Facebook offline access step-by-step

Question

After searchinge litteraly 1 day on fb and google for an up-to-date and working way to do something seemingly simple:

I am looking for a step-by-step explanation to get offline_access for a user for a facebook app and then using this (session key) to retrieve offline & not within a browser friends & profile data.

Preferrably doing this in the Fb Java API.

Thanks.

And yes I did check the facebook wiki.

Update: Anyone?

this: http://www.facebook.com/authorize.php?api_key=<api-key>&v=1.0&ext_perm=offline_access gives me offline_Access, however how to retrieve the session_key?

Why can't facebook just do simple documentation, I mean there are like 600 people working there?

The seemingly same question: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/617043/getting-offlineaccess-to-work-with-facebook Does not answer how to retrieve the session key

Edit: I am still stuck with that. I guess nobody really tried such a batch access out yet...

Answer 1

I know two solutions: Java and JavaScript

Java : a. servlet code (don't forget to import relevant jar's) :

String url="http://www.facebook.com/login.php?api_key=YOUR_API_KEY&v=1.0";
url+="&fbconnect=true&return_session=true&req_perms=offline_access,status_update";
url+="&next=http://YOUR_FaceBookCallback_SERVLET"; 
response.sendRedirect(url);
return;

//You will get prompt to log in to facebook and permit the extended permissions

b. Don't forget to define your ConnectUrl(in your facebook account application) as http://YourUrlFromWhereDoYouTurnToTheServletAbove

c. make another servlet : YOUR_FaceBookCallback_SERVLET (see above) with this code:

protected void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException {
String session = request.getParameter("session");
//from this string you can obtain your infinite session_key.In order to do this, parse this string as JSON.
//Save it in the database or in the other data storage  
response.sendRedirect(ThePlaceThatYouWant);}

d. Use this secret session_key like this:

FacebookXmlRestClient  client = new FacebookXmlRestClient(YOUR_API_KEY, FACEBOOK_APPLICATION_SECRET,SECRET_SESSION_KEY);
client.setIsDesktop(false); 
client.users_setStatus("YourMessage");

If anybody wants the JavaScript solution(the big hole in security) write me

Answer 2

Here's a step-by-step tutorial on my blog on how to access offline user's data. It assumes you're working with RoR and the Facebooker plugin.

Answer 3

I did a tutorial not too long ago on my blog. It doesn't require any plugins or whatnot, it is done in PHP, and I have tested it. I did it for mainly wall posts, but after you authenticate you can use whatever function you want.

http://blog.jylin.com/2009/10/01/loading-wall-posts-using-facebookstream_get/

Answer 4

Hi
I figured out how to "retrieve" the offline access infinite session key after a lot of hair-splitting, some trial and error & wondering about all the other productive ways I could have spent that time... agree facebook documentation could be a lot better

1) If you are using the facebook-java-api.. then take a look at the facebook demo site for "mobile web" on how to format the URL for requesting offline access
http://itsti.me/index.php

<a href="http://www.facebook.com/connect/prompt_permissions.php?api_key=YOUR_API_KEY&amp;ext_perm=publish_stream%2Coffline_access&amp;next=http%3A%2F%2Fmysite%2Ffacebookconnect&amp;cancel=http%3A%2F%2Fmysite%2Fhome&amp;display=wap"&gt;&lt;img alt="Connect" src="http://static.ak.fbcdn.net/images/fbconnect/login-buttons/connect_light_medium_long.gif" id="fb_login_image"/></a>

2) As to how get the offline session key from the session..The trick is : when facebook redirects the user to the "next" url right after granting offline access, you should get the facebook session "again"..this new session will have the infinite session key.
here is an example for mobile web...you should be able to figure it out for a regular website.The auth_token is used only for mobile web sites.. you may not need it for a regular web site

FacebookJsonRestClient fbc = new FacebookJsonRestClient(MY_API_KEY, SECRET, sessionKey);
String auth_token = request.getParameter("auth_token");
System.out.println("infinite session kEY = " +   fbc.auth_getSession(auth_token));

Answer 5

With the new Facebook Graph API, things got a bit simpler but far less well documented. Here's what I did to be able to load my wall posts as me from a server side only (not part of a browser session) php script:

1) create a facebook application, if you don't already have one usable for this project http://www.facebook.com/developers/apps.php#!/developers/createapp.php -- and set sandbox/developer mode on! @ Advanced Settings > Sandbox Mode > Enable (Lets only the developers of your application see it.) You'll need the Application ID (APP_ID) and Secret Key (SECRET_KEY) that are listed on your developer account summary of that application but not the old API Key.

2) load in your browser, already logged in to fb as the account you want your server side app to connect as, and click "allow" for the requested permissions: https://graph.facebook.com/oauth/authorize?client_id=APP_ID&scope=offline_access,read_stream&redirect_uri=http://www.facebook.com/connect/login_success.html

3) copy the "code" parameter from the resulting url's query string, use that in: https://graph.facebook.com/oauth/access_token?client_id=APP_ID&redirect_uri=http://www.facebook.com/connect/login_success.html&client_secret=APP_SECRET&code=CODE_FROM_2 And copy the right hand side of access_token= in the resulting page's text, which will be in the structure of: APP_ID|HEXNUM-USER_ID|WEIRD_KEY

4) now download either from the graph api or the classic rest api using the oath access token you just got ala (where SOURCE_ID is the facebook id for the user/group/whatever that you are looking up):

<?php $stream = json_decode(file_get_contents("https://api.facebook.com/method/stream.get?source_ids=SOURCE_ID&amp;access_token=ACCESS_TOKEN&amp;format=json")); var_dump($stream); // this one gives a 500 internal server error from the http get if any of the fields are invalid, but only in php, not when loaded in a browser... weird. $feed = json_decode(file_get_contents("https://graph.facebook.com/SOURCE_ID/feed?fields=id,from,created_time,link,type&amp;access_token=ACCESS_TOKEN")); var_dump($feed); ?>

Noting that the graph api and rest api return not just different structures, but also different information -- so here, I prefer the results from the rest api (the first one) even though I like being able to restrict the fields in the new graph api (the second one).

Look at http://developers.facebook.com/docs/authentication/ in the sections "Requesting Extended Permissions" and "Authenticating Users in a Web Application" for the official (sparse) details.

If you want to do this routinely, i.e. programmatically, here's the automated version of steps 2+3:

Put this on your web server as "facebook_access_token.php":

<?php $token = explode('=', file_get_contents("https://graph.facebook.com/oauth/access_token?client_id=APP_ID&amp;redirect_uri=http://$_SERVER[SERVER_NAME]$_SERVER[PHP_SELF]&amp;client_secret=APP_SECRET&amp;code=" . (get_magic_quotes_gpc() ? stripslashes($_GET['code']) : $_GET['code']))); echo $token[1]; // store this, the access token, in the db for the user as logged in on your site -- and don't abuse their trust! ?>

And direct users in their browsers to: https://graph.facebook.com/oauth/authorize?client_id=APP_ID&scope=offline_access,read_stream&redirect_uri=http://www.example.com/facebook_access_token.php