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I'm trying to access a public facebook page's posts with the Facebook API but I cant seem to authenticate even with all the right credentials. FB.api returns:

{"error":{"type":"http","message":"unknown error"}}

and there's an error logged in 'access token 1: line 1'

Uncaught ReferenceError: TRJg376YTvXfk6sMur4Mggh5YnU is not defined access_token:1

(anonymous function)

Here's the code I'm using:

<script src="http://connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js"></script>
<div id="fb-root"></div>
<button name="my_full_name" onclick="connectToFacebook()" value="My Name" />

<script>
function connectToFacebook() {

    FB.api('https://graph.facebook.com/oauth/access_token',
    'get',
    {client_id:'xxxxxxxxxx', client_secret:'xxxxxxxxxx',grant_type:'client_credentials'}, //client_credentials
        function(response) {
            alert(JSON.stringify(response));
        });

        FB.api("/publicpage/feed",
                function (response) {
                    console.log(response);
                });

    }
</script>

it's not very well documented on their site! any ideas?

share|improve this question
This endpoint is supposed to be used by server-side apps only – because it needs your app secret, and you do not want to expose that in client-side JS code, where everyone will be able to find it. – CBroe Apr 19 at 8:45

1 Answer

up vote -1 down vote

Yes the docs are confusing but you have gone wrong, all wrong. Follow this article for the basic setup of the Facebook Javascript SDK.

In that article, it's been using user access token but as you want to access public posts of a page, you can use an app access token. The benefit of app access token is that it never expires. It's your choice in the end.

Get public posts using access token of currently logged in user

function getPosts() {           

       FB.api('/thepcwizardblog/feed', { limit: 10 }, function (response) {
            for (var i = 0, l = response.data.length; i < l; i++) {
                var post = response.data[i];
                var userid = post.from.id;

                var msg;

                if (post.message) {                        
                    msg = post.message;                        
                }
                else {                
                    msg = post.description;                        
               }

               console.log(userid + msg);
            }
        });
}

Get public posts using app access token

function getPosts() {           

       FB.api('/thepcwizardblog/feed?access_token='+accessToken+'', { limit: 10 }, function (response) {
            for (var i = 0, l = response.data.length; i < l; i++) {
                var post = response.data[i];
                var userid = post.from.id;

                var msg;

                if (post.message) {                        
                    msg = post.message;                        
                }
                else {                
                    msg = post.description;                        
               }

               console.log(userid + msg);
            }
        });
}

You can get access token for your app from here.

[EDIT]

Don't use the app access token as suggested by CBroe in the comments.

share|improve this answer
-1 for the fact that exposing your app access token in client-side code is a really stupid idea. – CBroe Apr 19 at 8:43
@CBroe it's still better than exposing the client_secret as he has done right now :P, i will edit it anyway!! – ThePCWizard Apr 19 at 8:46
It does not make much of a difference – app_id|app_secret makes for a valid app access token (or I could hit the endpoint to get one). Neither of those – app_secret or app access token – have anything to do in client-side JS code ever. – CBroe Apr 19 at 8:49
@CBroe app access token = app_id|app_secret I always forget that point, thanks for the reminder! – ThePCWizard Apr 19 at 8:52

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