Learning Facebook Application Development: A step-by-step tutorial for creating custom Facebook applications using the Facebook platform and PHP Review

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Learning Facebook Application Development: A step-by-step tutorial for creating custom Facebook applications using the Facebook platform and PHP ReviewI don't think the other reviewer here even worked through the book--if 'W' even read it--but as one who has, I have to unfortunately give the book low marks.(actually 2.5 stars)
First, I'll start with the good:
The authors introduce a lot of tools that help development very early on, and I appreciate their teaching style. I think they had the ability to produce something wonderful.
Now the bad:
Typos in Math and Programming books range from easily corrected to inexcusable. This book includes the gamut. (The publisher's site has no errata listed; I contacted one of the authors but never heard back) The first place I noticed errors that brought hours of frustration is on page 48. The authors incorrectly identify a few of Facebook's Mock AJAX functions as:
clickwriteform
clickwriteid
clickwriteurl
Then they proceed to use those incorrect functions in their code. I found their error by consulting Facebook's API and seeing that the correct functions are clickrewriteform, etc. (notice the 're' in the middle--it's easy to miss. And apparently they missed it a lot in the book.).
The next place that shows extremely poor editing (do these publisher's editors get paid for this work?) is on page 79:
"Our file (let's call it auto_update.php) starts off the same as appinitiate.php"
There is no 'appinitiate.php' ever mentioned in the book to that point. The authors meant 'appinclude.php'. But this mistake is forgivable except for the fact that the reader is given code to update user profiles, but never told just how this 'auto_update.php' file is ever called. And the code that accompanies the book (via a download from the publisher's site) doesn't include any of these lines anywhere. So, One has no idea just how this php code will ever get called. Instead, after presenting the different lines of code:
"...
Now, we need to set the Facebook user manually:
$user = '614902533';
$facebook->set_user($user, $appsession);
Finally, we can send some text to the profile:
$fbml_text .= "You've been tagged!";
$facebook->api_client->profile_setFBML($fbml_text,$user);
Then, it's just a matter of logging back onto Facebook and seeing what affect we've had:"
As I mentioned: just how is this code ever having any effect on a Facebook profile? (It doesn't, btw. Here's why: the session *is* tied to the person logged in--and it changes when someone logs out. The authors incorrectly state that the session isn't based on logins, but rather on the install of the app. So, if one logs out as the authors instruct, the session ID you use to alter your profile will no longer be valid. The only way it works is if you're logged in and if you visit the php file on your server directly. This means this entire section of the book is invalid and sets readers up for failure.)
I have the impression that the authors rushed it out and the editors didn't care enough to have anyone test the quality or accuracy of the book. Frankly, I think it's generous to give this book 2.5 stars.
One can blame the publisher for poor editing, but one can also blame the authors for not supporting their work (by at least setting up a forum to let readers help each other, or to have the publisher do this).
p.s. I'll update this review if I finish the book so I can reinforce it's strengths or weaknesses. I might just drop it and use the online API docs.Learning Facebook Application Development: A step-by-step tutorial for creating custom Facebook applications using the Facebook platform and PHP OverviewIn Detail
Using Facebook Applications, developers can add custom features to one of the most popular websites in the world. Facebook is the biggest social network among college students, and is gaining ground among professionals too. Facebook applications enable you to add new ways for users to interact with each other using Facebook.
Facebook applications are written in a server-side language, and hosted on the application developer's own server. They interface with Facebook, so that they appear to users to be part of Facebook itself.
This book shows PHP developers how to quickly get started building powerful Facebook applications, how to work with data stored in Facebook, including photos, and how to handle multimedia and other custom data within Facebook applications.
The book covers how to send notifications and invitations from within an application, update a user's profile, create application control panels for users, and much more.
What you will learn from this book?

Learn Facebook application development through step-by-step examples.
Build data-driven Facebook applications, work with friends lists, photo galleries, multimedia, and more.
Work with Facebook's security model to produce applications that are safe and functional.
Communicate with users through newsfeeds, notifications, invitations, and messages.
Learn the Facebook PHP API, and the various markup languages you'll need to build Facebook applications: Mock Ajax, FBML, FBJS (a variant of JavaScript especially for Facebook), and FQL.
Approach
This book builds on your knowledge as a PHP developer to provide a fast-paced, step-by-step tutorial in building Facebook applications. The book is packed with example code and demo applications, so that you can see techniques in action. Along the way we provide quick references to the most important aspects of the API, so you can refer back as you develop your own applications with the book.
Who this book is written for?
This book is for PHP5 developers who want to create custom Facebook applications. It assumes no knowledge of the Facebook API or Platform, but does assume that you are a Facebook user.


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