564?sk=app_134654689794 however to find out the link I'd need to ask Facebook for it, and it seem like since the namespace can change I can't just ask for it once.
Is there another way to use page and app id's to link to tabs without needing the roundtrip to Facebook?
I don't think that first format was ever used on Facebook, i'm surprised it worked.
As far as I can tell the 'name' part of a page URL is arbitrary, so just filling in something there will work, e.g.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tea/194040780316?sk=info
will also work as
http://www.facebook.com/pages/some_random_text/194040780316?sk=info

How To stream.publish Within a Profile Tab

I have successfully setup an iFrame based App using the Javascript SDK, and we are trying to enable it on a Page Tab.
It seems Facebook has changed some things lately, because the app breaks when added to the Page Tab. I even went as far as making sure that all external scripts were included in the main index.php file, and that the body tags were taken out.
No, I'm trying to find out if it is even possible to use methods such as the stream.publish within a Profile Tab at all.
It seems like it isn't. As far as I can tell, you can no longer use any social methods on the Profile Tab.
Here were two related articles on the subject:
insidefacebook.com/2010/08/19/facebook-moving-toward-iframes-over-fbml-for-canvas-apps-and-page-tabs/
-and-
developers.facebook.com/roadmap
If anyone can confirm or deny this, it would be a huge help. The Facebook docs are just all over the place.
Here's a link to the working App Canvas as it stands now: http://apps.facebook.com/votetesting/
I know that on tab pages, you cannot do any JS until the user clicks on something first. Maybe that is the problem.
-Roozbeh