Facebook Plugin
===============
This plugin allows you to use Facebook Connect with StatusNet, provides
a Facebook canvas application for your users, and allows them to update
their Facebook statuses from StatusNet.
Facebook Connect
----------------
Facebook connect allows users to register and login using nothing but their
Facebook credentials. With Facebook Connect, your users can:
- Authenticate (register/login/logout -- works similar to OpenID)
- Associate an existing StatusNet account with a Facebook account
- Disconnect a Facebook account from a StatusNet account
Built-in Facebook Application
-----------------------------
The plugin also installs a StatusNet Facebook canvas application that
allows your users to automatically update their Facebook status with
their latest notices, invite their friends to use the app (and thus your
site), view their notice timelines and post notices -- all from within
Facebook. The application is built into the StatusNet Facebook plugin
and runs on your host.
Quick setup instructions*
-------------------------
Install the Facebook Developer application on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/developers/
Use it to create a new application and generate an API key and secret.
You will need the key and secret so cut-n-paste them into your text
editor or write them down.
In Facebook's application editor, specify the following URLs for your app:
- Canvas Callback URL : http://example.net/mublog/facebook/app/
- Post-Remove Callback URL : http://example.net/mublog/facebook/app/remove
- Post-Authorize Redirect URL : http://apps.facebook.com/yourapp/
- Canvas Page URL : http://apps.facebook.com/yourapp/
- Connect URL : http://example.net/mublog/
*** ATTENTION ***
These URLs have changed slightly since StatusNet version 0.8.1,
so if you have been using the Facebook app previously, you will
need to update your configuration!
Replace "example.net" with your host's URL, "mublog" with the path to your
StatusNet installation, and 'yourapp' with the name of the Facebook
application you created. (If you don't have "Fancy URLs" on, you'll need to
change http://example.net/mublog/ to http://example.net/mublog/index.php/).
Additionally, Choose "Web" for Application type in the Advanced tab. In the
"Canvas setting" section, choose the "FBML" for Render Method, "Smart Size"
for IFrame size, and "Full width (760px)" for Canvas Width. Everything else
can be left with default values.
* NOTE: For more under-the-hood detailed instructions about setting up a
Facebook application and getting an API key, check out the
following pages on the Facebook wiki:
http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/Connect/Setting_Up_Your_Site
http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/Creating_your_first_application
Finally you must activate the plugin by adding it in your config.php
(this is where you'll need the API key and secret generated earlier):
addPlugin(
'Facebook',
array(
'apikey' => 'YOUR_APIKEY',
'secret' => 'YOUR_SECRET'
)
);
Administration Panel
--------------------
As of StatusNet 0.9.0 you can alternatively specify the key and secret
via a Facebook administration panel from within StatusNet, in which case
you can just add:
addPlugin('Facebook');
to activate the plugin.
NOTE: To enable the administration panel you'll need to add it to the
list of active administration panels, e.g.:
$config['admin']['panels'][] = 'facebook';
and of course you'll need a user with the administrative role to access
it and input the API key and secret (see: scripts/userrole.php).
Testing It Out
--------------
If the Facebook plugin is enabled and working, there will be a new Facebook
Connect Settings tab under each user's Connect menu. Users can connect and
disconnect* to their Facebook accounts from it.
To try out the plugin, fire up your browser and connect to:
http://example.net/mublog/main/facebooklogin
or, if you do not have fancy URLs turned on:
http://example.net/mublog/index.php/main/facebooklogin
You should see a page with a blue button that says: "Connect with Facebook"
and you should be able to login or register.
From within Facebook, you should also be able to get to the Facebook
application, and run it by hitting the link you specified above when
configuring it:
http://apps.facebook.com/yourapp/
That link should be present you with a login screen. After logging in to
the app, you are given the option to update their Facebook status via
StatusNet.
* Note: Before a user can disconnect from Facebook, she must set a normal
StatusNet password. Otherwise, she might not be able to login in to her
account in the future. This is usually only required for users who have
used Facebook Connect to register their StatusNet account, and therefore
haven't already set a local password.
Offline Queue Handling
----------------------
For larger sites needing better performance it's possible to enable
queuing and have users' notices posted to Facebook via a separate
"offline" process -- FacebookQueueHandler (facebookqueuhandler.php in
the Facebook plugin directory). It will run automatically if you have
enabled StatusNet's offline queueing subsystem. See the "Queues and
daemons" section in the StatusNet README for more about queuing.
TODO
----
- Make Facebook Connect work for authentication for multi-site setups
(e.g.: *.status.net)
- Posting to Facebook user streams using only Facebook Connect
- Invite Facebook friends to use your StatusNet installation via Facebook
Connect
- Auto-subscribe Facebook friends already using StatusNet
- Share StatusNet favorite notices to your Facebook stream
- Allow users to update their Facebook statuses once they have authenticated
with Facebook Connect (no need for them to use the Facebook app if they
don't want to).
- Import a user's Facebook updates into StatusNet
