This plugin allows you to use Facebook Connect with StatusNet, provides a
Facebook 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 application that allows your
users to automatically update their Facebook statuses 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. Add a
Facebook app section of your config.php and copy in the key and secret,
e.g.:
// Config section for the built-in Facebook application
$config['facebook']['apikey'] = 'APIKEY';
$config['facebook']['secret'] = 'SECRET';
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-Add 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 the following line to your
config.php:
addPlugin('Facebook');
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://SITE/PATH_TO_STATUSNET/main/facebooklogin
or, if you do not have fancy URLs turned on:
http://SITE/PATH_TO_STATUSNET/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"
FacebookQueueHandler (facebookqueuhandler.php in the Facebook plugin
directory), which will be started by the plugin along with their other
daemons when you run scripts/startdaemons.sh. See the StatusNet README for
more about queuing and daemons.
TODO
----
- 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).
- Re-design the whole thing to support multiple instances of StatusNet
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