Is it possible to run games made with Adobe Director (shockwave player) in Facebook?
Yes.
Applications inside of Facebook can be rendered in two ways. FBML or inside of an iFrame. In the case of FBML you can embed FLV, SWF, and silverlight files. In the case of an iFrame you can render anything you want. You can choose the type of application canvas on the developer settings for the application.
Each of the options has certain benefits and limitations, but if you're only concerned with embedding a shockwave game then this shouldn't matter.
Well, I think that technically you can create your facebook app in whatever language you like. The apps aren't hosted on Facebook, they're just accessed through facebook.
Related
Today I stumbled upon a app that was playable directly in a Facebook newsfeed Newsfeed SmartApps.
How is this possible? Is there a new feature that I might have missed? If so, how do I build such an app myself?
They used to have that described under the name “Feed Gaming” in the docs at one point, but I think that section has now been removed.
Basically all this is, is an SWF flash file, embedded via Open Graph meta tags as a “video” – details for that see here, https://developers.facebook.com/docs/sharing/webmasters#video
Of course that won’t work on mobile devices that don’t have flash – but currently, it is the only way.
(Some FB partners can also embed HTML5 content as an iframe directly into newsfeed – but normal 3rd-party apps can not do that, as of now.)
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
Okey, so I have a business Facebook Page like many others. And I want to customize it like many others have. But Facebook (henceforth FB) documentation is really bad.
So I go and edit my page and there I find Facebook Static FBML application. So far, great, and I can even use standard HTML to edit it. And then there is also FBML which I can use to make more advanced customization, like show something for people who "Like" and something else for others. Pretty straightforward. But then i notice that Facebook is deprecating FBML and recommend me to use JavaScript SDK and Social Plugins.
So what does this mean for me? Can I customize my site this way or not?
The documentation for JavaScript SDK and Social Plugins is worthless and very general, how do these apply for my Page customization?
But Facebook Static FBML application it self is an application i guess. Will it work in the future?
What is the best way to customize my FB Page and add tabs and so on?
What should I do?
ANSWER (for lazy people):
While Facebook Static FBML application might be working in the near future, it seems like building applications yourself is the right way to go.
Build an application: http://www.facebook.com/developers/createapp.php
Also you do not need the FBML since you can do all that is needed with the graph-api.
Graph-API doc: http://developers.facebook.com/docs/api
Also, by using the iframe canvas when building apps this allows you to host your page tabs where ever you want allowing you do use any coding language you want.
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.
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.