I'm curious to use the facebook graph API as I don't like the simple like button with number of likes next to it. However I'm finding their documentation a bit confusing. I want to do this via PHP so I'm assuming I need the PHP SDK, is that right?
I'm looking at this page Graph API: Page however I don't understand how I would call the likes.
I'm not asking for someone to code this for me, just a little help in the right direction to understand how it works :)
Try this:
$json = #file_get_contents("http://graph.facebook.com/yourpage");
$json1 = json_decode($json,true);
$likes = $json1['likes'];
echo $likes;
This is pretty straightforward. Using the ID or the username of the page, access that
node via the Graph API:
PAGE_ID?fields=likes
In PHP would be something like:
$token_string = file_get_contents('https://graph.facebook.com/oauth/access_token?client_id='.$appID.'&client_secret='.$app_secret.'&grant_type=client_credentials');
$likes_response = file_get_contents('https://graph.facebook.com/PAGE_ID?fields=likes&'.$token_string);
$likes_obj = json_decode($likes_response);
$likes = $likes_obj->likes;
echo 'Likes count for page: ' . $likes;
I've already got a database set up with a table that is successfully populated with the final (permanent?) OAuth User Token and OAuth User Secret. The thing I don't understand is how I'm supposed to know what the current user's ID is, especially when it's been 2 weeks since their last login. My app is authorized by all of its users, so theoretically Twitter can look at the list of authorized apps for the current user and share the Twitter User ID, right? Isn't there some good way of requesting (on behalf of the current user) what his ID is? I feel like the temporary tokens should be able to facilitate this somehow... If it helps, every user in my app is just a Twitter account with some extra info. I'm just looking for the best way to utilize the tokens and secrets that are in my database...
I'm using PHP (libraries: Codebird-PHP & tmhOAuth) so if you could show an example in PHP that'd be nice, but really I just want to know how I'm supposed to use this information that I'm storing.
Thanks!
I'm assuming you store the data together with some username or user id that identifies the users of your website and links them to their proper twitter id. In order to get the basic info of your user, after authorization, you have to use the endpoint https://api.twitter.com/1.1/account/verify_credentials.json with a GET.
The documentation for the 1.1 API can be found here.
This returns an array. You find the username uder "screen_name" and the user id under "id" or "id_string".
The question is a possible duplicate of Get current user's info from Twitter API, but I've added an answer because that discussion points to the deprecated API. The code you find there, nevertheless, is still useful (it appears to use Abraham William's library, but the steps are basically the same). Replace the classes and functions with those you have in Matt Harris' library. I don't know codebird, sorry!
EDIT: I am also providing a code sample (tested and working, although I have issues with tmhOAuth, so I use it occasionally only for myself. I have noticed that, when I try to post, it sometimes returns some weird error codes and I can't figure out why):
// Authentication page, with button. You have already connected to your database
$mywebsiteuser = $_SESSION['website_user_id'];
$query= "SELECT * FROM `table_where_you_store_twitter` WHERE website_user_id ='$mywebsiteuser'";
$sql= $mysqli->query($query) or die($mysqli->error.__LINE__); // or whatever else to check is the query fails.
if ($sql->num_rows != 0){
//etc. retrieve data and set the sessions.
// already got some credentials stored?
if ( isset($_SESSION['access_token']) ) {
$tmhOAuth->config['user_token'] = $_SESSION['access_token']['oauth_token'];
$tmhOAuth->config['user_secret'] = $_SESSION['access_token']['oauth_token_secret'];
$code = $tmhOAuth->request('GET', $tmhOAuth->url('1/account/verify_credentials'));
if ($code == 200) {
$resp = json_decode($tmhOAuth->response['response']);
echo $resp->screen_name;
echo $resp->id;
//Etc. Instead of printing them you it's a good idea to store them in the db.
} else {
outputError($tmhOAuth);
}
// we're being called back by Twitter
} elseif (isset($_REQUEST['oauth_verifier'])) {
$tmhOAuth->config['user_token'] = $_SESSION['oauth']['oauth_token'];
$tmhOAuth->config['user_secret'] = $_SESSION['oauth']['oauth_token_secret'];
$code = $tmhOAuth->request('POST', $tmhOAuth->url('oauth/access_token', ''), array(
'oauth_verifier' => $_REQUEST['oauth_verifier']
));
if ($code == 200) {
//etc.
Anyhow, all in all, in order to get the info of a user you need them to authorize your app first. I check if I have something from my user with the user's session variables on my website, not through twitter. If I have nothing stored, I ask them to authorize the app. I hope this helps.
Access Token : 1274865264-QiVY50RGnmJz6AU9IPRxxiXfv4DYqo0nj6wg8hS
Access Token Secret : fZQnHSuSpwARicIdLqkqQLy1JeG9LxrbNIRKypWcGR
First part of Access Token is user id
Hey guys,
feel stupid for asking this question but I'm stuck and new with getting values from JSON.
In the JSON example of the statuses/mentions of the Twitter API: http://dev.twitter.com/doc/get/statuses/mentions
I'm trying to get the 'screen_name' value from with the 'user' directory/array piece (don't know the term). Heres what I'm using to pull values currently:
$lastmentions = $oauth->get('http://api.twitter.com/1/statuses/mentions.json');
$lastmentionsuser = $lastmentions[0]->user;
Thanks guys, Dex
This should work:
$screen_name = $lastmentionsuser->screen_name;
Woop Woop figured it!
It was:
$lastmmentionsuser = $lastmmentions[$i]->user->screen_name;
I am trying to fetch friend list. I wrote following code..
$friends = $this->facebook->api('me/friends');
echo count($friends);
Answer was 1. (though it should have been 456). What am I doing wrong? Thanks for help.
The data structure returned by the API is different than you think.
Try echo count($friends['data']); instead.
I'm looking for a good, simple PHP function to get my latest Facebook status updates. Anyone know of one?
Thanks!
EDIT: I've added a half-solution below.
Or if anyone knows a good way to read in the RSS feed and spit out the recent status update?
A quick check on PEAR found Services_Facebook
This is an incomplete answer, but this is what I've gotten so far:
First: add the developer application on FB. Then create a new application. Call it whatever you want.
Second: Download the PHP client. Dump it somewhere on your webhost, i.e. /facebook/
Third: Copy the following beginner code to get yourself started into a php file:
<?php
require_once('facebook/php/facebook.php');
$facebook = new Facebook("YOUR_API_KEY","YOUR_SECRET_KEY");
$result = $facebook->api_client->fql_query("SELECT status FROM user WHERE uid = YOURIDNUMBER");
// OR --- they both get the same data
$result = $facebook->api_client->users_getInfo(YOURIDNUMBER,'status');
print_r($result);
echo "<pre>Debug:" . print_r($facebook,true) . "</pre>"; // debug info
?>
Other info:
You must be logged in and have the
application added. OR you give the
application offline_access
permissions and have the
aapplication added.
You can add offline_access by typing
in the following url:
http://www.facebook.com/authorize.php?api_key=YOUR_API_KEY&v=1.0&ext_perm=offline_access
more info on permissions found here: http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/Extended_permissions
I'm at a stopping point: anything my
program calls the fql query or
users_getInfo, my page stops
executing the php? I'm guessing
there are a limited amount of calls
for new applications? I've never
done any FB development so I'm
completely new to it. Maybe make
the call and save your recent status
(or most recent statuses) in your
own DB to prevent excessive calls to
the API?
I hope this helps someone get started!
EDIT: It seems that FB won't let you access someones status, even if the offline_access is on, unless you are that person or their friend (depending on their privacy settings).
I did however, finally manage to find the RSS feed in the new profile version: http://www.new.facebook.com/minifeed.php?filter=11
I have found a way to fetch your latest facebook status. This is how you do it:
1) Create a facebook app, and copy your application secret and application id.
2) Grant the app read_stream and offline_access to your profile. (http://developers.facebook.com/docs/authentication/permissions) To fetch your latest status the app needs an access_token. With offline_access granted the access_token should "never" expire. The easiest way to do this is to click the button generated by this code: (be sure to fill in 'your app id' and set cookie to true!)
<fb:login-button perms="read_stream,offline_access"></fb:login-button>
<div id="fb-root"></div>
<script src="http://connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js"></script>
<script>FB.init({appId: 'your app id', status: true, cookie: true, xfbml: true});</script>
3) Now try to find out what access_token it is using. The access_token is saved in the fbs_appId cookie. Locate it using your browser or using $_COOKIE['fbs_appId']. Look for access_token=....
4) Now that you have a (hopefully) never expiring access_token you can use the following code:
$access_token='xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx';
$appId='123456789132456789';
$appSecret='xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx';
$profileId='123456789';
//http://github.com/facebook/php-sdk/blob/master/src/facebook.php
require 'facebook.php';
$facebook = new Facebook(array('appId' => $appId,'secret' => $appSecret));
$response = $facebook->api('/'.$profileId.'/feed?limit=1&access_token='.$access_token);
5) The message part should be located: $response['data'][0]['message']
I don't know HOW long the access token is valid. Facebook says:
Enables your application to perform authorized requests on behalf of the user at any time. By default, most access tokens expire after a short time period to ensure applications only make requests on behalf of the user when the are actively using the application. This permission makes the access token returned by our OAuth endpoint long-lived.
Here is a REALLY simple function if you just want to get the latest status. It doesn't depend on the Facebook SDK or anything. You just need CURL and JSON support.
Simple PHP function to get facebook status
I never seem to get along with PEAR, but if you have better luck than I, then the PEAR solution seems the best route long term.
Another idea is to explore the Facebook Developer API library and see if that might give you anything you are looking for.
Lastly, there used to be a way to get an RSS feed... but I can't seem to find any instructions that work anymore, but you might poke around Facebook help if that interests you. Mine ends up looking something like this:
http://www.new.facebook.com/feeds/status.php?id=[idnumber]&viewer=[viewer]&key=[key]&format=rss20
I got it working using Jens' post to retrieve a valid access_token. Then, I extracted the status messages and the time of posting from the xml file using the following code (you can change $limit to display more or less status messages, or use a form to change it).
Be sure to put in your Facebook ID and the access token you got from the app you created (see Jens' post). You can check the output of this script here.
Have fun!
<?php
if(isset($_POST['limit'])) {
$limit = $_POST['limit'];
}
else {
$limit = 3; // number of status messages to display
}
$f = fopen ("https://api.facebook.com/method/status.get?uid=YOUR_FACEBOOK_ID&limit=".$limit."&access_token=YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN", "r");
while ($line= htmlentities(fgets($f))) {
if ($line===FALSE) print ("FALSE\n");
else
{
$content = $content." ".$line;
}
}
fclose ($f);
$message = explode("<message>", $content); // search for the <message> tag
$message_cnt = count($message);
$msg_index = 0;
$time = explode("<time>", $content); // search for the <time> tag
for($i=1; $i<$message_cnt; $i++)
{
$tmp = explode("</message>", $message[$i]);
$msg[$msg_index] = $tmp[0]; // status message
$tmp2 = explode("</time>", $time[$i]);
$t[$msg_index++] = $tmp2[0]; // time of posting
}
for($i=0; $i<$msg_index; $i++)
{
echo("<span class=\"status\">".preg_replace('!\015\012|\015|\012!','<br>',$msg[$i])."</span><br>\n
<span class=\"date\">on ".date("d.m.Y", $t[$i])." at ".date("H:i",$t[$i])."</span><br><br>\n");
}
?>
I have tried loads of tutorials over the last few days and none of them have worked. I think it may be due to facebook changing their api requirements. This is the only one I found that works at the moment:
http://www.deanblog.co.uk/article/13/adding-a-facebook-status-feed-to-your-website-with-php
Just use PHPforFB framework (www.phpforfb.com/en/) for the fastest way.
The code looks like this:
require_once('phpforfb_framework.php');
$structInit = array('app_id' => APP_ID,'app_name' => APP_NAME,'sec_key' => APP_SECKEY);
$FacebookAPP = new PHPforFB($structInit);
if($FacebookAPP->lastErrorCode>0){
//Creation failed => Display error message and exit
echo "PHPforFB Error: ".$FacebookAPP->lastErrorCode." -> ".$FacebookAPP->lastError;
}else{
//PHPforFB framework established
if($FacebookAPP->userLoggedIn === TRUE){
//If the user is logged in at Facebook:
//Here you can determine if the user has at least once before
//granted basic permissions to your application.
if($FacebookAPP->userAuthenticated === FALSE){
//The user has not yet granted permissions
//**your code here**
}else{
//The user has already granted permissions, therefore his Facebook ID
//is known to us. It is always available in $FacebookAPP->userID:
$userID = $FacebookAPP->userID;
//**your code here**
}
}
}
Since I couldn't use the API route, I went with the RSS found at: http://www.new.facebook.com/minifeed.php?filter=11
And used the following PHP function, called StatusPress, with some of my own modifications, to parse the RSS feed for my Facebook status. Works great!
<?php
// see http://github.com/facebook/php-sdk/blob/master/facebook.php
require './facebook.php';
// Create our Application instance.
// see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYqx-RtmkeU for how to get these numbers
$facebook = new Facebook(array('appId' => 'XXX','secret' => 'XXX'));
// This call will always work since we are fetching public data.
// this could be /username or /username/friends etc...
// see developer api for FQL for examples
$status = $facebook->api('/haanmc/feed?limit=1');
?>
<p><?php print $status['data'][0]['message']; ?></p>
<p>Likes: <?php print $status['data'][0]['likes']; ?> | Comments: <?php print count($status['data'][0]['comments']['data']); ?></p>
<textarea style="width: 95%; height: 600px;"><?php print_r($status); ?></textarea>