How can I use FB.ui to post a user story? - facebook-graph-api

Question

Currently, the below FB.api function is invoked on a click event and posts a user story on the user's timeline (the FB app is in sandbox mode right now and the user story is still pending review):
FB.api( // creating the user story
'/userid/mynamespace:myaction',
'post',
{
myobject: fbObjectId, // retrieved in an earlier FB.api call
access_token: accessToken, // retrieved in an earlier FB.getLoginStatus call
message: customTextFromUser, // prefilled by my app (FB doesn't approve of this)
image: ImageURL, // prefilled by my app (FB is OK with this I think)
'fb:explicitly_shared': true // requires that I take the user out of the normal flow of the app which is why I want to show a modal first
},
function(response) {
// handle the response
console.log(response);
if (response.id) {
alert("Success! The user story has been shared on Facebook!");
} else {
alert("Woops! Something went wrong sharing the user story on Facebook. Please try again.");
}
}
);
What I think I need to do is show a modal dialog box such as in the case of when FB.ui is invoked to give the user an opportunity to add a User Message and then post the user story along with the User Message (if any).
Will I need to create my own custom modal dialog box or can I use FB.ui in some way to achieve this?
Note: The above API call works fine in my tests. Granted, variables such as mynamespace, myobject, and myaction have been obscured in the above code sample.
My real problem is the user story is just not being approved by Facebook because I supposedly need to "take the user out of the normal flow of the app" in order to Explicitly Share the user story with an additional optional User Message. I guess I need a strategy to address this issue rather than a specific code sample answer.
Here is the latest feedback I got from Facebook:
Your action doesn’t follow section IV.2 of the Platform Policies:
https://developers.facebook.com/policy/.
Words in the user message field must be manually written by the user
and can’t be pre-filled by the app, even if the user can edit or
delete the words. Learn more about user messages:
https://developers.facebook.com/docs/submission-process/opengraph/guidelines/action-properties/#usermessages.
Posting explicitly shared content needs to be optional for users. A
sharing control needs to be in-line whenever a user shares something
and it can’t be in a separate settings area. The content should have a
user-generated component or the user needs to be taken out of the
natural flow of the app in order to decide to publish the story back
to Facebook. Your current action integration shouldn’t be labeled as
“explicitly shared.” Learn more about explicitly shared content:
https://developers.facebook.com/docs/submission-process/opengraph/guidelines/action-properties/#explicitlyshared.

Answer 1

If you use a test user created for your App, or use your developer account, you should be able to see the story published before it's approved.
The API call you're making also needs to be updated slightly. Instead of using User ID in the FB.api, just use /me/mynamespace:myaction. The access_token also doesn't need to be included, as it's automatically passed by the call providing the user is logged in.
Finally, is your object actually called myobject? The name must match the settings you entered for your story, e.g. 'article` or another valid type.
To help debug the issue, try a simple API call first (e.g. remove message and image) and see what happens. Then add the other parameters back one by one to see which one is causing the issue.
Edit
To get the action approved, you need to make sure the user is entering a custom message in one form or another - usually via text input on the page. If you are sharing pre-defined text the user hasn't entered, facebook won't approve it.
If you want to share a pre-written message, it might be better to share it in another way, like a caption in the story itself.