Apache Cordova Facebook Connect Plugin

This is the official plugin for Facebook Connect in Apache Cordova/PhoneGap!

The Facebook Connect plugin for Apache Cordova allows you to use the same JavaScript code in your web application as you use in your native Cordova application, but your native Cordova application will use the Facebook native app to perform Single Sign On for the user (if possible - if it isn't then it will fall back to dialog-based authentication).

This is all licensed under MIT except for app/www/facebook_js_sdk.js which is the Facebook JS SDK and is Apache 2.0.

Requirements

  • PhoneGap (Cordova) v1.8.1 (For compatibility with older versions of PhoneGap (1.4.1 or less), please download the tag 1.4.1support)

The Facebook SDK (both native and JavaScript) is changing independent of this plugin. The working versions of the Facebook Android and iOS SDKs are bundled in this project via git submodules.

To use this plugin you will need to make sure you've registered your Facebook app with Facebook and have an APP_ID (https://developers.facebook.com/apps). If you plan on rolling this out on Android, please note that you will need to generate a hash of your Android key(s) and submit those to the Developers page on Facebook to get it working. Furthermore, if you are generating this hash on Windows (specifically 64 bit versions), please use version 0.9.8e or 0.9.8d of OpenSSL for Windows and not 0.9.8k. Big ups to fernandomatos for pointing this out!

Project Structure

  |-example
  |  `-www
  |    `-index.html
  |-lib
  |  |-facebook-js-patch
  |  |-facebook_js_sdk.js
  |  |-facebook-android-sdk
  |  `-facebook-ios-sdk
  |-native
  |  |-android
  |  `-ios
  `-www
     `-cdv-plugin-fb-connect.js

lib/facebook-js-patch can be ignored. It is currently not used.

lib/facebook_js_sdk.js is the modified facebook-js-sdk. It already includes the hooks to work with this plugin.

native/android and native/ios contain the native code for the plugin for both Android and iOS platforms.

www/cdv-plugin-fb-connect.js is the JavaScript code for the plugin, this defines the JS API.

Getting Started

Android

View the Video

  1. Create a basic Cordova Android application.
  • NOTE: Min Target has to be set to 8. The plugin has an issue if you set your minimum target higher than that. You can edit this in your android manifest file.
  1. In the Cordova Android application you will need to put the following in your res/xml/plugins.xml file:

    <plugin name="org.apache.cordova.facebook.Connect" value="org.apache.cordova.facebook.ConnectPlugin" />

  2. You'll need to build + include the Facebook Android SDK and include the Facebook JavaScript SDK:

  • First run git submodule update --init to initialize and pull down the version of the Android Facebook SDK that works with this plugin; it will end up under lib/. Copy the src and res folders from lib/facebook-android-sdk/facebook/ into the root of your Cordova Android application. It should merge with the existing src and res folders and not overwrite.

  • NOTE: I haven't been able to compile the facebook android SDK into a jar with success. So, I just copied the source into my generated Cordova application directory and imported the generated Cordova Android package as an import at the top of FbDialog.java.

    TODO: Fix this :P. cd facebook-android-sdk/facebook and run jar cf facebook-android-sdk.jar src. This will create a facebook-android-sdk.jar file that you need to copy into your generated Cordova-Android's libs directory (and also add to your build path).

  1. From the Cordova Facebook Connect Plugin folder copy the src folder from native/android/ folder into the root of your Cordova Android application. It should merge with the existing src folder.

  2. From the Cordova Facebook Connect Plugin folder copy the www/cdv-plugin-fb-connect.js, lib/facebook_js_sdk.js and example/HackBook/ files into your application's assets/www folder. Overwrite the existing index.html file.

  3. Replace your appId in the new index.html file. Leave the quotes.

Now you are ready to create your application! Check out the example folder for what the HTML, JS etc looks like.

You can run the application from either the command line (ant clean && ant debug install) or from Eclipse.

iOS (Mac OS X)

NOTE: If you are having problems with SBJSON conflicts, download the latest version of git clone the latest cordova-ios code, build the installer, and run the installer to get updated!

View the Video

  1. Create a basic Cordova iOS application by following the PhoneGap Getting Started Guide
  2. From the Cordova Facebook Connect Plugin folder copy the contents of the native/ios folder into your app in Xcode (usually in the Plugins folder group). Make sure it is added as a "group" (yellow folder)
  3. Find the Cordova.plist file in the project navigator, expand the "Plugins" sub-tree, and add a new entry. For the key, add org.apache.cordova.facebook.Connect, and its value will be FacebookConnectPlugin
  4. From the example folder, copy either the contents of HackBook folder or the Simple folder into your www directory in Xcode. Overwrite the original index.html file in your project.
  5. From the Cordova Facebook Connect Plugin folder copy the contents of the www folder into the www directory in Xcode. If you do not find a www folder in Xcode, you need to go back to step one and make sure to follow all the steps.
  6. Under the group Supporting Files, find your [PROJECTNAME]-Info.plist, right-click on the file and select Open As -> Source Code, add the URL Scheme from the section below (you will need your Facebook APP_ID)
  7. Run git submodule update --init to initialize and pull down the versions of the android and iOS Facebook SDKs that work with this plugin; they will end up under lib/.
  8. From the Cordova Facebook Connect Plugin folder copy the file lib/facebook_js_sdk.js into the www directory in Xcode
  9. From lib/facebook-ios-sdk Remove facebook-ios-sdk.xcodeproj and facebook_ios_sdk_Prefix.pch files. Drag the src folder into your project under Plugins folder and make sure it is added as a "group" (yellow folder)
  10. Click on your project's icon (the root element) in Project Navigator, select your Target, then the Build Settings tab, search for Header Search Paths.
  11. Add the value /Users/Shared/Cordova/Frameworks/Cordova.framework/Headers
  12. Add the Facebook domains to the ExternalHosts lists, as described below.
  13. Make sure the <script> tags are added and are correct in the index.html. This include a tag for cordova-1.8.1.js, facebook_js_sdk.js and cdv-plugin-fb-connect.js.
  14. Add your AppID to your index.html. Should be in the callback for the deviceready event. Leave the quotes.
  15. Run the application in Xcode.

iOS URL Whitelist

The Facebook SDK will try to access various URLs, and their domains must be whitelisted in your Cordova.plist under ExternalHosts.

You can either add each subdomain separately:

  • m.facebook.com
  • graph.facebook.com
  • api.facebook.com
  • *.fbcdn.net
  • *.akamaihd.net

Or you can allow all domains with:

  • *

iOS URL Scheme

Make sure you add the scheme to your [PROJECTNAME]-Info.plist (located as one of the files in your Xcode project), substitute [APP_ID] and [SCHEME_ID] below to the appropriate values. This is to handle the re-direct from Mobile Safari or the Facebook app, after permission authorization.

  • [SCHEME_ID] is usually a unique identifier for the scheme, in reverse domain name notation (i.e com.facebook.phonegap.myscheme)
  • [APP_ID] is the Facebook app id given by Facebook
<key>CFBundleURLTypes</key>
<array>
	<dict>
		<key>CFBundleURLName</key>
		<string>[SCHEME_ID]</string>
		<key>CFBundleURLSchemes</key>
		<array>
			<string>fb[APP_ID]</string>
		</array>
	</dict>
</array>