yourminis :: developers :: Facebook Dynamic Library Tutorial

Developers > Learning Center > Facebook Dynamic Library Tutorial

This tutorial will demonstrate how to use the dynamically extensible Facebook library. The primary advantage to using this library dynamically is that your widget's filesize will only increase where necessary (i.e. you might only need the library when the widget is on facebook)

Requirements

Adobe Flash CS3/CS4 (or Flex)
wAPI .mxp (If you don't have this installed yet, follow the steps found here)

Steps

1. Open up a new .fla file

We will be creating a new widget and extending it with the ActionScript 3.0 Client Library for Facebook Platform. It is recommended that you download this library and look over the code.

2. Set up the basic widget

We will set up a widget as usual, adding a few lines to pull in the library.

import yourminis.api.IWidget
var widget:IWidget;
addEventListener("widget-loaded",onWidgetLoaded);

function onWidgetLoaded(evt:Event)
{
	widget.initWidget(300,250,0x000000);
	
	//add a listener for when the library is loaded 
	widget.addEventListener(widget.LIBRARIES_LOADED, onLibrariesLoaded);
	
	//tell the widget to load the facebook library, 
	widget.requireLibrary("facebook","*");
}
function onLibrariesLoaded(evt:Event):void{
	//in this function widget.libraries.facebook will be accessible
}

3. Let's utilize the facebook library...

4. Re-compile your widget and Upload

Go to the dashboard, click add new widget, and follow the prompts.

The resulting code should look like this:

import yourminis.api.IWidget

var widget:IWidget;
addEventListener("widget-loaded",onWidgetLoaded);//We must use a string literal instead of a constant because the event constants are not yet initialized in the widget class
function onWidgetLoaded(evt:Event):void {
	widget.initWidget(300,250,0x000000);
	widget.requireLibrary("facebook", "*");
	widget.addEventListener(widget.LIBRARIES_LOADED, onLibrariesLoaded);
}
function onLibrariesLoaded(evt:Event):void
{
	widget.libraries.facebook.lib.addEventListener(widget.social.AUTHENTICATION_COMPLETE, onAuthenticated);
	widget.libraries.facebook.authenticate();
}

function onAuthenticated(evt:Event):void
{
	//widget.alert("authenticated!");
    var urlvars:URLVariables = new URLVariables();
    urlvars.uid = "216292";
	widget.libraries.facebook.call("friends.get",urlvars,onGetFriends);
}

function onGetFriends(data:Object):void
{
	//note: we do not strong type the object passed in as FacebookData so your widget does not have any dependencies 
    //on the Facebook Actionscript Libraries (thus reducing widget size).  To figure out what type of data is passed back, 
    //refer to the libraries on Google Code (link above).
    
    //widget.alert("Got Friends!");
	for (var i:int=0; i< data.friends.length; i++)
    {
    	widget.debug(data.friends.getItemAt(i).uid);
    }
	
}
}

Conclusion

Congratulations! You successfully added a dynamic facebook library to your widget and can now access Facebook from all over the world wide web.

Next Steps

Start sharing your social widgets!