Facebook + Ruby

+ Building Facebook Applications with Ruby

WHY DEVELOP WITH FACEBOOK?
Over 500 million users
50% of active users log on every day
150 million in USA
10 million in Germany
Application Platform
Over 550,000 applications
Over 1,000,000 websites integrated with Facebook
Over 150 million users use such FB integrations / month
Huge audience, extensive Platform

WHAT CAN APPS OFFER USERS?
Better interface to Facebook core functionality
iPhoto, Wall moderation and publishing platforms
Promotion of an existing service
Netflix, Yelp, Goodreads
Create a connection with fans of a brand
Chase Community Giving, other branded apps
Authentication
Groupon, Kayak, Goodreads
Many applications fall into multiple categories

WHAT KINDS OF APPS ARE THERE?
Websites
Your own site
Complete control
Javascript SDK
Any level of integration
Canvas Apps Tab Apps Mobile Apps Desktop Apps
Hosted on facebook.com
Less friction for users on the site
Some limitations (size/etc.)
FBML+FBJS => restrictions

WEBSITES
Wherever, whatever
Benefits for users
A way to share activity
Easy login
Lightweight integration
Social plugins (iframes)
Javascript SDK only
Heavyweight integration
Javascript frontend
Server backend

CANVAS APPS
Live on Facebook
iframe or FBML
iframe ~ website
FBML to be retired
Less friction than off-FB apps
Users stay on site
Have to work within Facebook limits
iframe container
Fixed size

TAB APPS
Live on Facebook Page
Tight integration with Page (brand/product)
Can help drive Liking
Limitations
FBML/FBJS only (iframe in the future)
Size limitation
First load is anonymous

FACEBOOK INTEGRATION
Both front- and back-end integration
Browser handles tasks requiring interaction
Login, permissions, publishing stories
Server handles many API-related tasks
Offline access, realtime updates, app management
Persisting results
Many tasks can be done by either server or client
Authentication
API calls
Let your need guide you

ACCESSING FACEBOOK

FACEBOOK AUTHENTICATION
OAuth-based authentication scheme
Token provides access to user info
Multiple ways to authenticate
Javascript API
Redirect with OAuth code
Signed request parameters
Provided in request to tab and canvas apps
Old proprietary auth scheme being deprecated

AUTHENTICATING WITH JAVASCRIPT
iframe-based secure login prompt
XFBML login button
Programatic via Javascript
Includes permissions if desired
Browser gets OAuth token, user ID, expiration, etc.
Notified through callback and event
Javascript sets signed cookie cookies
Server libraries provided parsing
Preferred method
Easy for users
Keeps people on your site

AUTHENTICATING WITH REDIRECTS
Send user to login page on facebook.com
User redirected to app’s callback with OAuth code
App server requests token using code and secret
Server gets OAuth token and expiration
Can then make server-side API calls
Use the JS login if you can
Redirects are disruptive
Requires server-server communication

PERMISSIONS
Granular permission model
55 different controls over data access
User data
Feed, likes, checkins
Demographic data, email
Friends’ data
Friends’ demographics, likes, checkins, etc.
Cannot get friends of friends
Acting for user
Publish to feed stories

FACEBOOK APIS
Facebook has 2.5 server-side APIs
All RESTful with JSON responses
Graph API
New, fast, shiny, incomplete
OAuth authentication
Accessible via the browser
REST API
Supports almost the entire API
To be deprecated, someday
Fast new OAuth endpoint
Slow old custom auth endpoint

API METHODS
REST API method names
Many but not all also available via Graph API
events.invite
pages.blockFan
fql.query
photos.upload, videos.upload
ads.createCampaigns
status.set
admin.setAppProperties
Graph API only:
https://graph.facebook.com/user_id/checkins
https://graph.facebook.com/app_id/insights

FACEBOOK AND RUBY

MAKING IT WORK WITH RUBY
Many Facebook libraries for new Graph/REST APIs
Koala
Mogli
MiniFB
rest-graph
FBGraph
For old REST API/custom auth, one clear winner
Facebooker

KOALA
My goals: lightweight, fast, flexible, tested
All results as basic Ruby objects (Hash, Array)*
Full support for Facebook platform
OAuth, Graph, REST, realtime updates, test users
Typhoeus and Net::HTTP built in
Full RSpec coverage
Rails 3- and Ruby 1.9.2-compatible
* get_connection and search return GraphCollection < Array, which provides pagination support

AUTHENTICATION WITH COOKIES
@oauth = Koala::Facebook::OAuth.new(app_id, secret, callback_url)
# pass in Rack cookies directly
@oauth.get_user_from_cookies(cookies) # => "2905623"
@oauth.get_user_info_from_cookies(cookies)
# => {
"session_key"=> ...,
"uid"=>"2905623" ,
"sig"=> ...,
"secret"=>"YeOkUZhI6csLggJ_jFmm2A__",
"access_token" => ...
}

AUTHENTICATION WITH REDIRECTS
@oauth = Koala::Facebook::OAuth.new(app_id, secret, callback_url)
@oauth.url_for_oauth_code(:permissions => "publish_stream")
# => url
# send your users there, they’ll return with their codes
@oauth.get_access_token(code)
# => token
@oauth.get_access_token_info(code)
# => {
"expires" => seconds_from_now,
"access_token" => ...
}

USING THE GRAPH API
@graph = Koala::Facebook::GraphAPI.new(oauth_token)
@graph.get_object("koppel") # => {
" name "=>"Alex Koppel",
" timezone "=>1,
" gender "=>"male",
" id "=>"2905623",
" first_name "=>"Alex",
" last_name "=>"Koppel", " updated_time "=>"2009-10-25T21:27:40+0000",
" verified "=>true,
" locale "=>"de_DE",
" link "=>"http://www.facebook.com/koppel"
}

USING THE GRAPH API
@graph.get_connections("koppel", "feed")
# => [{ # lots of data!
" id "=>"2905623_174424332576660",
" message "=>"At Can-Tine drinking beer, eating spicy poutine, and watching Army of Darkness.",
" likes "=>2,
" comments "=>{"data"=>[{"from"=>{"name"=>"Isaac Wolkerstorfer", "id"=>"2900100"}, "id"=>"2905623_174424332576660_2109285", "created_time"=>"2010-12-01T20:31:44+0000", "message"=>"This place sounds amazing."}], "count"=>1}
" from "=>{"name"=>"Alex Koppel", "id"=>"2905623"},
" created_time "=>"2010-12-01T18:05:09+0000",
" type "=>"status",
“ privacy "=>{"value"=>"NETWORKS_FRIENDS"},
" attribution "=>"iPhone",
" actions "=>[{"name"=>"Comment", "link"=>...}, ...],
}, ...]

USING THE GRAPH API
@graph.search("Muenchen")
# => [{ # lots of data!
{" from "=>{"name"=>"Daniel Ragogna", "id"=>"100000110972279"}, " type " => "status", " message "=>"Muenchen + Dom Rep. Wir kommen Juhu", " id "=>"100000110972279_160648203978214"},
{" from "=>{"name"=>"Scheinen Saint Jesus Jong", "id"=>"561597582"}, " type " => "status", " message "=>"muenchen i m comming", "id " =>"561597582_171405789546392"},
{" name "=>"Main Concept - Muenchen 58", " from "=>{"name"=>"Sergej Galkin", "id"=>"100001607331988"}, " id "=>"100001607331988_154183774628283", " type "=>"video", " source "=>"http://www.youtube.com/v/tyXYK-CgBQo&autoplay=1", " message "=>"...das Spiel Das Ich Treib..."},
...]

USING THE GRAPH API
@graph.put_wall_post(" hey, i'm learning koala ")
# => {"id"=> new_post_id)
@graph.put_comment(new_post_id, comment_text)
# => {"id"=> new_comment_id}
@graph.delete_object(new_comment_id)
# => true

INTEGRATING KOALA
Easy to integrate Koala into Rails
Create a before_filter for OAuth validation
GraphCollections provide pagination params for urls
Documentation on github wiki
Can also integrate into authentication middleware
Devise, OmniAuth, etc.

JAVASCRIPT SDK (FORMERLY FACEBOOK CONNECT)

JAVASCRIPT SDK OVERVIEW
Evented Javascript library for Facebook interaction
Login and permission management
Cookie session storage
XFBML
Like and login/logout buttons, profile pics and names
Asynchronous API access
Avoid server load/delays when generating your UI

JAVASCRIPT SDK EXAMPLES
Login with permissions
FB.login(callback, {perms: permList})
FB.Event.subscribe("auth.statusChange", callback);
function callback(response) {
if (response.session) {
// user successfully logged in
} else {
// user cancelled login
}
};
XFBML login button:
<fb:login-button perms=“read_stream"></fb:login-button>

JAVASCRIPT SDK EXAMPLES
Is the user a fan of your Page?
FB.api({method: "pages.isFan”, page_id: pid}, callback);
// can show/hide UI elements based on the result
Friend list
FB.api({method: ”friends.get”}, callback);
// build the UI based on the response

WRAPUP

RESOURCES
Facebook Developer Wiki
Graph API
Javascript SDK
REST API
Facebook Developer Policies
Facebook’s Best Practices
Facebook’s Bugzilla
Koala Facebook library
OAuth Playground

ME
http://facebook.com/koppel
https://graph.facebook.com/koppel
http://twitter.com/arsduo
http://github.com/arsduo
http://blog.twoalex.com

EXTRAS

APPENDIX: GRAPH API IN THE BROWSER!
You can play with the Graph API in any browser
https://graph.facebook.com/ID/CONNECTION_TYPE
https://graph.facebook.com/koppel
https://graph.facebook.com/contextoptional/feed
Private info requires access_token parameter
Returns JSON to your browser
Go to http://graph.facebook.com/ to authenticate
Links with your OAuth token are halfway down Introduction
Add metadata=1 to object URLs to see available options
Great way to explore the graph

APPENDIX: PUT_WALL_POST
In general, don’t post stories via the API
Policy limits what you can post automatically
Can’t include user message
Browser prompt is a much better experience
API use appropriate for offline/mobile experiences

Facebook + Ruby

by Alex Koppel

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