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How to set up the Facebook SDK for JavaScript?

By: Author Natalie Reed

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How to set up the Facebook SDK for JavaScript?

The Facebook SDK for JavaScript allows you to harness the power of the Facebook platform from your website or web app. With the SDK, you can let users log into your app with Facebook, share content to Facebook, integrate Facebook ads, and more. Setting up the SDK takes just a few simple steps.

What is the Facebook SDK for JavaScript?

The Facebook SDK for JavaScript is a library that allows you to integrate your website or web app with the Facebook platform. It provides a rich set of client-side JavaScript APIs that allow you to leverage Facebook functionality from the front-end of your app.

Here are some of the things you can do with the Facebook SDK for JavaScript:

  • Let users log into your app using their Facebook account
  • Get profile data and friends list for the logged-in user
  • Publish content to the user’s newsfeed
  • Integrate the Facebook comments plugin
  • Show Facebook ads on your website
  • Track analytics and usage data

The SDK contains two main components:

  • Core SDK – Provides core Facebook functionality like login, sharing, and graph API calls.
  • UI SDK – Allows you to render custom Facebook UI elements like login buttons, share dialogs, embedded posts, and more.

Together, these provide everything you need to deeply integrate the Facebook platform into your web app on the front-end.

Why use the Facebook SDK for JavaScript?

Here are some of the key benefits of using the Facebook SDK for JavaScript:

  • Easily let users log into your app with Facebook Login rather than creating separate credentials.
  • Leverage the user’s Facebook account to get profile data, friends list, photos, and other info (with permission).
  • Increase sharing and virality by making it easy for users to share content to Facebook.
  • Show relevant Facebook ads to monetize your app.
  • Provides analytics on usage and demographics to better understand your users.
  • No need to run your own auth system – Facebook handles it all.
  • Frequent updates and maintenance from the Facebook team.

In summary, the Facebook SDK makes your app more social, viral, accessible and profitable by deeply integrating with the Facebook platform.

Prerequisites

Before you can start using the Facebook SDK, you’ll need a few things:

  • A Facebook app set up on Facebook for Developers. This will provide an app ID that you’ll need to initialize the SDK.
  • Your website needs to be hosted on a public web server and use SSL encryption.
  • Your website should load and render content on the client-side (not server-side prerendered).
  • Basic knowledge of web development and client-side JavaScript.

Step 1: Sign Up as a Facebook Developer

To use any Facebook tools or APIs, you need to first sign up for a Facebook Developer account. This is free and easy to do:

  1. Go to developers.facebook.com and click on “Get Started”.
  2. Use your regular Facebook account credentials to log in or create a new account.
  3. Accept the Facebook Platform Policy and complete the registration steps.

Once registered, you’ll have access to the Facebook for Developers dashboard from where you can create new apps.

Step 2: Create a Facebook App

To initialize the JavaScript SDK, you’ll need a Facebook app ID. So head to the Developer dashboard and click on “+ Create App”. Choose Website as the platform.

Give your app a name, add your contact email, choose a category, and click Create App ID. No need to download the SDK – we’ll do that separately.

Under the Settings tab of your new app, make note of the “App ID” numeric value – you’ll need this later.

Step 3: Install the Facebook SDK

There are a few ways to install the Facebook SDK into your project:

Using npm

If your project already uses npm, you can install the latest Facebook SDK package:


npm install facebook-javascript-sdk --save

This will install the SDK locally into your node_modules folder.

Downloading the Scripts

You can also download the pre-packed SDK direct from Facebook. Go to the SDK download page, choose the “Current Version” (v13 as of this writing), and download the .zip file.

Extract the archive. The SDK lives inside the /dist folder.

Copy the SDK’s script tags into the

of your page template before any other scripts:


  <script src="path/to/FB.js"></script> 
  <script src="path/to/FacebookAppIdSetup.js"></script>

This will make the SDK available globally on your site.

Using a CDN

You can also reference the Facebook SDK from a public CDN. Again, place these tags in the

:


<script async defer crossorigin="anonymous" 
  src="https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js"></script>

<script async defer crossorigin="anonymous" 
  src="https://connect.facebook.net/{your-app-id}/sdk/debug.js"></script>

Just be sure to replace {your-app-id} with your actual app ID.

Step 4: Initialize the SDK

With the SDK included on your page, the next step is to initialize it. Add the following initialization code to your page:


<script>

  window.fbAsyncInit = function() {
    FB.init({
      appId      : '{your-app-id}',
      cookie     : true,
      xfbml      : true,
      version    : '{latest-api-version}'
    });
      
    // Additional initialization code here
  };

  (function(d, s, id){
     var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];
     if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;}
     js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;
     js.src = "https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js";
     fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);
   }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));

</script>

Replace {your-app-id} with your actual app ID and {latest-api-version} with the latest API version (see the docs for the current version).

This initializes the SDK globally and makes it available on window.FB.

Step 5: Add Facebook Login

The most common use of the Facebook SDK is to let users log into your app with Facebook Login. Here is some sample code to add a login button:


<div id="fb-root"></div>

<script async defer crossorigin="anonymous" src="https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v13.0" nonce="yourNonceValue"></script>

<div class="fb-login-button" 
  data-width="200" 
  data-size="large" 
  data-button-type="login_with"
  data-layout="rounded"
  data-auto-logout-link="false"
  data-use-continue-as="true">
</div>

This will render a styled login button that will trigger the FB Login dialog when clicked. Handle the response in your code to log the user into your app.

See the Facebook Login documentation for more details on fully implementing Facebook Login in your app.

Step 6: Add Other Facebook Features

A few other things you can do once the SDK is initialized:

Share Button

Let users share content from your app to Facebook. This code will render a Share button:


<div class="fb-share-button" 
   data-href="https://your-domain" 
   data-layout="button"
   data-size="small">
</div>

Embedded Posts

Embed posts from Facebook into your site. For example:


<div 
  class="fb-post"
  data-href="https://www.facebook.com/{post-id}"
  data-width="500">
</div>

Comments Plugin

Add Facebook comments to your blog posts and pages:

  
<div class="fb-comments"
   data-href="https://your-domain/page" 
   data-width="100%"
   data-numposts="5">
</div>

Check the Facebook docs for many more options and features.

Debugging the SDK

As you integrate Facebook functionality, here are some tips for debugging the SDK:

  • Open your browser console to see debug messages as you interact with Facebook APIs.
  • Enable Console Debugging in your App Settings on the Developer Dashboard.
  • Test your app Login flow with a Test User to catch issues.
  • Use the Graph API Explorer to test API calls.
  • Check JS errors – the SDK will log any setup issues to the console.

With alert messages and the browser console, you can catch most bugs related to initialization and OAuth token issues.

Getting Help

Stuck on something? Here are some resources for help:

  • Documentation – Comprehensive docs for all SDK features.
  • Stack Overflow – Active forums to ask code-level questions.
  • Facebook Developer Community – Discuss issues with other developers.
  • Facebook Support – File tickets with the developer support team.
  • Platform Policy – Rules and guidelines for using the APIs.

And you can always email the Facebook developer relations team at [email protected] with high priority issues.

Advanced Usage

Once you have the basics working, here are some more advanced ways to use the Facebook SDK in your web app:

Server-Side Login

Handle the access token server-side for higher security.

Facebook Graph API

Call the Graph API from JavaScript to retrieve data about users, pages, posts, and more.


FB.api('/me', function(response) {
  console.log(response); 
});

Account Kit

Use Account Kit for passwordless authentication via email/SMS.

Audience Network

Monetize your app with Facebook ads using Audienced Network.

Page Plugin

Embed and display content from Facebook Pages.

Send Button

Let users send content to friends via Messenger.

And much more – check the Facebook for Developers site for all available options.

Conclusion

Integrating the Facebook SDK into your web app unlocks a whole range of powerful social features for your users. The setup process is relatively quick, requiring just a Facebook app registration and some basic SDK initialization code.

Some of the options enabled by the SDK include:

  • Facebook Login
  • Sharing to Facebook
  • Embedded posts
  • Comments
  • Facebook ads
  • Analytics

While this guide covers the basics, be sure to explore the in-depth SDK documentation and advanced use cases to take your Facebook integration to the next level.

So give your web app some social superpowers and start leveraging the Facebook platform today!

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