Facebook Java Api(ENG)__

Facebook Java Api Example
G.Morreale

Introduction:

This article explain the facebook java api through an example.
First you need a facebook account, and you have to enable "Developer" application.

Then you must configure you account and make a new application configuration in order to obtain 
"api key" and "secret key".
This can be accomplished by reading http://developers.facebook.com/get_started.php


The Server

You need a java web server (tomcat, glassfish, jboss etc.) available by the web.
Localhost server isn't ok to facebook integration purpose.

Facebook Java Api

If you want to interact with facebook platform a client library can be very useful.
Client library are available in different languages:http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/Client_Libraries

There isn't a officiale Java api but you can choose alternative unofficial ones:


I prefer the last one.
So go to http://code.google.com/p/facebook-java-api/ and download facebook-java-api-2.0.4.bin.zip (or later).
When you download it, extract the jar into a directory and get it available in you facebook example application classpath.

Facebook server make available user data, photos, groups infos etc by rest api:http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/API

The Facebook Client Project

Make a new Web project, and make a new empty servlet.
The servlet url-pattern configured in web.xml must be the same indicated in facebook application configuration.

The Source Code

public class index extends HttpServlet
{

    //facebook give it!
    String apiKey = "your api key";
    String secretKey = "your secret key";

    protected void processRequest(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
            throws ServletException, IOException
    {
        response.setContentType("text/html;charset=UTF-8");
        PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();
        try
        {
            out.println("<h2>User information</h2>");

            //facebook login mechanism give you by http parameter the session key
            //needed for client api request.
            String sessionKey = request.getParameter(FacebookParam.SESSION_KEY.toString());

            //initialize a facebook xml client (you can choose different client version: xml, jaxb or json)
            //the init is done by apiKey, secretKey and session key previosly requested
            FacebookXmlRestClient client = new FacebookXmlRestClient(apiKey, secretKey, sessionKey);

            
            //This code line obtain the user logged id
            Long uid = client.users_getLoggedInUser();

            //print user info.
            out.println(printUserInfo(uid, client, sessionKey));
}
 
private String printUserInfo(Long uid, FacebookXmlRestClient client, String sessionKey) throws FacebookException
    {
        StringBuffer ret = new StringBuffer();
        //init array parameter
        ArrayList<Long> uids = new ArrayList<Long>(1);
        uids.add(uid);
        //init field parameter - we choose all profile infos.
        List<ProfileField> fields = Arrays.asList(ProfileField.values());

        //init the client in order to make the xml request
        client = new FacebookXmlRestClient(apiKey, secretKey, sessionKey);
        //get the xml document containing the infos
        Document userInfoDoc = client.users_getInfo(uids, fields);

        //for each info append it to returned string buffer
        for (ProfileField pfield : fields)
        {
            ret.append(pfield.fieldName()).append(" <b>").append(userInfoDoc.getElementsByTagName(pfield.fieldName()).            item(0).getTextContent()).append("</b>");
            ret.append("</br>");
        }
        return ret.toString();
    }

Conclusion 
In this simple manner you can print all logged facebook user info into facebook application.
In order to make a cleary client authentication by using java servlet filter you can read this:
http://www.theliveweb.net/blog/2007/10/31/facebook-authentication-using-java/ 






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