Facebook%20API

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Facebook API

• Kelly Orser

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Client Libraries

• Client libraries will simplify the calls to the
  platform by reducing the amount of code you have
  to write.
• If you dont use a client library then will have
  to do the following for each method call
• Construct a signature
• Create and send a HTTP POST request
• Parse the XML result of the request

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Example Clients

• Facebook Clients
• PHP5
• Java
• Independent Clients
• ActionScript
• Cocoa
• PHP4
• Ruby
• Python
• VB.NET

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Methods

• The facebook API currently has 20 methods that
  can be used to get information from facebook
  accounts.

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Authentication

• facebook.auth.createToken
• creates an auth_token to be passed in as a
  parameter to login.php
• facebook.auth.getSession
• returns the session key bound to an auth_token

6
Facebook Query Language

• Facebook.fql.query
• FQL is a way to query the same facebook data you
  can access through the other API functions, but
  with a SQL style interface.
• SELECT name, affiliations FROM user WHERE uid IN
  (SELECT uid2 FROM friend WHERE uid1211031) AND
  "Facebook" IN affiliations.name AND uid lt 10

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Events

• facebook.events.get
• returns all visible events according to the
  filters specified
• facebook.events.getMembers
• returns membership list data associated with an
  event

8
Friends

• facebook.friends.areFriends
• returns whether or not each pair of specified
  users is friends with each other
• facebook.friends.get
• returns the identifiers of the current users
  Facebook friends
• facebook.friends.getAppUsers
• returns the identifiers of the current users
  Facebook friends who are currently signed in

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Groups

• facebook.groups.get
• returns all visible groups according to the
  filters specified
• facebook.groups.getMembers
• returns membership list data associated with a
  group

10
Notifications

• facebook.notifications.get
• returns information on outstanding Facebook
  notifications for current session user.
• such as messages, friend requests, pokes, group
  invites and event invites

11
Photos

• facebook.photos.addTag
• adds a tag with the given information to a photo
• facebook.photos.createAlbum
• creates and returns a new album owned by the
  current session user
• facebook.photos.get
• returns all visible photos according to the
  filters specified

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Photos

• facebook.photos.getAlbums
• returns metadata about all of the photo albums
  uploaded by the specified user
• facebook.photos.getTags
• returns the set of user tags on all photos
  specified
• facebook.photos.upload
• uploads a photo owned by the current session user
  and returns the new photo

13
Users

• facebook.users.getInfo
• returns the information in a users profile
• facebook.users.getLoggedInUser
• gets the user id associated with the current
  session

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Responses

• Each of these methods can have a different
  response format depending on what you are
  programming in.
• JSON (JavaScript Object Notation)
• XML
• Facebook PHP Client

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Links

• Facebook Developers
• Client Libraries
• Facebook Applications
• Test Console