I know how to create an application that can be installed as a tab on a Facebook fan page, but what can I do to get more exposure on the main page.
For example, I would like to install an app that was permanently open in the left hand column of a fan page.
Is this possible? What is this called? How do I get started?
Thanks.
Yes it's possible. It's called the narrow profile box.
Go to the Developer application
View My Applications
Edit the settings
Click "Profiles"
Make sure you have "Narrow" selected
This will let your users install the application into the left hand column of their profile or fan page.
Facebook claims that they will disable this functionality "at some point", but they are notoriously bad at following through on such promises.
Related
I'm thinking of a facebook app that fetches a website's content (already developed with my own web builder) and display in a custom facebook fan page format. Clients already using the Web builder will only have to add the App to their fan page and they have their website's content already plugged into facebook.
The problem I'm having is knowing how exactly to automate this process. I can't seem to find the "Add app to page" menu when you click the Gear Icon, and the link below gives an approach I can't be explaining to every client (video further down in the link)
http://onlinewealthpartner.com/add-facebook-application-fan-page/
My head might swirling from everything I've read so far, but I'm just easing into the facebook app development. Help/insight would be much appreciated.
If I understand, your central problem is to make it as user-friendly as possible for your users to add your app to their fan pages?
Bottom line is they would need to visit the link mentioned in your tutorial:
https://www.facebook.com/dialog/pagetab?app_id=YOUR_APP_ID&display=popup&next=YOUR_URL
However, since you're the one creating the Facebook Tab Application, then you would already have and could supply to your users the "app_id" and "next" parameters, so all they would need to do is click on the custom link you provide. You could even give them a button in your web builder. Your users would just click a button, go to this link, and pick their fan page in a drop down menu.
Is it possible? I mean an app that works inside the facebook.
Yes it is, every application which is registered in facebook contains a application page. If you click on this page, go to the Info Tab and there you will see the name of the developer.
To get to this page, scroll down while using the app. At the bottom left of the webpage you will see the name of the app. Click it and you will go there. Next, use dooonot's directions.
I have successfully created a Facebook application. I have successfully added the application to my Facebook "Page". After I do this, no link for the app shows up in the menu on the left. This seems like something that should be simple to do, yet I can't find any documentation that is up-to-date. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Configure the Page Tab settings in your application settings under Facebook Integration.
Go to the developer page where you get the list of your apps.
Click on the more link next to your app, and choose Application profile.
Once you are on the app profile, on the sidebar menu click on Add to my page and choose the page where you want to add the tab.
Note that you must have your app tab configured properly inside your app configuration in order to get this to work i.e. setting the correct domain and tab file.
If you are logged in as the page, I suggest you either creating a profile ID and log in as it, or the solution that #ifaour pointed out, although it will be difficult to find your app inside the search engine that FB provides.
Been searching the FB documentation to find an answer for this, but have been unsuccessful.
Is an application able to appear as a tab on a page/profile, and also in the sidebar of that same page/profile?
So the tab would show the full application details, but the sidebar would give a small breakdown.
Is this possible?
Thanks!
Pages and profiles are different. You didn't used to be able to have a profile box and a tab for one application, but Facebook recently changed this. Probably because they stated the profile boxes are going away.
Adding an application as a tab on a Profile has always been a bit problematic and convoluted. The user had to click on the "+" tab, and your app may or may not appear under the list and/or come up in the search. However, 2 weeks ago Facebook announced support for an "add as tab" button.
http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/Fb:add-profile-tab
Note that a user cannot add your application as a "profile box" until you have posted content to their profile (profile.setFBML) to be displayed in the box. The you can use the fb:add-section-button tag to display the "Add to Profile" button in your application. Box content is cached, so every time you want to update the content you need to post it to Facebook.
Adding an app as a tab to a Page has always been fairly easy. Go to the apps facebook page (not the app) and click on the "Add to My Page" link in the top left.
Profile Boxes (and the corresponding Boxes Tab) are gone.
The replacement for both of these is Application-Specific Tabs. You are no longer able to push content directly to a user's profile.
james, it is possible. just started developing fb apps three days ago. so far my app sits in my tabs and in my profile box, displaying different infos.
http://www.snipe.net/2008/09/planning-a-facebook-application/
try this.
Ah interesting, found Developer Roadmap and basically lays out that what I am asking to do, won't be possible for much longer. Unfortunate, but I guess answers why I am finding it rather hard to do.
I'm currently creating a very basic Facebook application and I've run into a bit of a roadblock, so any help would be appreciated.
My application is as follows: I want to have the application pull records from my database that the user has added to my site off of Facebook and display them in a tab on one of their fan pages. Everything the user could add or edit will be done on my site (not on/through Facebook) so all I need to do is have my application check which page is requesting and display their records. I imagine the install will go something like this: user signs up on my site, user adds app to their page, user links their account and fan page (thinking of the best way to do this), user adds records.
The problem I'm running into is there's barely any information on the new Facebook PHP-SDK (does not use the require_login() method) and I'm not really sure how to start. Again, the only functionality I need on the Facebook end is for them to be able to add my application to their fan page and be able to distinguish between which page is requesting my app.
Does anyone have any resources for creating a basic application with the new SDK? Facebook's dev section is absolutely no help for beginners and I'm pulling my hair out despite a pretty solid grounding in backend development.
Thanks!
tab apps have some limitations comparing to regular fb apps. You can read about those here.
How to make a tab - register a facebook app, fill out "Tab Name" and "Tab URL" fields in the profiles settings (you might need to fill out "canvas" settings first).
Now all tabs will be loaded from "Tab URL" on your server. How to find out who is tab owner - check for fb_sig_profile_user request parameter in your tab page handler, which contains owner's user id.
This should get you started.