Facebook OpenGraph: Submitting an new action - facebook-graph-api

Question

I'm just starting out with Facebook SSO and OpenGraph. I have SSO working with my iOS app and now I'm starting to see how to publish OpenGraph actions.
I've set up a new Action Type and I need to submit it. When I do, I get the error:
You must publish at least one action to your Timeline using this action type. Review the documentation.
Ok, so I click the helpful documentation link and it tells me I want to do this:
https://graph.facebook.com/me/recipebox:cook?recipe=http://www.example.com/pumpkinpie.html&access_token=YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN
So I translate that into this:
https://graph.facebook.com/me/fotoferret:hug?ferret=http://www.example.com/pumpkinpie.html&access_token=MY_ACCESS_TOKEN
fotoferret is my namespace, hug is my action
where MY_ACCESS_TOKEN is the value returned by:
https://graph.facebook.com/oauth/access_token?grant_type=client_credentials&client_id=MY_APP_ID&client_secret=MY_APP_SECRET
When I pasted my translated URL I get this error back:
{
"error": {
"message": "An active access token must be used to query information about the current user.",
"type": "OAuthException",
"code": 2500
}
}
an this point I'm confused. I've tried publishing an action to my timeline, but it tells me a I need an active access token, which I've provided. So how can I publish an action?

Answer 1

When using an app access token please use the ID of the user not /me. You are doing actions on behalf of the app not directly of the user.
User Access Token
https://graph.facebook.com/me/fotoferret:hug?ferret=http://www.example.com/pumpkinpie.html&access_token=MY_ACCESS_TOKEN
App Access Token
https://graph.facebook.com/ID/fotoferret:hug?ferret=http://www.example.com/pumpkinpie.html&access_token=MY_ACCESS_TOKEN
When using the Graph Explorer be sure to switch the option to POST and not get GET. GET is set by default so it will return the actions not create one.
Or using cURL
curl -F 'access_token=MY_ACCESS_TOKEN' \
-F 'ferret=http://www.example.com/pumpkinpie.html' \
https://graph.facebook.com/ID/fotoferret:hug
If you have "Requires App Token to Publish" enabled and get
{"error":{"message":"(#15) This method must be called with an app access_token.","type":"OAuthException","code":15}}
It means you are using
curl -F 'access_token=MY_ACCESS_USER_TOKEN' \
-F 'ferret=http://www.example.com/pumpkinpie.html' \
https://graph.facebook.com/me/fotoferret:hug
Use MY_APP_TOKEN. If you get,
{"error":{"message":"An active access token must be used to query information about the current user.","type":"OAuthException","code":2500}}
it means you are using
curl -F 'access_token=MY_APP_TOKEN' \
-F 'ferret=http://www.example.com/pumpkinpie.html' \
https://graph.facebook.com/me/fotoferret:hug
You should use the numeric id
curl -F 'access_token=MY_APP_TOKEN' \
-F 'ferret=http://www.example.com/pumpkinpie.html' \
https://graph.facebook.com/ID/fotoferret:hug
If you get
{"error":{"message":"(#200) Requires extended permission: publish_actions","type":"OAuthException","code":200}}
The user doesn't have publish_actions actions in their set for me/permissions, it should be there as "publish_actions": 1 if it is not, grant the permission by selecting "Get Access Token" and choosing (you must change to suit in your app code scope as well)

Answer 2

It might be easier if you use the graph API explorer to generate an access token for you app and use that. That would at least eliminate any chance of error from your fetching the access token.