It’s been a while since my last post but that’s only because I’ve been working on my Gadget competition project. Some may already know what this was, the rest of you must probably have already figured it out from this post’s title, yes it’s a Facebook gadget.
The myFacebook gadget allows you to bring Facebook right into your windows vista desktop. With it you’ll be able to change your status, see your friends statuses, groups, notifications, albums and events without even having to open your web browser.
It’s probably the largest and certainly the most challenging gadget I’ve created (so far π and it’s all written with JavaScript and DHTML. To retrieve facebook data, I’ve created a JavaScript wrapper of Facebook’s API that I’m also planning on releasing (its source code).
Once you’ve installed it you will have to authorize the gadget to see your facebook data just as you would for any other facebook application, before being able to interact with it. Extra authorization is needed though (from the facebook API) if you wish to be able to change your status as well.
In some cases you might have to login more than once (only the first time), as some (Patrick) noticed sorry for that but my intention is to avoid storing usernames and passwords and let Facebook handle authentication and authorization.
Note also that in some cases a javascript error may occur on the facebook login form preventing you from logging in. In such a case try changing your browser security settings to overcome the error or add http://login.facebook.com to your trusted sites zone.
I like the gadget and am using it. Thanks!
One request would be to let you choose to show or hide the friends status part. This can be distracting when writing a paper and takes more CPU power than the rest of it. Thanks again.
Hi,
I couldn”t download this gadget.
I am using windows XP sp2. other than this,
what I nedd to have to use this in my system.
I to want to develop the same type of facebook gadget to use in my webapplication. How can I build?
Thank you,
Srinu
Also make sure that the browser you are using with MyFacebook is your default. I uninstalled firefox and started using IE again, and when I tried running the gadget through IE it wouldnt load due to it trying to open in firefox.
I”m not using any specific browser.
I”m just using hyperlinks and let the underlying platform decide which browser will be used.
Srinu, you”ll need windows Vista in order to run myFacebook in your sidebar. There is however a project called vaio, you can read more about it here http://blog.pantos.name/archive/2006/12/15/213.aspx, which allows you to run sidebar gadgets on Windows XP. myFacebook hasn”t been tested for it though and thus cannot guarantee that it”ll work.
To include something similar in a web page I would suggest you check Popfly”s Facebook provider…
Hope this helps.
I was wondering if it would be possible to have a cut down version of MyFacebook showing only poke, friend request and notification numbers, as well as a hyperlink to the facebook homepage. Here is an image of the sort of thing I”m thinking of.
http://www.simviation.com/yabbuploads/MyFacebook Lite.png
I have no idea how complicated or time consuming this would be to impliment, so please forgive my ignorance.
However I think it would make a neat gadget to compliment the one you already have.
Keep up the good work
ok so i like my facebook sidebar. it is sweet but every time i shut the comp off and then turn it back on i have to get a new code. is this supposed to happen???
thanks
I love the gadget, but in a future edition, can u have a friend online now option
This gadget works great all accept for the notifications and the status updates. It just keeps telling me that need to put them into the correct boxes in the settings. I have done this for both of the link boxes and got them even from clicking the link it says to.
Please Help
For those of you like Blake having the problem where it tells you to put the notification link in the correct box.
What you need to do is click the link above the box on the settings page, however, this is NOT the link you need, the one you want is found on the right hand side, where is says “Subscribe to Notifications”. Right click on that link and hit Copy Link or something to that effect.
Its the RSS link you want, not the webpage one.
Hope this helps some people.
Chris
idon”t have a problem at all
i downloaded and installed this gadget, however wen i click ”get login code” i get an error message that says “http://www.facebook.com/code_gen.php?v=1.0&api_key=4dc86706b3c8dca7ae7b1e4b8b1281…..”
i tried searching for a fix but since i cant get the rest of the API code i get another error message that says “invalid api_key code” is there a fix to this that im missing?
I don”t see the error message, can you please sent the whole error message please.
Hi
Love the gadget, it works fine. Can you make it so that instead of Friend Updates on screen we have friends notifications instead? I find that if I click on the notifications tab, there is about a 30-45 second lag before I get the notifications popup come up (by which time I could have logged in to FB on a web page!) I actually know that you can do this by substituting the notifications address in the friends address bar. the downfall of this is that the size of the scroller box where the output is displayed is not big enough. This would be better because you are more likey to act on a notification than just a status update. Can you do both?! π
Hi, I”m a facebook/vista newbie and want to get the most out of both. Saw your gadget recommended in ”Windows Vista” magazine and thought would give it a go as it looks great. Downloaded A-OK but am having problems with the RSS feed – possible same problem as Blake? I”ve tried the solution put forward by Chris (many thanks) but no joy; still getting message under friends status box that says ”Set status feed…” When I click on the notification/status RSS feed in IE tool bar I get a ”IE can display this feed, the feed download was interrupted” message. I”ve set facebook as a trusted site… Help! It”s driving me MAD!
you need to copy and paste the URL”s from under the subscribe part of each feed to get the status updates and notifications to work. just going to the link the options page takes you to is not enough. it”s on the right side of the screen on the bottom. just go there and copy the URL. Don”t worry about actually subscribing, all you need is the URL.
You might also wanna check the gadget”s page on facebook (http://www.facebook.com/notifications.php#/apps/application.php?id=8040585574) lots of guys have put on comments on how to subscribe to those feeds.
HTH.
Nice work dude… keep it up!!!
Thanks for the help with the correct notification and status links.. The RSS feed link is definitely the one you want, not the actual page it sends u to in the first place.
I was wondering what the problem was with that until I found this great help. Cheers!
is it possible to read messages within My Facebook gadget or is it only possible to know the count of unread messages ?
hope this gadget works well
thank you
Great work dude … keep us updated for new gadgets … thnx
ithink it”s much easier than the website.
Hey glad to find out about the rss. Now its working.
Thanks. good Job
I Love Facebook
very nice gadget
have you released your source code yet? I”d like to try it out on my FB JS application. Thanks.
Great work … keep us updated for new gadgets … thanks !!
SDFG
Love the Gadget, updated to the new version. it doesn”t get past the one timecode. it just sits there doing “0”. null. how to get past this problem would be welcomed my friend. The only request i have is the size of the box it”s contained in is a little too small. Mine stops on the right side in the middle of the Icons. or do i need to change something? using 1920×1080 landscape. Thanks in advance for any help.
Close the gadget and re-open it. I”m guessing that your problem is a cached session key.
Let me know if that doesn”t work.
I”ll think about the size, maybe in a future version π
i want to gadget desktop in my computer
It is the latest gadget which has a capability to change our status, see our friends statuses, groups, notifications, albums and events without even having to open our web browser….Although it is the best gadget i have ever seen with HTML and Java Script as well………..
Nice gadget with good feature
Your gadget is awesome and inspiring. It inspired me to dream of a vista gadget retrieving friends” information automatically from people” social networks like Facebook, MSN and ICQ. Instead of knowing a friend”s news from Facebook only, the application could get his/her information from other social networks if applicable. Your gadget exemplifies part of my idea.
I saw it was written in JS where no server needed for computation remotely. It suggests me that such an approach is good. But I know nothing about Facebook API. Could give me some hints how to retrieve info from Facebook API via JS? I want to write my own, because I want to learn and write such a gadget for MSN, Xiaonei also. Please forgive my arrogance if any. I”m just so exited seeing your gadget. Thank you.
thanx.. π
ok
This is very tedious and it doesn”t always work the way I think it”s supposed to work. It is neither simple nor simplistic.
Everyone is entitled of his opinion
Thats great
its amazing
good~!
uhm i need a code dude
ok nice
15
Nice
oooe!!
I am happy to read your blog and admit the webmaster has done a very good job by putting all the information content at one place. I”d like to recommend it with reference to my website http://www.pctechoutlet.com
learning how this works still but seems alright.
i am always online yarr
π
Nice app. make a feature where it”s always the foremost window and you have a winner.
always online with this sidbar fantastic
hey!!
hey i have one problem…
it is that when i try to set up the notification too in settings it asks for url but it sends me to my notifications to geturl. but it doesnt work..
http://www.facebook.com/notifications.php
Download Facebook Gadget for Vista Sidebar
pretty cool little gadget, thanks for sharing it π
hi evcery one
uuuuuu kiero bajarlooooo yaaa
I wish all the best
kOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLL……..
Do it
hehehehehe ok!!!!
HWJ
i will try
ke devo commentare
cOOL
I”ve a problem with my gadget on W7 O.S. When I try to connect, after the login and password, Facebook said: ” There a problem with mysidebarbook. try later.” Anyone can help me? TKS π
Hello, this sounds like a cool gadget but I cannot log in. I keep getting the following error. “An error occurred with BuildAGadget.com Sidebar Gadget. Please try again later.” I tried adding Facebook to trusted sites but I also got an error saying it had to start with HTTPS not HTTP. Thanks for any help.
Hey Larry, BuildAGadget.com Sidebar Gadget has nothing to do with “my sidebar gadget” though. They are two seperate downloads. I would suggest contacting BuildAGadget.com.
Hi, i too am getting an error from FB saying please try later, any advice?
Hi,
When I tried getting the FB one time code, I got the following error message:
“An error occurred with mySidebarBook. Please try again later.”
Please advise.
What should I do with this error:
“An error occurred with mySidebarBook. Please try again later.”
Ditto – is there a recent change? I just moved to a win7 machine, and trying out the gadget I cannot get the code to connect it to FB. I added both of the suggested sites to my trusted sites, but every time I click on the gadget to get the code – the FB page that comes up in IE states “An error occurred with mySidebarBook. Please try again later.”
Help??
i”ve tried this several times. idk what im doing wrong. i downloaded it. and clicked on the link that says i need to get the one time code from the gadget itself. then it takes me to the internet and says there has been an error. i cant seem to get it to work and would realllly like to have it. hellpppp
Having problem with getting code to take-
One Time COde not Working Same Errors as Above
Windows 7
hi, i downloaded the myfacebook sidebar app and i tried to get a confirmation code. unfortunatly i am unable to do so. when i click on the link an error page on facebook opens.
can i get a confirmation code some other way?
thx.
send me the gadget
thx in advance
The Facebook Error seems to originate in the fakt that the FB App 1400453522 doesnΒ΄t exist anymore?!
Check this: http://www.facebook.com/…/application.php?id=1400453522
it just opens the Homepage – this happens if the ID doesnΒ΄t exist. So there seems to be no way to create a Code via Facebook anymore!
Where can we download this gadget? This is nice for my website.
hi, i downloaded the myfacebook sidebar app and i tried to get a confirmation code. unfortunatly i am unable to do so. when i click on the link an error page on facebook opens.
I want it so badly. Can I get one.
Do you have to have Internet explorer to run this gadget?? I have SeaMonkey and I can”t get it to work at all. I get an error when I load up the Facebook page. Is there a solution that translates to SeaMonkey? And no, I will not switch to Internet Explorer.
..cant get it to work still..
i installed the gadget, but it doesn”t work.
when i clicked this (Click here to generate a one-time Facebook code.), there were guide words like this " An error occurred. Please try again later" so i can”t use this gadget. i want to use it. can you help me?
Yeah. Im gettin an error too…:-(
I installed the gadget. I clicked on the link that says "click here to generate a one-time Facebook code". It took me FB login page. I login. It took me to a page that asked for the 6 diget login code, which was sent to my cell phone. I typed in the code and it took me to a page that asked me to name the device. I named the device and then it took me to a page that said Invalid API key. I”ve tried every thing in the blogs and forums but it just doesn”t work. Step by step instructions or a YouTube video would be nice. I got FB Explorer Gadget up and running but it doesn”t have a sign out feature that works. You log out but can get right back in. Ok thats it for now.
error message "An error occurred. Please try again later."
link = "http://www.facebook.com/…/uiserver.php
Hi,
When I tried getting the FB one time code, I got the following error message:
"An error occurred with mySidebarBook. Please try again later."
Please advise.
There”s a bundle to learn about this. You made good points also.