The developer release is now available:

script/plugin install  http://facetime.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/facetime

Check out the project wiki for instructions and documentation.

If you're interested in participating or providing feedback, stop by the Facetime group or file a ticket using the issue tracker.

Improved test coverage, sample code and documentation, and any feedback or thoughts you may have, would be especially helpful in bringing the library to a production-ready level.

Facetime's aim is to be a Facebook interface that’s borderline indisguishable from other Rails code — meaning its understandable, enjoyable, and doesn’t require hours of pouring through Facebook’s API documentation.

Simple, Powerful Features

1. ActiveRecord Associations
2. Dynamic finders
3. Automatic typecasting (coming soon)

  # See if the user has the application installed
  current_user.facebook.is_app_user? #=> true

  # Find the user's facebook album named 'Halloween'
  recommended_album   = current_user.facebook.albums.find_by_name 'Halloween'

  # Retrieves all the photos in the album
  @recommended_photos = recommended_album.photos

  # Publishes to the user's activity feed using the 'recommended_photos' template
  # This is configurable to use any template/API call
  update_facebook 'recommended_photos.feed'

Easier Updates

Facetime employs an API template for updates, which is easily configurable to support any API request/template combination. Here's a few that are predefined:

# sample method/template                       # Facebook API call
 update_facebook 'wide.profile'                #=> profile.setFBML
 update_facebook 'application.fbjs'            #=> fbml.setRefHandle
 update_facebook 'http://mysite.com/image.jpg' #=> fbml.refreshImgSrc
 update_facebook 'http://mysite.com/mycontent' #=> fbml.refreshRefUrl

Flexible, Low Level Interface

While we're working to make it unnecessary to directly query Facebook, our low-level interface is available when you need it. Give us the method and pass a Hash object, and we'll take care of the details.

api_params = {:uids => 33806641,
              :session_key => a_session_key,
              :fields => ['first_name', 'last_name'] }

user = Facetime::API::Users.get_info(api_params)

# user #=>
# [{'first_name' => "Eric", 'last_name' => "Chapweske", 'uid' => "33806641"}]

Simple Installation

Facetime assumes that you have a model named User with the attributes :facebook_session_key and :facebook_uid. However, this is customizable. Refer to the SetupAndInstallationGuide for detailed installation instructions.

Quick install

This covers adding migrations and configuring Facetime, your model, and controller.

1. Install the library from your application directory by running:

script/plugin install  http://facetime.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/facetime 

2. Edit app/config/facetime/facebook.yml to include your application and developer information.
3. Run a migration on your user model:

class AddFacetimeAccountToUsers < ActiveRecord::Migration
  add_column :users, :facebook_session_key,      :string
  add_column :users, :facebook_uid,              :integer
end

4. In your user model, add the line has_facebook_account

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_facebook_account
end

5. In your controller, add the line facebook_interface

class FacebookController < ApplicationController
  facebook_interface
end

Your application is now ready to go. For sample code, refer to the UsageGuide.