Drupal for Facebook

I just wrote up some goals for the Drupal for Facebook project. Rather than duplicate the information here, please see the original blog post.

I'm asking for help, both financial and otherwise. Please contribute if you can. This will speed development along, and the community will shower you with love and affection.

My most recent check-in changes the hook_fb API. I have a feeling not many users are implementing their own hook_fb, so I don't expect this to inconvenience anyone.

If you are, the new parameters are:

hook_fb($op, $data, &$return)

$op will tell your hook what is expected of it. See fb.module for the list of ops.

$data is an array containins a variety of things, depending on the $op. Most importantly, $data['fb_app'] and $data[$fb] will be set when these are known.

$return is a data structure which your app can set, for those ops which expect a returned value.

I've checked in some features specific to Facebook Connect. In order for any of it to work, the theme must be "facebook-aware". As intimidating as this sounds, it's no big deal.

As an example, I've modified Drupal's default theme, garland, to support the XFBML login button. All it took was minor modifications to the page.tpl.php file. I'm attaching a diff, for your convenience.

I plan to attend the upcoming Bay Area Drupal Camp. For those interested in learning about Drupal for Facebook, I've proposed a session. If you might attend, please vote for it now. Without votes, it will not be included in the program.

I'm also going to hold a smaller session there for developers who want to get Drupal for Facebook up and running. If you've run into problems and would like to ask me in person or if you're new to DFF and want a jump start, that may be the session for you: http://badcamp.net/session/drupal-facebook-hackathon

As you probably know, Facebook recently introduced a number of changes to their API. To use the new API, you need a new PHP library from Facebook, which adds several functions as well as changing and removing others. To support the new API I've had to make the same sort of changes to the Drupal for Facebook modules. With so many changes, I'm calling the new code version 2.

The new facebook profile comes with an updated API for writing feed messages. As of now, this site is using that new API. So please let me know if you see anything looking wrong, or error messages.

The new API includes templates for one-line, short, and longer feed messages. So after you post a topic to these forums you'll see a link to the topic written to your feed. And you can choose the longer feed format to include the teaser of your post right on your facebook wall.

Facebook recently changed the way applications affect user accounts and profiles. It used to be that a user would add an application, and in doing so the application was allowed to write to the users profile, minifeed and do other things on behalf of the user. In the new scheme, the user has more control over exactly what an application can do, and by default most of these permissions are turned off.

I've applied for a grant with the Knight Foundation, which would fund considerable development of the Drupal for Facebook project. For the application to be considered, it needs some votes in favor of it. So please help out this project by reviewing the application. Leave your comments and vote favorably.

I've proposed a talk at the next DrupalCon about Drupal for Facebook. The talk will include a brief introduction, demonstration of live app(s), and some how-to.

In order to be accepted, it needs some positive votes. So, please head on over an vote for this session. Especially if you're going to DrupalCon. Hope to see you there!

http://szeged2008.drupalcon.org/program/sessions/building-facebook-appli...

Drupal for Facebook now provides an invitation page, like this one:
http://apps.facebook.com/drupalforfacebook/fb/invite

This allows your users to invite other friends to install the application. This can be done when a user first installs the app, or anytime afterward.