How do I test run my app on Facebook?

Question

This is probably something I ought to be able to see but I can't figure it out... I have written a "Hello World" app. I want to just run it on my account as an app to see if it is correct. I certainly do not want to submit it to the FB App store. How do I do that?

Answer 1

Stage 1: Create a FaceBook Developers account by going to https://developers.facebook.com/

Stage 2: Once your account is created you need to create a new FaceBook Application, this can be achieved by "create new app" button at the top.

Stage 3: Once a name for the app and several other details are saved you will have an APP_ID and an app secret ID. They will be use at a later point.

Stage 4: Download the SDK (software development kit) needed, this can be found by going to https://developers.facebook.com/docs/ .

Stage 5: Once the SDK is downloaded, create a webpage, once the site is set up you will need the correct code to connect to facebook, i used PHP so i had to convert my HTML webpage to PHP, the code snippets and the PHP download can be found here: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/php/gettingstarted/

Stage 6: Once the code snippets are set up and you replaced the PHP code snippets APP_ID to the ID of your app and same with the secret, you will need to upload your site to a server, you can achieve this by either using software designed to create a localhost (xammp for example) or you can pay for a web host and upload your site and your files to the host.

Stage 7: Once all of your site and your files are up on a host, the next thing you need to do is to edit your facebook app details, linking to either your local host or the web host. You will also have to invest into an SSL cert (FaceBook is making it necessary to have a secure site) those certs can be bought

Stage 8: At this point your website/app should be ready you. Go to APPS (top right), click on it, go to App Details middle left and then click on web preview. This will open up your application through facebook, your app should be there, but no one can see it except for you and anyone who has been given priviliges to admin/program/test your application.