FaceBook Bridge with OrchidTalk

[Brutal_Dreamer]

For the members here who have a Facebook account, I have added a bridge where you can now post to your Facebook page from our community here and get notifications of new posts, new PMs, visitor messages, replies to threads that you have subscribed to, etc while you are in Facebook through their notification service.

Another cool feature of the bridge is that in your OrchidTalk Profile page, you can now display your latest posts as well as your friends posts from Facebook. Visit my profile to see the 'Recent Facebook Posts' box on the lower right side of my profile here in OrchidTalk. (This feature is open for all members who are also on Facebook. - No subscription required)

I took some screen captures to help show how to get set up:

1. Visit your UserCP (link on the top left of every page in our community). Scroll down to the bottom of the list until you see: Facebook Bridge. Here, Click on the 'Options' link as shown in the image below.



2. Next, when the page reloads, you will see a blue button that says: 'Connect with Facebook'. Click that button and a new pop-up window from the Facebook server will display over the OrchidTalk Page.



3 Below is the new window I mentioned in step two. Here, enter your Facebook login information. (You will only have to do this one time. After you set up the connection, each time you login to our community, you will be automatically logged into Facebook. (Unless you disconnect the connection here or in your Facebook settings.)



4. After filling in your email address and password for Facebook, press the 'Connect' button. In a few moments you will see your Facebook Avatar and your name should appear as in the image below.



5. If the connection is successful, you will see the 'congratulations' message. Here, click on 'Save Changes'. Since the forum uses ajax to quickly display information without having to reload the page, the original text stating 'You haven't established connection...' etc, will still be displayed above your image and photograph. Just ignore that and press 'Save Changes'.

6. Next, Facebook will ask you permission questions. The OrchidTalk Screen will look like the one below, but above it will be a pop-up from Facebook asking if you will grant permissions as seen in the photos under heading number 7, 8, and 9.



7. First permission is for:


8. And then:



9. And finally:



10. Then you will need to set up the other permissions by either selecting 'Working' or 'Sleeping' and/ or 'On' 'Off' as in the image below.



11. Then click on the 'Save Changes' button at the bottom of the screen. This will record all of your preferences. You can easily edit these anytime by visiting your User CP and clicking on 'Options' under the heading 'Facebook Bridge'.

And finally, you may have already noticed the new Facebook Share button in each post. Just click that button to share any post with your friends.



If you decide you do not want your posts to be displayed in Facebook for a particular thread or reply, simply un-check the prompts found just below the editing window and above the submit button before publishing your reply or thread.

I hope you enjoy this feature. If you have questions, please let me know. I have been testing this on our testing site and it seems to be working very nicely, but if a bug shows up - please let me know. Have a great day!

Cheers,
BD

[margo]

Thanks, Bruce! That is awesome!
Oops... Bruce, I am not getting the "connect with Facebook"...?

[Brutal_Dreamer]

visit your usercp and look at the bottom of the page for the facebook bridge and click on options. Do you see that much?

Cheers,
BD

[Brutal_Dreamer]

It appears that the Facebook button is not showing up in IE7. I will work on it and post when I get it worked out. Thanks for your patience. On an up-note, the button shows in Firefox and Opera.

cheers,
BD

[Brutal_Dreamer]

I am still working on the Bridge. I have been turning it on and off this morning. Sorry if I have cut anyone off during the process. I will update when I have more information.

Cheers,
BD

[Brutal_Dreamer]

I am still working on the Bridge. I have been turning it on and off this morning. Sorry if I have cut anyone off during the process. I will update when I have more information.

Cheers,
BD

[Brutal_Dreamer]

I have turned the Bridge off until I can repair the connection issue for IE users. More information will be posted as soon as I have it. Thanks!

Cheers,
BD