NativeScript : Facebook SDK

NativeScript plugin, wrapper of native Facebook SDK for Android and iOS.

• Features
• Installation
• Configuration
  • Android
  • iOS
• NativeScript Core
  • Initialization
  • Login
    • Facebook Login Button
    • Custom Login Button
  • Log out
    • Facebook Logout Button
    • Custom Logout Button
  • Share
    • Create Sharing Content
    • Facebook Share Button
    • Facebook Send Button
    • Show Share Dialog Programmatically
    • Hide Custom Button If Can't share
• NativeScript Angular
  • Initialization
  • Login
    • Facebook Login Button
    • Custom Login Button
  • Logout
    • Facebook Logout Button
    • Custom Logout Button
  • Share
    • Create Sharing Content
    • Facebook Share Button
    • Facebook Send Button
    • Show Share Dialog Programmatically
    • Hide Custom Button If Can't share
• Login Response
• Get Current Access Token
• Basic Analytics
• Graph API Example
• Release notes
• FAQ
• Contribute
• Get Help

Features

• [x] Login & Logout
• [x] Share
• [ ] Graph API
• [x] Basic Analytics

Installation

tns plugin add nativescript-facebook

Configuration

Android

Update AndroidManifest.xml (app/App_Resources/Android/AndroidManifest.xml) to put provider under <application>
{facebook_app_id} is your app id

<provider android:authorities="com.facebook.app.FacebookContentProvider{facebook_app_id}"
				  android:name="com.facebook.FacebookContentProvider"
				  android:exported="true"/>

iOS

Update Info.plist file (app/App_Resources/iOS/Info.plist) to contains CFBundleURLTypes and LSApplicationQueriesSchemes like below:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
    <dict>
    ...

        <key>CFBundleURLTypes</key>
        <array>
            <dict>
                <key>CFBundleURLSchemes</key>
                <array>
                    <string>fb{facebook_app_id}</string>
                </array>
            </dict>
        </array>
		<key>LSApplicationQueriesSchemes</key>
        <array>
            <string>fbapi</string>
            <string>fb-messenger-share-api</string>
            <string>fbauth2</string>
            <string>fbshareextension</string>
        </array>
    </dict>
</plist>

Make sure you replaced {facebook_app_id} with your Facebook App Id. More info regarding how to obtain a Facebook App Id can be found here.

Usage

NativeScript Core

Initialization

Call init of nativescript-facebook module on application launch.

app.ts

import * as application from 'application';
import { init } from "nativescript-facebook";

application.on(application.launchEvent, function (args) {
    init("{facebook_app_id}");
});

application.start({ moduleName: "login-page" });

Login

Facebook Login Button

Add Facebook login button as simple as adding a Facebook:LoginButton tag in your view. Then you can define login event handler name. In the example below - onLogin.

login-page.xml

<Page xmlns="http://schemas.nativescript.org/tns.xsd"
      xmlns:Facebook="nativescript-facebook"
  loaded="pageLoaded" class="page">

    ...

    <Facebook:LoginButton login="{{ onLogin }}"></Facebook:LoginButton>

    ...

</Page> 

Implement onLogin event handler in your view-model. It receives an argument from type LoginEventData. Currently LoginEventData object has 2 properties: error and loginResponse. loginResponse is an object that consists of 1 property - token that keeps the facebook access token which will be used for further authentications. Ideally we can add some other properties here in the future such as Facebook user id.

login-view-model.ts

import { Observable } from 'data/observable';
import { Facebook:LoginButton } from "nativescript-facebook";

export class LoginViewModel extends Observable {

  onLogin(eventData: LoginEventData) {
    if (eventData.error) {
      alert("Error during login: " + eventData.error.message);
    } else {
      console.log(eventData.loginResponse.token);
    }
  }
}

Custom Login Button

Add a button and define a tap event handler in your login view.

login-page.xml

<Page xmlns="http://schemas.nativescript.org/tns.xsd"
      xmlns:Facebook="nativescript-facebook"
  loaded="pageLoaded" class="page">

    ...

    <Button tap="{{ login }}" text="Log in (custom)"></Button>

    ...

</Page> 

In the view model implement the tap event handler in this case login method. It just has to call the login method that comes from the plugin. In the example below the login method from the plugin is imported as fbLogin.

BEST PRACTICE: Import only the methods that you need instead of the entire file. It is crucial when you bundle your app with webpack.

login-view-model.ts

import { Observable } from 'data/observable';
import { login as fbLogin } from "nativescript-facebook";

export class LoginViewModel extends Observable {

  login() {
    fbLogin((err, fbData) => {
      if (err) {
        alert("Error during login: " + err.message);
      } else {
        console.log(fbData.token);
      }
    });
  }

}

Log out

Facebook Logout Button

Add Facebook logout button as simple as adding a Facebook:LoginButton tag in your view. Then you can define logout event handler name. In the example below - onLogout.

home-page.xml

<Page xmlns="http://schemas.nativescript.org/tns.xsd"
      xmlns:Facebook="nativescript-facebook"
  loaded="pageLoaded" class="page">

    ...

    <Facebook:LoginButton logout="{{ onLogout }}"></Facebook:LoginButton>

    ...

</Page> 

Implement onLogout event handler in your view-model.

home-view-model.ts

import { Observable } from 'data/observable';

export class HomeViewModel extends Observable {

  onLogout() {
    console.log("logged out");
  }

}

Custom Logout Button

Add a button and define a tap event handler in your view. In this case - logout

home-page.xml

<Page xmlns="http://schemas.nativescript.org/tns.xsd"
      xmlns:Facebook="nativescript-facebook"
  loaded="pageLoaded" class="page">

    ...

    <Button tap="{{ logout }}" text="Log out (custom)"></Button>

    ...

</Page> 

In the view model implement the tap event handler in this case logout method. It just has to call the logout method that comes from the plugin. In the example below the logout method from the plugin is imported as fbLogout.

home-view-model.ts

import { Observable } from 'data/observable';
import { logout as fbLogout } from "nativescript-facebook";

export class LoginViewModel extends Observable {

  logout() {
    fbLogout(() => {
      console.log("logged out");
    });
  }

}

Share

Create Sharing Content

For sharing, you have to create sharing content first. Currently the available content types are:

• createShareLinksContent(link: string, quote?: string, addition?: ShareAdditionContent) available for every condition
• createSharePhotosContent(images: ImageSource[] | string[], userGenerated: boolean, addition?: ShareAdditionContent) available for ShareButton and showShareDialog ( only when user have native Facebook installed, version 7.0 or higher )
• createShareMessageGenericTemplateContent(contentConfig: MessageGenericTemplateContent) available for SendButton and showMessageDialog
• createShareMessageMediaTemplateContent(contentConfig: MessageMediaTemplateContent) available for SendButton and showMessageDialog

You can see more information from https://developers.facebook.com/docs/sharing/overview#content and https://developers.facebook.com/docs/sharing/messenger#share-types

import {
    LoginEventData,
    getCurrentAccessToken,
    createShareLinksContent,
    createSharePhotosContent,
    createShareMessageGenericTemplateContent,
    MessageGenericTemplateImageAspectRatio,
    showShareDialog,
    showMessageDialog,
    canShareDialogShow,
    canMessageDialogShow
} from 'nativescript-facebook';

const linkContent = createShareLinksContent('https://www.nativescript.org',
            'Create Native iOS and Android Apps With JavaScript',
            {
                hashtag: '#Nativescript'
            });

// you can also pass in imageUrls as string[] in here
const logoImage = fromResource('logo');
const photosContent = createSharePhotosContent([logoImage], false, {
              hashtag: '#Nativescript'
          });
const GenericTemplate = createShareMessageGenericTemplateContent({
            element: {
                title: 'Nativescript',
                subtitle: 'Create Native iOS and Android Apps With JavaScript',
                imageUrl: 'https://d2odgkulk9w7if.cloudfront.net/images/default-source/home/how-it-works-min.png',
                button: {
                    title: 'Check Doc',
                    url: 'https://docs.nativescript.org'
                },
                defaultAction: {
                    title: 'Go HomePage',
                    url: 'https://www.nativescript.org'
                }
            },
            // it seems android have to provide a pageId, otherwise the MessageDialog just wont show
            pageID: 'testestsett',
            imageAspectRatio: MessageGenericTemplateImageAspectRatio.Horizontal
        });

Facebook Share Button

<Facebook:ShareButton content="{{ linkContent }}"></Facebook:ShareButton>

Facebook Send Button

If the Messenger app is not installed, the Send button will be hidden. Be sure that your app layout is appropriate when this button is hidden.

<Facebook:SendButton content="{{ genericContent }}"></Facebook:SendButton>

Show Share Dialog Programmatically

Note The share dialog will try fallback to browse page sharing if user doesn't have Facebook installed (only for linkContent)

showShareDialog(this.linkContent);
showMessageDialog(this.linkContent);
showShareDialog(this.linkContent, (error:Error, result:ShareCallbackResult) => {
    if(!error){
        console.log(result.android); // com.facebook.share.Sharer.Result
        console.log(result.ios); // (NSDictionary * ) The results from the sharer. This may be nil or empty.
    }
});

Hide Custom Button If Can't share

You can use this method to check if the content can be shared and hide the custom button if can't

public canShowPhotosShareDialog = canShareDialogShow(this.photosContent);
public canShowGenericMessageDialog = canMessageDialogShow(this.genericContent);

<Button tap="{{ onShareDialogPhotos }}" text="Open Share dialog (photos)" visibility="{{ canShowPhotosShareDialog ? 'visible' : 'collapsed' }}"></Button>
<Button tap="{{ onSendGenericDialog }}" text="Share Message Generic Template" visibility="{{ canShowGenericMessageDialog ? 'visible' : 'collapsed' }}"></Button>

NativeScript Angular

Initialization

Call init of nativescript-facebook module on application launch.

app.module.ts

...
import * as application from 'application';
import { NativeScriptModule } from "nativescript-angular/nativescript.module";
import { NativeScriptFacebookModule } from "nativescript-facebook/angular";

let nsFacebook = require('nativescript-facebook');

application.on(application.launchEvent, function (args) {
    nsFacebook.init("{facebook_app_id}");
});
...
@NgModule({
    ...
    imports: [
        AppRoutingModule,
        NativeScriptModule,
        NativeScriptFacebookModule,
        ...
    ],
    ...
})
...

Login

Facebook Login Button

Add Facebook login button as simple as adding a Facebook:LoginButton tag in your component html file. Then you can define login event handler name. In the example below - onLogin. Bare in mind the $event argument.

pages/login/login.component.html

<StackLayout>
    <FacebookLoginButton (login)="onLogin($event)"></FacebookLoginButton>
</StackLayout>

Implement onLogin event handler in your component. It receives an argument from type LoginEventData. Currently LoginEventData object has 2 properties: error and loginResponse. loginResponse is an object that consists of 1 property - token that keeps the facebook access token which will be used for further authentications. Ideally we can add some other properties here in the future such as Facebook user id.

pages/login/login.component.ts

import { Component } from "@angular/core";
import * as Facebook from "nativescript-facebook";

@Component({
    selector: "login",
    templateUrl: "login.component.html",
})
export class LoginComponent { 
    onLogin(eventData: Facebook.LoginEventData) {
        if (eventData.error) {
            alert("Error during login: " + eventData.error);
        } else {
            console.log(eventData.loginResponse.token);
        }
    }
}

Custom Login Button

Add a button and define a tap event handler in your login component html.

pages/login/login.component.html

<StackLayout>
    <Button text="Login Button (custom)" (tap)="login()"></Button>
</StackLayout>

In the component implement the tap event handler in this case login method. It just has to call the login method that comes from the plugin.

pages/login/login.component.ts

import { Component } from "@angular/core";
import * as Facebook from "nativescript-facebook";

@Component({
    selector: "login",
    templateUrl: "login.component.html",
})
export class LoginComponent { 
    login() {
        Facebook.login((error, fbData) => {
            if (error) {
                alert("Error during login: " + error.message);
            } else {
                console.log(fbData.token);
            }
        });
    }
}

Logout

Facebook Logout Button

Add Facebook logout button as simple as adding a Facebook:LoginButton tag in your component html file. Then you can define logout event handler name. In the example below - onLogout. Bare in mind the $event argument.

pages/home/home.component.html

<StackLayout>
    <FacebookLoginButton (logout)="onLogout($event)"></FacebookLoginButton>
</StackLayout>

Implement onLogout event handler.

pages/home/home.component.ts

import { Component } from "@angular/core";
import * as Facebook from "nativescript-facebook";

@Component({
    selector: "home",
    templateUrl: "home.component.html",
})
export class HomeComponent { 
    onLogout(eventData: Facebook.LoginEventData) {
        if (eventData.error) {
            alert("Error during login: " + eventData.error);
        } else {
            console.log("logged out");
        }
    }
}

Custom Logout Button

Add a button and define a tap event handler in your view. In this case - logout

pages/home/home.component.html

<StackLayout>
    <Button text="Log out (custom)" (tap)="logout()"></Button>
</StackLayout>

In the component implement the tap event handler in this case logout method. It just has to call the logout method that comes from the plugin. In the example below the logout method from the plugin is imported as fbLogout.

pages/home/home.component.ts

import { Component } from "@angular/core";
import { logout as fbLogout } from "nativescript-facebook";

@Component({
    selector: "home",
    templateUrl: "home.component.html",
})
export class AppComponent { 
  logout() {
    fbLogout(() => {
      console.log("logged out");
    });
  }
}

Share

Create Sharing Content

Read Nativescript chapter for this

Facebook Share Button

<FacebookShareButton [content] = "linkContent"></FacebookShareButton>

Facebook Send Button

If the Messenger app is not installed, the Send button will be hidden. Be sure that your app layout is appropriate when this button is hidden.

<FacebookSendButton [content] = "genericContent"></FacebookSendButton>

Show Share Dialog Programmatically

Note The share dialog will try fallback to browse page sharing if user doesn't have Facebook installed (only for linkContent)

showShareDialog(this.linkContent);
showMessageDialog(this.linkContent);
showShareDialog(this.linkContent, (error:Error, result:ShareCallbackResult) => {
    if(!error){
        console.log(result.android); // com.facebook.share.Sharer.Result
        console.log(result.ios); // (NSDictionary * ) The results from the sharer. This may be nil or empty.
    }
});

Hide Custom Button If Can't share

You can use this method to check if the content can be shared and hide the custom button if can't

public canShowPhotosShareDialog = canShareDialogShow(this.photosContent);
public canShowGenericMessageDialog = canMessageDialogShow(this.genericContent);

<Button (tap) = "onShareDialogPhotos()" text = "Open Share dialog (photos)" *ngIf = "canShowPhotosShareDialog"></Button>
<Button (tap) = "onSendGenericDialog()" text = "Share Message Generic Template" *ngIf = "canShowGenericMessageDialog"></Button>

Login Response

The callback that have to be provided to Facebook.login method receives 2 arguments: error and login response object. Login response object has the following structure:

Get Current Access Token

The plugin allows to get the current access token, if any, via getCurrentAccessToken() method.

Basic Analytics

The plugin allows to log analytics events. At the initialization of the application you need to init analytics:

application.on(application.launchEvent, function (args) {
    nsFacebook.init("{facebook_app_id}");
    nsFacebook.initAnalytics();
});

Events logging:

nsFacebook.logEvent('Lead');

Logging event with parameters:

const value = 5;
const parameters = [{
    key: 'value',
    value: value.toString(),
}];

nsFacebook.logEvent(FundsAdded, parameters);

Graph API Example

Once the Facebook access token is retrieved you can execute Graph API requests. In the example below after successful login, the access token is stored in application settings. And then on the home view it is retrieved and 2 Graph API calls are executed.

1. Get Facebook id of the logged in user
2. Get the logged in user avatar (this is kind of workaround of this NativeScript issue. #2176)

export class HomeComponent {
    accessToken: string = appSettings.getString("access_token");
    userId: string;
    username: string;
    avatarUrl: string;

    constructor(private ref: ChangeDetectorRef, private navigationService: NavigationService) {
        // Get logged in user's info
        http.getJSON(config.FACEBOOK_GRAPH_API_URL + "/me?access_token=" + this.accessToken).then((res) => {
            this.username = res.name;
            this.userId = res.id;

            // Get logged in user's avatar
            // ref: https://github.com/NativeScript/NativeScript/issues/2176
            http.getJSON(config.FACEBOOK_GRAPH_API_URL + "/" + this.userId + "/picture?type=large&redirect=false&access_token=" + this.accessToken).then((res) => {
                this.avatarUrl = res.data.url;
                this.ref.detectChanges();
            }, function (err) {
                alert("Error getting user info: " + err);
            });
        }, function (err) {
            alert("Error getting user info: " + err);
        });
    }

This sample is part of the demo apps and can be observed here for Nativescript Code and here for NativeScript + Angular.

Release notes

Check out release notes here

FAQ

Check out our FAQ section here.

Contribute

We love PRs! Check out the contributing guidelines. If you want to contribute, but you are not sure where to start - look for issues labeled help wanted.

Get Help

Please, use github issues strictly for reporting bugs or requesting features. For general questions and support, check out Stack Overflow or ask our experts in NativeScript community Slack channel.