Facebook Graph API Development with Flash

Build social Flash applications fully integrated with the Facebook Graph API

• Build your own interactive applications and games that integrate with Facebook
• Add social features to your AS3 projects without having to build a new social network from scratch
• Learn how to retrieve information from Facebook's database
• A hands-on guide with step-by-step instructions and clear explanation that encourages experimentation and play

In Detail

The Facebook platform provides you with an ideal solution for building rich, social experiences on the web to develop an effective user experience application. Combined with Flash which effectively enables social interactions, you can create a fully functional application on Facebook. If you've been waiting to get started with your own applications and games on Facebook, with this book you don't have to wait any longer.

This book takes you through everything you need to know to integrate your AS3 apps and games with Facebook accompanied by illustrative screenshots and short quizzes.It presents you with in depth coverage of the key underlying concepts such as creating a basic application that runs inside Facebook and exploring the Graph API which greatly simplifies how developers can retrieve data. This book also covers topics on security, permissions and authentication features on Facebook.

This beginner's guide starts off by teaching you about retrieving simple public data and then rapidly working your way up to authenticating users, building powerful searches across the entire database, and uploading photos and other content.

Throughout the book, you'll learn by building two fundamental components: an RIA Facebook interface and an AS3 SDK that you can drop into any project to add Facebook integration. This easy-to-understand guide has everything written as AS3-only projects with publicly available components, so you can follow along whether you use Flash Pro, Flex, or MXMLC - as long as you know AS3!

This hands-on tutorial will present you with a whole new perspective of the three core aspects of Facebook - searching, retrieving, and updating the data .This practical book focuses on how to set up an application on Facebook and how to deal with different contexts like AIR.

By the end of this book, you will be confident enough to set up your own application and create social interactions for users to share on Facebook.

Everything you need to know from integrating applications and games to searching, retrieving, and updating data on Facebook

What you will learn from this book

• Make your AS3 projects more social and personalise them for your users by adding Facebook integration
• Grab information directly from Facebook into your applications by using Facebook's Graph API
• Securely authenticate your users with OAuth 2.0 to log them into Facebook
• Access information about your users and their friends directly from Facebook - no need to make them type it all in again
• Upload photographs, add wall posts, and create events through AS3
• Search on Facebook's databases with the powerful Facebook Query Language
• Build an AS3 Facebook SDK that you can drop into any AS3 project to add Facebook integration
• Easily access both public and private Facebook data from the surface of a graph
• Learn with exercises and fun examples illustrated with diagrams and screenshots

Approach

This step-by-step book gives you an empty shell of an AS3 Facebook RIA, and guides you through writing the Facebook interaction code by means of fun examples, exercises, and code snippets.This beginner's guide focuses on getting you through all the major learning points in a smooth, logical order. You'll also see how to avoid some common pitfalls.

Who this book is written for

If you are an AS3 developer who wants to create applications and games that integrate with Facebook - either on the Facebook website itself or off it, then this book is for you. Even if you have no previous experience with Facebook, databases, or server-side programming , you can count on this book.