Which Django library to use for Facebook Graph API? - django

Question

I'm currently developing an application in Django and trying to implement Facebook authentication and requests to the Graph API. I've seen a few different libraries out there, but what is the best way to do the following:
Have a user login via Facebook.
Django creates a new user for them and adds their uid and oauth token.
I can then make calls to the Graph API using Facebook's Python SDK.
I did see this example. Is it that simple on normal Django?

Answer 1

My company has built a library that makes integrating Facebook into your Django application dead simple (we've probably built 10-20 apps with the library, including some with huge amounts of traffic, so it's been battle-tested).
pip install ecl-facebook==1.2.7
In your settings, add values for your FACEBOOK_KEY, FACEBOOK_SECRET, FACEBOOK_SCOPE, FACEBOOK_REDIRECT_URL, and PRIMARY_USER_MODEL. You'll also need to add ecl_facebook.backends.FacebookAuthBackend to your AUTHENTICATION_BACKENDS. For example, in settings.py:
# These aren't actual keys, you'll have to replace them with your own :)
FACEBOOK_KEY = "256064624431781"
FACEBOOK_SECRET = "4925935cb93e3446eff851ddaf5fad07"
FACEBOOK_REDIRECT_URL = "http://example.com/oauth/complete"
FACEBOOK_SCOPE = "email"
# The user model where the Facebook credentials will be stored
PRIMARY_USER_MODEL = "app.User"
AUTHENTICATION_BACKENDS = (
# ...
'ecl_facebook.backends.FacebookAuthBackend',
)
Add some views in your views.py to handle pre- and post-authentication logic.
from django.contrib.auth import authenticate, login
from django.http import HttpResponseRedirect
from ecl_facebook.django_decorators import facebook_begin, facebook_callback
from ecl_facebook import Facebook
from .models import User
# ...
#facebook_begin
def oauth_facebook_begin(request):
# Anything you want to do before sending the user off to Facebook
# for authorization can be done here.
pass
#facebook_callback
def oauth_facebook_complete(request, access_token, error):
if error is None:
facebook = Facebook(token)
fbuser = facebook.me()
user, _ = User.objects.get_or_create(facebook_id=fbuser.id, defaults={
'access_token': access_token})
user = authenticate(id=user.id)
login(request, user)
return HttpResponseRedirect("/")
else:
# Error is of type ecl_facebook.facebook.FacebookError. We pass
# the error back to the callback so that you can handle it
# however you want.
pass
Now just hook up these URLs in your urls.py file and you're done.
# ...
urlpatterns = patterns('app.views',
# ...
url(r'^oauth/facebook/begin$', 'oauth_facebook_begin'),
url(r'^oauth/facebook/complete$', 'oauth_facebook_complete'),
)
Hope this helps!
P.S. You can read the rest of the docs here.

Answer 2

We do a lot of Facebook Application development where I work, and so we've developed an open-source library that makes everything about it really easy.
from django.http import HttpResponse
from fandjango.decorators import facebook_authorization_required
#facebook_authorization_required
def foo(request, *args, **kwargs):
return HttpResponse("Your name is %s" % request.facebook_user.first_name)

Answer 3

I recommend https://github.com/egnity/fb.py. Got my Django-based Facebook app up and running in no time. It includes a middleware that allows you to run code like this in your view:
for the user id:
user_id = request.facebook.graph().get_object("me")['id']
for the oauth token:
user_token = request.facebook.auth_token
You can then add the above to your User model as you please. To make Graph API calls, you can still use fb.py's middleware -- no need for using the primitive python-sdk. The user_id code above is a perfect example of a Graph API call. There's much more you can do with fb.py. The download includes a sample django project to get you going.