node-facebook-client README

Version: 1.5.0

This version is forked from dracoblue, and contains some timeout fixes. npm package is called facebook-client-bn

Official Site: http://dracoblue.net/

node-facebook-client is copyright 2010-2011 by DracoBlue http://dracoblue.net

What is node-facebook-client?

The node-facebook-client library is a set of nodejs classes to communicate with the rest and graph api provided by facebook.

It works great if you embed the facebook connect button on your page and want to use the rest + graph api by facebook. Oauth-support may work but is not tested that well.

The library is not officially created nor maintained by facebook. It is created by dracoblue and licensed under the terms of MIT License.

Example

This small example uses the FacebookClient class to retrieve the name of a user. requst.headers are the headers from the server request.

var FacebookClient = require("facebook-client").FacebookClient;

var facebook_client = new FacebookClient(
    "yourappid", // configure like your fb app page states
    "yourappsecret" // configure like your fb app page states
);

facebook_client.getSessionByRequestHeaders(request.headers)(function(facebook_session) {
    facebook_session.graphCall("/me", {
    })(function(result) {
        console.log('Username is:' + result.name);
    });
    facebook_session.graphCall("/me/feed", {message:"I love node.js!"}, 'POST')(function(result) {
        console.log('The new feed post id is: ' + result.id);
    });
});

A full example may be executed with: node run_example.js. Please configure yourappid+yourappsecret in that file first.

Graph API

FacebookClient#graphCall(path, params[, method])

Doing a call against the graph server.

client.graphCall(path, params, method)(function(result) {
    // 
});

The parameter method can be omitted and is 'GET' in this case.

Rest API

FacebookSession#restCall(method, params, access_token)

Doing a signed call against the rest api server, by using the session of the user.

session.restCall("users.getInfo", {
    fields: "name",
    uids: session.uid
})(function(response_users) {
    // work with it
});

General API

FacebookClient#getSessionByRequestHeaders(request_headers)

Use the request headers to retrieve the session.

facebook_client.getSessionByRequestHeaders(request.headers)(function(facebook_session) {
    // session is either undefined or a valid FacebookSession
});

FacebookSession#isValid()

Calls /me on the graph api, to check whether the session is still valid or the user has already logged out.

session.isValid()(function(is_valid) {
    // is either true or false
});

Remember to do that only when necessary and not on every request.

FacebookClient#getSessionByAccessToken(access_token)

Creating a new FacebookSession instance with a given access_token.

FacebookSession#getId()

Retrieving the id of the session.

session.getId()(function(id) {
    // is either a string or undefined, in case the session has no id
});

FacebookSession#getMeta()

Tries to retrieve all data from the graph call /me for the user. This is only available in case of a session, which got initialized by an access_token.

session.getMeta()(function(user_data) {
    // work with it
});

Internal API

FacebookClient#getAccessToken(access_params)

Retrieving an AccessToken with the given parameters. You don't need to use this function if you used FacebookClient#getSessionByRequestHeaders.

client.getAccessToken(access_params)(function(access_token, expires) {
    // 
});

FacebookSession#retrieveAccessToken(code, redirect_uri)

Retrieve an access token by providing a code and a redirect_uri. Usually from successful oauth redirect.

FacebookSession#injectAccessToken(access_token)

Used to inject an access_token into an existing FacebookSession. This will enable calls like FacebookSession#restCall and FacebookSession#graphCall to work authenticated. It is triggered by FacebookClient#getSessionByRequestHeaders after successful creation of the session.

FacebookSession#getAccessToken(access_params)

Retrieving an AccessToken with the given parameters and injecting it into the FacebookSession.

FacebookToolkit.generateSignature(params, api_secret)

Calculates the signature for a given set of parameters and the api_secret.

Changelog

• 1.4.0 (2011/10/06)
  • added multiquery-support. #12
• 1.3.0 (2011/04/26)
  • added FacebookSession#isValid
  • fixed expires validation fixes #5
  • added method argument to session.graphCall to permit POSTing in addition to GETting
• 1.2.0 (2011/03/09)
  • added support for node 0.4
• 1.1.0 (2010/12/29)
  • removed session_key support
  • added example
• 1.0.1 (2010/12/29)
  • added secure url for access_token
• 1.0.0 (2010/10/05)
  • Initial release

Contributors

• DracoBlue http://dracoblue.net
• jharlap https://github.com/jharlap

License

node-facebook-client is licensed under the terms of MIT. See LICENSE for more information.