developing apps using drupalforfacebook
Hi Dave, I setup a drupal website and tried out the drupalforfacebook module, amazed at how simple it is. It works pretty well, but I couldnt get the drupal blocks to appear in the facebook apps. I notice you have them here, is there something Im missing? I couldnt see any specific settings that may relate to turning these on/off. Im using the module version 5.2-1-dev from the drupal drupalforfacebook project page.
Just a suggestion, why dont you setup a forum here for drupalforfacebook development or at least to bring interested developers into the fold as I noticed there was a lot of interest to help contribute.
BTW, I myself wouldnt consider myself a programmer so to see how easy it was to setup a drupal based facebook app was very nice. looking forward to seeing how this develops!
Rgds, Mark
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how to add blocks
Mark, Thanks for the kind words. As you point out, the documentation has a long way to go. I'm hoping it will evolve organically. Feel free to contribute! In the meantime this sort of question and answer is OK with me.
The trick is that canvas pages are served up using the fb_fbml theme. You may need to visit ?q=admin/build/themes to refresh the list. Then go to ?q=admin/build/block to configure which block appear. If you're already familiar with Drupal blocks, this should be nothing new.
When you first click 'fb_fbml' on the block admin page you'll think something is broken. This is because the fb_fbml them does not appear correctly on non-canvas pages. Still, it should function just enough that you can select some blocks and the regions in which they should appear.
For now, just use the Facebook Canvas Right and Facebook Canvas Header regions. The Profile FBML and Ref FBML are sort of experimental and will likely be replaced by a more intuitive approach. The Admin sidebar will float off to the side of a canvas page. Use it for admin-only content.
Works like a peach
Hi Dave, ok that works just great, the blocks are now appearing in the FB app. so in fact we only need to set the fbml theme for the purposes of setup, once done we can return to using a different theme on the drupal site from the fbml theme that the app uses for facebook, very nice... Thanks dave for taking time out to help on that. As I said what you are doing is great stuff.
you never need to enable fb_fbml
You don't need to enable the fb_fbml theme or set is as default. It will only appear on the block admin page, which automatically uses whatever theme you are configuring blocks for.
[Edit: the above was true in Drupal 5.x. In Drupal 6.x and above, the theme must be enabled.]
I love the module, works
I love the module, works pretty well.
A feature request would be to merge facebook users with existing drupal users. So if someone adds the facebook app he is asked to login to the drupal with its existing drupal username or to register with the facebook username. After that the facebook will always use the drupal user to view the drupal info.
I tried to set it up with the "Alternate Login" drupal module, but it did not work.
Yeah, that sort of syncing
Yeah, that sort of syncing needs to be easier.
All feature requests should be submitted to http://drupal.org/project/issues/fb. It just gets lost when you write it here.