Facebook Development - Simple question on best approach

I am a PHP developer, but completely new to this Facebook stuff and am getting all confused. The whole Apps vs Pages vs Fan Pages terminology is driving me nuts. Please help!

My client's requirements:

1) Display Like button on a single web page

2) When Like button is clicked, content on the page is unlocked and displayed (PHP)

3) Future visits开发者_开发百科 to the page detects that visitor already likes the page, and content remains  unlocked (PHP)

4) All updates to web page profile on FB will show on Likers' news feed

My understanding is that the cleanest way of doing (3) above is to use the PHP SDK. But to do this, I need to create an app (to get the App ID). So I created an App. I 'liked' the App from my FB profile. Updates to my app are posted to my news feed. So far, so good.

However when I try and implement the PHP SDK, it only works if I authorize the App to my account first. Is there a way of avoiding this authorization step just for a simple "Like" (I ask because I didn't have to authorize anything when liking the app within FB)? If this authorization is unavoidable, are there any alternatives to Apps that would allow me to achieve the above requirements?

Ideally, I'd like to use just "Pages" to do this, and not Apps, but I believe I cannot achieve (2) and (3) with pages, correct (remembering everything needs to be server side, so no JavaScript showing and hiding layers etc)?

I would be grateful for any guidance.

Thanks.

So I'm assuming what we are talking about here is a Facebook tab - the 520 pixel wide applications that can go in Fan pages?

If not, you will not be able to make this happen without permissions. It sounds like that is what you're talking about, though.

Here's an example of an Facebook tab on the Coca Cola fan page:

In a tab, the PHP SDK will tell you if the user is a fan of the page (not of the app, of the page). You'll need to read the signed request - there will be a parameter there called Page, which tells you if the user is already a fan (see https://developers.facebook.com/docs/authentication/signed_request/). You get this without having to authorize.

I usually read all this and store whether the user is a fan in a boolean variable. Then later in my page I'll do something like this:

<?php if ($isFan):?>
  Content for fans here
<?php else:?>
  Content for non-fans here
<?php endif;?>

Keep in mind that it is only telling you if the user is a fan OF THAT PAGE - if you set up your app on a test page, for instance, it'll tell you if the user is a fan of that test page or not, NOT if the user is a fan of your app.

In order to read what a facebook user likes using the PHP SDK, you will need the user_likes permission. You may however, be able to hack something together by rendering a like button on your page somewhere and detecting the color of the button, meaning the user has liked the page. This may be problematic because of cross domain issues considering the like button is rendered as an iframe.

Best of luck!

For some things, you need an app. Like restricting access to content if the user has "Liked" something. You need custom code to do that. You don't need an app for a basic "Like" button, but you really can't get any stats on the Likes. You can link an app to a website, so that you can report on the content and referrals. If you go to http://www.facebook.com/insights/ you can link the app with a website so the insights/reporting are combined. Just click on the "Insights for your Website" button. It does require validation.

That said, your confusion is the norm. Apps, Pages and Fan Pages are almost the same thing. They are all referenced through numerical ID. There are subtle feature differences between Pages and App Pages. An app can be added to any Page if it is configured to do so. But you can't add a Page to another Page.

You can use FQL to query if a user is a fan of your app, instead of the Page you are currently on.

Facebook controls what gets shown in the news feed. Just because you post to the feed, doesn't mean it will show. However, if you are an admin of the Page and/or App, posts will always show in your feed.