FACEBOOK GRAPH/rest api: how to LOGIN my OWN USER to update my STATUS with PHP

Question

I want to update the status of a FAN-PAGE by PHP with the help of the Facebook graph api. google says: doesn't work.

Now I want to update my own user status by PHP. My main problem is how to login my own user to the graph api (with PHP), without using a browser and without funny PHP workarounds.

Answer 1

In both cases you need to get publish_stream permission http://developers.facebook.com/docs/authentication/permissions

This can be done with FB.login()

More information: http://developers.facebook.com/docs/authentication

After that you can just update status with graph api post: http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/api/post

Answer 2

You need several things to update your facebook profile or a page's feed: a facebook application (client_id, client_secret), profile_id, and access_token (publish_stream, manage_pages, offline_access permissions)

You need offline_access because if not, then the access token will expire. If you've read that you don't need offline_access if you already have publish_stream specified, they just meant that you don't need it always.

To publish a post is easy:

$data = array(
    'access_token' => $access_token,
    'message' => 'status message',
    );
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $data);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, "https://graph.facebook.com/{$profile_id}/feed");

Now how to get the profile_id and access_token, you can use my app post panda, or make your own script. I'll include it here:

# arvin castro
# http://codecri.me/
# January 16, 2011

$client_id     = ''; # application id
$client_secret = ''; # application secret
$callbackURL   = 'http://'; # the URL of this script
$extendedPermissions = 'publish_stream,manage_pages,offline_access';

session_name('facebookoauth');
session_start();

if(isset($_GET['logout']) and $_SESSION['loggedin']) {
    $_SESSION = array();
    session_destroy();
}

if(isset($_GET['signin'])) {

    # STEP 1: Redirect user to Facebook, to grant permission for our application
    $url = 'https://graph.facebook.com/oauth/authorize?' . xhttp::toQueryString(array(
        'client_id'    => $client_id,
        'redirect_uri' => $callbackURL,
        'scope'        => $extendedPermissions,
    ));
    header("Location: $url", 303);
    die();
}

if(isset($_GET['code'])) {

    # STEP 2: Exchange the code that we have for an access token
    $data = array();
    $data['get'] = array(
        'client_id'     => $client_id,
        'client_secret' => $client_secret,
        'code'      => $_GET['code'],
        'redirect_uri'  => $callbackURL,
        );

    $response = xhttp::fetch('https://graph.facebook.com/oauth/access_token', $data);

    if($response['successful']) {

        $var = xhttp::toQueryArray($response['body']);
        $_SESSION['access_token'] = $var['access_token'];
        $_SESSION['loggedin']     = true;

    } else {
        print_r($response['body']);
    }
}

if($_SESSION['loggedin']) {
    // Get Profile ID
    $data = array();
    $data['get'] = array(
            'access_token'  => $_SESSION['access_token'],
            'fields' => 'id,name,accounts',
            );  
    $response = xhttp::fetch('https://graph.facebook.com/me', $data);
    echo '<pre>';
    print_r(json_decode($response['body'], true));
    echo '</pre>';

} else {
    echo '<a href="?signin">Sign in with Facebook</a>';
}

?>

I'm using my cURL wrapper class, xhttp

Answer 3

my main problem is how to login my own user to the graph api (with php), without using a browser and without funny php workarounds.

There's no way for you to act on behalf of a user (even your own user) without interacting with him through a browser at least once to get the offline_access.

How to get the offline_access permission and how to use it from there onward is explained in this answer.

EDIT:
Please read the comments! thanks @zerkms!