I just wanted to know if there is a way to host a facebook application in facebook's servers and not elsewhere. is facebook providing hoting for applications?
Thanks
There is no hosting provided by facebook for facebook applications. There are currently two types of facebook applications: iFrame and FBML. iFrame apps can be coded using the sdk's in your language of choice and are a bit more open as far as javascript, database and other functionality. The FBML apps must be written using facebook's markup language FBML, FBJS and FQL for queries. This route is a bit more limited as you can only use the FB markup, js and query languages. Whichever one of these paths you choose you will need to host your code yourself.
You should check this out:
http://developers.facebook.com/docs/guides/canvas/
Facebook recently updated these docs with the release of the GraphAPI, they are much better than before. Good place to get started.
Related
i was wondering whether i can incorporate wordpress blog into a facebook application so that i specify the Canvas URL to point to the blog's url.i haven't really tried it out,was just thinking about it.
2.if the answer is no,are there any other blogging platforms that allow this e.g blogger and the likes.thanks
Simply put yes although there are some things you need to be made aware of:
Facebook Applications now require a Secure URL, that is a URL that is accessed via HTTPS:// not the standard HTTP://
Facebook does not allow the use of custom Javascript and only allows you to implement the Facebook javascript SDK
Styling can be a bit of a pain. If your placing the application into a page then remember there are sizing (width) issues that you have to bear in mind.
Hope this helps out a little bit. If not here's an article I followed some time ago relating to your questions: http://www.hyperarts.com/blog/tutorial-add-an-iframe-application-to-your-facebook-fan-page-fall-2012/
Regards
Facebook Apps are simply just iFrames to another URL anywhere on the internet. You can put anything you want inside of this iFrame (within Platform Policy of course) and it will work. It won't bring you any additional functionality though, for that you'll need to start integrating plugins and APIs.
I've been asked to code a Facebook page, and I have no idea where to start. A bit of googling around has lead me FBML (Facebook markup language) but I can't find anything definitive in the help or any good tutorials on how to code a custom facebook page.
Anyone have any great links on how to create a Facebook page? Beyond actually just making the page on Facebook. Things such as embedding video, adding backgrounds, forms, animation and fully featured web page type functionality.
The design we have has all these elements, along with pulling RSS feeds and such.
Any help, or direction would be great!
Thanks,
You should not use FBML anymore!
We are in the process of deprecating FBML. If you are building a new
application on Facebook.com, please implement your application using
HTML, JavaScript and CSS.
A facebook app/page is a simple html site where you connect to facebook via the Facebook API. In the meantime the facebook documentation has become quite readable. Have a look at:
SDK tools (JS and PHP)
Authentication (how to know who the user is)
Permissions (the user has to approve that you may gather information)
The Graph API (how to get informations)
Dialogs (how to interact on the clientside)
I have read many articles about facebook apps, but I can't find anything what I need. Is it possible to create an App for Facebook with HTML/ CSS / Jquery without to using FBML and load this app from my server? Is it possible to use in this app the facebook functions like share, add app to my account etc? Is there any doku or example apps, where I can take a look?
Thanks
Nik
What delayed my app getting to work was realizing that the canvas URL request is HTTP POST - not HTTP GET as otherwise usual. A simple way to start is looking at example apps that have their source code open. There're examples both for PHP and python at the developer pages. A good example of a simple facebook app that uses google app engine is runwithfriends
FBML is in the process of deprecation in favor of the Graph Api for quite a while now.
Excerpt from http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/fbml/:
We are in the process of deprecating FBML. If you are building a new application on Facebook.com, please implement your application using HTML, JavaScript and CSS. You can use our JavaScript SDK and Social Plugins to embedded many of the same social features available in FBML. While there is still functionality that we have not ported over yet, we are no longer adding new features to FBML.
The Graph Api is easily accessible through JavaScript.
For a quick start you can use this page as a start.
First of all, fbml is not supported anymore. so forget about that.
You can write your fb app in many languages, for example you can do it in Ruby on Rails, PHP, or C#/ASP.NET etc, whatever you prefer (although you might want to look if there are some frameworks available for your platform, for using facebook. will make your life easier).
Then, setup your app from facebook developer to match your ip, and you're set to go
The Like Button seems like a very specific, and not very elegant in my opinion, solution to allowing users to post a web page to their Facebook profile. You have two options: 1) Use the iFrame solution, which allows very little flexibility in functionality, integration or appearance or 2) the XFBML solution which requires loading the entire Facebook javascript SDK just for one little "share this" button.
Is the Like Button the only way that is currently supported by Facebook to allow sharing of content to a user's Facebook profile? It seems to be the only method mentioned anywhere in the Facebook developer documentation, and I've had trouble finding any alternatives elsewhere on the internet.
There was a service called Facebook Share:
http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=<your url>&t=<your title>
I guess it's still working but I'm seeing people having troubles using it and Facebook is forcing developers to use the Like Plugin.
Now:
Most likely your visitors will have the Facebook JS Library cached on their browsers
Facebook uses CDNs and their servers are super fast
Even if it doesn't fit in your design, don't forget that users are used to it
You can create a Facebook Application and use the Graph API but it's way more complicated
Don't use their services!
Actually, Facebook share is the simplest and most natural solution to share content on your FB profile.
You may want to read this article.
I'm reading Facebook's documentation so I can figure out how to enable Facebook Connect on my site. What confuses me is which parts apply to Facebook applications and Facebook Connect, because I'll be reading along, thinking I'm learning about Facebook Connect, but then I'll reach a section that mentions Facebook applications. For example, here's an except from the page on Data.getCookies:
This method returns all cookies for a given user and application.
Cookies only apply to Web applications; they do not apply to desktop applications.
I think of my website as a Web application, but I can't tell if "Web applications" simultaneously refers to Facebook Connect sites and Facebook applications. How can I tell if what I'm reading applies to Facebook Connect and not just Facebook apps?
In that context, "Web applications" refers to canvas based apps with Facebook. "Desktop apps" is the other type mentioned there, and refers to a non-web app like a widget for your system tray in Windows.
I would look at the Facebook platform as a set of APIs:
Facebook canvas applications (Apps you use in FB. What users think of as "Facebook apps")
FBML / FBJS apps
Iframe canvas apps
Facebook desktop applications (Rare)
Facebook connect applications (Websites with elements of FB in them. CNN, Digg)
Web
iPhone
Note that all of these can access the Facebook API, the REST and FQL interface. Most of the documentation is for FBML canvas applications. On the left side of the Facebook developer wiki you can see a few top-level options:
API (you can always use this)
FBML (canvas apps only)
XFBML (Facebook connect only)
FQL (you can always use this)
FBJS (mostly canvas apps, some connect functionality)
I'm sure you've seen:
http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/Facebook_Connect
Which is the main connect documentation. I hope this helps you get organized.
Good luck!
Many aspects of the FB web applications (like FBML, FQL) are common for both FB apps and FB Connect. I would say that FB Connect is more likely to be used on sites implementing more FB's visual elements (FBML). Additionally, FB Connect can be used off-line (where the user does not have a current session directly with FB).
I admit that the documentation is fairly scattered and often quite vague - but once you keep reading more and more about it, the concepts become clearer. At least that was my experience.
I recently found a great blog post that describes the differences between FBML canvas pages, iframe canvas pages and Facebook Connect sites. It focuses more on the technical difference between FBML and iframe apps, but since these technologies are mentioned throughout Facebook's documentation, it seems almost essential for Facebook Connect developers to have a basic understanding of regular Facebook apps, even though they won't be working with them directly. I think knowing about this page a few months ago would have saved me alot of heartache.