Each application that uses the Facebook API to perform actions like posting to pages and creating Live video streams needs to be registered with Facebook via it’s Developer site.
In Facebook terms, an “application” means a specific HTTP server that’s serving content which uses the Facebook API. With Helm Web Panels, Rascular has registered a single application which can be used for testing, but because it uses the web address “localhost”, it doesn’t allow you to use Facebook panels on a separate device to web server itself.
Therefore, you’ll need to register your own ‘app’ – effectively an instance of Rascular Webcentre – with Facebook. This guide takes you through the basic steps of registering an application via the Facebook developer site.
You’ll need
- A Facebook account
- A domain name for the server where you’ve installed Rascular WebCentre – not just an IP address. This is the URL which your users will use to access WebCentre.
The user who administers the webcentre should first register for the Facebook Developer site at https://developers.facebook.com/
From the Facebook Developer site, create a new app from the “My Apps” menu at the top right.
Fill in the form with a name for your app (note that you can’t include words like “Facebook” in the name)
You’ll now see the main settings page. Make a note of the APP ID as you’ll need to enter this number into your Helm Panels.
We need to add the “Facebook Login” product to allow us to log in to Facebook from web panels. choose “Web” from the screen showing platforms.
Now, enter the URL that operators will use to access Webcentre. Click ‘Save’ and then view the application “Settings”. There’s no need to complete the rest of the Quickstart.
Next, in the Basic application settings, enter the domain name (from on the webcentre URL) and click “Save”. You can also add an App icon and privacy policy URL here if required.
Note: If it’s not possible to use a proper domain name for the server, you can choose a dummy domain name, and simply add the server IP and domain name into the etc/hosts file on each client PC. On Windows this file is
C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts.
That’s it. Your Facebook “App” is ready to use – just copy the App ID into the Facebook icon in your panels using Helm Designer, and republish your panels to WebCentre.
The next stage is managing users for your Facebook application.