Working with New Facebook API

As I’ve written previously, I have worked on a few Facebook applications. I’ve gotten quite familiar with the intricacies of Facebook and how things work using its API. It’s an interesting way of doing things if you ever get the chance to check it out.

Anyhow, I’ve been working for the past week or so on getting to know the new API and platform changes that Facebook should be releasing in the next month or so. While it seems that a lot of things will just work as is, there are a couple of main points that will need to be changed for any Facebook app written on the current platform.

The main change I feel is the way that the application publishes feeds. Previously, you would call the Feed.publishTemplatizedAction function. It is pretty basic and relatively easy to understand. With the new platform, this old call is being removed and to be replaced with a couple of API calls. With the old platform, you needed to register your templates, get a Template ID back from Facebook, and then use that to call your feeds whenever.

I had a lot of issues at first getting the syntax correct on how the data was passed to the feeds since there isn’t a lot of documentation on how they are supposed to look. Especially since Facebook changed the call Feed.registerTemplateBundle. But once I got the new changes implemented and the hang of it, publishing feeds stories finally worked as they once did.

The big change to the feed stories is that you are able to have 3 feed sizes. The default is the one-liner. Just like it sounds, one line of copy. Next are the short story and the full story. They are very similar with the exception that you actually register an array of short stories with each one having one less dynamic piece than the one before it. With full stories, you only register one but you can make it large. I’m not sure of the size difference between the short and full stories as I don’t think that has been decided as of yet. If so, let me know.

Those are really the only things that I have done with the new API as of yet. Seems really cool but also a lot of work to keep your old apps working seamlessly. First of all, each application that you have, you will have to run the Feed.registerTemplateBundle API function to get a template ID for your app to use exclusively. Secondly, you will have edit your API calls to now call the Feed.publishUserAction instead of the Feed.publishTemplatizedAction call being made previously. It’s not a “huge” change but still there are a few differences.

My idea for updating the apps that I have worked on was to just change the API code that we use on every project but I have seen that won’t work exactly as I had planned. Currently, I pass the entire feed story as a string into the API call but with the new way, I’m going to have to pass a JSON array because the story itself has already been registered along with the template ID. It’s not a big deal but it would be nice if Facebook made their API a little bit more backwards compatible. But I can see why they are doing it this way. Everything is changing and it would be hard to keep the old stuff working. I would like the ability to register templates like they do it currently through a form on the Facebook site. That way I wouldn’t have to create a page on each app just to get a number back and then remove that page. Seems like kind of a waste to me but it’s still early, maybe they’ll do that.

If you have worked with the new Facebook API, I would love to hear about your experiences and what you think about some of the pending changes. I’m excited to see what changes end up happening and where the platform goes.

Firefox 3 Download Numbers

I’m not sure which is more impressive. The fact that over 3 million people downloaded Firefox 3 today or the fact that only 1 person from Liberia did.

Firefox 3 Released Today, Well Maybe Today

The internet community has been waiting for the anticipated release of the newest Firefox browser today for a few months now. Firefox even went so far as to attempt a world record for number of downloads in a day where people would pledge to download the newest version today.

Well that time has come and for me at least, and I don’t think that I am alone, the page, http://www.spreadfirefox.com/, is not loading for me. I find this very unfortunate for Firefox but understand that with all of the hype surrounding the release, that something like this had to be expected.

Let me know if anyone gets it working but for now, I’m in a holding pattern waiting to see how this goes.

UPDATE: Just got the Spread Firefox link to work but it directs me to download Version 2.

UPDATE #2: Mozilla just posted this blog about the server issue.

UPDATE #3: Just got it installed thanks to direct link from Chuck Reynolds. Seems to be working nicely. Now if I can just move some of these toolbars around and it will be perfect.

UPDATE #4: Mozilla just said that all is well now and download day has begun.

iPhone 2.0 Thoughts

So it’s been about a week since the newest iPhone was announced and I’ve had time to think about the good and bad now. In previous posts, I’ve mentioned possibly getting an iPhone in place of my T-Mobile Dash. Well I decided a couple of weeks ago to get a Blackberry Curve and I love it. And now, looking back, I’m glad that was the decision that I made.

When I first heard about the iPhone possibly being $299 for a 16gb model, I thought that this might just work. But then reading up on the fact that you had to sign up with AT&T for 2 years made this not that attractive for me.

I really love the idea of the GPS included in the newest version. I like it more that the addition of the 3G network. To me, if the 3G is only 2 times faster, it’s not worth the extra hassle. But I am very interested in the GPS.

I also think that the quality of apps will greatly increase due to the iPhone SDK that’s been out for a while now. I’m also a fan of the Application Store. Gives the developers a chance to see some return on countless hours spent developing apps. It also gives them a wide user base to potentially sell their apps to. I think Apple did well with this.

But the one stopping point for me is the fact that you have to get the iPhone activated in an AT&T store, thus removing any reason to jailbreak it. That is unless you don’t mind sending AT&T a check every month for services you might not use if you switch to a different network. That makes it really hard for people like me who might be locked into contracts with other carriers.

Overall, I really like the changes made to the new iPhone 2.0 but I think that the lock downs make it more unattractive to me as before. What do you think?

iPhone 2.0 Announcement

Steve Jobs has just finished his keynote at WWDC and here are my thoughts along with some highlights:

• The new firmware won’t be available until early July so this is a bit disappointing as most thought it would be released in the next couple of days. Kind of a let down but I think it would be hard for them to release it today or even tomorrow.
• One awesome feature is the syncing with Exchange. Data will be synced both ways and stay up to date on your iPhone as well as the exchange server. Really cool feature it sounds like. This is also going to use the recently purchased me.com website to sync everything together. And that looks like it is replacing the .mac service; for the low price of $99 a year.
• Now to the big news. The new iPhone will use the 3G technology thus drastically improve the speed of the network. Also, GPS support is integrated. That is really cool. With the 3G and the GPS, I am really enjoying what’s being said right now.
• And now the price has been announced. $199 for an 8gb model and $299 for the 16gb one (which you can also get in white). Will be available on July 11th in 22 countries.
• That seems to be it as Steve Jobs has just left the stage

Overall I am really excited about this announcement today. He never mentioned any catch for the low prices for the iPhones but I am guessing that there is. Hopefully I am wrong.

UPDATE:

Apple’s iPhone page does state the following:

Requires new 2-year AT&T rate plan, sold separately.

That sucks. I guess the price is $200 higher as per the rumors if you get it without. We’ll see.