Using Facebook authentication

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Using Facebook authentication

Overview

Elements available in WLanguage

Registering the application on Facebook

Configuring Facebook authentication in WINDEV, WINDEV Mobile and WEBDEV

See also

Using Facebook authentication

Overview

Facebook is the world's most popular social network. It is commonly used by companies to reach their customers. Facebook includes a very powerful API to take full advantage of the platform.

WINDEV, WEBDEV and WINDEV Mobile include two modes to use Facebook for Android and iOS applications:

a simple mode that allows users to use their Facebook credentials to log in to the WINDEV or WINDEV Mobile application, or to the WEBDEV site. Users don't need to set a new password.
an advanced mode to interface with Facebook in order to use the Facebook API from a WINDEV or WINDEV Mobile application, or from a WEBDEV site.

The principle is the same regardless of the selected use mode. You must:

Register the WINDEV or WINDEV Mobile application, or the WEBDEV site on Facebook.
Use Facebook login credentials in the WINDEV or WINDEV Mobile application, or in the WEBDEV site.
Log in to Facebook from the WINDEV or WINDEV Mobile application, or from the WEBDEV site to authenticate.

For the advanced mode, you can use different WLanguage functions that allow you to interact with Facebook via its API.

Caution: This feature is not available for WINDEV applications in Linux.

Elements available in WLanguage

The following WLanguage elements can be used to interact with Facebook:

the fbSession type. This type of variable contains all the elements required to implement the Facebook connection and authentication .

several functions:


FBGetUserInformation	Retrieves the Facebook information of connected user.
FBRequest	Performs a communication request (HTTP request) to the Facebook Graph API.
FBSessionStatus	Checks the status of a Facebook session.
FBStartSession	Used to authenticate and log in to Faceboook.
FBStopSession	Stops the Facebook session that was started by FBStartSession.

Registering the application on Facebook

Registering a WINDEV application on Facebook

First, it is necessary to create a Windows application in WINDEV using Facebook authentication and/or the Facebook API.

Let's see the steps to follow (valid at the time this page was written):

Go to "https://developers.facebook.com/".
Log in.
Register if necessary and follow the steps.
In "My Apps", click "Create App".
In the page that appears, select "Consumer".
Click "Next".
In the page that is appears, specify:
- The name of the application in "Add an app name".
- A valid email address in "App contact email".
Confirm the app creation (and validate the security check, if necessary).
The page of the new app is displayed.
Then, click the "Settings" menu and choose "Basic".
Note down the "App ID" and "App secret".
In the "App domains" field, type "localhost".
At the bottom of the page, click on "Add platform" and select "Website".
Enter the URL of the site: "http://localhost/".
Then, click "Save changes".

The Facebook application is ready for testing.

At this point, you can log in to the application with the Facebook user who registered the application (administrator by default).

To include other users for testing, click the "Roles" menu and add the users with the relevant rights (developers, testers, etc.). You can also create test users ("Test Users" tab) to not use existing Facebook accounts.

To actually use the application, it must be set to public and be submitted to Facebook if necessary ("App Review" option). For more details, see the Facebook documentation.

Configuring Facebook authentication in WINDEV, WINDEV Mobile and WEBDEV

Establishing the connection

To log in to Facebook, you must:

Configure a Facebook session (fbSession variable). In the different proprerties of this variable, you must specify:
- the "App ID" and the "App secret" provided when registering the application on Facebook.
Establish the connection with FBStartSession.

For example:

MyConnection is fbSession
// Configure the session
MyConnection.AppID = "1664XXXXXXXXXXXX"
MyConnection.AppSecret = "c6e7XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"
// Define the rights:
// - Read the email
// - Manage the pages
MyConnection.Permission = [fbEmail, "manage_pages", "publish_pages", "publish_actions"]
// Connection
FBStartSession(MyConnection)

If the connection is permanent, the function does not show a login screen and opens the session directly.

Remarks:

A Web page is displayed in the default browser, allowing users to enter their login credentials.
A started Facebook session is a persistent session: it will remain open:
- until the application is closed.
- until FBStopSession is called.

Using the Facebook API

FBRequest is used to sent requests to Facebook.

The following example lists the pages and groups managed by the current user:

sURL is ANSI string = GRAPHAPI + "me/accounts?local=en_US"
sJSON is ANSI string
vJSON is Variant

// Retrieves the pages managed by the user
sJSON = FBRequest(MyConnection, sURL)
vJSON = JSONToVariant(sJSON)

The function returns the JSON response from Facebook.

Then, all you have to do is read and access the members documented in the Facebook API: "https://developers.facebook.com/docs/graph-api/reference".

FOR i = 1 _TO_ vJSON.data..Count
ListAdd(LIST_PAGES, gStoredValue(i) + vJSON.data[i].Name)
END