NodeJS Library for Facebook

With facebook-node you can now easily write the same code and share between your server (nodejs) and the client (Facebook Javascript SDK).

This SDK will report usage of which AppID is using it directly to Facebook.

Author: Dongri Jin

License: Apache v2

Installing facebook-node

npm install facebook-node

var FB = require('facebook-node');
FB.setApiVersion("v2.2");

Running Samples

Update appId and appSecret in samples/scrumptious/config.js

npm install
cd samples/scrumptious
npm install
node app.js

Graph Api

Get

var FB = require('facebook-node');

FB.api('4', function (res) {
  if(!res || res.error) {
   console.log(!res ? 'error occurred' : res.error);
   return;
  }
  console.log(res.id);
  console.log(res.name);
});

Passing Parameters

var FB = require('facebook-node');

FB.api('4', { fields: ['id', 'name'] }, function (res) {
  if(!res || res.error) {
    console.log(!res ? 'error occurred' : res.error);
    return;
  }
  console.log(res.id);
  console.log(res.name);
});

Post

var FB = require('facebook-node');
FB.setAccessToken('access_token');

var body = 'My first post using facebook-node';
FB.api('me/feed', 'post', { message: body}, function (res) {
  if(!res || res.error) {
    console.log(!res ? 'error occurred' : res.error);
    return;
  }
  console.log('Post Id: ' + res.id);
});

Delete

var FB = require('facebook-node');
FB.setAccessToken('access_token');

var postId = '1234567890';
FB.api(postId, 'delete', function (res) {
  if(!res || res.error) {
    console.log(!res ? 'error occurred' : res.error);
    return;
  }
  console.log('Post was deleted');
});

Facebook Query Language (FQL)

Query

var FB = require('facebook-node');
FB.setAccessToken('access_token');

FB.api('fql', { q: 'SELECT uid FROM user WHERE uid=me()' }, function (res) {
  if(!res || res.error) {
    console.log(!res ? 'error occurred' : res.error);
    return;
  }
  console.log(res.data);
});

Multi-query

var FB = require('facebook-node');
FB.setAccessToken('access_token');

FB.api('fql', { q: [
  'SELECT uid FROM user WHERE uid=me()',
  'SELECT name FROM user WHERE uid=me()'
] }, function(res) {
  if(!res || res.error) {
    console.log(!res ? 'error occurred' : res.error);
    return;
  }
  console.log(res.data[0].fql_result_set);
  console.log(res.data[1].fql_result_set);
});

Named Multi-query

var FB = require('facebook-node');
FB.setAccessToken('access_token');

FB.api('fql', { q : {
  id: 'SELECT uid FROM user WHERE uid=me()',
  name: 'SELECT name FROM user WHERE uid IN (SELECT uid FROM #id)'
} }, function(res) {
  if(!res || res.error) {
    console.log(!res ? 'error occurred' : res.error);
    return;
  }
  console.log(res.data[0].fql_result_set);
  console.log(res.data[1].fql_result_set);
});

Batch Requests

var FB = require('facebook-node');
FB.setAccessToken('access_token');

var extractEtag;
FB.api('', 'post', { 
    batch: [
        { method: 'get', relative_url: '4' },
        { method: 'get', relative_url: 'me/friends?limit=50' },
        { method: 'get', relative_url: 'fql?q=' + encodeURIComponent('SELECT uid FROM user WHERE uid=me()' ) }, /* fql */
        { method: 'get', relative_url: 'fql?q=' + encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify([
                    'SELECT uid FROM user WHERE uid=me()',
                    'SELECT name FROM user WHERE uid=me()'
                ])) }, /* fql multi-query */
        { method: 'get', relative_url: 'fql?q=' + encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify({
                    id: 'SELECT uid FROM user WHERE uid=me()',
                    name: 'SELECT name FROM user WHERE uid IN (SELECT uid FROM #id)'
                })) }, /* named fql multi-query */
        { method: 'get', relative_url: '4', headers: { 'If-None-Match': '"7de572574f2a822b65ecd9eb8acef8f476e983e1"' } }, /* etags */
        { method: 'get', relative_url: 'me/friends?limit=1', name: 'one-friend' /* , omit_response_on_success: false */ },
        { method: 'get', relative_url: '{result=one-friend:$.data.0.id}/feed?limit=5'}
    ]
}, function(res) {
    var res0, res1, res2, res3, res4, res5, res6, res7,
        etag1;

    if(!res || res.error) {
        console.log(!res ? 'error occurred' : res.error);
        return;
    }

    res0 = JSON.parse(res[0].body);
    res1 = JSON.parse(res[1].body);
    res2 = JSON.parse(res[2].body);
    res3 = JSON.parse(res[3].body);
    res4 = JSON.parse(res[4].body);
    res5 = res[5].code === 304 ? undefined : JSON.parse(res[5].body);   // special case for not-modified responses
                                                                        // set res5 as undefined if response wasn't modified.
    res6 = res[6] === null ? null : JSON.parse(res[6].body);
    res7 = res6 === null ? JSON.parse(res[7].body) : undefined; // set result as undefined if previous dependency failed

    if(res0.error) {
        console.log(res0.error);
    } else {
        console.log('Hi ' + res0.name);
        etag1 = extractETag(res[0]); // use this etag when making the second request.
        console.log(etag1);
    }

    if(res1.error) {
        console.log(res1.error);
    } else {
        console.log(res1);
    }

    if(res2.error) {
        console.log(res2.error);
    } else {
        console.log(res2.data);
    }

    if(res3.error) {
        console.log(res3.error);
    } else {
        console.log(res3.data[0].fql_result_set);
        console.log(res3.data[1].fql_result_set);
    }

    if(res4.error) {
        console.log(res4.error);
    } else {
        console.log(res4.data[0].fql_result_set);
        console.log(res4.data[0].fql_result_set);
    }

    // check if there are any new updates
    if(typeof res5 !== "undefined") {
        // make sure there was no error
        if(res5.error) {
            console.log(error);
        } else {
            console.log('new update available');
            console.log(res5);
        }
    }
    else {
        console.log('no updates');
    }

    // check if dependency executed successfully    
    if(res[6] === null) {
        // then check if the result it self doesn't have any errors.
        if(res7.error) {
            console.log(res7.error);
        } else {
            console.log(res7);
        }
    } else {
        console.log(res6.error);
    }
});

extractETag = function(res) {
    var etag, header, headerIndex;
    for(headerIndex in res.headers) {
        header = res.headers[headerIndex];
        if(header.name === 'ETag') {
            etag = header.value;
        }
    }
    return etag;
};

Post

var FB = require('facebook-node');
FB.setAccessToken('access_token');

var message = 'Hi from facebook-node-js';
FB.api('', 'post', {
    batch: [
        { method: 'post', relative_url: 'me/feed', body:'message=' + encodeURIComponent(message) }
    ]
}, function (res) {
    var res0;

    if(!res || res.error) {
        console.log(!res ? 'error occurred' : res.error);
        return;
    }

    res0 = JSON.parse(res[0].body);

    if(res0.error) {
        console.log(res0.error);
    } else {
        console.log('Post Id: ' + res0.id);
    }
});

OAuth Requests

This is a non-standard behavior and does not work in the official client side FB JS SDK.

facebook-node is capable of handling oauth requests which return non-json responses. You can use it by calling api method.

Get facebook application access token

var FB = require('facebook-node');

FB.api('oauth/access_token', {
    client_id: 'app_id',
    client_secret: 'app_secret',
    grant_type: 'client_credentials'
}, function (res) {
    if(!res || res.error) {
        console.log(!res ? 'error occurred' : res.error);
        return;
    }
    
    var accessToken = res.access_token;
});

Exchange code for access token

var FB = require('facebook-node');

FB.api('oauth/access_token', {
    client_id: 'app_id',
    client_secret: 'app_secret',
    redirect_uri: 'http://yoururl.com/callback',
    code: 'code'
}, function (res) {
    if(!res || res.error) {
        console.log(!res ? 'error occurred' : res.error);
        return;
    }

    var accessToken = res.access_token;
    var expires = res.expires ? res.expires : 0;
});

You can safely extract the code from the url using the url module. Always make sure to handle invalid oauth callback as well as error.

var url = require('url');
var FB = require('facebook-node');

var urlToParse = 'http://yoururl.com/callback?code=.....#_=_';
var result = url.parse(urlToParse, true);
if(result.query.error) {
    if(result.query.error_description) {
        console.log(result.query.error_description);
    } else {
        console.log(result.query.error);
    }
    return;
} else if (!result.query.code) {
    console.log('not a oauth callback');
    return;
}

var code = result.query.code;

Extend expiry time of the access token

var FB = require('facebook-node');

FB.api('oauth/access_token', {
    client_id: 'client_id',
    client_secret: 'client_secret',
    grant_type: 'fb_exchange_token',
    fb_exchange_token: 'existing_access_token'
}, function (res) {
    if(!res || res.error) {
        console.log(!res ? 'error occurred' : res.error);
        return;
    }
    
    var accessToken = res.access_token;
    var expires = res.expires ? res.expires : 0;
});

Legacy REST Api

Although Legacy REST Api is supported by facebook-node, it is highly discouraged to be used, as Facebook is in the process of deprecating the Legacy REST Api.

Get

var FB = require('facebook-node');

FB.api({ method: 'users.getInfo', uids: ['4'], fields: ['uid', 'name'] }, function (res) {
    if(!res || res.error_msg) {
        console.log(!res ? 'error occurred' : res.error_msg);
        return;
    }

    console.log('User Id: ' + res[0].uid);
    console.log('Name: ' + res[0].name);
});

Post

var FB = require('facebook-node');
FB.setAccessToken('access_token');

var message = 'Hi from facebook-node';
FB.api({ method: 'stream.publish', message: message }, function (res) {
    if(!res || res.error_msg) {
        console.log(!res ? 'error occurred' : res.error_msg);
        return;
    }
    
    console.log(res);
});

Delete

var FB = require('facebook-node');
FB.setAccessToken('access_token');

var postId = '.....';
FB.api({ method: 'stream.remove', post_id: postId }, function (res) {
    if(!res || res.error_msg) {
        console.log(!res ? 'error occurred' : res.error_msg);
        return;
    }
    
    console.log(res);
});

Access Tokens

setAccessToken

This is a non-standard api and does not exist in the official client side FB JS SDK.

var FB = require('facebook-node');
FB.setAccessToken('access_token');

If you want to use the api compaitible with FB JS SDK, pass access_token as parameter.

FB.api('me', { fields: ['id', 'name'], access_token: 'access_token' }, function (res) {
    console.log(res);
}

getAccessToken

Unlike setAccessToken this is a standard api and exists in FB JS SDK.

var FB = require('facebook-node');
FB.setAccessToken('access_token');
var accessToken = FB.getAccessToken();

AppSecret Proof

For improved security, as soon as you provide an app secret and an access token, the library automatically computes and adds the appsecret_proof parameter to your requests.

Configuration options

options

This is a non-standard api and does not exist in the official client side FB JS SDK.

When this method is called with no parameters it will return all of the current options.

var FB = require('facebook-node');
var options = FB.options();

When this method is called with a string it will return the value of the option if exists, null if it does not.

var timeout = FB.options('timeout');

When this method is called with an object it will merge the object onto the previous options object.

FB.options({accessToken: 'abc'}); //equivalent to calling setAccessToken('abc')
FB.options({timeout: 1000, accessToken: 'XYZ'}); //will set timeout and accessToken options
var timeout = FB.options('timeout'); //will get a timeout of 1000
var accessToken = FB.options('accessToken'); //will get the accessToken of 'XYZ'

The existing options are:

• 'accessToken' string representing the facebook accessToken to be used for requests. This is the same option that is updated by the setAccessToken and getAccessToken methods.
• 'appSecret' string representing the facebook application secret.
• 'proxy' string representing an HTTP proxy to be used. Support proxy Auth with Basic Auth, embedding the auth info in the uri: 'http://[username:password@]proxy[:port]' (parameters in brackets are optional).
• 'timeout' integer number of milliseconds to wait for a response. Requests that have not received a response in X ms. If set to null or 0 no timeout will exist. On timeout an error object will be returned to the api callback with the error code of 'ETIMEDOUT' (example below).

'scope' and 'redirectUri' have been whitelisted in options for convenience. These value will not be automatically added when using any of the sdk apis unlike the above options. These are whitelisted so you can use it to pass values using the same FB object.

version

This is a non-standard api and does not exist in the official client side FB JS SDK.

Gets the string representation of the facebook-node library version.

var FB = require('facebook-node');
var version = FB.version;

Parsing Signed Request

parseSignedRequest

This is a non-standard api and does not exist in the official client side FB JS SDK.

var FB = require('facebook-node');

var signedRequestValue = 'signed_request_value';
var appSecret = 'app_secret';

var signedRequest  = FB.parseSignedRequest(signedRequestValue, appSecret);
if(signedRequest) {
    var accessToken = signedRequest.oauth_token;
    var userId = signedRequest.user_id;
    var userCountry = signedRequest.user.country;
}

Note: parseSignedRequest will return undefined if validation fails. Always remember to check the result of parseSignedRequest before accessing the result.

If you already set the appSeceret in options, you can ignore the second parameter when calling parseSignedRequest. If you do pass the second parameter it will use the appSecret passed in parameter instead of using appSecret from options.

If appSecret is absent, parseSignedRequest will throw an error.

var FB = require('facebook-node');
FB.options({ 'appSecret': 'app_secret'});

var signedRequestValue = 'signed_request_value';

var signedRequest  = FB.parseSignedRequest(signedRequestValue);
if(signedRequest) {
    var accessToken = signedRequest.oauth_token;
    var userId = signedRequest.user_id;
    var userCountry = signedRequest.user.country;
}

Error handling

Note: facebook is not consistent with their error format, and different systems can fail causing different error formats

Some examples of various error codes you can check for:

• 'ECONNRESET' - connection reset by peer
• 'ETIMEDOUT' - connection timed out
• 'ESOCKETTIMEDOUT' - socket timed out
• 'JSONPARSE' - could not parse JSON response, happens when the FB API has availability issues. It sometimes returns HTML

var FB = require('facebook-node');
FB.options({timeout: 1, accessToken: 'access_token'});

FB.api('/me', function (res) {
    if(res && res.error) {
        if(res.error.code === 'ETIMEDOUT') {
            console.log('request timeout');
        }
        else {
            console.log('error', res.error);
        }
    }
    else {
        console.log(res);
    }
});

Node style callback with FB.napi

This is a non-standard api and does not exist in the official client side FB JS SDK.

FB.napi takes the same input as FB.api. Only the callback parameters is different. In the original FB.api, the callback expects one parameter which is the response. In FB.napi the callback expects two parameters instead of one and follows the node standards. The first parameter is an error which is always of type FB.FacebookApiException and the second parameter is the same response as in FB.api. Error response can be accessed using error.response which is the same response as the response when using FB.api

var FB = require('facebook-node');

FB.napi('4', function(error, response) {
    if(error) {
        if(error.response.error.code === 'ETIMEDOUT') {
            console.log('request timeout');
        }
        else {
            console.log('error', error.message);
        }
    } else {
        console.log(response);
    }
});

FB.napi was added especially to make it easier to work with async control flow libraries.

Here are some examples of using facebook-node with Step.

You will need to install step.

npm install step

FB.api with Step

var FB      = require('facebook-node'),
    Step    = require('step');

Step(
    function getUser() {
        var self = this;
        FB.api('4', function(res) {
            if(!res || res.error) {
                self(new Error('Error occured'));
            } else {
                self(null, res);
            }
        });
    },
    function processResult(err, res) {
        if(err) throw err;
        console.log(res);
    }
);

FB.napi with Step

Simplified version of facebook-node async callbacks using FB.napi.

var FB      = require('facebook-node'),
    Step    = require('step');

Step(
    function getUser() {
        FB.napi('4', this);
    },
    function processResult(err, res) {
        if(err) throw err;
        console.log(res);
    }
);

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