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Mastering Facebook application development with PHP, Rational Application Developer, WebSphere Application Server, and DB2, Part 1: Set up the components

Jake Miles (jacob.miles@gmail.com), Freelance writer, Conde Nast
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Jake Miles is a senior developer at Conde Nast, currently working with Facebook, Myspace, and OpenSocial applications, using Java, PHP, Adobe Flex and Javascript. He has been working as a professional developer for 10 years and has been an avid student and tinkerer since he was 10. He also teaches on a volunteer basis, and believes that anyone can learn anything if taught clearly enough.

Summary:  Develop a Facebook application using both PHP and Java™ programming languages. This tutorial gives you a first look at Facebook, and then steps you through the process for installing the components needed to create a Facebook application. Next, you'll take a tour of Facebook with respect to how to integrate your application into the site. Finally, you'll get started with a barebone application. In Parts 2 and 3 of this tutorial series, you'll learn how to develop the application you create in Part 1.

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Date:  16 May 2008
Level:  Intermediate
PDF:  A4 and Letter (2129 KB | 54 pages)Get Adobe® Reader®

Activity:  27410 views
Comments:  

Before you start

This tutorial is for developers with at least some experience developing for the Web with PHP, Java language, Javascript, HTML/CSS, and a relational database, who want to step into the emerging world of Facebook application development. You'll learn about Facebook itself, the various integration points it provides for an application, how Facebook and your application communicate with each other, and how to develop useful and interactive behavior using Facebook's API.

About this tutorial

In this tutorial, you will start to build a Facebook application, hypothetically written by an existing stock brokerage firm, that allows a user to manage their portfolio from within Facebook. To make the application truly social, and not just a widget embedded within Facebook, you will also provide the option of treating one's stock portfolio as a competitive game with other users.

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To give a more real-world technical scenario, you will assume that part of the application is already written in Java language, and that you're adding the Facebook application and writing it in PHP and Java. You will implement some of the application in Java, using IBM Rational® Application Developer Java authoring environment, WebSphere® as your J2EE application server, and Facebook's Java Client Library for communication between WebSphere and Facebook.

You will also implement some of the application in PHP, using the Zend Core engine and its bundled installation of Apache 2 to serve the pages, and Facebook's PHP Client Library to communicate with Facebook. This will give you hands-on experience with both Java and PHP, so you can better choose between them as the needs of your enterprise change.

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System requirements

To complete the steps in this tutorial, you need the following software. If you don't have the products installed, or don't have the latest release, you can download free trial versions:

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static.content.url=http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/js/artrating/
SITE_ID=1
Zone=Rational, WebSphere, Information Management
ArticleID=308262
TutorialTitle=Mastering Facebook application development with PHP, Rational Application Developer, WebSphere Application Server, and DB2, Part 1: Set up the components
publish-date=05162008
author1-email=jacob.miles@gmail.com
author1-email-cc=troy@backstopmedia.com

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