Facebook® Application Development For Dummies®

Facebook® Application Development For Dummies®

by Jesse Stay
Released May 2011
Publisher(s): For Dummies
ISBN: 9780470768730

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Book description

A fun and easy guide to creating the next great Facebook app!

Want to build the next runaway Facebook app like Farmville or Mafia Wars? Interested in leveraging Facebook app development as part of a marketing strategy? Whether you want to build your own Facebook app from scratch, extend an existing Facebook app, or create a game, this book gets you up and running in no time. Master the Facebook toolkit, get acquainted with the Facebook Markup and Query languages, navigate the Facebook API—even learn how to make money with your new app!

  • Shows you how to build the next great Facebook application with just basic HTML and scripting skills

  • Delves into what makes a good app and what makes a lucrative app

  • Explores how to create Facebook apps for marketing and viral reach, creating apps that can make money, and Facebook game development

  • Reviews the Facebook toolkit and gets you started with the My First Facebook application

  • Covers Facebook Markup and Query languages, navigating the Facebook API, and how to create a compelling interface

Create the next killer Facebook app with this approachable, fun guide!

Table of contents

  1. Cover Page
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. About the Author
  5. Dedication
  6. Author's Acknowledgments
  7. Publisher's Acknowledgments
  8. Table of Contents
  9. Introduction
    1. About This Book
    2. Conventions Used in This Book
    3. Foolish Assumptions
    4. How This Book Is Organized
    5. Icons Used in This Book
    6. Where to Go from Here
  10. Part I: Understanding the Basics of a Facebook Application
    1. Chapter 1: Getting Acquainted with Facebook Application Development
      1. What's a Facebook Application?
      2. Understanding the Facebook Application Development Process
      3. Picking a Platform That Works Right for You
      4. Releasing your application to the building block Web
      5. Understanding How Your Application Will Access Facebook
      6. Selecting a Development Language
      7. Referring to the Facebook Documentation
    2. Chapter 2: Building Your First Application
      1. Understanding the Development Process
      2. Setting Up Your Hosting Environment
      3. Getting the Facebook Developer Application Ready to Go
      4. Creating Your Own Application in Five Minutes
    3. Chapter 3: Delving Deeper — Understanding Your Application and Navigating the Application Setup Process
      1. When to Use JavaScript and When to Use the Server to Access Facebook Platform
      2. Understanding the Application Setup Process
  11. Part II: Integrating with the Facebook.com Environment
    1. Chapter 4: Targeting Integration Points
      1. Giving Your Application a Home on Facebook with the Canvas Page
      2. Sharing with New Visitors Via Tabs (or Custom Links)
      3. Giving Your Application Prominence through the Add Bookmark Button
      4. Keeping Your Users Updated through Counter Notifications
      5. Sharing Your Application through the News Feed
      6. Inviting Your users' Friends through Requests
      7. Obtaining Your users' E-Mail Addresses
      8. Making Friends Out of Your Users with the Friend's Dialog Box
      9. Sending More Updates through the Applications and Games Dashboard
      10. Knowing Your Audience
    2. Chapter 5: Targeting Brands through Facebook Pages
      1. Discovering What Facebook Pages Can Do for You
      2. Customizing Your Facebook Page
      3. Integrating Your Own Application into a Facebook Page through Tabs
      4. Basic Tips Every Page Owner Should Know
  12. Part III: From Fishers to Farmers — Building Facebook on Your Own Site
    1. Chapter 6: Turning Your Web Site into a Facebook Page with Open Graph Protocol and Social Plugins
      1. Going the Easy Way with Social Plugins
      2. The New SEO: Introducing OGP
      3. Linking Facebook Users as Admins on Your Web Site
      4. Instant Personalization
    2. Chapter 7: Integrating Facebook on Your Web Site through Graph API
      1. Understanding the Fundamentals of Graph API
      2. Setting Up Your Web Site to Use Graph API
      3. Identifying Your Users
      4. Turning Your Web Site into a Social Experience
      5. Putting It All Together — Integrating Facebook into Your Web Site in Five Minutes
      6. Putting It All Together
    3. Chapter 8: Knowing What Information You Have Access To
      1. Getting the Defaults with Publicly Accessible Information
      2. Getting More Detailed with Permissions
      3. Knowing Which Facebook Users Are on Your Web Site
      4. Creating Scripts to Access Offline Data
  13. Part IV: Delving into APIs
    1. Chapter 9: Understanding OAuth 2.0 — The Basics of Facebook Authentication
      1. Adopting Open Standards
      2. Understanding OAuth
      3. Architecting OAuth 2.0
      4. Implementing OAuth 2.0 in a Facebook Environment
      5. Taking Shortcuts with OAuth Libraries
      6. Authorizing on Your Web Site or in an iFrame Environment
      7. Knowing the Future of OAuth
    2. Chapter 10: Understanding the Essentials — Basic API Calls Every Developer Should Know
      1. Working with Objects
      2. Accessing Data in Objects
      3. Selectively Querying Information with Property Selection
      4. Getting an Object's Main Picture
      5. Accessing an Object's Connections with Introspection
      6. Paging through a List of Connected Objects
      7. Publishing to Facebook with Graph API
      8. Deleting Objects with Graph API
      9. Retrieving Advanced Data with FQL
      10. Joining Data with Subqueries
      11. Testing Your Queries in the JavaScript Test Console
      12. Making Queries with JavaScript
    3. Chapter 11: Getting Updated with Facebook's Real-Time API
      1. Getting into Real-Time APIs
      2. Finding the Hubbub about PubsubHubbub
      3. Differentiating RSS Cloud
      4. Staying Updated via Real-Time Objects on Facebook
    4. Chapter 12: Searching with Facebook's Search API
      1. Searching with Graph API
      2. Searching with FQL
      3. Understanding Facebook Privacy and Facebook Search
    5. Chapter 13: Integrating Facebook into a Mobile Experience
      1. Motivating You with Just a Few Mobile Stats
      2. Programming the iOS Facebook SDK
      3. Programming the Android Facebook SDK
      4. Programming with Facebook, Mobile, and HTML
      5. Using the Facebook Places API
    6. Chapter 14: Testing Your Application
      1. Facebook's API Test Console
      2. Facebook's URL Linter
      3. Creating Test Accounts
  14. Part V: Turning Your Facebook Application into a Legitimate Business
    1. Chapter 15: Helping Your Business and Brand Benefit from Facebook
      1. Measuring Data with Facebook Insights
      2. Discovering What People Are Sharing on Your Site
      3. Targeting Your Creations with Facebook Advertising
      4. Selling Your Creations with Facebook Credits
      5. Getting People to Your Stores and Venues with Facebook Places
    2. Chapter 16: Preparing for the Worst: What Every Facebook Application Developer Should Know
      1. Preparing for API Changes
      2. Dealing with Rate Limits
      3. Rules! Rules! Rules! — Knowing Facebook's Terms of Service
      4. Improving Site Performance
  15. Part VI: The Part of Tens
    1. Chapter 17: Ten Successful Facebook Applications
      1. JibJab
      2. HuffingtonPost
      3. Pandora
      4. Digg.com
      5. FamilyLink
      6. JumpStart
      7. Cinch
      8. SocialToo
      9. Quora
      10. Instagram
    2. Chapter 18: Top Ten Facebook Application Development Resources
      1. Facebook's Developer Forum
      2. Facebook Application Development For Dummies — the Facebook Group
      3. Facebook Application Development For Dummies — the Facebook Page
      4. Contacting Facebook
      5. Facebook Developer Documentation
      6. StayNAlive.com
      7. MariSmith.com
      8. InsideNetwork and InsideFacebook.com
      9. AllFacebook.com
      10. Facebook Blogs
  16. Index

Product information

  • Title: Facebook® Application Development For Dummies®
  • Author(s): Jesse Stay
  • Release date: May 2011
  • Publisher(s): For Dummies
  • ISBN: 9780470768730