Facebook Pages¶

Table of Contents

Prerequisites
Introduction
Basic Config
- Required Parameters
- Example: Basic Alarm Configuration using Required Parameters
Advanced Config
- Optional Parameters
- Example: Alarm Configuration Using Optional Parameters
How to get a Permanent Facebook Page Token

Prerequisites ¶

This guide assumes

You are familiar with JSON formatting.
You have read and understood the Alarms wiki.
You are comfortable with the layout of alarms.json.
You are using the latest version of PokeAlarm.

Please familiarize yourself with all of the above before proceeding.

Facebook Pages is an online social networking service that enables users to post status messages to a public profile specifically created for business, brands, celebrities, causes, and other organizations. Registered users can read and post messages, but those who are unregistered can only read them. Users access Facebook through the website interface, SMS or mobile device app.

PokeAlarm offers the following for Facebook Pages:

Personalized notifications via Events

Basic Config ¶

Required Parameters ¶

These alarms.json parameters - active, type, and page_access_token - are required to enable the Facebook Pages alarm service:

Parameters	Description
type	Must be `"facebook_page"`
active	`true` for alarm to be active
page_access_token	Your permanent FB page access token

Example: Basic Alarm Configuration using Required Parameters ¶

{
      "active":true,
      "type":"facebook_page",
      "page_access_token":"YOUR_PAGE_ACCESS_TOKEN"
}

Note

The above code is to be inserted into the alarms section of alarms.json. It does not represent the entire alarms.json file.

Advanced Config ¶

Optional Parameters ¶

In addition to the 3 required parameters, several optional parameters are available to personalize your Facebook Pages notifications. Below is an example of these optional parameters and how they are incorporated into a functional alarm layout for Facebook Pages.

These optional parameters are entered at the same level as "type":"facebook_page".

Parameters	Description	Default
startup_message	Confirmation post when PokeAlarm initialized	`true`
startup_text	Custom message post when PA initialized

These optional parameters below are applicable to the monsters, stops, gyms, eggs, and raids sections of the JSON file. Check Image column to see where everything appears in the final publication.

Parameters	Description	Image
message	Message to post as status message	1
link	Link to be added to notification text	Link
image	Url of the image to show as a preview (empty for linked page preview)	2
name	Link title (empty for linked page title)	3
description	Link description (empty for blank description)	4
caption	Link domain (empty for linked page domain)	5

When it says "empty for X" it means that you can disable the default PokeAlarm value setting that parameter to "" in your alarms.json file. In that case Facebook will use the link information to fill that field in the publication.

For example if you have link as a google maps link and you disable the image parameter setting it to "", it will be a minimap image of that coordinates.

monsters default values:

Parameters	Default
message	`A wild <mon_name> has appeared!`
image
link	`<gmaps>`
name	`<mon_name>`
description	`Available until <24h_time> (<time_left>)`
caption	None

stops default values:

Parameters	Default
message	`Someone has placed a lure on a Pokestop!`
image
link	`<gmaps>`
name	`Lured Pokestop`
description	`Lure will expire at <24h_time> (<time_left>)`
caption	None

gyms default values:

Parameters	Default
message	`A Team <old_team> gym has fallen!`
image
link	`<gmaps>`
name	`<old_team> gym fallen`
description	`It is now controlled by <new_team>`
caption	None

eggs default values:

Parameters	Default
message	`A level <egg_lvl> raid is upcoming!`
image
link	`<gmaps>`
name	`Egg`
description	`A level <egg_lvl> raid will hatch at <24h_hatch_time> (<hatch_time_left>).`
caption	None

raids default values:

Parameters	Default
message	`Level <raid_lvl> raid available against <mon_name>!`
image
link	`<gmaps>`
name	`Raid`
description	`The raid is available until <24h_raid_end> (<raid_time_left>).`
caption	None

Example: Alarm Configuration Using Optional Parameters ¶

{
  "facebook_alarm":{
    "active":true,
    "type":"facebook_page",
    "page_access_token":"YOUR_PAGE_ACCESS_TOKEN",
    "startup_message":false,
    "monsters":{
        "message":"<mon_name> available. <quick_move>/<charge_move> (<iv>% - <atk>/<def>/<sta>)",
        "image*":"YOUR CUSTOM URL HERE/<mon_id_3>_<form_id_3>.png",
        "link":"<gmaps>",
        "description":"Address: <address>",
        "name":"<mon_name>"
    },
    "stops":{
        "message":"Someone has placed a lure on a Pokestop! Lure will expire at <24h_time> (<time_left>).",
        "image*":"YOUR CUSTOM URL HERE/ready.png",
        "description":"Address: <address>",
        "link":"<gmaps>",
        "name":""
    },
    "gyms":{
        "message":"A Team <old_team> gym has fallen! It is now controlled by <new_team>.",
        "image*":"YOUR CUSTOM URL HERE/<new_team_id>.png",
        "link":"<gmaps>",
        "name":"<new_team>",
        "description":"Address: <address>"
    },
    "eggs":{
        "message":"A level <egg_lvl> raid is upcoming!",
        "image*":"YOUR CUSTOM URL HERE/<egg_lvl>.png",
        "link":"<gmaps>",
        "name":"Egg",
        "description":"A level <egg_lvl> raid will hatch at <24h_hatch_time> (<hatch_time_left>)."
    },
    "raids":{
        "message":"Level <raid_lvl> raid available against <mon_name>!",
        "image*":"YOUR CUSTOM URL HERE/<mon_id_3>_000.png",
        "link":"<gmaps>",
        "name":"Raid",
        "description":"The raid is available until <24h_raid_end> (<raid_time_left>)."
    }
  }
}

Note

*THESE LINES ARE USED TO OVERRIDE DEFAULT VALUES. IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO USE CUSTOM IMAGES, DO NOT ADD THESE LINES TO YOUR ALARMS.JSON.

The above code is to be inserted into the alarms section of alarms.json. It does not represent the entire alarms.json file.

How to get a Permanent Facebook Page Token ¶

Use the Graph API Explorer for all of these steps except where otherwise stated.

0. Create Facebook App

If you already have an app, skip to step 1.

Go to My Apps.
Click + Add a New App.
Setup a website app.
Go to App Review of your new app and make sure your app is made Public.

1. Get User Short-Lived Access Token

Go to the Graph API Explorer.
Select the application you want to get the access token for by clicking on the Graph API Explorer dropdown near the top right.
Click Get Token dropdown and choose Get User Access Token.
In the pop-up, under the Events, Groups & Pages section, check manage_pages and publish_pages.
Click Get Access Token.
Grant access from a Facebook account that has access to manage the target page. Note that if this user loses access the final, never-expiring access token will likely stop working.

Token that appears in the Access Token field is your short-lived access token.

2. Generate Long-Lived Access Token

Following these instructions from the Facebook docs, make a GET request to

https://graph.facebook.com/v2.2/oauth/access_token?grant_type=fb_exchange_token&client_id={app_id}&client_secret={app_secret}&fb_exchange_token={short_lived_token}

entering in your app’s ID and secret, generated from step 0, and the short-lived token, generated in the previous step. Be sure to remove the curly braces {} when replacing values.

You cannot use the Graph API Explorer. For some reason it gets stuck on this request. I think it’s because the response isn’t JSON, but a query string. Since it’s a GET request, you can just go to the URL in your browser.

The response should look like this:

access_token=ABC123&expires=5182959

ABC123 will be your long-lived access token. You can put it into the Access Token Debugger to verify. Under Expires it should have something like 2 months.

3. Get User ID

Using the long-lived access token, make a GET request to

https://graph.facebook.com/v2.2/me?access_token={long_lived_access_token}

Be sure to remove the curly braces {} when replacing values. The id field is your account ID. You’ll need it for the next step.

4. Get Permanent Page Access Token

Make a GET request to

https://graph.facebook.com/v2.2/{account_id}/accounts?access_token={long_lived_access_token}

Be sure to remove the curly braces {} when replacing values. The JSON response should have a data field under which is an array of items the user has access to. Find the item for the page you want the permanent access token from. The access_token field should have your permanent access token. Copy it and test it in the Access Token Debugger. Under Expires it should say Never.

Facebook Pages¶

Prerequisites ¶

Introduction ¶

Basic Config ¶

Required Parameters ¶

Example: Basic Alarm Configuration using Required Parameters ¶

Advanced Config ¶

Optional Parameters ¶

Example: Alarm Configuration Using Optional Parameters ¶

How to get a Permanent Facebook Page Token ¶

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