Desktop Getting Started

Last updated 4.15.2009



Set your Facebook application type



Import MKAbeFook into your XCode project

  1. Control + click the Frameworks group in XCode and select Add-Existing Framework. Navigate to MKAbeFook.framework and click Add.
  2. Click Add again to add it to selected targets.
  3. Control + click your project in the Targets group. Select Add->New Copy Files Build Phase.
  4. Choose Frameworks as the destination. Close the window.
  5. Drag MKAbeFook.framework from the Frameworks group to your new Copy Files Build Phase folder.
  6. Import <MKAbeFook/MKAbeFook.h> where appropriate.



Create a new MKFacebookObject

MKFacebook *facebookConnection = [[MKFacebook facebookWithAPIKey:@"YOUR_API_KEY"
                                                      withSecret:@"YOUR_SECRET_KEY"
                                                        delegate:self] retain];



Display a login window

[facebookConnection showFacebookLoginWindow];



Implement the userLoginSuccessful delegate method

The userLoginSuccessful method will be called after the user logs in and closes the login window.

-(void)userLoginSuccessful
{
    NSLog(@"neat");
}



Call a Facebook method

Once you've verified a user has logged in you may start calling other Facebook methods.

NSMutableDictionary *parameters = [NSMutableDictionary alloc] init];
MKFacebookRequest *request = [MKFacebookRequest requestUsingFacebookConnection:facebookConnection delegate:self];

//set up parameters for request
[parameters setValue:@"facebook.photos.getAlbums" forKey:@"method"];
[parameters setValue:[facebookConnection uid] forKey:@"uid"];

//add parameters to request
[request setParameters:parameters];

//send the request
[request sendRequest];

[parameters release];

Implement our delegate methods so we can do something with the response we get from Facebook.

-(void)facebookResponseReceived:(NSXMLDocument *)xml
{
    NSArray *albums = [[xml rootElement] arrayFromXMLElement];
    //do something with the array of albums
}

-(void)facebookErrorResponseReceived:(NSXMLDocument *)xml
{
    //oh crap something went wrong
}



Upload a photo

Uploading a photo is almost identical to sending any other request. The only extra step is adding a NSImage object to the NSDictionary of parameters that is passed to the MKFacebookRequest object.

NSMutableDictionary *parameters = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init];
MKFacebookRequest *photoRequest = [MKFacebookRequest requestUsingFacebookConnection:facebookConnection delegate:self];
//we want to handle responses from photo uploads differently so we'll override the default delegate method
[photoRequest setSelector:@selector(uploadedPhoto:)];

[parameters setValue:@"facebook.photos.upload" forKey:@"method"];
//add a NSImage object to the parameters dictionary, key name can be anything
[parameters setObject:<some NSImage object here> forKey:@"image"];
[parameters setValue:@"123456789" forKey:@"aid"];
[parameters setValue:@"Neat." forKey:@"caption"];

[photosRequest setParameters:parameters];
[photoRequest sendRequest];
[parameters release];

Implement our own method for handling photo upload responses.

-(void)uploadedPhoto:(NSXMLDocument *)xml
{
    //do something with the response
}



Send multiple requests using a queue

The MKFacebookRequestQueue class can be used to send multiple requests that wait for the previous request to finish before sending a new one. Simply set up individual MKFacebookRequests and add them to a MKFacebookRequestQueue.

//create a MKFacebookRequest instance variable
MKFacebookRequestQueue *requestQueue = [[MKFacebookRequestQueue alloc] init];
[requestQueue setDelegate:self];

/*currentlyUploadingImage: will receive a NSDictionary with a "current" key and a "total" key
to indicate which image is currently being uploaded*/
[requestQueue setCurrentlySendingSelector:@selector(currentlyUploadingImage:)];

/*lastImageUploaded will receive the NSXMLDocument containing the response from
Facebook from the most recent image upload*/
[requestQueue setLastRequestResponseSelector:@selector(lastImageUploaded:)];

//allImagesUploaded will be called after the queue has attempted all requests
[requestQueue setAllRequestsFinishedSelector:@selector(allImagesUploaded)];

//here we set up however many MKFacebookRequest objects we want and add them to the queue
[requestQueue addRequest:request1];
[requestQueue addRequest:request2];
[requestQueue addRequest:request3];

//start processing requests in the queue
[requestQueue startRequestQueue];

//handle responses in appropriate selectors...



Add observers for notifications.

You can add observers to be notified when requests start and end.

-(void)awakeFromNib
{
    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self
                                                                    selector:@selector(facebookNetworkActivityStarted:)
                                                                       name:@"MKFacebookRequestActivityStarted"
                                                                      object:nil];
       
    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self
                                                                    selector:@selector(facebookNetworkActivityEnded:)
                                                                       name:@"MKFacebookRequestActivityEnded"
                                                                       object:nil];
}