Per the new profile/fan page tab rule that eliminates the iFrame option, is there a way to dynamically generate content for a given tab? I've seen methods that wrap a canvas app (but requires a user to click to load content), but I want to show updated content thats managed on my servers. I thought you could also update the FBML using the Graph API, but haven't been able to find anything on that.
You can display static FBML on Application Tabs which is dynamically generated, you just can't auto-load anything that's dynamic on the client side (until the user clicks something)
You'll need to make sure you setup the application to be installable to pages as well.
Go here for help on all things social media, especially FBML.
www.facebook.com/fanpagefactory
ask questions to the community or in the 24/7 live chat (you will get a timely response either way)
Enjoy.
Related
I am working on a page tab application and am having an issue with navigation. My application, written in MVC3, is displaying and authenticating just fine as a page tab. When I click on my tab, my app receives a POST with the signed_request object as expected.
My question is, how can I support links to other pages in my application? When a user clicks on a link, I want an action to be called in my application and to not leave the Facebook iframe. In addition, I need the signed_request to be passed along so I have a user context.
At first, I thought this was not supported and that all page tab applications had to be written as Single Page Applications. However, I found examples that do exactly what I am looking for.
Click on an image:
https://www.facebook.com/Sephora/app_305927716147259
And:
http://woobox.com/pinterest
How are these apps handling page navigation within the iframe?
The performance of clicking on an image seems to be pretty bad. What are they doing behind the scenes and is there a more direct way of handling navigation?
I will also need to handle POSTs.
Thank you.
When a user clicks on a link, I want an action to be called in my application and to not leave the Facebook iframe.
Well, that’s what normal HTML links do – so no extra effort required at this point :-)
In addition, I need the signed_request to be passed along so I have a user context.
You could pass it as a GET parameter with every link – but this way the user can easily “see” it, and it might also get transfered to external servers (if any external resources are embedded within your page) via the HTTP referrer.
The better solution IMHO is store the signed request server-side in your session (parsed already, if you like), so that you have access to it on the following pages of your app.
I want to add a link to my Facebook page that will open new information within my page. Not a website, but information from a scoring program my bowlers use. I'm not a programmer by any means and have no programmer on staff I am trying to teach myself these things as I go along.
First of all, I have no idea if what I want to add is called a "tab" or an "app." I can't really seem to find a good explanation as to what the difference is. They both kind of sound the same to me. I've tried to figure out how to add both and have found a lot of great websites and information on Facebook that kind of leads you through the process.
The problem is all of them seem to expect me to already know what things like, JavaScript, canvas urls, FBML, etc... and I don't. So I'm getting tripped up on the steps even as I'm trying to work my way through the steps. I guess I'm kind of looking for a page entitled something like "Facebook developing for ignorant people."
I really appreciate any help you can give me.
Please forgive my ignorance here but I have searched and searched for how to do this and just keep coming up against a wall.
What are Facebook Tabs?
The tabbed structure multiplies your possibilities. Tabs help keep Pages organized so people know where to go to get different pieces of information. The Wall tab is for dynamic content, the Info tab has static information, the
Photos tab contains photos albums and Fan photos, etc
What are Facebook Apps?
Apps on Facebook are web apps that are loaded in the context of Facebook in what we refer to as a Canvas Page.
What is a Canvas Page?
A Canvas Page is quite literally a blank canvas within Facebook on which to run your app.
Now where you may have been confused is that you have ability for your app to be used within the context of a Facebook Page via a tab. So it is a custom tab
So now to what you want
I want to add a link to my Facebook page that will open new information within my page.
You want to add a new piece of information to the page. Is it static content. If it is just the rules of the scoring program, then you can use a Tab. Previously one was able to accomplish this using a simple FBML tab. Put Facebook has phased this out.
FBML will no longer be supported as of January 1, 2012
Two quick ways to deal with your problem
Use the Info tab description to place the information
Search for apps that offer this functionality for example TabPress
The longer way (long term) would be to follow this guide and bite the bullet for learning web hosting and development
http://developers.facebook.com/docs/appsonfacebook/pagetabs/
Any more information in terms of languages, and steps depends on exactly what you would like to do. I am not really sure what you mean by showing the bowling information. For the moment I am thinking it is just static information. So all you need to know is how to use the following HTML tags
html
head
body
p
I need to create a simple tab page with custom content inside. How on earth I can get there the shortest and easiest way? Maybe I want to track the users who liked the page, but that's not compulsory. I just want to create a tab-page, which can integrate into a page and shows some custom content.
I have created an application at Facebook, the thing is, I don't know where to head from here, to include some content in the innards of that page...
I guess you want a static FBML tab. It is hard to find on Facebook, however it is possible to find a link like this. If you are logged in to Facebook then it should take you to a page where you can add a static FBML tab to one of the pages you administer. After that you can customize the tab content from page settings.
A page tab or any application on facebook can be and usualy is considered a normal website. You'll need the same things that you would if you wanted to create a website. You'll need a server, some storage space, possible a database (if you want to store date about/for your users).
There are ways to get started for free - lots of free hosting companies out there. You can start your search here
Facebook also has links to [develop applications in a cloud system].
There are different types of facebook apps, but one of them is just a canevas app.
So you ca include an external web page in a facebook page. It's pretty similar to a frame i think.
You can find inforations here: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/guides/canvas/#canvas
I'm not sure why but creating any kind of integration beyond the use of social widgets and buttons on external sites always confuses me.
What I need to do is create a tab on a particular Fan Page. This tab needs to:
Contain an interface for casting a vote in a Poll.
Handle multiple Polls. Only one will be featured in the tab at a time, but there should be an interface for navigating to previous polls.
All polling data needs to be stored on my servers - 3rd party Polling solutions (facebook apps, or embedable services) are not an option unless the data storage location is configurable.
All those requirements are pretty easy to address. Im just confused about how to integrate with FB.
Do i need full FB App for this, or is there another way? This will only be accessible via the Fan Page tab, so I don't necessarily need an App at apps.facebook.com.
If it is an app... is there a way to hide the app page, and the standalone app canvas from everyone except Fan Page admins?
FBML will be discountinue very soon. You might need to find an alternative way to do it. :-)
Check out the Static FBML app that Facebook provides. You can implement it on any Facebook fan page, change the tab title, and specify the content in HTML/FBML (with some limitations, I believe IFRAMES, password inputs, and some other random things are not allowed, but don't take my word on these until you test them). Hopefully this at least gives you a little head start.
Even Tradablebits platform is an option. They give a good functionality and make it simpler to work with Facebook. http://apps.tradablebits.com/ I analyzed this platform for one of my apps.
I'm writing an iPhone application. I've seen widgets you can place on your website that users can click on to become a fan of your page. However, looking through the API or documentation, I can't find a way that you can facilitate "becoming a fan" through an application. I've spent about a day and a half pouring through the Facebook API docs and the cloud.
Has anyone else had success with this?
For example, say I was writing an app that listed cars, and I wanted to become a fan of the Delorean from within my app -- is there a way to do this?
If there is no solution, the alternative way I can think of is using a webview and linking to a page with a fan widget.
Fan'ing via the API is currently not possible.
Most probably, the reason for this is it would be to hard to avoid developers tricking users into become fans.
The only way is the Fan Box plugin. It's possible to remove all elements via CSS to leave just the button.
Most Apps either use the button or simply link to the page.