Comments on: %$#^%$* Facebook Application Tabs

By: snipe

snipe — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 14:39:00 +0000

If the tab posts anywhere (outside url or otherwise), you can get the fbid. The user just has to interact with the tab in some way, at which point you can get the fbid.

By: Jordan314

Jordan314 — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 08:46:00 +0000

Hi,
I am able to get the user_id of a user on a tab IF the tab posts to an external URL, AND the user has authorized the application. I then quickly do the dirty work on my server and then redirect back to the tab. This is useful for having forms on an application tab, anyway.
Authorizing is the tricky part. I used to just be able to do requireLogin=1, but that no longer works. fb:if-is-app-user isn’t allowed either, I get that ugly “forbidden by flavor TabFBMLFlavor” error.
I got it to work from this solution:
http://forum.developers.facebook.net/viewtopic.php?pid=215120#p215120
The script:
function formDone() {
document.getElementById(‘my_form’).submit();
}
function submitForm() {
FB.Connect.showPermissionDialog(“”, formDone);
}

and then put onsubmit=”submitForm();return false;” in the form.

By: Bart

Bart — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:59:00 +0000

Hi there.
Totally agree with you after spending hours and hours trying to solve this problem.
If I'll get it working – I'll let you know as well.

By: Luis Alberto Ruiz Arauz

Luis Alberto Ruiz Arauz — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 03:26:35 +0000

Thanks for this usefull info “don't lose too much sleep over it either. Most errors are not shown to users, only developers” :^)

By: snipe

snipe — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 01:24:46 +0000

You can pull dynamic content from an external site, but it's gotta be written as an FBML app would be written. Load server-side scripted data, and then call updated information using mock ajax/FBJS.

By: insightcanada

insightcanada — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 01:09:12 +0000

I'm having a similar issue. I'm trying to pull content from our site and load that into an application that sits as a tab on a page of ours.The actual canvas page of the app works, but its throwing that error when set as a tab.
Snipe, do you have any ideas of what i might need to do to get a tab that can pull dynamic content from an external site? i thought an iframe would be the magic i needed

By: snipe

snipe — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 09:12:01 +0000

Not really, but i appreciate you trying Even in an IFRAME application, the app tab itself is still FBML. If you try to put IFRAME into an app tab, you'll usually get an error.

By: Will

Will — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 06:14:45 +0000

I use my customized Application, which has iFrame, as a Tab within my Fan Page since I think I cannot use iFrame within a “Static FBML” Tab. My customized App is just a simple page that grabs dynamic data from an external website. I just call it as an Application because that is the procedure I went through: Created an Application in Facebook to act as a dynamic page. Since I don't know FBML that well yet (I just know PHP & some MySQL) and I don't have enough time to dedicate to the project, I opted to use an iFrame placed inside a Tab page within a Fan Page. Sorry if my post is confusing. Hope this clarifies it.

By: Will

Will — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 06:04:40 +0000

When I created my Application, I got confused and never realized that adding it is similar to adding the “Static FBML” app. The non-searchability of my App (because it hasn't been “liked” by many people yet) also contributed to my confusion. hahaha I do not really want my app to be visible in search as it will just act as a Microsite page within a Fan Page. Upon reading this entire thread, I thought the other guy was also asking the same question hence I posted my findings. But thanks for the link and the many useful tutorials.

By: snipe

snipe — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 01:16:37 +0000

I'm a little confused – app tabs can only be FBML, not IFRAME, so you wouldn't use an xd_receiver there.